Chapter 1603: The Dao Ancestor and the Old Buddha
Qin Mu stopped in his tracks and looked back. Yu Chenzi quickly came to his side, leaned close to his ear, and whispered a few words.
"Truly?" Qin Mu asked in surprise.
Yu Chenzi nodded gently. "They have already returned."
Qin Mu's expression shifted between uncertainty and resolve. Suddenly, he exerted force with both hands, snapping the thorny ropes binding him. "Take me to see them!"
Yu Chenzi looked at him, puzzled. "Imperial Preceptor, this is...?"
Qin Mu fetched his robes and put them on. "The Kai Emperor has fallen, and the Netherworld has fallen into enemy hands. I was utterly despairing. If they had not returned, I would have already gone to the Heavenly Court to beg for forgiveness from the Heavenly Sovereign Hao."
Yu Chenzi's heart trembled violently. As the minister in charge of foreign strategy for Yancheng, he deeply understood how devastating the Kai Emperor's fall was to Yancheng. Humanity had only a handful of top-tier powerhouses, and among them, the Kai Emperor—the first to achieve enlightenment—possessed the greatest deterrent power.
With the Kai Emperor dead, the strategic deterrence against figures like the Heavenly Sovereign Hao vanished into thin air.
And the Kai Emperor's death meant the Netherworld had fallen into enemy hands!
The loss of control over the Netherworld meant that every person in Yancheng, every person across the myriad heavens, had their lives held in the hands of the Heavenly Court!
To preserve humanity, Qin Mu had only one path left: surrender.
But the news he had brought might be the only alternative to surrender.
Qin Mu turned to Lang Wo and said, "Don't go to the Heavenly Court yet. Wait until I return before making any plans. Yu Chenzi, let's go. Take me to see the Old Buddha and the Dao Ancestor!"
Lang Wo, the Village Chief, Ling Tianzun, and the others watched as Qin Mu followed Yu Chenzi, hurrying back past them. They exchanged bewildered glances and quickly caught up.
As Qin Mu passed the Ferry World Golden Ship, Qin Fengqing on board hastily stepped out from the shadows and called out, "Brother, there's a ghost on your ship!"
"We'll talk later!" Qin Mu replied urgently as he rushed into the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace.
Inside the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace, in the Hall of Hearing the Dao, Qin Mu arrived hurriedly to find a slovenly old Daoist and a venerable Buddha sitting in the hall drinking tea, both looking travel-worn.
"Dao Ancestor, Old Buddha." Qin Mu greeted them with a bow.
The Dao Ancestor and the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha quickly returned the greeting. The Dao Ancestor said in surprise, "Heavenly Lord Mu, you seem to have aged considerably."
The others also surged in, crowding into the hall.
Qin Mu dispensed with pleasantries and said, "Yu Chenzi just told me that the two of you went to explore the Chaotic Space and had a fruitful journey. May I ask what you gained from this trip?"
The Dao Ancestor and the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha exchanged a glance. The Great Brahma said, "You should tell him."
The Dao Ancestor nodded slightly. "The old monk and I have a deep connection with the Ming Emperor and the Red Emperor. After the Ming Emperor was resurrected, we followed him to the Crimson Bright Suspended Realm and took the opportunity to visit the Red Emperor. The Red Emperor's brain was still intact, though he had not yet been reborn at that time."
Qin Mu nodded gently.
Back in his third eye, he had seen that the Red Emperor's consciousness was quite familiar with the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha. Their friendship likely dated back to the Crimson Bright Era.
In the Buddhist and Daoist realms, many guardian deities had three heads and six arms, clearly absorbing the essence of the Crimson Bright Era's techniques.
"The Red Emperor told us about his experiences exploring the Chaotic Space."
The Dao Ancestor continued, "He said he witnessed countless bizarre and wondrous scenes, saw the birth and destruction of innumerable universes, their rise and fall, success and failure. At the time, he was exhausted and knew he couldn't escape, so he turned his physical body into the Crimson Bright Suspended Realm. His experiences piqued our curiosity, and we decided to explore this Chaotic Space ourselves. That exploration was no small matter."
