Chapter 1597: Victory or Defeat in a Single Flash of Lightning
Qin Mu arrived before the Karma Fire Stele Forest, his eyes flickering as he said in a deep voice, "Where are Ugly Earth Lord and the Heavenly Duke?"
Langxuan Divine Sovereign was still sitting atop the Karma Fire Merit Stele, swinging his legs, and he laughed, "You only ask about Ugly, and not the Heavenly Duke? Mu Tianzun, Ugly Earth Lord has fallen into my hands, and the reincarnated Heavenly Duke is also in my grasp. The Heavenly Duke will be heartbroken to hear your words."
Qin Mu smiled slightly and asked, "Then where is the Heavenly Duke?"
Langxuan Divine Sovereign waved his hand, and suddenly a golden rope descended from midair. The Heavenly Duke, with his hands tied behind his back and bound together with his legs, was suspended in the air by that golden rope.
Below him was the Karma Fire within the stele forest, burning continuously, just enough to scorch the Heavenly Duke.
Qin Mu looked up. Although the Heavenly Duke was badly burned, he was still alive, so he continued, "And Ugly Earth Lord?"
Langxuan Divine Sovereign clapped his hands again, and another golden rope hung down from the sky, suspending Ugly Earth Lord, bound in the same way as the Heavenly Duke.
Qin Mu couldn't help but laugh, "Serves you right!"
Langxuan Divine Sovereign asked curiously, "Mu Tianzun seems not at all worried about them."
"Worried?"
Qin Mu said leisurely, "They sought death back then, doing everything they could to court disaster, never asking for my opinion. They forced me not only to risk my own life and fortune for them but also to drag my friends into risking theirs. If it were just my life and fortune, that would be one thing, but making my friends fight for those two old bastards—that I don't like. Divine Sovereign, do you have a whip? Give them a few lashes for me!"
Langxuan Divine Sovereign's gaze fixed on him as a divine whip slid out from his sleeve. Without looking back, he cracked it with a *smack* across the Heavenly Duke's body.
"Well struck!" Qin Mu cheered.
Langxuan Divine Sovereign released his grip, and the divine whip flew on its own, lashing the suspended Heavenly Duke and Ugly Earth Lord with relentless *smack* after *smack*.
Qin Mu's three eyes gleamed with delight, and he cheered repeatedly, feeling a surge of satisfaction.
Seeing that Qin Mu didn't seem to be faking it, Langxuan Divine Sovereign asked in confusion, "Mu Tianzun, you don't seem to pity them."
"Pity? Pah!"
Qin Mu fumed, "Those two old fools courted death themselves. If they had just died, fine—at least after rebirth, your strength would be close to what it was before! But even after their rebirth, they're still the kind who get captured by you in one move. What a huge disappointment!"
The Heavenly Duke was deeply ashamed.
His current strength was indeed far from what it had been in his previous life.
As for Ugly Earth Lord, since his three souls had scattered and he hadn't been revived by Qin Mu, he had no consciousness or awareness, so he felt nothing from Qin Mu's words.
Langxuan Divine Sovereign's eyes flickered, and he laughed, "What if I just kill them?"
Qin Mu waved his hand dismissively, "Divine Sovereign, go ahead and kill them. I've been honored by the ancient gods as the Indestructible Great Master. If you kill them, I can revive them. They'll just lose their physical bodies and cultivation, and start over from scratch."
Langxuan Divine Sovereign raised an eyebrow. Using this method to force Qin Mu into submission seemed difficult.
"Then I'll kill them!"
Langxuan Divine Sovereign laughed, "I really want to test if my Primal Beginning divine ability can break your myth of indestructibility!"
"Oh?"
Qin Mu's right hand rested on the hilt of the Tribulation Sword. He bent his knees slightly, leaning forward a little, and said with a faint smile, "Divine Sovereign can go ahead and kill them, but the moment you do, you will die."
Langxuan Divine Sovereign stopped swinging his legs, his body involuntarily tensing as he stared intently at Qin Mu's every move, laughing, "Mu Tianzun, are they the hostages you use to threaten me, or the ones I use to threaten you? Right now, I feel like I'm the one being coerced."
Qin Mu said calmly, "Perhaps it's both. Langxuan, with your intelligence, you should be able to guess that Heavenly Sovereign Hao sent you to block me as a way to kill two birds with one stone. He's not trying to kill me—he's trying to kill you. Because you are his elder brother, the greatest threat to his throne."
Langxuan Divine Sovereign manifested a Heavenly Court behind his head, his Dao Fruit floating above the Lingxiao Hall, and laughed, "Mu Tianzun, are you trying to sow discord between me and my lord? Do you think you can kill me with your strength?"
"It's not sowing discord—it's fact."
