Chapter 1522: The First Rune
Qin Mu did not pay her any attention. He took out two Qiankun Mirrors and examined the Dao patterns on the palace walls. This visit to Miluo Palace had resolved one of his doubts—the Jade Capital trap.
The Jade Capital trap was not located in the Jade Capital realm itself, but rather in the Lingxiao realm and the Divine Throne realm.
Judging by the layout of the treasure halls in Miluo Palace, the seventy-two halls included the Lingxiao Hall, the Purple Firmament Hall, the Supreme Hall, and others. The master of Miluo Palace’s Lingxiao Treasure Hall, the Third Young Master, had used a trick of substituting one thing for another, making the Lingxiao Hall the dominant force and turning it into a realm.
The Third Young Master of Miluo Palace had deliberately led people astray, using the power of the world to strengthen himself, binding all future cosmic powerhouses who cultivated the Lingxiao and Divine Throne realms to his chariot.
When people cultivated the Lingxiao realm and the Divine Throne realm, the foundation of their Dao techniques and divine abilities was his Lingxiao Hall. Cultivating these two realms meant helping him cultivate his Great Dao and enhance his Dao attainment.
Moreover, the Lingxiao Hall was connected to the Dao techniques and divine abilities of all Lingxiao and Divine Throne powerhouses across the world. These powerhouses had to protect the Lingxiao Hall and protect the Third Young Master, standing on the same front as him, or else their Dao attainment would be lost.
More critically, cultivating his Lingxiao Hall meant that even if they became his enemies, he could easily kill them.
And the key figure in the Jade Capital trap was the Heavenly Emperor, Grand Primordium.
The true Jade Capital realm, aside from the seventy-two treasure halls, was Miluo Palace.
The master of Miluo Palace had already transformed into the Dao, becoming the Dao itself. This meant that by replacing the Lingxiao and Divine Throne realms with Miluo Palace, one could avoid the trap.
Qin Mu remained in Miluo Palace and did not leave, his purpose being to explore the Miluo realm.
The seventy-two treasure halls had been divided among the ten Heavenly Lords, making it difficult to obtain the complete set of seventy-two halls. Qin Mu had already explored over a dozen treasure halls, and the others could only be taken from the other Heavenly Lords.
Soon, he became immersed in the Dao patterns of the master of Miluo Palace. Then, he discovered something remarkable.
When he used his vertical brow eye to examine the Dao patterns of the master of Miluo Palace, he could actually see the internal structure of the Dao patterns, and even see the deepest Hongmeng primordial qi runes without needing the Qiankun Mirrors!
Qin Mu’s heart stirred, and he tried to activate his vertical brow eye.
Originally, he had only regarded this eye as a divine eye capable of seeing through chaotic qi, unable to activate its other functions. Whenever he tried to do so, the Grand Beginning eggshell that formed the eye’s retina would always stir up chaotic qi, leaving his vision shrouded in chaos and unable to see anything.
But now, when he activated this vertical eye, the chaotic sensation disappeared. Instead, the Dao patterns of Miluo Palace became incredibly clear, instantly revealing all their changes in perfect detail!
The Dao patterns reflected by Wei Suifeng using the Deaf Man’s Qiankun Mirrors only showed their form, without any changes; everything was fixed.
Now, with his vertical brow eye, Qin Mu saw that these Dao patterns were constantly changing at every moment!
Dao patterns were already extremely complex, containing nearly infinite information, making them extremely difficult to comprehend.
Now, seeing the internal changes of the Dao patterns, Qin Mu was even more astonished.
The changes in the Dao patterns of Miluo Palace at every instant meant that the information they conveyed was several times greater than that of fixed, unchanging Dao patterns!
The Dao patterns reflected by the two Qiankun Mirrors were merely a billionth of the information contained in the Dao patterns!
When his vertical brow eye examined the structure of the Dao patterns, he could also see the transformation process from Supreme Polarity to Grand Simplicity, to Grand Beginning, Grand Primordium, and Grand Initiation!
He watched with rapt fascination.
