Chapter 1529: The Golden Ship's Hobby
The Salvation Golden Ship sailed out of the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, sunlight cascading down, bright and warm.
For over three years, they had seen no daylight. Encountering the sun so abruptly, they found it somewhat dazzling.
"Empress Dowager was the most powerful cultivator to achieve the Dao in the history of our universe, yet this strongest of Dao-achievers has turned into a madwoman!"
Qin Mu stood at the bow, still unable to accept this fact for a moment.
Heavenly Lord Hao and Heavenly Lord Xiao could temporarily wield the power of a Dao-achiever, but they couldn't sustain it. Though powerful, they hadn't fully stabilized in the Heavenly Court realm. Only Empress Dowager had firmly established herself in that realm.
Calling her the foremost in history was not an overstatement.
After all, if what the master of Miluo Palace said was true, Taiyi was a stowaway, not a lifeform of this universe. Therefore, Empress Dowager was absolutely the number one in history. Even Heavenly Emperor Taichu at his peak, or Tai Emperor at his peak, would be slightly inferior to her!
But Empress Dowager had still gone mad.
On the Salvation Golden Ship, the two Taiji Ancient Gods began to restore their appearances. The divine power and cultivation they had lost due to aging were also recovering rapidly. After a short while, the two Ancient Gods were restored to their former selves. They exchanged glances and swam over to Qin Mu.
Before they could speak, Qin Mu smiled and said, "Two Daoist brothers, Empress Dowager went mad under your guidance. So this time, who will you guide?"
The two Ancient Gods looked at each other. Lunar Goddess smiled bitterly and said, "Pastoral Lord mocks us. We emerged early for our own path to Dao-achievement. The reason we guided Empress Dowager was that she and her sister were similar to us. Stones from other mountains can polish jade, so we helped her achieve the Dao."
Solar Ancient God added, "Our research this time yielded much, bringing us one step closer to Dao-achievement. We will no longer guide Empress Dowager. Since we have a connection with Pastoral Lord, why not guide Pastoral Lord to achieve the Dao?"
Qin Mu burst into laughter.
The two Ancient Gods wore smiles.
Qin Mu's laughter subsided. He slowly shook his head and said, "Two Daoist brothers, Empress Dowager was so formidable, yet she went mad under your guidance. How dare I accept your blessings? Let's not make such jokes."
The two Ancient Gods were taken aback. Lunar Goddess said displeasedly, "Pastoral Lord, in the current world, those who can truly be called Ancient Gods number only five. Taiyi, Taichu, Taishi, Taisu, and us. The other so-called Ancient Gods each have their own flaws, not even perfect. How can they be called innate Ancient Gods? With our help, your great cause can be achieved!"
Qin Mu smiled ambiguously. "Yet you are too self-righteous. You claim to have helped Empress Dowager achieve the Dao, but you never asked her opinion. You directly captured her, forcibly merged her with Yuanmu, disregarding all consequences. The result was that you created this terrifying, insane monster. If I were to use you, I would have to constantly watch my back, worried that you might take it upon yourselves to experiment on me."
He chuckled lightly. "You have the heart to achieve the Dao, but you lack humanity. I cannot use you, nor do I dare to. Two Daoist brothers, please take your leave."
Solar Ancient God frowned and was about to speak when Lunar Goddess said, "If he doesn't use us, it's his loss, not ours! Daoist brother Taichu has long invited us. Let's go guide Taichu, help him defeat all opponents, and seize the world!"
Solar Ancient God sighed and said to Qin Mu, "Pastoral Lord, after this parting, we will still not be your enemies in the future, but please rest assured."
Qin Mu smiled. "No need to see you off."
The two Ancient Gods leaped off the golden ship. Suddenly, golden light flickered on the ship, and with a *shua* sound, it wrapped around them.
The two Ancient Gods were startled: "Pastoral Lord is taking the opportunity to kill us!"
The golden light wrapped around them and began pulling them back onto the ship. The two Ancient Gods exchanged glances. The Taiji Sand Table, their accompanying innate treasure, spun with a roar, forcibly cutting through the golden light binding their bodies. The two immediately broke through the air and fled!
Afraid that Qin Mu would continue pursuing them, the Taiji Sand Table spun behind them, countless grains of sand flying everywhere, transforming into stars.
From a distance, countless points of starlight sparkled behind them, quite beautiful.
*Whoosh—*
The two Taiji Ancient Gods fled away, and the star sand followed them with a roar, quickly disappearing without a trace. Lunar Goddess's voice came from afar: "Pastoral Lord, you saw us about to defect to Taichu and wanted to eliminate us. Such cruel and unjust behavior will surely bring divine retribution!"
"How strange..."
Qin Mu frowned slightly. The golden light that had tried to trap the Taiji Ancient Gods was not his doing, but the Salvation Golden Ship's. This ship had acted on its own without his orders, attempting to detain the two Taiji Ancient Gods. It was truly bizarre.
"Is there something fishy about this ship?"
He released his divine consciousness, attempting to imprint his mark on the Salvation Golden Ship. To his surprise, the imprinting went very smoothly. The ship didn't resist him at all, allowing him to brand it.
Qin Mu grew even more curious. He searched the ship with his divine consciousness and immediately discovered many hidden places on board.
"Heavenly Lord Hao and Heavenly Lord Xiao might emerge from Jade Capital City at any time. I'd better leave here first and return to the World Tree before making further plans."
