Chapter 1467: Two Dao Fruits (Third Update)
The Lame Man hesitated, lowering his voice. "This teacher is strange. I'll go in first; you two stay outside and see what trick he's up to." With that, he pushed open the private school door and walked inside.
Qin Mu and Lan Yutian stood outside watching. To their astonishment, after the Lame Man entered the school, the teacher struck his palm with a teaching rod, and he actually sat down, joining the people imprisoned there in reading aloud, reciting fluently as if he had done so many times before.
The two of them felt a chill run down their spines.
Lan Yutian whispered, "Brother, how come Grandpa Lame sat down too?"
Qin Mu had never encountered such a bizarre situation. He immediately opened his vertical eye on his forehead and examined the school. He saw that most of the people sitting there were either souls or primordial spirits, with only the Lame Man possessing a physical body.
As for the teacher, he was merely an illusion, not a real entity.
Qin Mu searched carefully, tracing the source of this illusion. After a moment, his gaze fell on a painting behind the teacher.
In the painting, an ancient tree with gnarled roots stretched upward, weathered and ancient, its canopy supporting the blue sky.
Flowers bloomed on the tree, and fruits hung from it. Beneath the tree, a person sat on a stone, holding a scroll and reading.
Qin Mu's eyes flickered. He pondered for a moment, then handed the divine bow to Lan Yutian. His divine consciousness rippled as he transmitted a message: "I'm going in. You stay outside. If I get trapped in there too, don't enter. Use this bow to shoot at the Dao fruit on that tree."
Lan Yutian acknowledged the order.
Qin Mu pushed open the door and stepped inside. The teacher raised his hand, and the teaching rod came down toward Qin Mu's palm!
Qin Mu laughed heartily, his voice like thunder: "I, the esteemed Mu Tianzun, have dominated the ages, traversing a million years past and present. How could I fall for your trick?"
Smack—
The teaching rod struck Qin Mu's palm. How the rod had swung and landed on his palm, he hadn't even seen!
It was as if he had involuntarily extended his hand to take the blow!
The strike on his palm instantly clouded Qin Mu's three insights, severed his seven consciousnesses, and sank his Dao heart into chaos. When he came to, he was already sitting on a cushion next to the Lame Man, swaying his head and reciting scriptures along with him!
"My Dao heart has been suppressed?"
Cold sweat broke out on Qin Mu's forehead. His Dao heart was extremely strong, his Dao realm profound—he had already cultivated to the twenty-seventh heaven of the divine technique Dao realm. How could it be suppressed in an instant?
Even if the Kai Emperor himself made a move, he wouldn't have such power, would he?
"It's the Dao fruit!"
Qin Mu struggled to lift his head, though his mouth continued reciting scriptures. His gaze fell on the painting behind the teacher. "That tree in the painting is a Dao tree; the flowers are Dao flowers, and the fruits are Dao fruits! This teacher is a projection of the Dao tree and Dao fruit in the painting!"
His recitation grew louder: "...Equilibrium is the great foundation of the world, and harmony is the universal path. Attain the highest equilibrium and harmony, and heaven and earth find their proper place, and all things are nurtured..."
Just then, Qin Mu saw the figure of the person under the tree in the painting gradually becoming clearer. It seemed that with their chanting, the figure in the painting could slowly step out of it.
Qin Mu's heart tightened. The people in this school were all souls or primordial spirits, without physical bodies, and not powerful. After so long of chanting, the figure in the painting still hadn't emerged.
But Qin Mu and the Lame Man were living humans. The Lame Man's cultivation was low, but Qin Mu's cultivation and magical power were equivalent to three to five great emperors at the Imperial Throne realm!
His cultivation strength even surpassed the souls of the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird and the Ming Emperor!
In this school, his strength alone was several times greater than the combined power of everyone else!
Qin Mu's arrival accelerated the figure's escape from the painting!
