Chapter 1385: Prison Locking the Heavenly Venerable Hong
The Heavenly Venerable Hong looked at him with a smile, the distance between them very close, just a few steps.
"I don't actually wish for the Heavenly Lord to die. The Heavenly Lord can be considered a fellow Daoist of mine."
Qin Mu lowered his brows and drooped his eyes, his voice hoarse as he said, "The Heavenly Lord noticed me when I was still very weak, and favored me with his regard, protecting me for many years. I have always regarded him as an elder. I still remember the joyful scene when he was together with Lord Tu and the Crimson Emperor in my Qin Continent."
The Heavenly Venerable Hong swept his horsetail whisk, smiling as he said, "Pastoral Venerable, you are too sentimental. This is not an emotion a Heavenly Venerable should have. The Heavenly Lord is dead, which means he has shed the shackles of the Heavenly Dao and is now free and unfettered. You should be happy for him, not reveal a murderous intent toward me."
Qin Mu was deeply grieved. "I don't want him to completely become the Heavenly Venerable Hong. The Heavenly Lord who becomes the Heavenly Venerable Hong is no longer the Heavenly Lord. Hong, you are no longer the Heavenly Lord, no longer upholding the will of the Heavenly Dao. You are merely one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables. An existence just as base and scheming as Hao, Zu, Lang, and the others."
The Heavenly Venerable Hong smiled faintly. "Don't you think that becoming the me of now is better for the Heavenly Lord? You are showing murderous intent toward a Heavenly Venerable, Pastoral Venerable. You should know the consequences of doing so."
Qin Mu raised his head, the vertical eye in his brow slowly opening, and he nodded slightly. "Showing murderous intent toward a Heavenly Venerable is naturally extremely dangerous. I understood this long ago. However, the distance between you and me is very close. For an existence proficient in martial arts, such a short distance is almost nonexistent. In martial arts, killing within ten steps. The distance between you and me is less than ten steps."
The Heavenly Venerable Hong laughed. "The Martial Arts Emperor, Zhuo Cha, would rise up and kill people. The closer the distance, the stronger his attack power. Even an existence with more profound cultivation and superior Dao techniques and divine powers, once approached to this distance by him, would be killed by him. You have trained under the Martial Arts Emperor for a time; you should know his skills. But have you considered..."
He stood on the sea surface, very close to Qin Mu, yet he possessed the bearing of a Martial Arts Emperor, as steady as a mountain and as deep as an abyss!
"The reason the Opening Emperor was able to rise to power back then was because I supported him."
The martial arts aura on the Heavenly Venerable Hong grew increasingly intense. His martial arts primordial spirit, his martial arts will, were even stronger than Qin Mu's!
"The entire Opening Emperor Era was able to last for twenty thousand years only under my protection!"
A terrifying aura emanated from the Heavenly Venerable Hong's fat, plump body, an aura that inspired fear and despair!
During the Opening Emperor Era, the Ten Heavenly Venerables didn't care about the Opening Emperor's Heavenly Court. After all, the Opening Emperor's nation had never managed to occupy the Primordial Realm or rule over the myriad realms, posing no existential threat to the Heavenly Court.
The Opening Emperor's nation was merely a small, insignificant country in the lower realms, supported by the Heavenly Lord.
The greatest achievement of the Opening Emperor Era was their accomplishment in the acquired Dao. They created three hundred and sixty types of acquired Dao. Given enough time, they could have elevated these acquired Dao to a level on par with, or even surpassing, the innate Dao!
Martial arts was one of them.
The Opening Emperor's Sword Dao was also one of them!
The Heavenly Lord, as the actual protector of the Opening Emperor's nation, certainly wouldn't have been kept in the dark about the civilization's achievements of the Opening Emperor Era.
"At such a short distance, you can't do anything."
The Heavenly Venerable Hong's face was radiant. His aura grew more and more despairing. The feeling he gave off was like another Martial Arts Emperor, another Zhuo Cha, and his martial arts pressure was even more intense than Zhuo Cha's!
He also possessed a terrifying Sword Dao will, its intensity not inferior to the Opening Emperor's!
"Pastoral Venerable, it's best to back down when you know the difficulties."
The Heavenly Venerable Hong smiled. "The strongest divine body in this world is not the bloodline of the Heavenly Emperor, but my bloodline—the Dulin Physique. You have seen Emperor Yi Yue and Ancestral God King. Are you envious of their spiritual bodies? The Heavenly Lord, having broken free from the shackles of the Heavenly Dao, will be even stronger than them!"
His confidence was like the scorching sun in the sky, intense and arrogant!
Qin Mu took a long, deep breath, the primordial energy within his body surging like the Heavenly River, emitting a thunderous roar like waves crashing against the shore.
