Chapter 1569: Better Death Than Surrender
"Pastoral Celestial Venerable?"
Tai Chu's mind exploded with shock. He stood frozen, unable to move for a long time.
The old man turned to look back, seeing the brain matter bubbling like boiling bean curd from his exposed skull, steaming with hot vapor.
"Another poor soul who's been tricked by Seventh Young Master countless times. Seventh Young Master has probably swindled everyone across the future universe and found it boring, so he returned to our place to keep up his tricks."
The old man couldn't help shaking his head, waking him up before he boiled his own brains dry.
Day after day passed. Traveling from the first Chaotic Long River to the sixteenth Chaotic Long River would take even a Celestial Venerable a year or two.
They were one step behind. Kai Huang had already arrived at Mi Luo Palace ahead of them, accompanied by the old crone.
The grandeur and eternity of Mi Luo Palace left a deep impression on Kai Huang. He carefully examined the palaces within this complex of buildings. Each palace carried a unique Dao resonance, unforgettable to behold.
These palaces represented the different great Daos of different young masters, different paths. From the Supreme Palace to the Chaotic Palace, the young masters of Mi Luo Palace had chosen different paths, but judging by the aura emanating from their halls, they had all reached the pinnacle of Dao.
"The Dao patterns on the walls of Mi Luo Palace—are these the Dao patterns Pastoral Celestial Venerable spoke of?"
Kai Huang studied the central Mi Luo Palace, the residence of Mi Luo Palace's master. It gave him a feeling of unfathomable depth, making it impossible to harbor any thoughts of disrespect.
The old crone led him forward, saying, "Seventh Young Master arrived late, so his status in Mi Luo Palace is lower than the other young masters, and he has few followers. Precisely because of this, those people slander Seventh Young Master, pinning many bad reputations on him. But those are all false accusations."
Kai Huang frowned. The more the old crone spoke this way, the more worried he became.
He didn't know what this Seventh Young Master wanted to see him about, nor did he know whether, if he refused, the other party would make a move against him.
"Pastoral Celestial Venerable once warned me not to enter the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, and I warned him not to enter the Return to Nothingness. Now I've broken my promise by entering Jade Capital. I hope he won't break his..."
The old crone led him to the Chaotic Hall, grinning with a toothless smile, revealing a few scattered teeth. "Kai Huang, please."
The doors of the Chaotic Hall opened, and a surge of vast, primordial chaotic energy poured out from within, exuding antiquity and vicissitude.
Kai Huang steadied himself, stepped onto the chaotic energy, and walked into this ancient hall, thinking to himself: "With our current strength, we are utterly incapable of contending with the young masters of Mi Luo Palace. Therefore, we must rely on the power of other young masters! I hope this so-called Seventh Young Master is easy to fool..."
He walked through the magnificent hall, which was extremely spacious. The dome was imprinted with Dao patterns that even Kai Huang couldn't understand, flickering on and off like stars.
Kai Huang kept his eyes straight ahead, walking forward without deviation. He saw ahead that the chaotic energy had formed a massive sphere, slowly rotating.
Kai Huang's pupils contracted. From afar, he could see a strange shadow within that chaotic sphere. He continued forward, and after a moment, he finally saw that within the chaotic sphere was an ancient, sacred tree.
A World Tree!
"Is this Mi Luo Palace's Seventh Young Master a World Tree that became a spirit?"
Kai Huang was astonished. It was then that he noticed a figure beneath the tree, its back to him.
The chaotic sphere split open, revealing a path. Kai Huang hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the chaotic sphere. Soon, he arrived beneath the tree.
The figure beneath the tree turned around, smiling at him: "Celestial Venerable Qin, still well, I trust?"
"You... you..."
Kai Huang's mind shook violently. He stared dumbfounded at the person, stammering, unable to speak.
The Return to Nothingness Great Abyss.
Qin Mu was caught in a collapse, all his own cultivation collapsing inward. Soon, even the celestial palaces within his divine hideaway, the countless stars, star clusters, and galaxies, the myriad realms, including the Ancestral Court, Yuan Capital, Xuan Capital, and Nether Capital, all collapsed inward!