The information contained in the Dao patterns of the master of Miluo Palace was immense. A single Dao pattern could fill the limitless space of two Qiankun Mirrors, which was certainly terrifying, but what impressed him even more was the master of Miluo Palace’s mastery.
The Dao attainment of an existence at such a level was beyond words, and his knowledge left even a Heavenly Lord-level existence like Qin Mu in awe!
“Strange, my vertical eye couldn’t see these things before. Why can it see them now?”
Qin Mu suddenly recalled that drop of tear, and thought to himself, “Could it be that the tear on the master of Miluo Palace’s Dao tree awakened the power of my vertical eye?”
He fell silent.
Grand Initiation had used Dao dew to allow his vertical brow eye to see, piercing through chaos, while the tear of the master of Miluo Palace had enabled him to wield the power of this eye.
Both of these seniors had been very kind to him. However, the master of Miluo Palace’s evaluation of Grand Initiation left him unsettled.
Suddenly, Qin Mu smiled and said, “The master of Miluo Palace asked me how many tears I needed, and I foolishly didn’t answer. Looking back now, I should have asked for more.”
His state of mind returned to normal, and he stopped dwelling on Grand Initiation’s identity.
Whether Grand Initiation was a prehistoric Dao-achiever or not, he no longer wanted to agonize over it. The elders of the Village of Broken Elders had taught him from a young age that to truly know a person, one must not only listen to their words but also observe their actions.
Don’t just look at what they say; look at what they do.
Don’t lose your own judgment because of others’ evaluations.
Whether Grand Initiation was a prehistoric Dao-achiever or not, his past actions had been beneficial to this universe. He had cut down the World Tree, guarded the Great Dark Mountain, and prevented prehistoric Dao-achievers from descending and invading—so that was good.
Grand Initiation had repaired the Great Dark Mountain, helped Qin Mu solve the World Tree problem, and helped the Yan’an people establish a foothold at the Great Dark Mountain and the Ancestral Court. To this day, he used the Dao dew from his Dao tree to repair the cracks in the Great Dark Mountain—so that was good.
This was his grace to this world.
Qin Mu’s ability to open his vertical brow eye and grow a World Tree within his own body were also related to him.
This was his grace to Qin Mu.
As repayment, and as a return for his past deeds, Qin Mu would still follow the map to rescue him, regardless of his true identity.
As for their respective stances after rescuing Grand Initiation, that would depend on continuing to observe his words and actions.
“If his actions do not conflict with my principles, and we still share the same goals, then he and I will remain Dao companions.”
Qin Mu smiled calmly, feeling that he could finally face all future changes with ease. His heart was at peace, and his Dao heart was clear and bright. “If his actions conflict with my principles and our goals diverge, then he and I will be enemies.”
Having thought through all this, his mind was free of any further entanglement, and he continued studying the Dao patterns of the master of Miluo Palace.
These Dao patterns had too many changes and contained extremely complex information. Qin Mu estimated that if he stayed here and studied just a single Dao pattern, the time required would be measured in tens of thousands of years.
“I don’t have that much time to waste.”
His eyes flickered, and he had an idea. “Instead of staying here observing the changes in the Dao patterns, it’s better to study their foundation. First, figure out the deepest Hongmeng primordial qi rune. Once I understand the Hongmeng primordial qi rune, I can try to reconstruct the Dao patterns layer by layer through the underlying changes.”
The underlying changes were the Five Great Transformations. After observing for so long, he felt that the Five Great Transformations contained in the Dao patterns of the master of Miluo Palace should be reversible.
It was possible to go from the Grand Initiation state of Hongmeng primordial qi, through the Five Great Transformations, to evolve into Supreme Polarity primordial qi, and also to go from Supreme Polarity primordial qi back to Hongmeng primordial qi.
Qin Mu was already attempting to transform his own primordial qi into Supreme Polarity primordial qi. If he could figure out the Hongmeng primordial qi rune, he could try to reverse the Five Great Transformations and convert his primordial qi into Hongmeng primordial qi.
