Chapter 1538: Only After Calamity Comes Survival
At this moment, two Heavenly Rivers appeared in the sky above the Yong River channel. One was the original Yong River, floating in the air; the other had sailed here from forty thousand years ago, its surging waters rolling forward, extending into the distance, shrouded in thick mist.
Within the mist, the long river stretched further and further, crossing the entire Yan Kang in a short time, reaching deep into the void.
The place where the Heavenly River vanished into the void was the Fallen God Valley that Qin Mu had discovered long ago, the location of the Upper Emperor Heaven Court.
The Heavenly River in Fallen God Valley also flowed through the air toward the Upper Emperor Heaven Court, but the Upper Emperor Heaven Court had already been sealed. The blind old man Yi Shisheng stood guard there, day after day, year after year, collecting Ling Tianzun's corpse.
Qin Mu urged Ling Tianzun's hairpin with one hand while drawing a large circle with the other, manifesting a divine technique: the Taiji Evolution of Yin and Yang, to block the assault of the Vermilion Bird's physical body.
A massive Taiji diagram appeared in the sky. The Imperial Emperor, controlling the Vermilion Bird's body, extended both claws, tearing the Taiji diagram apart. Blazing flames ignited the diagram.
The moment he tore through the Taiji diagram, he saw Qin Mu had already left the city tower and stepped into the mist.
Without a word, the Imperial Emperor drove the Vermilion Bird's body into the mist. The Vermilion Bird flew at great speed within the mist, but strangely, the mist and the Heavenly River within it seemed impossibly long.
At the same time as the two entered the mist, Heavenly Lord Hao also arrived above the Yong River.
The mist spread, lingering without dissipating.
Simultaneously, Heavenly Lord Gong, Heavenly Lord Xu, Ancestral God King, and Langxuan Divine Emperor rushed toward the Tai Xu region. Before they even reached it, they saw the two Taiji Ancient Gods arriving as well. Behind the heads of the two ancient gods, their Taiji sand plates sparkled with starlight, countless stars trailing behind them.
The several Heavenly Lords exchanged glances. "Heavenly Lord Xiao sent these two ancient gods. It seems he also values the Land of No Sorrow highly and cannot tolerate the Opening Emperor walking out of the Other Shore Void."
The Opening Emperor and the Land of No Sorrow were trapped in the Other Shore Void like rats in a hole—they could be eliminated whenever the Heavenly Court wished.
But if the Opening Emperor and the Land of No Sorrow broke out, catching them all in one net would not be so easy.
Although Heavenly Lord Xiao and Heavenly Lord Hao were nearly at odds, their interests still aligned. Therefore, whether it was Heavenly Lord Hao or Heavenly Lord Xiao, both would send powerful forces to intercept the Opening Emperor as he left the Other Shore Void.
The several Heavenly Lords walked side by side with the two Taiji Ancient Gods. Just as they arrived at the Tai Xu region, they saw a burning figure flying backward, covered in thousands of sword wounds, blood spraying everywhere!
The four Heavenly Lords and the two ancient gods were startled. Suddenly, a sword light rushed toward them. The four Heavenly Lords shouted in unison and struck out to block it. The moment their divine techniques touched the sword light, they were shattered!
Heavenly Lord Gong activated her horn, boosting everyone's blood and qi, but the next moment, the horn was severed, and the thrilling sound of the horn ceased!
Heavenly Lord Gong's divine consciousness erupted. Just as she was about to surge along the sword light, a sword cry rang out, reaching deep into her Dao heart.
Heavenly Lord Gong's expression changed drastically. Within her Dao heart, the Opening Emperor's sword light exploded. Chi chi chi! Sword lights burst from within her body, piercing her five viscera and six bowels, breaking through her skin. In an instant, she was covered in blood, her cultivation and strength greatly diminished!
The heavenly palace behind her head also collapsed. Her cultivation plummeted sharply, and she immediately fled, shocked and furious. "Tai Su never fully healed my sword wounds! The wounds the Opening Emperor left me during the Xuan Du battle are still there!"
