Chapter 1508: A Lifetime of Wounds
Qin Mu was also afraid of completely falling out with her. The two of them were currently on the small boat, which was far too small to maneuver. If Empress Qiang decided to drag him down with her, then he wouldn't be able to avoid it and would definitely fall into the water.
At that point, no one would be able to save him!
"Your Majesty's reprimand is correct. I was reckless."
Qin Mu admitted his mistake readily and sincerely, saying, "In this time of crisis, you and I should unite against the nine Heavenly Venerates. As for what happens later, we'll deal with it then!"
He thrust his sword forward, meeting the divine consciousness of the three Heavenly Venerates. Sword light flashed, severing the divine consciousness attacks of Xiao Heavenly Venerate, Langxuan Divine Sovereign, and Gong Heavenly Venerate!
Divine consciousness was difficult to cut, but his swordsmanship was extremely exquisite. Wherever the sword light passed, chaos was split open, and layers of lotus-shaped void spaces emerged, causing the divine consciousness of the three Heavenly Venerates to break apart, unable to connect with the divine consciousness that had invaded Empress Qiang's mind.
Blossoms of sword flowers bloomed in the void, like flower buds rotating their petals outward, layer upon layer, causing the divine consciousness of the three Heavenly Venerates to dance around the petals, temporarily unable to break through his sword light.
This was the manifestation of the great divine ability of entering the Dao, "The Primordial Chaos Suddenly Opens the Lotus Bud," applied to the sword path!
Taking this opportunity, Empress Qiang immediately used her divine consciousness to grind away and refine the divine consciousness of the three Heavenly Venerates in the Great Luo Heaven. At the same time, Qin Mu stamped his foot, and the small boat sped away.
By the time the three Heavenly Venerates broke free from the void created by his sword light, the small boat was no longer in its original position.
The three Heavenly Venerates' divine consciousness searched around, detected the ripples of the small boat on the river surface, and pursued closely.
"This Mu Heavenly Venerate, that rascal, apologizes so smoothly and admits his mistakes so readily that it's hard to hold a grudge against him."
Empress Qiang, freed from her predicament, couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "This rascal must have practiced this many times. If apologizing could lead to entering the Dao, then he must be close to achieving it!"
The small boat sped along. Suddenly, flames surged, and Empress Qiang's heart leaped. She saw blazing fire twisting the chaotic energy on the river surface into a huge elliptical wheel.
The figure of Fire Heavenly Venerate appeared on the right side of the small boat. Fire Heavenly Venerate stood on the Dao tree within the wheel of flames. As the three met, both Fire Heavenly Venerate and Empress Qiang showed expressions of surprise.
Only Qin Mu remained calm, drawing his Tribulation Sword and charging at Fire Heavenly Venerate.
"That's right. Mu Heavenly Venerate's eyes must be able to see through chaos and spot Fire Heavenly Venerate here."
Empress Qiang immediately guessed that Qin Mu could see through chaos and had deliberately steered the small boat near Fire Heavenly Venerate. There had always been discord between Fire Heavenly Venerate and Mu Heavenly Venerate; they were like fire and water. Whenever Fire Heavenly Venerate had the chance, he tried to kill Qin Mu, and now, Qin Mu's opportunity for counterattack had arrived.
"This guy is full of malicious schemes, rotten to the core. He plans to use my strength to eliminate Fire Heavenly Venerate in one fell swoop!"
However, for Empress Qiang, this was also a rare opportunity to severely wound Fire Heavenly Venerate!
Opportunities were fleeting. Those who achieve great things must seize every fleeting chance!
Just as Qin Mu struck with his sword, her divine consciousness erupted, surging toward Fire Heavenly Venerate!
Her divine consciousness, though launched later, arrived first, crashing into Fire Heavenly Venerate's brow before Qin Mu's sword light reached him!
Fire Heavenly Venerate's reaction speed was not slow. The layers of flame wheels around him immediately rotated forward. Within the flame wheels, layers of heavens spun and bloomed, slightly blocking Empress Qiang's divine consciousness and delaying its impact on his brain.