The Heavenly Venerable Hong raised his eyebrows slightly, his tone indifferent. "Do you have to smash your head bloody before you'll turn back?"
WUUM—
Qin Mu's divine treasury domain spread out, spinning wildly. A Heavenly Court emerged, with nineteen celestial palaces shining in mutual radiance!
Within his divine treasury domain, the Sword Dao domain and the divine consciousness domain spread out, overlapping with the divine treasury domain!
Qin Mu took a step forward!
The Heavenly Venerable Hong couldn't help but grow angry. With Qin Mu insisting on making a move at such a close distance, he stirred the Heavenly Venerable's wrath!
The wrath of the heavens would leave corpses strewn for miles, blood flowing so much it could float shields!
As Qin Mu's spiritual embryo divine treasury domain spread out, the Heavenly Venerable Hong immediately felt the invasion of the divine consciousness domain. It was the Supreme Emperor's supreme divine consciousness domain, which Qin Mu had learned seven or eight parts of.
This domain could suppress the opponent's divine consciousness, causing their thoughts to freeze and creating the illusion of time stopping!
The Supreme Emperor's supreme divine consciousness domain could even trap a Heavenly Venerable in this illusion of time standing still!
Although Qin Mu couldn't cultivate it to the Supreme Emperor's level, his divine consciousness was already profound enough to reach the level of an Imperial Throne!
His Sword Dao domain also erupted simultaneously!
The Sword Dao domain complemented the Twenty Styles of the Sword. As the Sword Dao domain spread, a broken sword appeared in his hand, instantly restoring itself to completeness.
This was the Opening Emperor's Thirty-Three Heavens of Sword Dao, which, when combined with his domain in his hands, was indestructible!
And his spiritual embryo divine treasury domain was his true domain. He had used all his cultivation to forge this divine treasury domain. Both the Sword Dao domain and the supreme divine consciousness domain were merely parts of this divine treasury domain!
Not only that, but within his divine treasury domain, one could find the gods of the myriad realms: the Heavenly Lord Qin Mu, the Heavenly Lord Tu, the Heavenly Lord Earth Mother!
At this moment, the various orifices of his physical body also erupted with terrifying might. Nearly two thousand ancient god imprints sat within the hundred orifices of his body, elevating his physical form to its peak!
Within his domain, he was an invincible existence, the master of the universe!
Qin Mu struck out fiercely. All the Dao within his domain were unified. The nineteen celestial palaces gathered all their power, converging into this single strike!
At this moment, on the surface of the Jade Pool, the masters of the myriad realms sensed the vast power within Qin Mu's body. They looked over, their expressions filled with shock and confusion!
Everyone looked down on Qin Mu. Even though Qin Mu was the founder of the Heavenly Alliance, even though Qin Mu held the title of Heavenly Venerable, even though Qin Mu moved among the Ten Heavenly Venerables in the Heavenly Court with ease, everyone knew that Qin Mu was just a lucky kid who had gained the favor of the Heavenly Venerable Ling and, by a stroke of luck, had returned to the early Longhan Era through her divine power.
He had relied on his foreknowledge and his knowledge, which was a million years ahead of the early Longhan Era, to earn the title of Heavenly Venerable.
He had used his million-year-advanced knowledge to shock the Longhan Era, to spread the method of becoming a god on behalf of the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, and to beat up the Heavenly Venerable Hao. But back in the present era, Qin Mu had no earth-shattering achievements.
He was just a fame-seeking charlatan who relied on his title of Heavenly Venerable to get by.
But now, the aura Qin Mu was releasing was terrifying and awe-inspiring!
Qin Mu didn't have an Imperial might. He hadn't cultivated to the Imperial Throne realm. His primordial spirit only stood on the Jasper Terrace of his own celestial palace. But he had a Dao might!
The might of the Dao within his body even surpassed the Imperial might!
His divine powers displayed an immeasurable Dao charm, perfectly presenting the Dao he cultivated and followed!
This Pastoral Venerable, who was always looked down upon, was now making a move against the Heavenly Venerable Hong!
This was an act of extreme arrogance!
An act that defied the world's conventions!
But the combat power Qin Mu displayed at this moment made all the masters of the myriad realms tremble and be moved!
Unbeknownst to them, Qin Mu's power had already surpassed all the masters of the myriad realms, making him an existence above them!
The Heavenly Venerable Hong's white hair fluttered in the wind. He allowed Qin Mu's domain to crush down upon him, but no matter how exquisite Qin Mu's Dao domain was, it couldn't pull him into the domain or restrict him.
He raised his hand. He didn't use his strongest techniques, only his martial arts divine powers.