“Once I understand the Five Great Transformations, I can imitate the Dao patterns of the master of Miluo Palace, trying to replicate them exactly. Then, I can deduce their incredibly complex internal changes, thereby obtaining the information contained in these runes. This will be countless times faster than sitting here slowly comprehending them!”
As for his own talent and comprehension, Qin Mu was self-aware. He was not the smartest person in the world, nor did he have the best talent or insight.
Xu Shenghua was smarter than him, Jiang Baigui had better comprehension, and Lan Yutian’s talent far surpassed his.
He couldn’t compare to these people, so he had to use lazy methods as much as possible, finding shortcuts to compensate for his shortcomings in intelligence, insight, and talent.
“Strange! All the Dao patterns on the walls of Miluo Palace have the same Hongmeng primordial qi rune at their core!”
Qin Mu observed for a long time, and his expression grew increasingly peculiar. There was only one Hongmeng primordial qi rune—this was truly an astonishing anomaly!
All the Heavenly Daos in the world had multiple basic runes. For example, the Dao of Thunder had several hundred innate runes, and the Dao of Heavenly Yin had as many as three hundred and twenty-four runes.
As for acquired Daos like the Sword Dao, they had no runes, but basic sword techniques could be considered runes. The Sword Dao had twenty basic runes. This was because the development of the Sword Dao had not yet reached its peak.
Beyond the twenty basic sword techniques, there might be Sword Twenty-One or Sword Twenty-Two, but they had not yet been created by anyone.
The more basic runes there were, the more variations there were—this was common sense.
Yet, the Hongmeng primordial qi rune was only one.
One single rune, evolving Grand Initiation, Grand Primordium, Grand Beginning, Grand Simplicity, Supreme Polarity, and from Supreme Polarity evolving the Heavenly Daos, and from the Heavenly Daos evolving infinite changes!
“The knowledge of the master of Miluo Palace can only be looked up to like a mountain.”
Qin Mu sighed in admiration and devoted himself wholeheartedly to understanding the mysteries contained in this Hongmeng rune, his mind focused without distraction.
Not far from him, the woman within the Dao fruit was calling out to Miluo Palace in Dao language, trying to gain the master of Miluo Palace’s permission to enter the palace.
But the gates of Miluo Palace never opened.
A few more days passed, and a Dao tree sailed in from the Chaotic Long River, arriving at Miluo Palace.
Qin Mu was awakened by the aura of Heavenly Lord Hao, and he looked into the distance. He saw Heavenly Lord Hao, Ancestral God King, Palace Heavenly Lord, and others walking down from the Dao tree. Langxuan Divine Emperor was also among them.
Clearly, because of Heavenly Lord Xiao’s defeat, Langxuan Divine Emperor had been forced to defect to Heavenly Lord Hao.
“Heavenly Lord Hao’s momentum is unstoppable. Once he leaves the Ancestral Court’s Jade Capital City, it should be time for him to claim the title of Heavenly Emperor and conquer all directions!”
Qin Mu’s heart tightened. Heavenly Lord Hao had no rivals left. The position of Heavenly Emperor was within his grasp!
“Then, which young master of Miluo Palace is behind Heavenly Lord Hao?”
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he saw Heavenly Lord Hao stride forward, not heading toward the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, but toward the Purple Firmament Hall!
“Which young master is in the Purple Firmament Hall?” Qin Mu asked.
The woman within the Dao fruit had been unable to enter Miluo Palace to meet its master, remaining dazed and lost, and she replied, “The one in the Purple Firmament Hall is the Fourth Young Master.”
“The Fourth Young Master? That’s the emperor under the tree I encountered on the surface of the Seventh Chaotic Long River! So that means…”
Qin Mu’s expression shifted unpredictably. “Did Heavenly Lord Hao hook up with the Fourth Young Master of Miluo Palace while crossing the Seventh Chaotic Long River? Was his victory over Heavenly Lord Xiao due to this Fourth Young Master’s guidance? Or had they been colluding long before that?”