His layers of flame wheels collapsed one after another under the assault of Empress Qiang's divine consciousness.
At the same time, Fire Heavenly Venerate immediately retreated backward. New flame wheels continuously spun and expanded behind his head, surging forward from around his body.
However, Qin Mu's sword light pierced through Empress Qiang's divine consciousness, its sharp radiance stabbing through layer after layer of flame wheels!
Fire Heavenly Venerate snorted coldly. His cultivation in the Dao of Fire had reached the twenty-fourth level of the Dao realm. He could transform and burn everything. Even without the ancestral land of the Dao Fire, he was still the strongest in Dao Fire attainment!
Even if Qin Mu had obtained the Dao weapon of an accomplished Daoist, he was still confident he could melt that weapon!
Qin Mu's Tribulation Sword passed through twenty layers of flame wheels in an instant. The divine sword was glowing red from the Dao Fire. The next moment, it continued through the twenty-first, twenty-second, and twenty-third layers of Dao wheels and their Dao Fire.
Fire Heavenly Venerate showed a surprised expression. When the tip of that divine sword, glowing with an intensely bright light after being burned, passed through the twenty-fourth layer of flame wheels and reached his brow, the surprise on his face still hadn't faded.
"A Dao weapon can actually block my World-Burning Sacred Flame?"
He raised his hand, pinching the sword tip between two fingers, trying to snap the divine sword in two.
But when he exerted force, he found the hardness of this divine sword beyond imagination. Even after being burned like this, it showed no sign of softening!
Under extreme heat, any divine weapon, even if not melted, would soften. But Qin Mu's sword showed no such tendency.
He didn't know that this sword was not a Dao weapon of an accomplished Daoist. Instead, it was forged from the supreme treasures of prehistoric Heavenly Venerate-level beings, melted down and refined.
And the furnace used to cast this sword was the ancestral land of the Dao Fire!
This sword was forged in the ninth heaven of the ancestral land of the Dao Fire. By the end, even the ancestral land of the Dao Fire couldn't melt or soften it!
Qin Mu twisted the sword. Fire Heavenly Venerate's two fingers flew off, turning to powder in the hissing sword light.
Fire Heavenly Venerate felt pain. The sword tip moved again. Yin and yang energies coiled like dragons, and the sword light merged with them, drawing a large circle around him!
Fire Heavenly Venerate's heart leaped. He saw countless sword lights cascading within that large circle, clanging and gathering from the periphery toward the center, quickly filling most of the circle and continuing to spread toward him at the center!
Not only that, but a peculiar transformation was occurring in this forming Tai Chi diagram. The sword light also divided into yin and yang paths. A pure white sword-light sphere appeared within the black sword light, and a pure black sword-light sphere appeared within the pure white sword light.
These two sword spheres seemed to have a mysterious pulling force within the Tai Chi diagram, pulling at each other and rotating around him!
As the two sword spheres rotated, the dragon-pattern lines of the Tai Chi diagram emerged.
It was a supreme sword energy that combined the Dao of Yin and Yang into the Dao of Tai Chi, indestructible. With a hiss, it cut off the Dao tree beneath his feet!
Fire Heavenly Venerate's heart leaped. He rose step by step to the top of the Dao tree, avoiding this astonishing Tai Chi sword path.
Unable to immediately see through the depths of this technique, he chose to evade. However, his fiery eyes closely observed the secrets of this sword strike, seeking a way to counter it.
Although two of his fingers had been severed and his Dao tree cut down, he remained composed. Even Qin Mu's sword path was so powerful, it didn't cause him any panic.
On the small boat, Qin Mu stamped his foot heavily. The boat accelerated, roaring into the layers of flame wheels. Empress Qiang screamed in anger, "Mu Heavenly Venerate, have you gone mad?"
Those layers of flame wheels were Fire Heavenly Venerate's great divine abilities of the Dao realm. Passing through them was indeed the shortest path to attack Fire Heavenly Venerate up close, but it was also the most dangerous path.
