Chapter 1552: The Path to Enlightenment
"In other words, the Grand Emperor's Dao Tree is rooted in this treasure, his Great Dao attached to this sacred sword. And since I have merged with his Dao Tree and become part of it, I too am attached to this sacred sword."
Cloud Sovereign smiled. "When you attack his Dao Tree and Dao Fruit, you are attacking the sacred sword. And when the Grand Emperor attacks me, he is also attacking this sacred sword. That is why I have been able to survive until now without dying."
Qin Mu's eyes widened. After a moment, he exhaled a turbid breath. "What a monster..."
"If it were you, you could do the same."
Cloud Sovereign said modestly, "You are, after all, the unrivaled Overlord Body who defeated Fire Sovereign and Hao Sovereign, and the guide of the Chi Ming Era. From the Grand Empyrean, I have seen many of the things you have done, and I find them utterly astonishing. I am sincerely convinced."
Qin Mu said solemnly, "Naturally, I could also accomplish it. I am the Overlord Body. I just never expected that you, Brother Cloud, would be no weaker than me."
Even as he said this, he still lacked some confidence.
When facing prodigies like Cloud Sovereign and Imperial Sovereign, he always felt a bit unsure of himself.
Cloud Sovereign was the one who built a divine bridge when the road reached its end, forcibly opening the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury when no cultivation path lay ahead, inspiring Imperial Sovereign to open the Heavenly Palace!
Compared to such a prodigy, he truly had no foundation for confidence.
But one must not lose face even in defeat; he always had to maintain appearances.
"So that means you have made up for the Grand Emperor's weakness."
Qin Mu's eyes flickered. He paced back and forth at the bow of the ship, then suddenly stopped and looked up sharply. "As long as you are here, the Grand Emperor has no weakness! And since your Dao Tree and the Grand Emperor's are symbiotically tied to the Primordial Emperor's Sword, attacking the Grand Emperor also means attacking you."
Cloud Sovereign said, "If it means eliminating the Grand Emperor, then I am willing to sacrifice my own primordial spirit."
Qin Mu shook his head and sneered. "Cloud, you underestimate the value of your own life too much. How can the Grand Emperor's life be compared to yours? The Grand Emperor cannot descend from the Divine Consciousness Grand Empyrean in person, so his threat is limited. If not for the need to save you, why would I go to such great lengths, inviting so many experts and even entering the Divine Consciousness Grand Empyrean myself? Your life is worth more than the Grand Emperor's!"
Cloud Sovereign was moved. "Did you also invite Dawn Sovereign and Hao Sovereign?"
"Exactly. Inviting them to lend a hand took considerable effort on my part." Qin Mu nodded, continuing to ponder how to deal with the Grand Emperor and break the strange symbiotic bond between Cloud Sovereign and him.
Cloud Sovereign's expression turned strange.
Qin Mu's relationship with Dawn Sovereign and Hao Sovereign was clearly not good. His so-called invitation for them to help was likely a mix of schemes, tricks, and deception.
This style of handling matters was vastly different from Cloud Sovereign's.
Cloud Sovereign also employed schemes and tricks, such as using the beauty trap to kill the Heavenly Emperor Primordial, and the ruthless plan to kill the Grand Emperor. Both strategies were unsavory. He was far more ruthless, even willing to sacrifice a million creators to kill the Grand Emperor—something Qin Mu could never bring himself to do.
But Cloud Sovereign mostly followed the path of righteousness, acting with integrity, much like Imperial Sovereign in his prime.
Qin Mu's schemes, however, were far more cunning. He excelled at using borrowed strength: using the Grand Emperor's power against Dawn Sovereign and Hao Sovereign, using Dawn Sovereign and Hao Sovereign against the Grand Emperor, using Hao Sovereign against Dawn Sovereign, using Dawn Sovereign against Hao Sovereign, and using the Ten Sovereigns against themselves.
Yet this also showed how harsh the environment Qin Mu found himself in truly was.
The Ten Sovereigns held all power in the world, controlling every force, and the artifact Imperial Sovereign suppressed all realms, making the situation even more hopeless than the Dragon Han Era. Under such extreme oppression, no personal power could develop. The only path Qin Mu could take was to borrow strength to counter strength.