The Dao Ancestor narrated slowly: "In the Chaotic Space, we encountered an endless number of unbelievable events. The myriad universes formed, persisted, decayed, and vanished before our eyes. The enlightened beings in those strange little universes built their Great Luo Heavens, yet as the universes shattered and reformed, they struggled desperately to survive but ultimately perished, their Dao extinguished. Deep in the space, worlds evolved, and the Dao Trees of the enlightened withered like a dead forest. In the forest, there was the sound of Dao weeping, like ghosts."
The things he described grew more and more bizarre.
They braved countless dangers, trying to find the origin of the Chaotic Space. Witnessing the rise and fall of those universes was also a form of cultivation for them.
But the dangers were unimaginable.
Back then, the Heavenly Sovereign Xiao had been exiled there and barely escaped with her life, relying on the Primordial Tree to get out.
The Dao Ancestor and the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha were far weaker than the Heavenly Sovereign Xiao, so the dangers they faced were even greater.
"Strangely enough, we managed to keep moving forward alive. The dangers in the Chaotic Space seemed to avoid us, as if some power was protecting us."
The Dao Ancestor's expression was peculiar. He pondered for a moment and said, "The Old Buddha said that the birth and death of universes here were extremely peculiar, sharing a subtle resonance with his Infinite Kalpa Sutra. But his Infinite Kalpa Sutra is a dream, while the birth and death of universes here are real. We journeyed on, enduring countless hardships, and finally reached the end of the Chaotic Space."
The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha sat in lotus position, spreading his six arms and drawing a circle in the air. Immediately, the phantom images of countless worlds leaped out from this circle, floating in the Hall of Hearing the Dao.
"There, there were countless fragments of Great Luo Heavens. An unparalleled supreme being used his immense Dao attainments to evolve these small universes, trying to deduce a way for the original universe to avoid the cataclysm of destruction."
The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha raised a finger and gently stirred the phantom worlds in the hall. "This boundless Chaotic Space is the manifestation of his dream turned into reality. The fragments of Great Luo Heavens, the withered Dao Trees, the faded Dao Flowers and Dao Fruits we saw—these are the countless versions of himself in his dream achieving enlightenment, only to be destroyed again and again in the great destruction within the dream."
Qin Mu looked at the countless evolving phantom worlds, a puzzled expression on his face. He reached out and gently touched one of the bubbles.
The bubble burst, and a new bubble immediately formed.
The Dao Ancestor said, "We originally thought this supreme being was dead. But as we ventured deeper into the Chaotic Space, we discovered that new small universes were still being born."
Qin Mu asked doubtfully, "What do you mean?"
"That supreme being is still alive."
The Dao Ancestor and the Great Brahma exchanged another glance. The Great Brahma said, "His Dao techniques and divine abilities are extraordinary, far surpassing my Infinite Kalpa Sutra. He has already achieved the state where a dream becomes reality, something I cannot attain. Such an existence from before the primordial era fills me with awe."
"However, when we reached the origin of the Chaotic Space, we did not find that supreme being."
The Dao Ancestor said, "There, we were completely isolated from the world. Truly isolated. From that place, we could not see the Netherworld, the Mysterious Capital, or the Ancestral Court. Even the Crimson Bright Suspended Realm was only at the periphery of that space, which was why the Heavenly Court could not find it."
Qin Mu's eyes gradually lit up.
"If we could relocate Yancheng and the Land of No Worries there, we could avoid the Heavenly Court. The Netherworld would not reach us, the Mysterious Capital would not come near, and we would not face extermination."
The Dao Ancestor said, "The Old Buddha and I drew a map of the route there and hurried back. We didn't expect the Netherworld War to have already broken out. Fortunately, the Heavenly Lord hasn't gone to the Heavenly Court yet."
"Hope, this is hope!"