As her internal sword wounds erupted, Langxuan Divine Emperor's Divine Yuan Finger was broken by the sudden sword light. He didn't just lose a finger—as he activated his Divine Yuan Finger technique, all ten fingers fell from his hands one by one.
He saw his Divine Yuan Finger technique finally erupt, but instead of a finger striking out, it was a stream of his own divine blood spurting from the severed fingers, turning into blood arrows.
Langxuan Divine Emperor's expression became extremely strange. His Divine Yuan Finger had been broken once before, during the siege of Qin Mu in the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, when Qin Mu had severed his fingers.
He hadn't expected to repeat that so soon!
Qin Mu used a sword; the Opening Emperor also used a sword—almost the same sword technique, but even more seasoned!
Back then, Langxuan Divine Emperor was decrepit and aged. Now, he had recovered to his peak, yet he still had his fingers severed by a single sword strike!
At the same time his ten fingers fell, the Opening Emperor's sword light reached his brow.
"How is Qin Ye this strong?" Langxuan Divine Emperor felt despair.
Just then, the Dao fruit behind his head in his heavenly palace suddenly became vivid. It actively controlled his blood and qi, his cultivation. Countless Dao chains rose from the heavenly palace, interweaving into a divine technique to meet the Opening Emperor's sword light.
Langxuan Divine Emperor's hair stood on end. At this moment, he felt that his blood and qi, his cultivation, even his heavenly palace and primordial spirit, were no longer his own!
It was as if another person lived inside him, someone with boundless foundation, slowly taking over his physical body and primordial spirit, like a cuckoo occupying a magpie's nest!
He hadn't noticed it before, but now, facing the Opening Emperor's killing blow, that person inside him could no longer hold back and began to seize his body and spirit!
"Lord Mu wasn't wrong—that Dao fruit is extremely strange!"
As this thought crossed his mind, the Dao fruit had already controlled his Yuan Qi, turning it into Dao chains that blocked the Opening Emperor's sword strike.
Langxuan Divine Emperor's brow split open, nearly pierced by the sword light into his brain. The Dao fruit fell silent after blocking the strike.
Seizing the opportunity, Langxuan Divine Emperor immediately turned and fled. As he turned, he saw another of Heavenly Lord Xu's long horns being severed by a sword light.
The wound Heavenly Lord Xu received was almost identical to the one in the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court. There, Qin Mu had used the same sword move to cut off one of Heavenly Lord Xu's horns!
Now, the Opening Emperor used the same move to sever her other horn!
Langxuan fled, then saw Ancestral God King overtaking him at an even faster speed, running from behind him to ahead of him.
In that inadvertent glance, he noticed that Ancestral God King's sword wounds were almost exactly the same as those Qin Mu had left on him in the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court!
"Lord Mu and the Opening Emperor both share the surname Qin, and both are sword users! Every sword strike targets our weaknesses! That's why our sword wounds are identical!"
He was horrified. "But Lord Mu had to fight a battle to defeat us when we were old and decrepit. This Opening Emperor didn't even exchange a single blow before severely wounding us! This bastard..."
A terrifying thought arose in his mind: "Has he already achieved Dao? Why is Ancestral God King running faster than me? Right, as long as he runs faster than me, he can escape alive! Damn it..."
"Congratulations, Daoist Opening Emperor! You have achieved Dao!"
Langxuan heard the voices of the Taiji Ancient Gods. The two ancient gods spoke with joy, saying, "With the Dao of the Sword achieved, the Opening Emperor can now be called the number one person under heaven! How enviable!"
Suddenly, the sword light became blindingly bright, followed by a rapid series of clashing sounds. The Taiji sand plate expanded violently, transforming into the Taiji Star Domain. The star domain spread out, chasing after the fleeing Langxuan Divine Emperor.
Just as the Taiji Star Domain was about to engulf Langxuan, the companion treasure suddenly split apart. The two Taiji Ancient Gods each grunted, the sound coming from behind Langxuan Divine Emperor.