Cloud Sovereign had also used schemes in his time, but he always relied on his own power to set his traps, such as when he killed the Grand Emperor and the Heavenly Emperor.
That was because in the Dragon Han Era, the only enemy in the Other Shore void was the Grand Emperor, and the Dragon Han Heavenly Court had only one ruler—the Heavenly Emperor. There was no way to divide the enemy's power.
Suddenly, Hao Sovereign groaned and fell from above, covered in blood after being battered by the Grand Emperor.
Shua—
Countless Dao Tree roots coiled around him, pulling his limbs and head taut, suspending him in the air. His limbs and head were stretched straight.
Hao Sovereign struggled fiercely but could not break free. His injuries were too severe. Qin Mu had shattered his heart and pierced through his chest, and he had yet to recover.
The Dao wound Qin Mu had left on him could not be healed even by the Tai Su Divine Maiden.
Suddenly, he spotted Qin Mu and Cloud Sovereign, froze for a moment, then called out loudly, "Mu Sovereign, won't you remove the Dao wound on me?"
Qin Mu, deep in thought, casually waved his hand. The Dao wound in Hao Sovereign's chest vanished instantly, his heart regrew, and his ribs reformed.
Hao Sovereign's spirit soared. He furiously activated his Heavenly Palace and divine halls, his primordial spirit standing atop the heavenly court, driving countless Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheels to slice in all directions, shaking the Dao Tree roots off his body.
Hao Sovereign soared into the air, charging at the Grand Emperor.
No sooner had he risen than Opening Sovereign fell from above.
Opening Sovereign cultivated only the Sword Dao, valuing refinement over breadth. He had never practiced the arts of creation and transformation, focusing solely on elevating his Sword Dao to the highest level.
Thus, while his strength was immense, the accumulation of injuries to his physical body could still threaten his life, worsening his condition and eventually greatly diminishing his power.
Qin Mu waved his hand, and a creation divine ability flew out, healing Opening Sovereign's injuries even as he fell.
Opening Sovereign let out a long cry, his spirit redoubled, and he charged upward once more.
"The Primordial Emperor's Sword cannot fall into Dawn Sovereign's hands. If it does, after he kills the Grand Emperor, he might cut us down as well."
Qin Mu glanced at Cloud Sovereign. Cloud Sovereign's back was connected to the Dao Tree. Whether the Grand Emperor's death would implicate Cloud Sovereign was something he could not be certain of.
Dying in the ultimate void meant even Qin Mu could not revive them, as both body and soul would be completely voided, beyond recall.
Moreover, extracting the Primordial's companion treasure was a monumental challenge.
The sword was hidden within the Dao Tree. Not even Opening Sovereign, Dawn Sovereign, or the others could so much as scratch the Dao Tree's bark, let alone cut it open to retrieve the Emperor's Sword!
His head throbbed with pain. The current Grand Emperor, with his Dao Tree rooted in the Emperor's Sword and his borrowed life in the Heavenly Emperor's physical body, was utterly without flaw!
The only possible flaw was the Hong Meng runes Qin Mu had hidden within the Heavenly Emperor's body!
"Cloud, teach me the complete Grand Supreme Divine Consciousness you have comprehended!"
Qin Mu's eyes gleamed. He lowered his voice. "If anything changes, you must obtain that sacred sword. Do not let it fall into Dawn Sovereign's hands!"
Cloud Sovereign nodded silently. His divine consciousness rippled as he imparted the complete Grand Supreme Divine Consciousness he had comprehended and perfected.
A profoundly complex and wondrous technique flooded Qin Mu's mind. He had studied this Grand Supreme Divine Consciousness technique before, but only through refining the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness and stripping away memories of the incomplete version.
Later, Qin Mu had used his own intellect to fill in the gaps, merging it with the later Divine Treasury and Heavenly Palace systems and combining it with his own Fetal Soul Divine Treasury to master it.
But his repaired version was inherently incomplete, inferior to the Grand Emperor's. Coupled with his far weaker divine consciousness cultivation, he could never use it to confront Qiang Heavenly Consort or the Grand Emperor's physical form.