The Dao of Return to Nothingness was mysterious and wondrous, with captivating qualities, but cultivating it was extremely dangerous. Although the Dao runes of Return to Nothingness had been deciphered, very few could actually master this Dao.
Besides the Empress sisters, there were also Heavenly Emperor Tai Chu, Hao Celestial Venerable, and Qin Mu who were proficient in this path.
As for others, even if they tried to cultivate it, they could barely succeed, at most mastering one or two divine abilities.
This was precisely because the Dao of Return to Nothingness was extremely perilous. To cultivate this great Dao, it was difficult to guarantee that one wouldn't be devoured by the Dao of Return to Nothingness during cultivation.
Soon, the entire Spiritual Embryo Divine Hideaway was devoured. Even his primordial spirit, which had been explaining the Dao of Reincarnation to the Empress, was pulled by this terrifying collapse, twisted, and whistled into the Return to Nothingness Great Abyss within his body!
The sound of the lecture stopped. The Empress immediately sensed it, opening her eyes to look at Qin Mu, shouting sternly: "Why have you stopped?"
Crack, crack.
Her head rotated half a turn, revealing Yuan Mu Madam's face: "Qin Lang, are you tired of living? You get me all excited, then you stop. You'll bring divine punishment upon yourself!"
Qin Mu sat there withered, not saying a word. His entire being gave off a feeling of emptiness and lifelessness.
Behind him, only a World Tree remained, its branches gently swaying.
The Empress and Yuan Mu Madam were puzzled, immediately sensing something wrong with him. At this moment, Qin Mu had completely lost all signs of life, dying right before their eyes!
Not only had Qin Mu's heart stopped beating, but even his soul had vanished!
His incredibly powerful divine consciousness had also been completely annihilated, as if someone had directly refined him to death using Return to Nothingness divine abilities!
"You killed him?" The Empress flew into a rage.
Yuan Mu Madam was also angered, scolding: "Just now, you were facing him, and I had my back to him. If I had made a move to kill him, how could I have hidden it from your eyes and perception? Could it be that you made the move?"
"You little wretch! I was on the verge of having a chance to refine you to death. How could I kill him and give up this opportunity? If I were to kill him, it would be after refining you to death!"
The two women argued for a moment but were helpless. Suddenly, Yuan Mu Madam rolled her eyes, giggled, and said: "Qin Lang is dead, leaving us sisters widowed. It's heartbreaking that two beautiful sisters have lost their lover. I'm quite regretful, but the dead cannot return to life. Sisters, let's just divide up Qin Lang's assets early and find ourselves a good man!"
Although her words were unpleasant, the Empress was quite tempted: "Pastoral Celestial Venerable is full of treasures, truly a wealthy landlord traveling with gold and silver. Now that he's dead, it's indeed a good time to divide his treasures."
The two women quickly reached a consensus and walked toward Qin Mu.
Suddenly, a surge of vibrant life force came from the World Tree. The two women quickly stopped.
They saw the World Tree behind Qin Mu swaying, while from Qin Mu's body came a strange rhythm. Waves of chaotic energy spread out, forming a massive sphere around him.
Suddenly, with a sound like the creation of the world, the sphere split open. In an instant, the Five Primes evolved—from Chaotic Tai Yi, to One Qi Tai Chu, to Azure Obscurity Tai Shi, to Substance Form Tai Su, and then to Tai Ji.
The five states of the universe completed in a single instant. Then, boundless space emerged. Countless stars and galaxies rapidly flew outward from beside the Empress!
In that split second, the Ancestral Court was born. All realms erupted outward, evolving various ancient gods, heavenly Daos, and countless living beings.
Five great mines settled in the Ancestral Court, connecting to it. Ancient deities emerged from the celestial stars and constellations, each with their own posture. In Xuan Capital was the Heavenly Duke, and in Nether Capital was the Earth Lord.
