Chapter 1550: The Girls Who Protected You in Those Years
At the source of the Surging River stood an ancient peach tree, beyond measure in age.
This peach tree was bizarre. Though incredibly ancient, it remained alive, as if time could leave no mark upon it.
Even stranger was that when your gaze fell upon it, it existed, standing there.
When your gaze looked away, it vanished, as if it had never been.
It existed simultaneously in both existence and non-existence. The only way to determine whether it truly existed depended entirely on whether you observed it.
It was Ling Tianzun's hairpin.
Ling Tianzun's peachwood hairpin had been planted here, taking root and sprouting, for forty thousand years now. Winter passed and spring came, the peach tree revived, growing branches and leaves, blooming with peach blossoms. By summer, fruit hung from its boughs, and at the end of summer, the peaches ripened, releasing a fragrant aroma.
A woman in green robes would come beneath the tree, pluck peaches, and taste them.
Once, the Kai Emperor had dredged the Surging River's channel here, stopping beneath the peach tree to pick a few peaches to quench his thirst. He had lingered here several times, as if searching for someone. Whether he actually found that person was not something outsiders could know.
Ling Tianzun, like her hairpin, existed between existence and non-existence.
Her situation, and that of her hairpin, was even more complex.
She existed simultaneously within the immutable substance formed by the Immutable Divine Ability's cross-section of the Heavenly River, and also within reality.
Within the immutable substance, she existed in a state between life and death, waiting for forty thousand years until Qin Mu's arrival to touch the Immutable Divine Ability and rescue her.
And after rescuing her, she would return to forty thousand years ago, to the time when the Upper Emperor Era ended and the Kai Emperor Era had not yet begun. She would experience the battle of the Dao Achievers.
At that time, she would send Qin Mu, the Kai Emperor, Xiao Tianzun, Hao Tianzun, and Tai Su Goddess to forty thousand years into the future. Then she would endure forty thousand years of time alone, waiting for the future.
Simultaneously, she existed within the immutable substance, thus creating the bizarre phenomenon of two of her.
At this moment, the her in the outside world was alive, but the prerequisite for being alive was that someone must observe her. If no one observed her, she existed in an unknown state between life and death.
Only when Qin Mu came and broke the Immutable Divine Ability would she be released from this wondrous state.
In recent years, Ling Tianzun had been constantly studying the two Qiankun Mirrors that Qin Mu had given her, researching the Miluo Palace Dao patterns within them.
She was a quiet woman, able to calm her mind and focus on research, unconcerned with the changes and shifts of the outside world.
However, occasionally she would still come out to walk around, but her range of movement was not wide, only near the source of the Surging River.
But though the distance was short, the time she traversed was very long.
At the source of the Surging River, she had used the Immutable Divine Ability more than once to travel back to the past. She saw the young Kai Emperor Qin Ye, transformed into mist, leading the young Kai Emperor back to the early Dragon Han Era.
There, the Kai Emperor met Qin Mu and Niu Sanduo, and it was also there that he became Qin Tianzun. Afterward, the Kai Emperor had several other wondrous experiences of returning to the past, but he never mentioned them to anyone. Even when his best friend, the woodcutter Wen Tiange, asked about these experiences, the Kai Emperor never said what exactly he had encountered.
Ling Tianzun settled at the source of the Surging River, still waiting for a person. This person's arrival would resolve her state of life or death, resolve her state of existing only when observed.
This person had given her the Hongmeng runes and the Miluo Palace Dao patterns, waiting for her to go and settle the matter once and for all, needing her rescue.
She waited and waited. The matter around her was constantly changing. She sat watching the old mountains age and new mountains rise, watching generation after generation be born and die, watching the rise and fall of the Kai Emperor Era, watching the seas change into mulberry fields, watching the rise and fall of dynasties, watching the joys and sorrows of the human world, watching the changing banners on the city walls of the gods and demons.
She sat watching the once prosperous and flourishing Yuan Realm turn into the Great Ruins.
She never waited for Qin Mu. While she waited bitterly, she searched for traces of Qin Mu in history. She went to the Upper Emperor Era. She had waited for nearly forty thousand years, yet still could not wait for Qin Mu. She thought that perhaps Qin Mu was even more ancient than the Kai Emperor, perhaps he was a person from the Upper Emperor Era, perhaps by the time of the Great Luo Heaven battle, Qin Mu was already tens of thousands of years old.