Qin Mu's Dao heart was utterly serene, and he said calmly, "Ever since you all tried to refine me in the Heavenly Court, I've had a seventy to eighty percent certainty on how to kill any of you. Any Heavenly Sovereign in the Heavenly Court, except for the enlightened Primal Beginning and Heavenly Sovereign Hao, I am confident I can kill. Palace Heavenly Sovereign died by my hand, and Divine Sovereign should know this."
Langxuan Divine Sovereign narrowed his eyes, staring at him intently, and suddenly said, "I can kill the Heavenly Duke and Earth Lord in one move!"
"I can kill you in one move too!"
Qin Mu said flatly, "And you can kill the Heavenly Duke in one move, but you can't kill Ugly Earth Lord in one move. The Earth Lord has been preparing for this day for who knows how many tens of thousands of years. Perhaps from the day Ugly Earth Lord attacked the Heavenly Court, he began planning. Over these eight hundred thousand years, he has forged Ugly Earth Lord with Karma Fire, tempering an indestructible golden body. Not even you, not even your father Primal Beginning himself, could destroy his Karma Fire golden body in one move!"
Langxuan Divine Sovereign's palms were sweaty, and he laughed heartily, "You can kill me in one move? Mu Tianzun, you're flattering yourself!"
His Heavenly Court rumbled, with twenty-eight great halls guarding it, making his combat power and momentum grow stronger and stronger!
The Karma Fire Merit Stele he sat on couldn't withstand his pressure, shattering bit by bit, the broken parts turning into fine powder and even being assimilated into Primal Beginning Qi!
*Hum—*
Qin Mu's Embryo God Soul Realm domain spread out, and the World Tree appeared behind him, his momentum also skyrocketing!
Langxuan Divine Sovereign activated his Dao Fruit, which spun above the Lingxiao Hall in his Heavenly Court. His Primordial Spirit sat firmly on the imperial throne in the hall, his voice booming and shaking the heavens: "Mu Tianzun, you are too arrogant! After obtaining the Dao Fruit, my cultivation and abilities have skyrocketed! My understanding of the Primal Beginning Dao far surpasses yours, and even surpasses my father Primal Beginning! I have already cultivated to the thirty-fifth level of the Primal Beginning Dao Realm!"
His momentum surged and pressed down, and just the sheer force of it caused the Karma Fire Stele Forest around Qin Mu to collapse and disintegrate!
At the same time, the divine whip that had been lashing the Heavenly Duke suddenly coiled around his throat, tightening fiercely!
The Heavenly Duke said nothing, his face turning red from the strangulation.
The divine whip coiled like a python, squeezing tighter and tighter, making the Heavenly Duke's neck thinner and thinner!
Qin Mu pretended not to see. The stele forest around him collapsed, leaving only the ground beneath his feet untouched.
"Langxuan, back when we explored the dangers beneath the Jade Pool in the Ancestral Court together and encountered the master of that Dao Fruit of yours, I admired your boldness."
Qin Mu said unhurriedly, "You rejected the temptation of the Dao Fruit's master and struck him down into the destruction tribulation of the prehistoric universe. At that time, you were full of spirit and vigor, how soaring! Why is it that today, you've lost that edge and become Heavenly Sovereign Hao's dog? And Heavenly Sovereign Hao has become the dog of the young master of the Miluo Palace—you're even worse than him. What made you so dispirited?"
"Mu Tianzun, you will never become one of the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns."
Langxuan tightened the divine whip and sneered, "If you had become one of the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns, you would understand my choice. For us Ten Heavenly Sovereigns, there are no principles, no ideals—only interests. For my own interests, I suppressed the master of the Dao Fruit, forcibly swallowed his Dao Fruit, and can also submit to Heavenly Sovereign Hao for my own interests! By the same logic, Heavenly Sovereign Hao will submit to the young master of the Miluo Palace for his own interests!"
Qin Mu's expression darkened. "I understand..."
Before he finished speaking, suddenly, within his Embryo God Soul Realm domain, forty-nine Heavenly Dao Supreme Treasures fell down, and along with them, the Ancestral Court Execution Platform and the two Execution Divine Blades on it!
As the Execution Divine Blades appeared, the other forty-nine Heavenly Dao Supreme Treasures rumbled, and the Heavenly Dao shook!
The Execution Divine Blades were the fiftieth Heavenly Dao—Heavenly Calamity!
With the blades' appearance, the fifty Heavenly Dao were complete!
The Heavenly Duke immediately sensed the fifty Heavenly Dao Supreme Treasures and focused his mind. The fifty treasures flew out of Qin Mu's Embryo God Soul Realm, slashing toward the golden rope above his head and the divine whip around his neck!
The Karma Fire Merit Stele beneath Langxuan Divine Sovereign's seat collapsed, and his feet hit the ground. In that instant, his Primordial Spirit turned and struck, attacking both the Heavenly Duke and Ugly Earth Lord!
