Chapter 1576: This Is Too Difficult
Qin Mu exhausted all his abilities to deduce the mysteries of the red rope knot. The red rope knot was immeasurably more complex than the Miluo Palace Dao patterns. The Miluo Palace Dao patterns used Dao patterns, whereas the red rope knot used Dao chains composed of Dao patterns.
Dao chains were far more complex than Dao patterns and had many more variations, making his deduction efforts extremely strenuous.
"If the master of the Miluo Palace could actually use this hand seal, its power would be immeasurably greater than the Hongmeng Finger!"
Back when Qin Mu had comprehended the Miluo Palace Dao patterns, he hadn't grasped their variations, so he had only understood the Hongmeng Finger. But even the Hongmeng Finger's power far surpassed the divine abilities of Heavenly Sovereigns. Its might could be said to be the foremost divine ability below the level of those who had achieved enlightenment, and it even posed a threat to those who had achieved enlightenment!
If he could comprehend the red rope knot, then this hand seal technique would become another major asset for him.
"If Ling Tianzun had imparted to me the mysteries of the Dao patterns she had comprehended over these years, it might have been much simpler. What a pity…"
He felt a pang of regret. After forty thousand years, he had finally met Ling Tianzun, but before he could exchange even a single word with her, he had been captured and suppressed by Heavenly Sovereign Hao.
The red rope knot was, after all, a powerful hand seal capable of suppressing the Second Young Master of the Miluo Palace. It was impossible to deduce it in a short time. Since the battle between the Empress and Yuanmu was of unknown duration, he first needed to be able to activate the red rope knot.
"This is too difficult!"
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Mu let out a mournful sigh. He lay flat on a red rope, swinging back and forth, his eyes vacant as he stared at the surging great calamity of destruction above him.
The difficulty of the red rope knot surpassed his imagination. The Dao chains that formed the red rope were constantly changing, and within each Dao chain were countless Dao patterns, which were also in perpetual flux, undergoing infinite variations at every moment.
And within those Dao patterns were hidden endless variations of great Dao runes. Just the variations of the Five Tai runes alone would be enough to exhaust the wisdom of a lifetime to study!
When these variations reached the origin of the Dao patterns, they became Hongmeng runes. From this single Hongmeng rune, the Five Tai and all other great Dao variations in the world evolved.
But saying it was simple was one thing; learning it was another matter entirely.
The variations were infinite. He couldn't grasp all the changes within the Dao patterns, let alone the Dao chains.
After a moment, Qin Mu sat up, seemingly regaining his confidence. His vertical eye on his forehead opened, and he eagerly continued studying the red rope knot.
After another unknown period of time, his newly gathered confidence was once again crushed. Wiping away his tears, he murmured, "It's simply impossible to learn…"
He wept for a while, utterly disheartened by the red rope knot, looking as if he had resigned himself to fate.
"Where there's a will, there's a way!"
He scrambled to sit up again, his eyes gleaming with determination. "The master of the Miluo Palace is human, and so am I! He created the Hongmeng runes, evolved the Miluo Palace Dao patterns, and then invented the red rope knot. He created it from nothing—imagine how difficult that must have been. Learning his Dao techniques is infinitely easier than his act of creation. How could I possibly fail to learn it?"
He rallied his spirits once more and continued his research, trying to use his primordial energy to evolve various Dao pattern variations in an attempt to form the red rope.
But his confidence was once again ground down to nothing.
Qin Mu looked haggard, his eye sockets sunken, his face gaunt, his eyes hollow and empty. He muttered to himself, rambling incoherently.
He crouched beside the red rope knot, his vertical eye flickering with an eerie light, staring at the sixth red rope. His right hand trembled as it reached out, as if to pull that red rope.
"Too difficult, too difficult. It's simply impossible to learn, impossible to comprehend…"
He mumbled, then whispered, "Heh heh, just one pull, and this problem will be gone… One pull, and everything will be over… One pull…"
He snapped back to his senses and quickly slapped his own right hand away. "Hahahaha! Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets their mind to it! I will definitely solve this problem! I am the Overlord Body, the unparalleled Overlord Body!"
Day after day passed. Inside the Empress's body, the consciousnesses of the Empress and Yuanmu each comprehended the path of reincarnation and immediately began to cultivate.
Both women were exceptionally intelligent. Qin Mu's path of reincarnation incorporated too many Dao techniques and divine abilities, but the most crucial part was the Guixu path of creation and destruction, which gave them a breakthrough.
The two women comprehended and mastered the path of reincarnation almost simultaneously. They immediately activated it, and a reincarnation time-space appeared in their minds, spinning like a wheel!
Their thoughts immediately plunged into reincarnation!
When they awoke, they found themselves in the womb of a pregnant woman, transformed into two fetuses waiting to be born.
Yuanmu immediately grabbed the umbilical cord with her tiny hands and wrapped it several times around the Empress's neck.
The Empress struggled but couldn't break free—Yuanmu had tied a tight knot.
After birth, the Empress had no breath left. Yuanmu, instead of crying, giggled incessantly.
Time flowed in the reincarnation. Soon, little Yuanmu grew to six or seven years old, cute as a button, doted on by her family. The only rule was that she was never allowed to look in a mirror.
One day, a servant was negligent, and little Yuanmu found a mirror. She stood in front of it, admiring herself, when suddenly the black mole on her forehead in the mirror turned red.
"Bitch!" the reflection in the mirror shouted at her.
Little Yuanmu screamed, and suddenly the reincarnation divine ability activated again, pulling her into the mirror.
The mirror clattered to the ground, rolling twice.
Inside the mirror, a massive wheel of light spun. The two women fought, clawed, and struggled, quickly falling.