Langxuan's hair stood on end. He saw the two Taiji Ancient Gods covered in blood, every snake scale on their bodies split open by a sword strike, rushing from behind him to ahead of him.
It was then that Langxuan Divine Emperor realized the two ancient gods' companion treasure, the Taiji sand plate, had been split in two. Each ancient god had half behind their head—clearly, the Opening Emperor had cleaved this treasure apart with a single sword strike!
Langxuan Divine Emperor's fear was beyond measure. The Opening Emperor, having achieved Dao, was terrifyingly powerful. In terms of pure strength, he might even surpass Heavenly Lord Hao and Heavenly Lord Xiao!
"But these two ancient gods are also faster than me!"
Langxuan Divine Emperor was utterly despairing, lamenting inwardly, "Wasn't that Dao fruit supposed to seize my body? Why did it only resist once and then stop? Come on, hurry—!"
He accelerated with all his might, chasing the several Heavenly Lords ahead. Behind him, the Opening Emperor's sword light faded. He stepped out of the Land of No Sorrow and walked unhurriedly toward the Yuan Realm.
Behind the Opening Emperor, the thirty-three heavens of the Land of No Sorrow parted one by one. The continents of those heavens spread out in a line, and countless gods and demons surged forth, charging toward the Heavenly Court's army of gods and demons.
"Back to the Yuan Realm!"
Countless Opening Emperor soldiers shouted, their voices shaking the heavens: "Fight our way back to the Yuan Realm, back to our homeland!"
The Heavenly Court's army stationed here had already been defeated. Yin Heavenly Lord, Shang Pingyin, and others controlled the troops, preventing a rout and putting up a desperate resistance.
"It's time to go to the Yong River."
The Opening Emperor's gaze turned toward the Yuan Realm. Just then, the voice of Lang Wan Divine King reached him: "Qin Ye, are you truly abandoning the Other Shore Void and entering the Yuan Realm?"
The Opening Emperor looked back. Lang Wan Divine King stood in the distance, bowing to him from afar.
The Opening Emperor returned the bow, saying, "The Void Bridge has long been unable to block the Heavenly Court's Heavenly Lords. The Other Shore Void no longer has any reason to exist. Divine King, your Creator race should also consider its future. Take the initiative to enter the world and face the calamity. Only after calamity comes survival."
"Survival after calamity?"
Lang Wan Divine King was stunned for a moment, then bowed deeply to him. "Thank you for the guidance, Dao Brother."
The woman raised her head, but the Opening Emperor had already vanished.
Lang Wan Divine King pondered for a moment, then turned and returned to the Other Shore Void. Her divine consciousness rose, merging with the Ancestral Spirit Realm.
"Ancestral spirits of the Creators, the time has come again for the Creator race to make a life-or-death decision. That is why I have awakened you."
Her divine consciousness was vast and boundless, rippling through the Ancestral Spirit Realm as she asked the ancestral spirits who had created the Other Shore Void: "Only by taking the initiative to enter the world and face the calamity can there be survival. Should the Creator race move into the world as a whole and participate in this great calamity for the orthodox rule of heaven and earth?"
In the Ancestral Spirit Realm, one massive spirit after another awoke from slumber. Their divine consciousnesses touched, and in an instant, they grasped everything Lang Wan Divine King knew.
"Too dangerous."
One ancient spirit's divine consciousness rippled, saying, "Divine King, you are gambling the lives of our entire Creator race on an impossible future. Our Creator race has held this sacred ground, which no one can breach. It is not fitting to participate in this calamity of the Heavenly Lords' struggle."
Other ancient spirits vibrated their divine consciousnesses in agreement: "Divine King, as the only remaining Divine King of the Creator race, you must be responsible for all our people. You cannot gamble their lives on a vague and uncertain future."
Lang Wan Divine King frowned.
"We must go!"
Suddenly, a frantic voice came, shouting harshly, "We must go! Staying here is nothing but floating duckweed without roots! Only the outside world is the true domain for us Creators to gallop across!"
The many ancient spirits looked over and frowned. The speaker was the one ancestral spirit who had always been mad and delirious: Luo Xiao.