Fire Heavenly Venerate was not only the strongest in Dao Fire attainment under heaven but also one of the most powerful in terms of magical power.
He had almost completely devoured and refined all of Southern Emperor's cultivation and Dao. This magical power was overwhelmingly dominant. Moreover, as one of the Dragon Han Seven Heavenly Venerates, his foundation was unfathomable.
Qin Mu actually tried to pass through his twenty-four layers of Dao realm great divine abilities, practically gambling with his life!
This might be the biggest difference between Tai Emperor and Qin Mu.
In the ancient era, although Tai Emperor was invincible in the world, he rarely risked his life.
This was partly due to his high status and few opponents, but also his nature.
After the ancient era ended and the Creators declined, during the fierce battle between the gods of the Rust Blood Zone and the Creators, Tai Emperor didn't fight to the death. When things looked bad, he retreated gracefully, leaving the various Creator clans to die.
Looking back over the million years from Dragon Han to the present, he rarely fought desperately. That's why his true body was killed by the three Heavenly Venerates, Yun, Yue, and Ling, and trapped in the supreme divine consciousness domain of the Tai Xu region. That's why his primordial spirit was sealed by Ling Heavenly Venerate in the Unchanging divine ability.
He had never truly fought for his life.
But now, with Empress Qiang and Qin Mu on the same boat, she couldn't afford not to fight desperately.
Empress Qiang activated two baleful divine blades, slashing at the layers of flame wheels, splitting Fire Heavenly Venerate's twenty-four layers of the Dao realm. The blazing fire burned the blood-red God-Slaying Profound Blades, filling them with a scorched smell.
Fire Heavenly Venerate's magical power was too strong, making the power of the Dao Fire terrifyingly formidable.
By the time the twenty-fourth layer of flame wheels was split open, Empress Qiang's arms were numb from the shock, and her hands, scorched black like charcoal from the heat transmitted through the God-Slaying Profound Blades.
"This Mu Heavenly Venerate kid loves risking his life too much..."
Before Empress Qiang could breathe a sigh of relief, she heard the roar and vibration of Dao sounds. Fire Heavenly Venerate stood on the treetop of the Dao tree. Behind his head, layers of heavenly palaces appeared. Within the heavenly palaces, halls shone brightly!
Empress Qiang sighed, a feeling of jealousy rising in her heart.
They had been in Jade Capital City for over two years. The ten Heavenly Venerates had been comprehending the halls of Jade Capital City, trying to find deeper principles to stabilize their Heavenly Court realm.
However, Empress Qiang's gains were not many. In two years, she had only comprehended twenty and a half halls. But Fire Heavenly Venerate, as he revealed now, had as many as thirty-four halls!
He essentially had one hall corresponding to each heavenly palace, allowing his cultivation to improve astonishingly!
Now, Fire Heavenly Venerate was very close to the supreme realm of the Heavenly Court.
If he took another step forward, even Tai Emperor at his peak might be slightly inferior to him.
"Fire Heavenly Venerate's talent is too high. No matter what, he must be severely wounded!"
Just as Empress Qiang thought this, Fire Heavenly Venerate struck decisively, using his supreme magical power to directly freeze the rotating Tai Chi diagram, shattering the continuously spinning Tai Chi sword diagram into pieces!
He didn't rely solely on brute force. Instead, he saw that Qin Mu's Tai Chi Dao was not yet perfect, struck at its strongest point, and began to dismantle it from the dragon-pattern line.
From this alone, one could see his keen insight, which was truly admirable.
The Tai Chi evolution collapsed. The Tribulation Sword whistled out. The next moment, it was grasped by Qin Mu, who had passed through the twenty-four layers of Dao Fire, and he thrust it forward.
This sword strike met Fire Heavenly Venerate's palm, which had broken the Tai Chi evolution. Fire Heavenly Venerate used all his skill in this palm strike. The Dao of Fire surged and spread. Between his five fingers, Dao Fire rotated like wheels, roaring, and the Dao flourished!
