Chapter 1546: The Kaihuang Tests His Sword
Xiao Tianzun looked down at Kaihuang. In the early Longhan era, he had enfeoffed Qin Mu and Kaihuang as Mu Tianzun and Qin Tianzun. These two men had flashed briefly and then vanished.
Only Qin Mu, as Mu Tianzun, occasionally showed his face in Longhan’s history, participating in a series of major events.
But Qin Tianzun had disappeared without a trace, never revealing himself again, until a human youth named Qin Ye rose from the ruins of the Shanghuang era and established the Kaihuang Heavenly Court. Only then did Qin Tianzun reappear in Xiao Tianzun’s sight.
At that time, in just twenty thousand years, Kaihuang had leaped to become a terrifying opponent, forcing the Ten Tianzun to personally intervene and annihilate the Kaihuang era.
After that, Kaihuang went silent, hiding in the Land of No Worries. But the Ten Tianzun still constantly sent people to search for the Land of No Worries, because they knew this man would surely make a comeback!
The Nine Tianzun of Longhan were all worthy of their reputations. Each had achieved great accomplishments, earth-shattering feats!
"Qin Ye, have you attained the Dao?" Xiao Tianzun’s physical body shrank, his expression grave.
Kaihuang did not answer.
He didn’t need to.
The aura emanating from within him was the pure aura of the Sword Dao, without any impurities, giving a feeling of extreme sharpness yet restrained.
He stood there like a Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm, supreme and indestructible, while at the same time, he himself was like a sword sheath, hiding his sharpness within.
If the sharpness did not emerge, it would not harm anyone.
If the sharpness emerged, it would be vast as an ocean, sweeping all before it!
This was attaining the Dao—becoming the Dao!
Attaining the Dao was different from obtaining the Dao. Obtaining the Dao meant gaining the Dao, with cultivation having depths and shallows, and Dao conduct having highs and lows.
Attaining the Dao meant becoming the Dao, a world of difference from obtaining the Dao.
Xiao Tianzun’s expression grew even more solemn, even a little jealous. In just forty thousand years, Kaihuang had already attained the Dao!
Such a tiny human had cultivated to the supreme realm in only forty thousand years, while beings like him, born as the most powerful ancient gods, found it immensely difficult to attain the Dao!
"Back in the Kaihuang era, you proposed the Postcelestial Dao, and believed that the Postcelestial Dao could stand alongside the Precelestial Dao. When you said this, the Heavenly Court thought it was nonsense. Even Hao Tianzun, Hong Tianzun, and the other Ten Tianzun thought it was the biggest joke under heaven."
Xiao Tianzun quickly suppressed his jealousy, shrinking his body to about the same height as Kaihuang. The two stood on the God-Slaying Platform, but behind Xiao Tianzun, a brilliant light shone.
His Heavenly Court’s Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces and Forty Precious Halls blazed with fierce flames, covering a vast area, while his primordial spirit stood above the Lingxiao Precious Hall. His physical body was immense, covering the entire Heavenly Court, with an imperial might that overshadowed the world!
"I also thought you were just a clown at the time, but later I changed my opinion of you. Your Sword Dao is like a magnificent chapter. Looking at the universe from its creation to the present, there are few like it in the world."
Xiao Tianzun couldn’t help but praise, saying, "You only used one Heavenly Palace to cultivate the Sword Dao, to pioneer the Sword Dao, and in just twenty thousand years, you could stand alongside the Ten Tianzun. I have thought more than once, I was truly wise back then. In the early Longhan era, I enfeoffed the Nine Tianzun. Each of the nine Tianzun achieved extraordinary accomplishments. Such foresight is not something others can match. Among the wise rulers of the world, who can surpass me?"
Kaihuang remained unmoved.
Xiao Tianzun continued, "Later, you proposed the Dao Realm cultivation system, and I appreciated you even more. The Dao Realm cultivation system not only solved the problem of attaining the Dao through the Postcelestial Dao, but also solved the problem of attaining the Dao through the Precelestial Dao."
He couldn’t help but clap his hands in admiration, sincerely saying, "Qin Ye, Yu Tianzun’s greatest achievement was pioneering the path of cultivation, solving the problem of going from nothing to something. But he died too early. As for how to attain the Dao, he only proposed the concept of using the Heavenly Court as a model and attaining the Dao through power, leaving it for later generations to complete. To this day, this path has only just been fully realized. However, you proposed another path—the path of the Dao Realm. Your achievements are not much inferior to Yu Tianzun’s."
He fully displayed the bearing of a generation’s Heavenly Emperor, graceful and elegant, saying, "Qin Ye, I have to say, you surprised me. But if you want to hinder my attainment of the Dao, I will have no choice but to bury you. Do you know what your greatest weakness is?"
