Chapter 1501: Living Beings Striving to Cross
Qin Mu walked along the palaces of these path-forgers, stopping at each one to contemplate the profound mysteries of the Great Dao contained within. His gains were considerable.
Comparing this to Woodcutter's method of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces and Seventy-Two Precious Halls of the Grand Heavenly Court, the precious halls in this ancestral court Jade Capital City did not follow the path of innate Dao supporting acquired Dao. Instead, they followed the path of innate Dao supporting innate Dao.
"If Woodcutter Teacher's method can succeed, perhaps it can break free from the control of the Miluo Palace Master," Qin Mu murmured.
In Woodcutter's method, the Seventy-Two Precious Halls represented innate Dao, while the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces represented acquired Dao. The innate supported the acquired, allowing one to cultivate the true Heavenly Court realm and achieve a solid foundation.
On the surface, the only difference was the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces, but there was a fundamental distinction. Woodcutter's method took acquired Dao as the dominant force, with innate Dao merely assisting.
Woodcutter himself did not cultivate this method; he had passed it on to Jiang Baigui.
Back when the Grand Emperor Taihuang transmitted the Dao, the former Yan Kang National Teacher ascended the altar. Woodcutter the Sage questioned him, and Jiang Baigui's answers earned Woodcutter's approval, allowing him to step onto the altar.
Afterward, Jiang Baigui spent several years selecting the thirty-six most suitable Daos from the three hundred and sixty types of acquired Daos, choosing his own cultivation path.
Woodcutter the Sage merely speculated that this method could cultivate a true Heavenly Court, creating a supreme expert surpassing the Ten Heavenly Venerables. But whether it could actually achieve the Heavenly Court realm, he could not help—it would depend on Jiang Baigui's own wisdom.
"Third Junior Brother's acquired Heavenly Palaces have already been opened, and he has cultivated the Seventy-Two Precious Halls using his own methods. So he no longer needs to come to Jade Capital City. The Jade Capital realm is no longer a trap for him."
Qin Mu continued forward, sighing inwardly. His own cultivation path was fraught with twists and turns, but Jiang Baigui's path was already smooth and unobstructed.
If Jiang Baigui cultivated to the Imperial Throne realm, he would become the greatest culmination of civilization in the past million years—bar none!
"Strange. The Ten Heavenly Venerables have split into two factions."
He stopped before another precious hall, examining the traces of battle there. The attackers were no longer Hao Tian Venerable and his group, but Xiao Tian Venerable, Yan Tianfei, and others.
The Ten Heavenly Venerables had divided into two factions, each fighting separately. From the footprints they left behind, one faction was led by Hao Tian Venerable, the other by Xiao Tian Venerable.
"The Ten Heavenly Venerables have split. Strange—from the footprints, there are only nine. Qiang Tianfei is not among them..."
Qin Mu made his judgment. The Ten Heavenly Venerables were circling the outer precious halls, studying the Dao contained within each one. Clearly, besides Hao Tian Venerable receiving guidance from some "expert" on the function of the Seventy-Two Precious Halls, Xiao Tian Venerable also had an "expert" guiding him!
What was strange was that Qiang Tianfei had not joined Hao Tian Venerable nor Xiao Tian Venerable.
Qiang Tianfei was the Grand Emperor. Logically, the Grand Emperor would not submit to anyone, but he was also a fickle person, adept at adapting.
If he excluded himself from these two factions, he would be isolated and vulnerable, which was very disadvantageous.
Thus, the strangeness lay in the Grand Emperor's decision to fight alone!
This did not match his personality.
"They are all trying to organize the Dao patterns of the Seventy-Two Precious Halls before the other side, cultivating the Seventy-Two Precious Halls."
Qin Mu's eyes flickered, and he murmured, "If it were me, while comprehending, I would also take a few precious halls, preventing the other side from obtaining the Dao patterns of the Seventy-Two Precious Halls and cutting off their path to the Heavenly Court."
Not long after, Qin Mu stood with a pale face outside a stretch of ruins. Only broken walls and a massive pit remained.
As he had expected, the Ten Heavenly Venerables had taken this precious hall!
He just didn't know if it was Hao Tian Venerable or Xiao Tian Venerable who had done it.
"It could also be Qiang Tianfei taking a precious hall as bargaining chip to negotiate with the other Heavenly Venerables. But with only Qiang Tianfei alone, he probably doesn't have that kind of strength... How utterly shameless!"
Qin Mu muttered indignantly and continued forward. Soon, he arrived at another precious hall site, which had also been taken away.
The veins on Qin Mu's forehead twitched. The Ten Heavenly Venerables' actions were understandable. When one side discovered the other had taken a precious hall, the intention was obvious. As a bargaining chip, they too would take a hall the other side hadn't had time to comprehend.
Thus, both sides would hold one hall each, preventing the other from achieving perfection, so neither would suffer in negotiations.
Qin Mu steadied himself and sneered, "If I were one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, taking one hall to negotiate with the other side—if I couldn't gain an advantage, I'd be at a loss. So I'd simply take more halls. That way, my capital would be greater, and the other side would have to bleed more benefits in exchange!"
Soon after, he stood with a face as black as charcoal before another precious hall site. Clearly, one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables had shared the same thought and taken a second hall as capital.