His fingerprints were like worlds, his palm lines like vast mountains.
This was his strongest strike. Even after breaking the Tai Chi evolution, its power was still overwhelming.
But as Qin Mu's sword pierced his palm, the swordsmanship became extremely delicate. The sword light within Fire Heavenly Venerate's palm became slender, cutting Dao chains, breaking Dao patterns, and dismantling runes. In an instant, Fire Heavenly Venerate's palm turned into white bone!
Fire Heavenly Venerate was greatly alarmed and quickly withdrew his hand. The sword light coiled up along his wrist.
Chi chi chi chi—
The sword light spun around his arm, rapidly climbing upward. By the time it reached his shoulder, not a trace of flesh remained on the entire arm!
Even more terrifying was that his Dao was directly severed, turning into pure energy that ceased to exist!
The thirtieth level of the Dao realm, Breaking Calamity!
Seeing the situation was bad, Fire Heavenly Venerate's eyes blazed with fire. Two fire dragons flew out from his eyes, crossing and slashing!
Qin Mu turned his sword to cut the fire dragons. Empress Qiang's two God-Slaying Profound Blades struck Fire Heavenly Venerate's other arm. This arm immediately withered, and soon the blood and energy within the arm were absorbed by the God-Slaying Profound Blades.
Fire Heavenly Venerate said nothing. He raised his left arm, now only white bone, and used it as a blade, chopping off his right arm to prevent the God-Slaying Profound Blades from draining all his blood and energy.
Behind him, his primordial spirit leaped up from the Heavenly Court and threw a punch. Even the chaotic energy on the river surface was scorched red, showing a tendency to be assimilated and turned into the Dao of Fire!
Qin Mu turned the boat with his foot. Empress Qiang at the stern immediately faced this strike head-on.
Empress Qiang cursed inwardly but had to muster all her magical power. Her primordial spirit rose behind her, and the heavenly palaces arranged themselves into a Heavenly Court, meeting Fire Heavenly Venerate's overwhelming strike!
Boom—
Empress Qiang was blasted off the small boat, flying backward. However, her divine consciousness flew out from her brow, turning into long ropes that coiled around Qin Mu.
Qin Mu held the sword hilt upside down and bowed. Fire Heavenly Venerate's face exploded, the flesh on his face turning into chaotic energy that flowed in all directions. He involuntarily flew off the Dao tree.
Qin Mu was pulled by the flying Empress Qiang, and the small boat involuntarily sped backward. Gritting his teeth, Qin Mu stood firmly on the rapidly retreating boat and, holding the divine sword upside down, made another pushing gesture toward Fire Heavenly Venerate.
Fire Heavenly Venerate's face exploded again. His scalp remained, but not a trace of flesh was left on his face, revealing white bones.
His body couldn't stop flying toward the chaotic mist, about to disappear.
Qin Mu bowed a third time with the Mixed Yuan One Qi Dao Companion. The bones on Fire Heavenly Venerate's face cracked and shattered, and his body fell toward the chaotic long river. At that moment, a large hand reached out from the chaotic mist, grabbing Fire Heavenly Venerate's falling form.
Qin Mu's vertical eye stared at the owner of that hand. Hao Heavenly Venerate stood on a Dao tree, his gaze meeting Qin Mu's.
"Fire Heavenly Venerate, the wound I leave you will be a wound for a lifetime. No one can heal it, not even Tai Su."
Qin Mu sheathed the Tribulation Sword into its wooden scabbard with a clang, relaxed his body, and was pulled backward with the boat by Empress Qiang. Under Hao Heavenly Venerate's gaze, his face disappeared into the chaotic mist.
Divine King Zu rushed over, sweeping the mist with the Heavenly Dao Supreme Treasure, but found no trace of Qin Mu. He was secretly alarmed.
"Divine King Zu, you're next." Qin Mu's voice came from somewhere unknown.