Qin Mu paced back and forth. This was humanity's last retreat. The news brought by the Dao Ancestor and the Old Buddha rekindled his spirit, and his mind began to stir again.
He thought for a long time, then stopped. "Moving all of Yancheng there would, in the long run, just create another Land of No Worries, another Crimson Bright Suspended Realm. Losing the soil for reform would only lead to self-destruction. That's not acceptable."
In the Hall of Hearing the Dao, everyone's eyes fell on him, waiting quietly for his decision.
"But this is the only hope we have!"
Qin Mu lifted his spirits and smiled. "With a retreat, we can resist, we can fight for a better future! Keep this retreat! Yancheng cannot retreat to the Chaotic Space now; it must remain in the Primordial Realm. But a portion of Yancheng's people can move there, as seeds for future humanity!"
He opened his vertical eye, peering into the Netherworld.
At this moment, the Netherworld's fragmentation was even deeper than when they had left. The Self's Abode is the Netherworld, and now that the Earth Lord was dead, his physical body was collapsing, causing the Netherworld to split into countless pieces.
But this fragmentation was slowly stopping, because the Void Heavenly Sovereign was in the Netherworld, seizing and refining the Dao of the Netherworld, trying to halt the collapse.
If the Netherworld completely disintegrated and ceased to exist, it would be a great loss to the Heavenly Court as well.
Given the Void Heavenly Sovereign's cultivation and strength, she could not control the entire Netherworld.
Then, Qin Mu saw the Heavenly Court's army entering the Netherworld under the banner of the Nether Sovereign.
The Nether Sovereign controlled the Nether Capital, which was the Earth Lord's horn. He was also an expert in the Dao of the Netherworld.
Since the Void Heavenly Sovereign could not fully control the Netherworld, the Nether Sovereign had come to claim a share.
At the same time, the demon armies under the Void Heavenly Sovereign were also pouring into the Netherworld, seizing the dark continents formed from the Earth Lord's corpse.
Qin Mu pondered for a moment. His primal energy erupted, and he spread his hands apart, causing the geography of the myriad heavens to materialize.
In the Hall of Hearing the Dao, the myriad heavens formed from primal energy floated around everyone, creating a model of the great universe.
With a thought, Qin Mu suspended the Mysterious Capital above the model, while the fragmented continents of the Netherworld overlapped with the myriad heavens.
He adjusted a few things and asked, "Yue, are the positions of the myriad heavens correct?"
Yue Tianzun stepped forward, inspected them, and adjusted the positions of a few heavens.
Qin Mu thanked her and walked around the great universe model, analyzing it. After a long silence, he suddenly pointed to the location of Yancheng within the Primordial Realm's geography and said softly, "My brother Qin Fengqing occupies the Primordial Realm, turning it into a Small Netherworld. With the power of the Book of Life and Death, he can protect Yancheng's living beings from being controlled by the Void Heavenly Sovereign's Netherworld."
He extended his finger and drew a circle around Yancheng. His primal energy took the form of Qin Fengqing, with horns sprouting from his head, holding the Book of Life and Death, standing there.
"The Nether Heavenly Sovereign can protect the Land of No Worries, preventing it from being ambushed by the Netherworld. With the addition of the King Yan's Fengdu, they can support each other from both sides. This battle may not be lost!"
His primal energy formed the phantom of the Nether Heavenly Sovereign, stationed in the Land of No Worries, which had already migrated to the Primordial Realm, sitting next to Yancheng.
The Nether Heavenly Sovereign slowly removed his ghost-face mask. "The Heavenly Court's army will never set foot in Yancheng or the Land of No Worries from the Small Netherworld."
Qin Mu's fingertip flowed with primal energy, forming a Small Mysterious Capital that enveloped the Land of No Worries and Yancheng. He said solemnly, "If the Heavenly Court attacks from the Mysterious Capital, bringing calamities down on Yancheng, then the Heavenly Duke can use the fifty Heavenly Dao supreme treasures to form a Small Mysterious Capital! The Ancestral God King controls the Heavenly Duke's physical body and attacks the Small Mysterious Capital. Then the Heavenly Duke can block the Ancestral God King. After all, the Heavenly Duke's physical body is his own body. Though he is no match for the Ancestral God King, it should not be easy for the Ancestral God King to kill his old father again."