"Utterly shameless! But come to think of it, if I were one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, I'd try to take all the halls I hadn't comprehended..."
He walked forward, his face growing darker, veins bulging on his forehead.
Sure enough, one by one, the precious halls had vanished, clearly taken by Hao Tian Venerable, Xiao Tian Venerable, and the others.
These halls would become capital for mutual coercion and transactions. Such underhanded dealings came more naturally to the Ten Heavenly Venerables than to Qin Mu.
With nothing left to comprehend along the way, Qin Mu had no choice but to follow the path of the Ten Heavenly Venerables. As for the geographical map Wei Suifeng had given him, he cast it aside.
This Jade Capital City was enormous. Walking through it, one couldn't tell where the places Wei Suifeng had marked were.
Suddenly, the sound of surging water came from ahead, roaring and turbulent. Qin Mu's heart stirred: "Chaos River? That means I've reached the core of Jade Capital City!"
The ancestral court Jade Capital City was extremely dangerous. In the ancient era, the Grand Emperor had gathered the strongest experts of the time, including later figures like the Heavenly Emperor Taichu and other powerful ancient gods, to explore this place, but they had retreated in the face of difficulty.
However, this time Qin Mu had charged all the way here. Though there had been some peril, he had encountered no fatal danger. This was because the Ten Heavenly Venerables had scouted ahead, clearing the dangers. His journey had been smooth sailing.
This showed that the Ten Heavenly Venerables of today were far more powerful than the Grand Emperor, Taichu, and others of the past.
Finally, Qin Mu saw the Chaos River ahead.
He looked across the river but could not see what lay on the other side.
He surveyed the surrounding geography, comparing it with Wei Suifeng's map, but found no matching location.
"This river must have changed course, no longer where the map shows. Senior Brother's geographical map is completely useless!"
Qin Mu shook his head, abandoning the search for landmarks on the map. He opened his vertical brow eye to examine the great river, thinking, "How did the Ten Heavenly Venerables cross?"
He gazed at the Chaos River, and his vertical eye immediately revealed the scene within the river clearly.
Inside the river was a universe undergoing destruction. Countless living beings struggled in the cataclysm of annihilation, trying to escape, but they all turned to ash and vanished without a trace!
Even beings as powerful as the Ten Heavenly Venerables had no power to resist in the annihilation cataclysm, directly annihilated, reduced to a pure energy state—formless, qualityless, bodiless!
Within the chaos, countless powerful living beings strove to cross, attempting to traverse the Chaos River and enter this Jade Capital City.
Qin Mu's heart stirred. Putting himself in their place, if he were caught in this annihilation cataclysm, looking up, he would see an extremely magnificent sight.
When the entire universe collapsed and was destroyed, compressed and stretched, surrounded by chaos, by worlds in ruin and people struggling helplessly, everyone who looked up would see an ancient and mighty divine city standing amidst the chaos, unmoved by the cataclysm's fury.
That divine city was the ancestral court Jade Capital City beneath Qin Mu's feet!
Presumably, this was what the people in that annihilated universe saw!
From Qin Mu's perspective, these powerful beings were merely struggling in the Chaos River, trying to reach the shore.
Only this could explain why the strong in that destroyed universe were all striving to swim toward the river's surface.
"The Miluo Palace Master is truly remarkable, able to forge such a divine city to survive the annihilation cataclysm! But where is the World Tree?"
He scanned the Chaos River. His brow eye, using Taiyi's eggshell, could penetrate the chaos energy. After a thorough search, Qin Mu finally found the ancestral court's World Tree.
The World Tree's roots stretched boundlessly, situated in the destroyed universe. Its roots drifted like a giant octopus with countless tentacles swimming through the chaos.
Many people struggled in the cataclysm, trying to swim toward the World Tree's roots, attempting to grasp them.
Many powerful beings had already climbed onto the roots, trying to split the tree's roots and merge into them to escape the annihilation cataclysm.
They hid within the roots, using the World Tree to preserve their lives.
As long as these stowaways converted mass and energy, stealing the mass and energy of the future universe, they could transcend the cataclysm and gain new life!
However, from Qin Mu's perspective, the World Tree was now tottering, barely able to save itself!
He also saw a giant of imposing stature wielding an axe, chopping at the World Tree!
That giant's body was hazy, like a phantom. It should be Taiyi from the future universe, felling this precious tree that had existed for sixteen cosmic epochs, cutting it down to cut off the stowaways' hope!
The prehistoric strong who had climbed onto the tree's roots wailed and cursed at the giant's phantom. Taiyi must have absorbed all kinds of vicious curses.
"Taiyi is truly fierce!"
Qin Mu praised, withdrawing his gaze.
He had no absolute certainty of crossing this Chaos River. He saw many powerful beings in the river—some reduced to bones, some to souls, some to mere Dao fruits—all lurking, ready to grab anyone crossing and drag them down to take their place.
Falling into the river meant certain death!
"So how did the Ten Heavenly Venerables cross?"
Qin Mu scanned the river and suddenly glimpsed Xiao Tian Venerable's figure faintly in the chaos energy. Xiao Tian Venerable was standing on a Dao tree, using it as a boat, sailing toward the opposite shore!
He looked further into the distance, and his heart leaped. The Ten Heavenly Venerables were all in the river at this moment!