This strike was majestic, unleashing the full power of the Primal Beginning Dao Realm divine ability!
At the same time, his Great Heavenly Court spun rapidly, channeling an incredibly terrifying force into his physical body, mobilizing all his cultivation to attack Qin Mu!
He intended not only to kill the Heavenly Duke and Ugly Earth Lord but also to kill Qin Mu!
But the moment he moved, the spinning Dao Fruit suddenly stopped. Langxuan Divine Sovereign instantly felt that all his understanding of the Primal Beginning Dao had vanished without a trace, leaving nothing behind!
Only the Divine Finger of Primordial Origin, which he had comprehended from the Primal Beginning Dao, remained. However, the Primal Beginning Dao Realm divine ability his Primordial Spirit was executing and the thirty-fifth level Dao Realm divine ability his physical body was unleashing had all lost their power!
The Divine Finger of Primordial Origin was his first level of the Dao Realm, a great Primal Beginning divine ability he had comprehended himself. After that, he had been unable to comprehend the second level for a long time.
It wasn't until he entered the remnants of the Great Luo Heaven beneath the Jade Pool with Qin Mu and obtained that Dao Fruit.
After obtaining the Dao Fruit, his comprehension of the Primal Beginning Dao Realm became effortless, and he advanced level after level, pushing the Primal Beginning Dao to the thirty-fifth level of the Dao Realm!
This level far surpassed his father Primal Beginning and his younger brother Heavenly Sovereign Hao, making him the best in the world, only one step away from enlightenment in the Primal Beginning Dao!
But now, it all vanished like flowers in a mirror or the moon's reflection on water!
In his panic, he tried to change his move, but Qin Mu's Tribulation Sword had already left its sheath, arriving at his brow. With a slight tremor, a beam of sword light pierced into his mind!
This sword light split into five, turning into five red ropes.
However, the Tribulation Sword's main body did not pierce through his brain. Instead, it turned and drove straight in, passing through the Southern Heavenly Gate of his Heavenly Court, destroying all the Heavenly Court structures along the way, splitting the Heavenly River in two with massive waves, and parting the Jade Pool to both sides!
This sword cut the Jade Capital City in half, and the next moment, it arrived at the Lingxiao Hall!
In the Lingxiao Hall, Langxuan Divine Sovereign's Primordial Spirit turned around!
"Divine Finger of Primordial Origin!"
His finger met the sword light, and its power erupted. It was indeed worthy of being the number one divine ability among the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns back then. Though simple, its power was truly terrifying!
But that sword light met the power of the Divine Finger of Primordial Origin head-on, breaking through all the way, completely shattering the power of that strike!
*Chi—*
The Tribulation Sword pierced along his Primordial Spirit's fingertip, shot out from the last joint of his thumb, and turned into a tiny beam of light that stabbed into his Primordial Spirit's brain.
Langxuan Divine Sovereign's Primordial Spirit stood frozen, and his physical body also froze.
At the same time, that Dao Fruit smashed through the Lingxiao Hall, landing with a *dong* in the brain of Langxuan Divine Sovereign's Primordial Spirit, spinning rapidly, just as the Tribulation Sword pierced through it!
Meanwhile, behind Qin Mu, Heavenly Sovereign Hao appeared. Behind his head, thirty-five Heavenly Palaces transformed into the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel, which crashed down, crushing Qin Mu's Embryo God Soul Realm domain and sweeping Qin Mu along with his domain into the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel!
"Heavenly Sovereign Hao!"
Qin Mu's surprised voice came from within the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel, and then his figure shot through the wheel, trying to escape.
"Mu Tianzun, you're always a step behind." Heavenly Sovereign Hao pressed his palm down, forcibly suppressing him back into the wheel.
In front of the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel, within Langxuan's Heavenly Court, the Dao Fruit in Langxuan's Primordial Spirit spun wildly, completely erasing Langxuan's consciousness and taking control of his Primordial Spirit.
His Primordial Spirit and Heavenly Court Heavenly Palaces plummeted downward, preparing to seize Langxuan's physical body.
Just as the Dao Fruit, controlling the Primordial Spirit, entered Langxuan Divine Sovereign's physical body and reached the space between his brows, it suddenly saw five red ropes hidden there. The Primordial Spirit fell straight into the ropes.
The red ropes quickly tied knots, binding the Langxuan Primordial Spirit and the Dao Fruit together.
"Seventh Young Master!" a furious roar came from within the Dao Fruit.
The Heavenly Duke broke free, grabbed the Heavenly Principles Dao Weapon, and controlled the fifty Heavenly Dao Supreme Treasures. The power and might of the fifty treasures boiled over, and with one strike, they slammed heavily into Langxuan Divine Sovereign's back. Langxuan Divine Sovereign's physical body shattered with a bang!