Chapter 1487: The Stowaway Arrives
The crowd departed one after another. Wei Suifeng hesitated for a moment, then pulled Shu Jun and followed the others. His combat prowess was not inferior to Qin Mu's, but returning from the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City had consumed too much of his divine power, and he had yet to fully recover. If he stayed here, he would only distract Qin Mu.
"Junior apprentice-brother, do not elevate your cultivation to the Jade Capital realm!" Wei Suifeng turned back. "Jade Capital is a trap! Cultivating to the Jade Capital realm only strengthens the Mirage Palace Lord's power and hastens his descent!"
Youming Crown Prince did not leave with the others. His divine power was exceptionally profound; in terms of pure power, he even surpassed the Nether Emperor.
Qin Mu glanced at him and shook his head. "Crown Prince, your divine abilities are far inferior to mine. Even if your power could match mine, defeating you would only take one move."
With a thought, he activated the twenty-third heavenly realm divine ability of the Dao Realm, the Taiji Evolution of Yin and Yang, and said, "Can you comprehend this?"
Youming Crown Prince studied it carefully, his face showing shame. He cupped his hands, turned, and left.
Qin Mu dispersed the divine ability and said to the Southern Emperor Zhuque, who had not yet left, "Elder Sister, your physical body has not yet recovered, and you have little combat power. There's no need to stay here. Yan'er, take your mother to the Netherworld Realm and ask the Netherworld Lady to forge her a new body."
Southern Emperor Zhuque hesitated for a moment, then said, "Take care of yourself."
Qin Mu's gaze then fell on Ming Huang. He raised his hand and took out another body refined from the branches of the World Tree. "Ming Huang, go to Yan Kang and see Emperor Yanxiu. She will arrange for someone to take you to Chi Huang. He is nothing but consciousness now and can inhabit this body. After you see Chi Huang, go to the Netherworld Realm as well. The Netherworld Lady will grant this body life."
Ming Huang frowned. "In the past, I was the Heavenly Emperor of the Chiming Era. I should stand with you in this battle..."
Qin Mu shook his head. "I am Mu Tianzun. I told you to leave. Are you not going?"
Ming Huang hesitated, then turned and left.
Dumb walked over, planted the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy in front of him, and turned away.
Blind looked at Dumb, then at Qin Mu, hesitating. Qin Mu smiled. "Blind Grandpa, rest assured. I will push your formation to its limits and make that prehistoric existence understand your power!"
Blind lowered his voice. "Be careful. If you cannot win, then... then..."
He lowered his voice even further. "Then run! Lame taught you before: if you can't win, run. It's not shameful. Even if you run, no one has the right to blame you for not using your life to protect them. If the sky falls, you don't have to bear it alone. The sky didn't fall because of you. As long as you survive, there is hope..."
He had much more to say to Qin Mu, but Granny Si's voice called out from afar. Blind had no choice but to hurry after them.
Qin Mu relaxed, watching the setting sun.
He planted Taiyi's staff into the ground and took out a willow leaf, sticking it to his forehead. It was a leaf from Taiyi's Dao Tree.
He sat cross-legged, his face calm as he faced the split mountain ahead.
The afterglow of the setting sun moved from his chest to his chin, then gradually rose, and darkness slowly enveloped his face, drowning his eyes.
The afterglow spilled onto the World Tree at the center of the Ten Thousand Sacred Mountains. Xu Shenhua bathed in the glow. At that moment, Lan Yutian arrived and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
"In the past, Taiyi guarded this place. No matter how violent the upheaval of the Great Dark Mountains was, people's hearts were at peace," Xu Shenhua said calmly. "Now that Taiyi is gone, people's hearts are in chaos, and confidence is lost. Only then do we realize that Taiyi was the pillar."
Lan Yutian said, "Some people, when they are present, you don't notice them, nor do you realize their role. It's only when they are gone that you feel the loss of the backbone. And my brother is now becoming that backbone."
Xu Shenhua said softly, "He kept me here because he knows my Dao heart is strong enough, without weaknesses, and most reliable. I will not be tempted by Dao Dew. Lan Yutian, why did you stay as well?"
Lan Yutian smiled, looking toward Qin Mu, who was now shrouded in darkness. "If my brother cannot win this battle, I will inherit his responsibility and become the backbone of this era!"
His voice grew low but firm. "I will abandon my own path and force myself to become... Yu Tianzun!"
The afterglow passed over them, and darkness engulfed them.
Above their heads, stars emerged one by one, shining brightly.
Layer after layer of void gradually lowered. Taiyi's Dao Tree appeared again, and Dao Dew dripped from its leaves.
At the same time, among the Ten Thousand Dark Mountains, a split Great Dark Mountain lit up. Divine light surged, forming a colossal eye between the two halves of the mountain!
In the eye, a tall, thin figure walked step by step, growing taller and taller, like the pupil of the eye standing upright!
Ahead, Qin Mu took a long breath, activating the Overlord Body Three-Dan Art he had comprehended in recent days. One after another, divine palaces clanged into existence, manifesting behind his head. Layer upon layer of divine palaces built a great Celestial Court!
Within the great Celestial Court constructed from twenty-three divine palaces, each of Qin Mu's primordial spirits stepped forward.
Qin Mu reached out, grabbed the divine bow, and it fell into his hand!