Cold sweat dripped from Qin Mu's forehead. He tried to activate the Tyrant Body Three-Dan Technique, but his Dao heart was scattered, suppressed to the point where he couldn't focus it. When he tried to channel his technique, his primal energy refused to circulate properly, chaotic and disordered.
He struggled to concentrate his Dao heart, slowly raising his hand. In his palm, he held a leaf—the leaf from the Taiyi Dao Tree.
Raising his hand was incredibly difficult; every inch of progress seemed to bear immense pressure. Finally, the leaf reached his brow.
The teacher stood up and came to his side, raising the teaching rod to strike his head, angrily scolding, "Not paying attention in class! Asking for a beating!"
Qin Mu took the blow, and the Dao tree leaf in his hand fluttered to the ground. His Dao heart, which had just barely formed a thread, scattered once more.
Just then, with a thunderous roar, a beam of arrow light shot in from outside the school and struck the painting with a thud.
Qin Mu's eye twitched. "Lan Yutian, you missed..."
Lan Yutian's arrow hadn't hit the Dao fruit on the ancient tree; it only lodged in the trunk.
The arrow's power was formidable—though not enough to kill an Imperial Throne powerhouse, it was still no small matter. Yet when the arrow entered the painting, its might seemed insignificant, causing barely a ripple.
Qin Mu's eye twitched again. "There's more than just a Dao tree in that painting—there's also a fragment of the Great Luo Heaven. A powerhouse from the previous cosmic epoch refined that Great Luo Heaven fragment into a painting, trying to sneak through..."
He couldn't help worrying about Lan Yutian, but just then, two more arrows whistled into the school. Lan Yutian clearly hadn't learned archery; his first shot was off, but his second and third arrows struck the Dao fruit on the tree with uncanny accuracy!
His talent was simply too high. The first arrow had already taught him the technique of using the bow, and the next two arrows hit the bullseye!
The power of these two arrows was immense. In quick succession, they knocked the Dao fruit off the tree!
The teacher turned around and saw the Dao fruit fall. His expression shifted, and with a pop, his form dissipated and vanished.
At the same time, the reader under the tree also showed surprise, looking up at the tree!
"Brother, I shot down that Dao fruit."
Lan Yutian carried the divine bow and stepped into the school, smiling. "The power of this divine bow is truly impressive..."
"Don't come in!"
Qin Mu suddenly roared, bending down to pick up the leaf. His voice rolled like thunder: "There's more than one Dao fruit on that tree!"
Lan Yutian's smile froze on his face. His peripheral vision fell on the painting. He saw the ancient tree in the painting slowly rotating, its back side turning to the front. Hanging on the tree was another Dao fruit!
As this Dao fruit rotated to the front, the teacher suddenly reappeared in the school, came before Lan Yutian, and said with a stern face, "Disrupting the class! Hold out your hand!"
Lan Yutian smiled. "I'm not your student..."
Smack—
His palm took the blow, and he dazedly walked to an empty cushion and sat down. Meanwhile, Qin Mu had already picked up the leaf and pressed it to his brow. His Dao heart surged back instantly. At the same time, the Dao fruit that had been shot off the tree wobbled and rose, about to reattach itself to the Dao tree!
Qin Mu reached out and grabbed behind the Lame Man, seizing the Glazed Azure Canopy. With a thud, he planted it in the center of the classroom. He exerted force with both hands, spinning it violently, and roared, "Open!"
Buzz—
The canopy of the Glazed Azure Canopy whirled, and the twenty-eight heavens burst outward with a hum, instantly enveloping everyone in the school. Sun, moon, and stars emerged within the twenty-eight heavens. The power of countless heavy artifacts and treasures, meticulously crafted by the Blind Man and the Mute Man, erupted with a thunderous crash, shattering the entire school into dust!
Qin Mu bellowed in fury, lifting the Glazed Azure Canopy and the twenty-eight heavens together. Using the canopy as a hammer, he swept it toward the only wall in the school that hadn't been destroyed and the painting on it!