Kaihuang still stood there quietly, saying nothing.
Xiao Tianzun said, "It is that you came here with Mu Tianzun. The greatest capital of an attainer of the Dao is actually the Grand Celestial Realm. Your Sword Dao is imprinted on the Grand Celestial Realm, and within the Grand Celestial Realm lies your infinite power. But you attained the Dao in the present era, not in the past. And the era we are in is the past era. This is an era before you were even born."
He smiled slightly, looking around at the desert and yellow sand, leisurely saying, "This is forty thousand years ago. In this universe, there is no Grand Celestial Realm of yours. This is the ruins of the Shanghuang era. You abandoned your greatest advantage to come here, facing me, a being who attained the Dao through power. What a terrible move!"
In the distance, Qin Mu frowned slightly. Xiao Tianzun was not wrong about one thing. Kaihuang had just attained the Dao, and he had returned to the past, where there was no Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm.
Without the Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm, was Kaihuang really a match for Xiao Tianzun?
Kaihuang stood with his hands behind his back, a look of pure mockery in his eyes.
Xiao Tianzun struck without hesitation!
The moment he struck, heaven and earth shattered. This attack was aimed at Kaihuang, but the aura released by Xiao Tianzun caused the entire desert realm to almost be beaten into a chaotic state of Primordial Beginning Qi!
Countless grains of sand were pulverized into the smallest particles, and then the particles annihilated, returning to a chaotic state.
The countless dry bones in the desert tumbled in the Primordial Beginning Qi. Even divine bones were destroyed one after another, turning into Primordial Beginning Qi!
The full power of Xiao Tianzun’s strike erupted. The stars in the realm, already battered and broken, now exploded and annihilated one after another!
The entire shattered realm world seemed to return to a chaos without form, without substance, without body, reenacting the primordial era, the age when the heavens had not yet opened, the earth had not yet been divided, and the Dao had not yet taken shape!
Qin Mu saw that something was wrong. Xiao Tianzun had unleashed the power of attaining the Dao through power. The might that swept through was a great threat even to him. He acted decisively, raising the Taiyi Staff and thrusting it heavily into the ground.
Buzz—
The power of the Taiyi Staff erupted, spreading in all directions with him as the center, blocking the power contained in Xiao Tianzun’s divine ability.
Ling Tianzun stood by his side. The two immediately felt as if they were in a storm, like a lone boat in a raging sea, drifting with the waves, violently tossed up and down, left and right!
The two were shocked and their expressions turned grave.
In the sky, stars were still falling, crashing down towards them, but on the way down, they continuously collapsed and disintegrated, eventually turning into chaotic Primordial Beginning Qi, merging into the earth-shattering torrent!
Xiao Tianzun’s strength was too great. He had attained the Dao through power. In terms of power, Qin Mu had never seen anyone reach Xiao Tianzun’s level!
Primordial Beginning Qi was the Precelestial One Qi, born before the heavens, existing before the separation of heaven and earth. It evolved into the Grand Beginning, evolved into the Grand Simplicity, evolved into the Grand Polarity, and finally, when the heavens opened and the earth divided, the world came into being.
Xiao Tianzun was now pushing the Dao of Primordial Beginning to its extreme, making this ruined realm return to the state of Primordial Beginning, strengthening his own power!
At that moment, on the God-Slaying Platform, a sword light lit up, dazzlingly bright. When the sword light appeared, Qin Mu immediately felt the Sword Dao flourishing, omnipresent.
"The Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm?"
Qin Mu’s heart leaped, and he immediately sensed that the source of this Sword Dao was precisely the Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm!
But according to Xiao Tianzun’s words, this era should be after the fall of the Shanghuang era, before the birth of the Kaihuang era.
That is to say, Kaihuang had not yet been born.
Kaihuang had attained the Dao forty thousand years later, imprinting his Sword Dao on the Ultimate Void, achieving the Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm, cultivating the Dao Tree, and blooming the Dao Flower.
In terms of Sword Dao attainment, Qin Mu was already the number one person under Kaihuang. His perception would never be wrong.
But in the era they were currently in, there was no Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm. How did Kaihuang possess the Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm?
That sword light pierced through the rolling Primordial Beginning Qi in an instant. If Xiao Tianzun was making this ruined realm return to a chaotic state, turning it into Primordial Beginning Qi, then Kaihuang was using his sword to open the heavens and divide the earth, recreating the world!
Kaihuang’s Sword Dao was inherently grand and majestic. His first sword upon entering the Dao was the Imperial Peace Heaven-Leveling Sword. His thirty-six layers of the Sword Dao were all swords that opened the heavens and divided the earth!