Those ancient gods stood in their respective territories, flying past the Empress and Yuan Mu. The two women looked at them, seeing that these strange and bizarre ancient gods all had Qin Mu's face.
Even the Heavenly Duke with white brows, white beard, and white eyes, and the Earth Lord with an ox head, tiger face, and ox tail, had Qin Mu's face.
They turned to look back, seeing behind Qin Mu's head countless Dao runes connecting and combining. Various runes formed strange Dao patterns, like bricks, tiles, eaves, and pillars, along with bells, tripods, screens, and murals. They stacked upon each other, quickly forming massive, magnificent foundations.
Those bricks and tiles clattered as they flew, forming resplendent palaces, pavilions, towers, bridges, heavenly gates, divine platforms, building the Jade Capital Divine City.
There was also a Heavenly River with long hexagrams, flowing past the Southern Heavenly Gate, charging straight in, winding through the heavenly court.
Wherever the Heavenly River passed, countless buildings rose from the ground. By the time the river flowed through Jade Capital City, dozens of celestial palaces had already taken shape.
The river flowed past the Northern Heavenly Gate, vast and mighty, connecting to the myriad realms. Then it rushed down, passing over the Primordial Realm's sky, entering the Nether Capital and becoming the Styx River.
This Styx River flowed past the feet of the Earth Lord Qin Mu, entered the Return to Nothingness Great Fissure, and went into the Return to Nothingness Great Abyss.
When the river water poured into the great abyss, a slight tremor came from its depths. A lotus flower rose slowly against the current, spinning and blooming. On the lotus platform, the Return to Nothingness Qin Mu yawned and slowly woke up.
The Return to Nothingness Qin Mu stood up, chanting: "How many kalpas of reincarnation? One year of withering, one year of flourishing."
The Empress and Yuan Mu Madam were astonished.
The current Qin Mu seemed different from the one just moments ago, as if his divine hideaway now contained the Return to Nothingness Great Abyss.
Moreover, his celestial palaces and heavenly court were also different from before.
First was the number of celestial palaces.
Previously, Qin Mu had only twenty-three celestial palaces. Later, he learned Yun Celestial Venerable's Purple Firmament Azure Fall Technique, gaining one more palace. He also hid in Hao Celestial Venerable's Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel, comprehending his two techniques, gaining two more palaces, totaling twenty-six.
Now, Qin Mu had gained two more, reaching twenty-eight!
At such a young age to possess twenty-eight celestial palaces—truly an anomaly!
What was even stranger was that Qin Mu's Jade Capital City was vastly different from others'.
In others' heavenly courts, each celestial palace contained a Jade Capital City. But Qin Mu's Jade Capital City was formed by fifty-eight precious halls within his heavenly court, while the other celestial palaces had none!
It could be said that all other celestial palaces were built around the Jade Capital City.
"With only one Jade Capital City, how does he enter the Jade Capital realm?" The Empress and Yuan Mu Madam were greatly puzzled.
Suddenly, Qin Mu's primordial spirit rose from that vast divine hideaway, sitting in lotus position, suspended above the heavenly court, radiating ten thousand beams of light.
Qin Mu stood up, quietly stepping backward. Unnoticed, he had already reached the edge of the lotus.
"Pastoral Celestial Venerable, what are you trying to do?" The Empress was the first to realize, shouting.
Yuan Mu Madam was extremely nervous, shrieking: "Don't do anything foolish!"
"A true man would rather die than surrender, rather break than bend, rather take straight than crooked!"
Qin Mu leaped, jumping into the Return to Nothingness, speaking with righteous indignation: "I would rather die than be coerced by you!"
The two women rushed to the edge of the lotus, reaching out to grab him, but how could they catch him?
They watched Qin Mu fall into the great abyss and disappear.
Yuan Mu Madam blinked, suddenly laughing: "Little lover was just spineless a moment ago. When did he become so principled? Hehe, interesting..."
She suddenly took control of the Empress's body and also leaped, jumping into the Return to Nothingness Great Abyss!
The Empress screamed, trying to grab the twin lotus, but it was too late!