When they awoke, they had become two chicks in a bird's nest, chirping for food, opening their beaks wide, waiting for the mother bird to feed them.
The two chicks immediately recognized each other and started a fierce fight in the nest. The mother bird pecked them a couple of times before they settled down.
At the next feeding, the Empress, relying on her stronger body, snatched all the food from the mother bird's beak, leaving none for Yuanmu. When Yuanmu tried to grab some, the Empress kicked her aside with her claws.
Within a few days, the chick that was Yuanmu starved and grew weak. The delighted Empress pushed her out of the nest. She fell under the tree and died instantly.
"Chirp chirp chirp chirp!" The Empress stood at the edge of the nest, beaming with joy.
The Empress enjoyed the worms alone in the nest. One day, just after eating a worm, she felt an itch on her neck. Then another bird head grew out of her neck!
The two heads crowded together, pecking at each other, fighting until they were bloody. Suddenly, they both lost their footing and fell from the nest.
The two heads screamed as they fell into a beam of reincarnation light.
The next moment, they transformed into two giant beasts, fighting in the reincarnation world, tearing heaven and earth apart. After another cycle of reincarnation, they became two mantises standing on a branch, swinging their forelimbs like two giant guillotines, attacking each other.
Then they became two ferocious fish-dragons in the sea, then two imperial consorts in a palace, then two flowers on the same vine, then two bright red fruits squeezed together.
They became two dragon vein mountains, lying prostrate, trying to seize each other's dragon vein fortune, waiting a million years to take form.
They became two saplings, enduring millennia of vicissitudes, each trying to overshadow the other, preventing the other from absorbing sunlight and nutrients.
This reincarnation world was the reincarnation world within their consciousness. Unknowingly, they had experienced countless cycles of reincarnation, countless years, yet they were still entangled.
They were still fighting, trying to eliminate each other, still unable to decide a victor.
One day, they reincarnated as two sisters, still fighting and killing each other. Suddenly, their two swords met, pressing against each other's chests.
The two women glared fiercely at each other. Lady Yuanmu giggled, "Sister, you only know how to keep fighting with me, but do you remember how many cycles of reincarnation we've been through?"
The Empress was momentarily stunned.
Yuanmu laughed, "Do you remember the path back? If you don't, then little sister has already won! Reverse the reincarnation!"
Suddenly, a reincarnation divine ability spun, appearing behind her. The little girl that Yuanmu had become threw herself into that reincarnation and disappeared.
The Empress's face changed drastically. She hurriedly chased after her, but Yuanmu had already turned into a large tree. The tree rapidly shrank, soon becoming a sapling.
The Empress chased after her, also turning into a large tree, but she was a step too slow.
The sapling that Yuanmu had become disappeared, then transformed into a divine dragon. The dragon prostrated itself on the ground, turning into a dragon vein, which quickly sank into the reincarnation, returning to the previous life.
The two women traced back life after life, but the Empress was always one step behind Yuanmu. By the time the Empress returned to the first life, becoming a fetus in the womb, Yuanmu had already disappeared.
The fetus's face changed drastically. Then a reincarnation divine ability descended, sweeping her up, roaring and spinning. In an instant, she fell into reincarnation, experiencing countless cycles, never to find the way back!
Lady Yuanmu had won a great victory. She took over the Empress's physical body and giggled, "Pastoral Heavenly Sovereign's path of reincarnation is truly formidable. It finally allowed me to deal with that little bitch, my sister! Pastoral Heavenly Sovereign, I'm back!"
She looked towards Qin Mu but didn't see him. Instead, she saw a white-haired old man hanging from the red rope.
The red rope was tied around his neck. The white-haired old man had been hanging there for who knows how long, looking stiff and rigid.
Lady Yuanmu was startled. She quickly went over to check his breath. Finding he was still alive, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She rescued the old man. His features still bore a resemblance to Qin Mu, but he was too old and weathered, as if countless ages had passed.
"What happened to my dear? Why did you hang yourself?" Lady Yuanmu asked curiously.
Qin Mu shed tears and choked out, "Too difficult, it's just too difficult…"
Lady Yuanmu was in a great mood and couldn't help laughing. "Difficult? If you don't learn it, it's not difficult! How could someone as clever as my dear be stumped to death by this red rope knot?"
"Yes, I could!" Qin Mu said stiffly.
"I've already dealt with my sister. No one can stop us from eloping anymore!"
Lady Yuanmu took his arm, beaming with joy. "Not even that so-called Second Young Master! Now, my little lover, let's go down together. We can escape and live a cozy life for two!"
She giggled. "Once I get out this time, I'll unify the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns and unify the world. My little lover can be an imperial consort in my harem. But you can't be this old…"
Qin Mu's appearance gradually returned to youth. He cast a reluctant glance at the red rope knot.
"Don't look anymore. You can't learn it anyway!" Lady Yuanmu said excitedly, pulling him to go down.
Suddenly, Qin Mu froze, his gaze still fixed on the red rope knot. He murmured, "This sixth rope, the sixth rope… I understand!"
He let out a cheer, broke free from Yuanmu's hand, and ran wildly on the red rope, laughing heartily, waving his arms and dancing. "I finally understand! So that's it, so that's it! The secret is all in the sixth red rope! I'm invincible!"
Lady Yuanmu watched his mad behavior and couldn't help but worry. "I just got better, and now he's having a relapse. But without his help, I might not be able to escape from the Second Young Master's grasp…"
"I'm invincible!"
Qin Mu put his hands on his hips, his face radiant. "I've already learned one percent of the red rope knot's power! I can walk sideways now!"