He steered the golden ship toward the World Tree, thinking to himself, "Offending the Taiji Ancient Gods for no reason is truly an undeserved calamity. But speaking of which, if they defect to Taichu, then Taichu will likely suffer misfortune sooner or later, only hastening his downfall. These two Ancient Gods are too self-serving and act on their own. They are more hindrance than help."
Suddenly, golden light flashed on the ship again. Qin Mu quickly looked and saw several ancient giant beasts appear on the deck!
These ancient giant beasts had no idea what had happened. One of them still had a large tree dangling from its mouth, staring blankly at Qin Mu, clearly having been feeding when the golden ship captured it.
Qin Mu frowned. Suddenly, another flash of golden light, and several more giant beasts were brought aboard.
"What's wrong with this ship?" Qin Mu was stunned.
In the blink of an eye, there were over a hundred giant beasts of various sizes on the ship, all looking at Qin Mu at the bow with terrified expressions.
Before long, the number of giant beasts on the ship reached several thousand. As the ship flew, it continuously cast beams of golden light, capturing all kinds of giant beasts, birds, fish, and insects from the towering mountains and great rivers of the Ancestral Court, stuffing them all onto the ship!
Qin Mu suddenly understood and laughed despite himself. "The Salvation Golden Ship has the name 'Salvation.' It seems this ship intends to load all living beings aboard! No wonder the Taiji Ancient Gods mistakenly thought I wanted to kill them. The golden ship also considered them beings to be saved, so it tried to keep them on board. This ship's temperament is quite similar to Star Hound's box..."
He sent out his divine consciousness, telling the ship that this was not the end times. This universe was still very young, and the Great Destruction Calamity had not yet arrived. There was no need to gather these living beings into the ship.
The Salvation Golden Ship became more restrained. It flew through the air, golden light dancing, but stopped capturing the living beings below in the Ancestral Court.
Qin Mu's primordial energy surged out, wrapping around the giant beast that still had a tree in its mouth, intending to send it back to land. But as soon as he sent the beast off the ship, golden light flashed and wrapped around it again.
Qin Mu tried his best to drive his primordial energy, but he still couldn't send the beast away. He said helplessly, "The Great Destruction Calamity is still countless eons away. There really is no need to gather living beings into the ship now."
The golden light relaxed slightly. Qin Mu quickly urged his primordial energy, sending the beast down from the ship.
Suddenly, golden light flashed again, wrapping around the beast and placing it back on the ship.
Qin Mu laughed in exasperation, but saw the golden light gently stroking the beast's head, as if comforting it.
The beast didn't dare move, still holding the tree in its mouth.
Qin Mu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He thought to himself, "Never mind. When we return to the World Tree, I'll release these beasts."
The Salvation Golden Ship gradually picked up speed, faster and faster. Qin Mu stood at the bow, full of high spirits, thinking, "Only seven of the Ten Heavenly Lords remain. The situation is getting better and better..."
He then frowned. Although only seven of the Ten Heavenly Lords remained, it was no longer like before, full of deceit and intrigue. The current Seven Heavenly Lords were divided into two factions: one led by Heavenly Lord Hao, and Heavenly Lord Xiao standing alone.
Moreover, both Heavenly Lord Hao and Heavenly Lord Xiao had solved the problem of the Heavenly Court realm. With guidance from the Fourth Young Master and Third Young Master of Miluo Palace, they had likely gained tremendous benefits from Miluo Palace!
Once they emerged from Miluo Palace, there would likely be a final showdown for power!
This showdown would determine whether Heavenly Lord Hao or Heavenly Lord Xiao would become the true ruler of this world!
Whether Heavenly Lord Hao or Heavenly Lord Xiao won, it would be far from good for Eternal Peace or Carefree Village!
His heart felt heavy. He turned to look back at Jade Capital City.
"Jade Capital and Miluo—these two realms, I must cultivate! But the Seventy-Two Treasure Halls are in the hands of various Heavenly Lords. That's a difficult problem..."
He closed his eyes, carefully recalling what he had seen in the Sixteenth Universe: the master of Miluo Palace forging Jade Capital City, using the divine city to survive the Great Destruction Calamity.
He felt like a firsthand witness, personally participating in the process of forging the divine city and imprinting the Great Dao, and also like he had experienced the Great Destruction Calamity multiple times, standing within the city, watching the thousands of palaces and halls emit various Dao lights to withstand the catastrophe.
He quietly meditated. He didn't know how long passed before the Salvation Golden Ship gently came to a stop, already beneath the World Tree.
Qin Mu looked up. The World Tree in the Ancestral Court had grown even taller and more majestic than before. Its canopy covered the Ten Thousand Black Mountains. The deities of Eternal Peace had somehow found a sun, making it orbit the World Tree to provide light for the Ten Thousand Mountains.
"It seems no problems arose during the few years I was away."
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief and jumped off the ship. The people in the sacred mountain had long noticed the ship and gathered around, stroking the golden ship. Qin Mu was in a hurry to see Xu Huasheng and Lan Yutian, so he quickly said, "Don't get too close. This ship has a strange temperament." Then he hurried away.
Blind man stroked the golden ship, laughing, "This ship has a temper?"
Before he finished speaking, a beam of golden light fell with a *shua* sound, wrapping around him tightly. The next moment, Blind man was on the ship.
Blind man exclaimed in surprise. He looked around and saw that everyone below had also been brought onto the ship by this vessel!
Everyone cried out in alarm, trying to leave the ship, but no matter how astonishing their divine abilities, they couldn't escape from it.