One day, while searching, she suddenly sensed that her peachwood hairpin had disappeared. Someone was using her hairpin.
She went to check and found it was Wei Suifeng, the disciple of that Tianshi named Wen Tiange who served the Kai Emperor.
She did not ask further.
Another day, she felt someone using the hairpin to call out to her. She looked across the sky of history at that person and was inexplicably excited.
It was Mu Tianzun!
He was using the hairpin, activating the Immutable Divine Ability, trying to find her!
"Mu Tianzun? Is that you? Mu Tianzun!"
She called out joyfully: "So you weren't in the Upper Emperor Era. Wait for me to come find you—"
She had so much to say, but Qin Mu's divine power had already been exhausted, and he disappeared. (See Chapter 802)
She waited many more years.
That year, she saw a white-clad dragon girl walking past the source of the Surging River, fleeing from the pursuit of the Heavenly Court. The pursuers from the Heavenly Court called her the Upper Emperor Sword Goddess Bai Qiu'er.
From the sword techniques of the Upper Emperor Sword Goddess Bai Qiu'er, she saw the shadow of Mu Tianzun's sword techniques.
Moved by curiosity, she traced Bai Qiu'er's history and returned to forty thousand years ago, to that desert celestial realm where the battle of the Heavenly Venerables had occurred.
It was a vast desert. The history of the Upper Emperor Era was buried beneath wind and sand.
Back then, she had used the Immutable Divine Ability here, sending the Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven forty thousand years into the future. This celestial realm had originally been destroyed by the battle of the Heavenly Venerables, but her Immutable Divine Ability had restored it to its original state.
Her Immutable Divine Ability had left deep traces here. Every time day and night alternated, the Immutable Divine Ability would bring the time and space here back to the ancient years.
Here, she saw a young Qin Mu. Qin Mu was riding a box, and the box went *da da da* as it ran across the desert, fleeing from enemies pursuing him.
She was very excited, but she did not reveal herself. At this time, Qin Mu could not see her.
She watched Qin Mu awaken the gods and demons who had died in battle in the Upper Emperor Era, asking them for directions, and burying these fallen warriors.
She watched Qin Mu walk into the darkness, into the final twilight song of the Upper Emperor Era, Bailong City.
There, Qin Mu met Bai Qiu'er, a lively and lovely girl of the White Dragon clan.
"Mu, you are finally close."
Ling Tianzun smiled, returned to the source of the Surging River, and continued to observe this girl who had fought side by side with Qin Mu for one night. At that moment, darkness descended, and the stars in the sky were blocked by enormous shadows.
The Surging River ran deep, churning with thick Youdu demonic energy. A woman carrying a bamboo basket fought desperately out of Youdu, struggling with the basket to break through.
She was drenched in blood, fighting with all her might to protect the basket. From the basket came the crying of an infant, heartbreaking.
It seemed that the infant in the basket also sensed its own tumultuous fate, crying for its future.
Ling Tianzun was stunned. She looked at the Upper Emperor Sword Goddess Bai Qiu'er, who was still evading the Heavenly Court's pursuit in the distance, and then at the girl carrying the basket and fighting fiercely in the Surging River. For a moment, she was lost in thought.
The Surging River's demonic energy surged, black waters towering.
"Reeds tall, reeds long, hide and seek in the reed marsh. How many high-ranking officials and fame-seekers were once cowherds in their youth.
"Reeds tall, reeds long, gazing from afar across mountains and rivers. This side of the reeds is home, that side of the reeds is the vast ocean.
"Reeds tall, reeds long, busy weaving by the reed marsh. Weave it into a roll, pack it in my bag, accompanying me on my long voyage.
"Reeds tall, reeds long, the reed flute's melody is so melodious.
"Cowherds echo in the distance, making one miss their father and mother..."
...
Fog rose over the Surging River. Ping'er, carrying the basket, rushed into the fog. She passed through the fog, and when it cleared, it was daytime. Ping'er had no time to wonder why it had been night just moments ago and now, after passing through the fog, it was day. Because she saw Bai Qiu'er, with hair as black as a waterfall, washing her sword by the river, cleansing it of divine blood. (See Chapter 868 for details)
At that moment, Bai Qiu'er saw Ping'er staggering toward her with the basket.