The Grand Supreme Divine Consciousness Cloud Sovereign taught him, however, was the Grand Emperor's own technique, integrated with the later Divine Treasury and Heavenly Palace systems, and enhanced by Cloud Sovereign's own insights. It was even more complete than what the Grand Emperor himself had learned and understood!
Cloud Sovereign had also merged his flawlessly comprehended Grand Supreme Divine Consciousness with his own Purple Cloud Azure Void Art, integrating it into a unique path of his own.
"This is a path to enlightenment!"
Qin Mu felt even greater admiration for Cloud Sovereign. He thought to himself, "Suppressed for hundreds of thousands of years, yet he could turn adversity into advantage, using the Grand Emperor's path to enlightenment to forge his own. Truly, his talent is no less than mine!"
Cloud Sovereign and the Grand Emperor had been locked in mutual destruction for hundreds of thousands of years. First, Cloud Sovereign had schemed, using the chaotic divine consciousness from the death of a million creators and Eminence Sovereign's incomplete Immutable Divine Ability to kill the Grand Emperor's physical body, trapping it in the supreme divine consciousness domain of the Supreme Void.
Then, the Grand Emperor's primordial spirit reincarnated as the sovereign Ming Fang Yu, killing Cloud Sovereign at the end of the Dragon Han Era, hiding his corpse in the Grand Emperor's physical body's brow, and sending his primordial spirit to the Divine Consciousness Grand Empyrean for torment.
The grudges and entanglements between these two were nothing short of legendary.
Even more legendary was how Cloud Sovereign's primordial spirit, while suppressed by the Grand Emperor, comprehended the Grand Emperor's technique, filled in its flaws, and forged his own path to enlightenment!
The outcome of their struggle—success or failure—had yet to be decided!
"Cloud, protect me!"
With these words, Qin Mu entered a dream. In the dream, he evolved a myriad of worlds, and countless tiny Qin Mus emerged from the dream, each comprehending the complete Grand Supreme Divine Consciousness, striving to grasp the mysteries of this technique in the shortest possible time.
He not only had to comprehend it but also use his wisdom to fully integrate it into his Overlord Body Three-Dan Art, elevating his cultivation, power, and insight!
Cloud Sovereign watched as he fell into a dream right there at the bow of the ship, feeling both amused and exasperated. He had longed to meet Qin Mu, to sit and talk freely with him, believing it would be the greatest joy of his life.
But in the long history of the Dragon Han Era, this wish had never been fulfilled. In the end, he had died, and this wish became his greatest regret.
He had once fantasized about the scene of sitting and discussing the Dao with Qin Mu, and at the thought of it, he would often let out a long, song-like cry, pouring out his surging emotions. He had even imagined different scenarios, different topics of conversation, each stirring his heart.
But now that he had truly met Qin Mu, he never expected him to be such an unreliable fellow—able to fall asleep in such a dangerous situation, completely without caution or guard!
"Mu Sovereign is like... like a silly moose!"
He thought to himself, "Where is the glorious, majestic image of legend?"
Suddenly, Dawn Sovereign's body, battered and broken, fell from above, his injuries even more severe than those of Opening Sovereign and Hao Sovereign!
The Grand Emperor had shown him the most "care," striking him the hardest!
Cloud Sovereign's heart tightened. Faced with such injuries, he was helpless.
Just then, Qin Mu, still dreaming, lightly raised his hand. Dawn Sovereign's wounds healed rapidly, and he was restored in an instant. He cupped his hands toward Qin Mu from afar, then soared upward once more to attack the Grand Emperor.
Cloud Sovereign paused, looked at the dreaming Qin Mu at the bow, and smiled. "He is no silly moose. On the contrary, even in sleep, he is incredibly alert."
Before long, Qin Mu suddenly stood up, laughing heartily. The Ferry of the Worldly Gold Ship shot through the air, his voice echoing from afar: "Cloud, wait for me! Watch me break the Grand Emperor's invincibility and rescue you!"
"So quickly, he has comprehended the mysteries of my technique?"
Cloud Sovereign was momentarily stunned, then a gratified smile spread across his face. "As expected of Mu Sovereign! Such talent and aptitude—no less than mine!"