He would use martial arts to completely crush Qin Mu, crush his spirit, crush his persistence, crush his Dao heart, crush his pride, crush everything he wanted to protect!
He would also crush Qin Mu's physical body, breaking his bones and tearing his muscles, making him lose all face, making him face reality!
This world wasn't one where one could survive on ideals, passion, or hot blood. This world was the world of the Heavenly Dao, the world of the Heavenly Lord, his world!
Only by following him, only by acting in accordance with the heavens, only by clinging to him, could Qin Mu have a way to live!
He could give Qin Mu everything, and he could also take everything away from Qin Mu!
He threw a punch. This punch was vast and majestic, like a fist of the Heavenly Dao, using supreme power to crush the sword Qin Mu thrust at him, crush Qin Mu's Sword Dao, crush Qin Mu's sword heart, crush Qin Mu's Sword Dao domain!
Qin Mu's Thirty-Three Heavens of Sword Dao couldn't even be executed in front of him. Qin Mu's imitation of the Supreme Emperor's supreme divine consciousness domain was as fragile as tofu in front of his simple and unadorned Heavenly Dao fist, utterly unable to withstand a single blow!
Qin Mu's divine treasury domain was also like paper, shattered into pieces by his punch!
Qin Mu's physical body was like a porcelain doll. In the face of this punch, the nearly two thousand ancient god imprints were destroyed one after another, and the celestial palaces collapsed and were annihilated!
The Xuan Du, You Du, Yuan Du, the Four Extremes Heavens, and the myriad realms within Qin Mu's divine treasury all shattered into flying ashes!
Qin Mu's bones broke, his physical body was a bloody mess, and the primordial spirits within his celestial palaces also exploded!
The ancestral court within his divine treasury was also constantly collapsing and disintegrating.
The Heavenly Venerable Hong's power was too great. Even a simple punch was enough to destroy a being at the Imperial Throne level, destroying everything about them!
"Pastoral Venerable, have you faced reality yet?"
The Heavenly Venerable Hong's magnificent punch arrived in front of Qin Mu. The might of the heavens pressed down, causing Qin Mu's entire body to constantly explode. Broken bone spurs pierced through his flesh and skin, sticking out, a miserable sight.
The power of this punch still hadn't been fully unleashed. If it were, Qin Mu would probably explode on the spot and turn to ashes!
He revealed a smile. He didn't intend to completely destroy Qin Mu. He still needed Qin Mu.
Qin Mu alive was more useful to him.
At that moment, Qin Mu raised a finger and pointed it at his fist.
SMACK!
Qin Mu's finger exploded, turning into a mist of blood.
The Heavenly Venerable Hong couldn't help but get angry. Qin Mu's finger was a divine power, causing him to feel himself plummeting rapidly. He saw all around him strange mountains and rivers shaped like sharp thorns!
That was the Nine Prisons Platform!
A stabbing pain came over him. He was chasing towards the deepest part of the Nine Prisons Platform. In an instant, he fell into the ninth prison of the Nine Prisons Platform.
He looked up and saw a sky like the mouth of a well.
The Twenty-Fifth Heaven of Divine Power, Nine Prisons Locking the Heart, the Dao Endures.
"Not knowing your place, you still dare to use divine powers against me!"
The power within the Heavenly Venerable Hong's fist completely erupted. The vision of the Nine Prisons Platform immediately exploded, and he broke free from the Nine Prisons.
Qin Mu's physical body exploded into ashes under the might of this punch.
The next moment, Qin Mu's physical body recovered. His divine treasury, celestial palaces, primordial spirit, cultivation, divine consciousness, and everything else were restored to their original state.
"Pastoral Venerable, you should be convinced now, shouldn't you?" The Heavenly Venerable Hong restrained his anger and smiled.
Qin Mu's expression was blank. He brushed past the Heavenly Venerable Hong, walking past him, without even letting his aura collide with the other's.
The Heavenly Venerable Hong was stunned. He turned his head, but only saw Qin Mu's back.
At that moment, the Heavenly Venerable Hong looked down. Beneath the surface of the Jade Pool was the reflection of the Nine Prisons Platform.
He saw himself standing on a tiny patch of ground in the lowest level of the Nine Prisons Platform, looking up.
Although he had destroyed Qin Mu and crushed everything about him, he hadn't broken Qin Mu's divine power.
Prison Locking the Dao Heart.
Although he had jumped out of the Nine Prisons Locking the Heart, the Dao Endures, his Dao heart had fallen into the prison and hadn't escaped.
"Divine Powers Establish the Dao, Pastoral Heavenly Venerable" was not an empty saying.
——During the Spring Festival period, we will resume large chapter updates, with a minimum of three thousand words per chapter, two chapters per day.