Around him, the domain of the Embryonic Spirit Divine Treasury expanded. Behind him, a World Tree rose slowly, growing higher and higher, covering the sky.
His main primordial spirit stood beneath the tree, its body erect.
Qin Mu drew the bow. At that moment, his main primordial spirit behind him reached out its hand, drawing the divine bow alongside him. In the other divine palaces, each primordial spirit simultaneously pulled the bowstring!
Whoosh—
The divine bow was pulled to its limit in an instant. His violent divine power poured entirely into the divine bow. At the same time, the great Dao of heaven and earth roared, and spiritual energy and qi surged, forming a torrent that swept through the Ten Thousand Sacred Mountains!
Above his head, a massive vortex a thousand miles in diameter appeared—a vortex of spiritual energy and qi from the Ancestral Court!
At the center of the vortex, spiritual energy and qi converged frantically, forming a pillar of light that crashed down toward the divine bow. The bow's power grew stronger and stronger, its emitted fluctuations becoming more and more terrifying!
Ahead, the split Great Dark Mountain split even wider. In the pupil of the vertical eye, the tall, thin figure grew taller and taller. The single eye on his forehead looked down at Qin Mu below, as if he could see him, revealing a mocking expression.
He was still traversing the destroyed universe, walking toward the future world. Even as the great calamity of annihilation tore at him, his steps remained steady.
Qin Mu's expression did not change. His hands, drawing the divine bow, remained motionless.
The tall, thin figure continued walking forward. With each step, the black mountains on either side trembled and crumbled. The mountain bodies were petrified World Trees, incredibly hard, yet now the rocks shattered and fell, crumbling and sliding down!
But before these black rocks could hit the ground, they were lifted by an unknown force and floated in the air.
Finally, the tall, thin figure's face emerged from the mountain body first, revealing the vertical eye on his forehead!
Even though he had to endure the annihilation of the great calamity, his power was still immense!
Buzz—
The arrow on Qin Mu's bowstring shot out, arriving at the tall, thin figure's forehead in the next instant!
The tall, thin figure's mockery deepened. Just as Qin Mu's incredibly powerful arrow reached his forehead, Dao light flickered in his eye, freezing the arrow in place!
Snap, snap, snap!
The bowstring vibrated repeatedly. Qin Mu drew and shot again and again, arrows flying almost simultaneously toward the tall, thin figure's forehead!
In an instant, he had drawn the divine bow countless times. The bowstring became scorching hot. The spiritual energy and qi gathered from the Ancestral Court in the sky were mostly consumed in that brief moment. The thousand-mile-wide spiritual vortex thinned drastically!
Qin Mu continued drawing and shooting frantically. The spiritual vortex shrank rapidly. Finally, with Qin Mu's last arrow, the gathered spiritual energy and qi were completely exhausted!
The moment the spiritual energy and qi were depleted, Qin Mu dropped the divine bow, reached back, grabbed the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy, and leaped into the air!
As his body rose, he leaned backward, not straightening but arching backward at an astonishing angle!
His hands gripped the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy. Within the twenty-eight heavens of the canopy, countless treasures flashed with light, like stars in those heavens. The runic formations imprinted on the treasures activated one after another, their power reaching its peak in an instant!
Behind Qin Mu, each primordial spirit also activated its divine power. The divine palaces stood in layers, the great Dao of the Celestial Court roared, elevating the power of the treasures within the twenty-eight heavens to an even higher level, almost exceeding their capacity!
Qin Mu swung the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy, using its twenty-eight heavens as a hammer, and slammed it fiercely toward the arrows!
Those arrows were frozen in front of the tall, thin figure's vertical eye by the Dao light. Even though Qin Mu had shot so many arrows in an instant, they could not break through his defensive limit.
But now, the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy smashed down heavily!
"Give me..."
Qin Mu roared. As he swung the hammer down, arms sprouted from his armpits, gripping the handle of the canopy, pushing his power to the absolute limit!
"Get back!"
The arrows, struck by this blow, finally broke through the defense of the tall, thin figure's single eye and pierced into his eye!
Boom!
The power within the arrows exploded completely. The tall, thin figure's head tilted backward, falling back into his own era, about to tumble back into that annihilated universe!
If he was knocked back, even if he could crawl over again, his vitality would be severely damaged!
A hint of joy appeared on Qin Mu's face. "Did it work?"
At that moment, a hand pierced through the mountain body and grabbed onto the crumbling, collapsing black mountain.
Qin Mu's expression changed drastically. He quickly swung the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy toward that tall, thin, enormous hand, smashing down hard!
At the same time, another tall, thin, enormous hand pierced through the mountain body and grabbed the other half of the black mountain. The colossal eye between the mountain halves suddenly blazed with intense heat, like a pillar of fire shooting into the sky!
Just as the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy was about to strike one of the hands, a huge face suddenly broke through the mountain body and appeared right in front of Qin Mu!
That face opened its mouth wide. The roar it released sent a surge of Dao sound directly slamming into Qin Mu, blasting him backward. The Glazed Azure Sky Canopy could not strike at all!
Qin Mu quickly flipped in midair, thrusting the Glazed Azure Sky Canopy toward the ground. With a slight spin, the twenty-eight heavens materialized, layer after layer of heavens blocking the terrifying impact of the Dao sound.
He reached out, grabbed Taiyi's staff, and looked up. The tall, thin figure had already stepped one leg out of the mountain body, squeezing half of his body out!