In the chaotic Primordial Beginning One Qi, thirty-five layers of heaven appeared, and then another supreme heaven appeared, stabilizing the millstone-like rotating chaos.
The next moment, the sword light exploded, the chaos burst apart, and in the incredibly violent energy fluctuations, a figure flew backwards, bleeding all the way!
The sword light disappeared.
Kaihuang still stood on the God-Slaying Platform. The collision between the two had been so earth-shattering, but not a trace of power fell on the God-Slaying Platform.
This God-Slaying Platform was already battered and broken. If it suffered another heavy blow, it would likely shatter. But Xiao Tianzun’s heaven-shaking, earth-shattering strike had all been withstood by Kaihuang, without harming the platform.
Qin Mu quickly looked at Kaihuang, only to see blood at the corner of his mouth. Clearly, his injuries were not light either, and he was not having an easy time.
However, the one who had been sent flying, bleeding all the way, was not Kaihuang, but the seemingly more powerful Xiao Tianzun.
Xiao Tianzun’s injuries were even heavier than Kaihuang’s!
"I understand!"
Qin Mu’s eyes lit up, and he said in pleasant surprise, "I finally understand!"
Ling Tianzun didn’t know what he understood and looked at him curiously.
Qin Mu clenched his fists excitedly, saying nothing. Ling Tianzun tilted her head, thinking to herself, "Mu Tianzun should be quite old by now, but he still has a bit of a childish temper."
She smoothed her hair and put her hairpin back in place.
"Tai Chu, it is I who have attained the Dao, not the Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm that has attained the Dao."
Kaihuang still stood on the God-Slaying Platform, looking at Xiao Tianzun, who was still rolling and bleeding, and said calmly, "Whether or not there is a Sword Dao Grand Celestial Realm makes little difference to me. Because I am the Sword Dao, I am the Grand Celestial Realm, I am the Dao Tree of the Sword Dao, I am the Dao Flower on the Dao Tree."
"Right!"
Qin Mu said excitedly to Ling Tianzun, "That’s what I meant too!"
Ling Tianzun smiled, thinking to herself, "Still a child’s temper."
"I can rest assured now."
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief, took out the Heavenly Emperor’s physical body, his eyes flickering, and said with a smile, "Hao Tianzun is about to break free. Ling, we need to be prepared!"
Ling Tianzun frowned and said, "Hao Tianzun’s strength is no less than Xiao Tianzun’s. I’m afraid I won’t be of much help."
Qin Mu thought for a moment and said, "In the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, I saw the destruction and decline of sixteen universes and realized the principle of the birth and death of the universe. That is the principle of the conservation of mass and energy! The total mass and energy of the entire universe convert into each other, and the total amount of mass and energy remains unchanged. You have comprehended the indestructibility of matter. If you can go a step further and comprehend the indestructibility of mass and energy, perhaps even Taiyi would not be your match."
Ling Tianzun asked curiously, "What is the conservation of mass and energy? How do mass and energy transform?"
Qin Mu crouched down. There was still a patch of sand beneath the Taiyi Staff. He reached out his finger and drew on the sand, saying, "From the builder of the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, the master of the Miluo Palace, I comprehended a Hongmeng rune. I have been pondering it these days. Perhaps the secret of the transformation of mass and energy is hidden within this rune. But I still don’t quite understand the conversion of mass and energy. It requires extremely complex calculations. And the Dao patterns of the master of the Miluo Palace hide the transformation of these runes."
Ling Tianzun also crouched down, looked for a moment, took out her hairpin, and also drew on the ground. The two calculated together.
On the other side, Kaihuang and Xiao Tianzun were fighting a battle that tore heaven and earth apart, but the two of them turned a blind eye and a deaf ear.
"Mu Tianzun, you have finally died by my hand! Hahaha!"
Hao Tianzun’s voice came. Qin Mu glanced over and saw Hao Tianzun with a tattered bell on his head. The bell was full of holes, letting wind through everywhere.
He withdrew his gaze and continued to calculate with Ling Tianzun.
Hao Tianzun burst out from the forty-thousand-year river of time, ecstatic, but suddenly saw that in the storm formed by the battle between Kaihuang and Xiao Tianzun, a staff propped up a patch of pure land. Qin Mu was perfectly fine, not dead at all. Instead, he was crouched on the ground with Ling Tianzun, their heads touching, writing something on the ground.
Hao Tianzun grunted, blood at the corner of his mouth.
"Didn’t you say that as long as I killed the more than twenty thousand versions of you from the past forty thousand years, you would die?" he murmured.
"I didn’t say I would die."
Qin Mu stood up, a half-smile on his face, and said, "Besides, you actually believed that, nephew?"
------Happy birthday to Night Cat! May everything go as you wish!