It was Ling Tianzun who guided Bai Qiu'er to find Ping'er carrying the basket, and also guided Ping'er to find Bai Qiu'er.
Sword light rose, a white dragon danced, one sword toppling a city, its radiance illuminating the nine provinces.
Bai Qiu'er escorted Ping'er and the infant in the basket forward, until Ping'er exhausted all her life force and fell, sinking into the water.
Even then, she did not let go. She still held up the infant in the basket, determined to entrust him to someone worthy.
Ling Tianzun watched Bai Qiu'er and Ping'er, who had already become a corpse, drift downstream with the current. As the sky grew dark, the basket floated along the river, arriving at a small mountain village by the riverbank.
The village was guarded by four stone statues, which emitted faint divine light in the night, protecting the peace of the area.
"Listen, there's a child crying outside!"
Ling Tianzun withdrew her gaze and smiled.
"Finally, I've waited for you! Mu Tianzun, you are truly fortunate. Shortly after you were born, three women used their lives to protect you," she murmured softly.
The change of matter created the illusion of time passing, but within this illusion, the infant gradually grew up with the changes in matter.
One day, the infant from that basket had grown into a robust youth. He was troubled by his origins and wanted to find his parents.
He left the place where he had grown up and came to the source of the Surging River.
Ling Tianzun watched this clever and mischievous youth searching at the source of the Surging River. She gave him fog, allowing him to see the Kai Emperor from the past era.
Later, this youth came to the source of the Surging River again, hiding from enemies pursuing him in the night.
Ling Tianzun watched him enter the celestial realm of the ancient Heavenly Venerable battle, seeing the bones of the armies of the Southern Upper Emperor Heavenly Court and the Northern Luo Gate. (See Chapter 485)
She also watched Qin Mu travel back to ancient times, to the end of the Upper Emperor Era, entering Bailong City and meeting Bai Qiu'er.
After Qin Mu returned, she continued to wait quietly.
She was waiting for this youth to grow into the person she was familiar with.
Finally, that day came. Qin Mu and Niu Sanduo walked on the surface of the Surging River, preparing to head to the Tianyin Realm.
Ling Tianzun cast a spell, and fog surged over the river, engulfing them.
She sent them back to the past, to the early Dragon Han Era, to the Yao Pool Grand Ceremony.
Mu Tianzun should go and fulfill Mu Tianzun's mission!
There, he would meet the Kai Emperor, meet Yu Tianzun, meet Hao Tianzun, Fire Tianzun, and others, and also meet the confused version of herself, who needed someone to encourage her to keep going.
There, Qin Mu would adopt the alias Mu Qing, becoming Mu Tianzun, who would influence millions of years of future history, becoming a monument for the human race, influencing countless people in later generations! (See Chapters 731, 732, and others for details)
After doing all this, Ling Tianzun continued to wait quietly. She witnessed the changes in the Great Ruins, the outbreak of the Yankang Calamity, saw the youth's pain and wailing, with no way to heaven and no door to earth. She still waited, waiting for Mu Tianzun's return.
In these years, she comprehended the Miluo Palace Dao patterns, and her achievements grew higher and higher.
In fact, by this point, she could have completely relied on her own power to resolve the state affected by the Immutable Divine Ability. The mysteries of the Hongmeng runes and the Miluo Palace Dao patterns had already been deciphered by her, seven or eight parts out of ten.
She began to comprehend the changes within the Dao patterns, and her understanding of mass-energy conservation deepened.
One day, she saw Qin Mu come to the Surging River again. This time, Qin Mu was riding a golden ship—the Ferry World Golden Ship of the Miluo Palace, also the golden ship that had sent her out of the Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven.
Ling Tianzun stood up. She knew that when Qin Mu activated her hairpin and entered the fog, it would be the day she broke free, and also the day Qin Mu, the Kai Emperor, and the others returned from forty thousand years ago.
With Hao Tianzun, Tai Su Goddess, and Xiao Tianzun making their grand entrances one after another, entering the Surging River fog and disappearing from sight, this day had finally arrived!
Ling Tianzun looked up. The sky split open, and the Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven appeared in the Ultimate Void!
—It's the middle of the month! Begging for monthly votes for the most important girl in Qin Mu's life! Tearful plea~~~