Upon hearing this, the Heavenly Duke said, "Rest assured, Heavenly Lord Mu. With me here, I will surely protect the sun, moon, and stars of Yancheng and the Land of No Worries, preventing any calamities from arising."
Qin Mu surveyed the myriad heavens, deep in thought. "If the Heavenly Court attacks, they will have to use the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridges. The Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridges were designed by me and the Black Tiger God. To think they would try to deal with Yancheng through those bridges—they truly underestimate me, the one who laid those paths. I only need to dismantle the bridges and cut off the paths. If the Heavenly Court's army sets out from the Heavenly Court by ship, it will take them decades to reach Yancheng! And in those decades, we can stir up upheaval across the myriad heavens!"
His spirits lifted, his eyes shining like stars and moons. "Yue, go to the Land of No Worries and invite the Woodcutter Sage and the Black Tiger God! Dao Ancestor, I need the top mathematical experts from the Yancheng Daoist Sect! If the Heavenly Court mobilizes its divine demon army, I want every Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge in the Heavenly Court to be useless!"
Yue Tianzun immediately left.
The Dao Ancestor said, "Yancheng's Daoist Sect has already surpassed the Heavenly Court's Daoist Sect in mathematics. However, to cut the bridges, we need to reach the connection points of the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridges in the myriad heavens. The Heavenly Court's Daoist Sect might be able to help."
Qin Mu looked at the myriad heavens and suddenly said, "Yu Chenzi, go see Si Yunxiang and Hu Ling'er. Tell them I want all trade data and Heavenly Coin transaction records from every world in the myriad heavens! Tell them to organize all the data and deliver it to me within ten days!"
The Dao Ancestor said to Yu Chenzi, "The Daoists from Azure Cloud Heaven can help."
Yu Chenzi hurriedly left.
The Dao Ancestor asked, "Heavenly Lord, what do you need the trade data of the myriad heavens for?"
"I want to see which heavens have more trade with Yancheng and which have more with the Heavenly Court."
Qin Mu said, "This will be very important in the future. It will show us which heavens are the Heavenly Court's wings and which heavens we can win over. I also need Yancheng to use the Heavenly Coins accumulated over the years to buy divine ores and divine materials from various heavens, spending all the Heavenly Coins Yancheng has earned! Once war breaks out, Heavenly Coins will be useless!"
"I also need Yancheng to start building divine artifacts and heavy weapons. I need Ling Tianzun to rebuild the Creation Divine Artifact and use it to forge our own Divine Lord Yu Tianzun!"
Ling Tianzun's eyes lit up, but then she shook her head. "Building the Creation Divine Artifact requires many mathematical experts and master craftsmen. Mu, many of the mathematical experts have already been assigned to other tasks. Will there be enough experts for me to use?"
"Yancheng has the most mathematical experts and master craftsmen!"
Qin Mu said decisively, "I want not only to build the Creation Divine Artifact before the Heavenly Court moves against us, but also to build warships like the Other Shore Divine Boat, and a fleet capable of sailing through the stars and destroying the Heavenly Court's Heavenly River Navy!"
"More importantly—"
Qin Mu waved his hand, and the phantom images of the myriad heavens spun wildly around the Heavenly Court. He said coldly, "I want the myriad heavens to rebel against the Heavenly Court!"
In the Hall of Hearing the Dao, everyone's hearts trembled slightly.
Ling Tianzun said softly to the Dao Ancestor, "Old Daoist, thank you for bringing hope."
The Dao Ancestor shook his head. "What we brought was just a sliver of hope. It cannot preserve Yancheng's reforms."
"But he has come back to life." Ling Tianzun looked at the now-busy Qin Mu and said.