Chapter 1611: The Dao Flower on the Golden Ship
"If there are ghosts haunting this place, then you two are the ghosts!"
Qin Mu boarded the Golden Ship of Ferry, and with a slight thought, the ship shrank many times in size from the outside, appearing like a small golden boat. However, once aboard, the internal space of the ship was still extremely vast.
"Little brother, there really are ghosts on the ship."
Qin Fengqing hesitated for a moment, then said, "I saw our Grand Ancestor Emperor."
Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, then thought of the Kaihuang Emperor and fell silent.
"I really did see him!"
Seeing that Qin Mu didn't believe him, Qin Fengqing quickly said, "You've been busy these past few days, and everyone else has been running around too, so I found Little Fatty to help me. We searched the ship for a long time and really did see him!"
The "Little Fatty" he referred to was Taiyi. Compared to a giant like Qin Fengqing, Taishi was just a round, chubby little fellow.
Of course, this little fatty's strength was extremely high. There weren't many beings who could contend with the Taiji Ancient God, and he was definitely one of them.
Qin Mu's heart stirred. The Golden Ship slowly accelerated and sailed into the void.
"Where did you encounter him?" he asked.
Taishi said, "In one of the great halls. We saw a figure that looked like him, but when we chased after it, we could never get close. Instead, we passed right through him."
Qin Mu's expression darkened. He murmured, "It should be his imprint. The power of that Fourth Young Master's strike completely annihilated him; not even the black sand of his soul would remain..."
"Little brother, do you want to go and see?" Qin Fengqing showed a look of hope.
Although he always called Qin Mu a "bad little brother," in his heart he always believed that this bad little brother was capable of anything. He desperately hoped that Qin Mu could find the Kaihuang Emperor, and that perhaps his bad little brother would have a way to save him.
Qin Mu thought for a moment and, as if guided by some unseen force, nodded.
His reason told him that the Kaihuang Emperor could not possibly have survived that strike from the Fourth Young Master, but he stubbornly preferred to believe in miracles.
Qin Fengqing and Taishi led the way, and Qin Mu followed them to the palace complex on the Golden Ship of Ferry.
These palaces were built by the master of the Miluo Palace. Each palace was equivalent to a single celestial realm, with vast internal spaces. Strangely, the number of palaces was not fixed.
The palaces here would increase as the number of people boarding the ship increased. Even if everyone in the entire universe boarded this ship, it would have enough space to accommodate them all!
Even stranger was that once you entered a palace and came out, you would find a new palace had appeared. Even if you searched continuously, you would always find palaces on the ship that you had never visited before!
This was the Golden Ship of Ferry refined by the master of the Miluo Palace!
Despite the ship's incredible mystery and its capacity for boundless space, it could not protect anyone from the great calamity of the universe's destruction.
Qin Mu followed them into a palace. Qin Fengqing quickly circled around and said, "Not here!"
He opened the palace door and rushed out, then opened another palace door and sped through it: "Not here either!"
One palace door after another was opened, and more golden halls appeared on the Golden Ship of Ferry. Gradually, Qin Fengqing had already inspected several hundred halls, while new halls continued to appear. Qin Mu could only watch him busily moving about.
In the distance, the halls they had inspected slowly disappeared, and many new halls appeared out of thin air. Qin Fengqing kept searching, stubborn and tenacious, never giving up.
Qin Mu followed him. After an unknown amount of time, Qin Fengqing grew a bit tired. He opened his three eyes in confusion and murmured, "Which hall was it in? We clearly saw him..."
He opened another hall, and a faint sigh came from within. Qin Mu's spirits lifted, and he quickly walked in, only to see Qin Fengqing come out with a disappointed face, shaking his head. "It's not him..."
Puzzled, Qin Mu looked into the hall and saw a figure walking towards him. The two met face-to-face, but the figure passed right through him.
Qin Mu was startled for a moment and looked at the figure. It was an imprint left by the master of the Miluo Palace. His face was filled with sorrow as he walked out of this hall.
Qin Mu turned back and suddenly saw countless living beings in this great hall—cities, towns, and various buildings.
They were living and thriving there, enjoying their happiness.
Suddenly, in an instant, everyone turned into white bones, and then all the cities, towns, and buildings turned into chaotic energy in an instant.
Those white bones also collapsed, shattered, and turned into wisps of chaotic energy.
Qin Mu was stunned. The hall had just contained a world, and now there was nothing.
He turned around and saw the imprint of the master of the Miluo Palace standing outside the hall, looking up in a daze.
Qin Mu walked to his side and looked up, but he couldn't see what the imprint was looking at.
He turned his head and saw two streaks of light like tears at the corners of the imprint's eyes. His tears were also imprinted in this space, becoming eternal.
Qin Mu was stunned. He didn't stay there but followed Qin Fengqing and Taishi to continue the search.
The Golden Ship of Ferry sailed towards the Southern Heaven according to his will. The ship passed through the void, and it should take a month or two to reach the Southern Heaven.
Qin Fengqing and Taishi were still searching the ship, and almost every hall was different. It was too difficult for him to find the hall where they had encountered the Kaihuang Emperor.
They encountered the imprint of the master of the Miluo Palace again. This most powerful being in history had left many imprints on this ship.
Whenever his emotions surged or he was downcast, his figure would be imprinted on this ship.
As Qin Mu and the others explored more and more halls, they gradually encountered more imprints of the master of the Miluo Palace.
These imprints were either sad, melancholic, invigorated, or dejected.
The more places they explored, the more Qin Mu realized that the places where the master of the Miluo Palace appeared were basically where the beings of the First Universe had died.
"In other words, when the destruction calamity of the First Universe broke out, some halls actually had no people. The number of halls with people was limited."
He suddenly stopped, feeling that he had vaguely grasped something.
Qin Fengqing was still searching ahead. Qin Mu tilted his head in thought. "The halls with people and the halls without people might appear according to a certain pattern. If there is a pattern, then it means that the number of halls the Golden Ship of Ferry can manifest is fixed. Because the number of beings in the First Universe is also fixed."
His mind was spinning faster and faster. "If the number of halls is fixed, then it means we can search all the golden halls!"
He suddenly activated his divine consciousness, visualizing the paths he had taken and the halls he had explored, spreading them out to find their mathematical and logical patterns.
Qin Fengqing stopped and looked back.
Qin Mu slowly caught up with them and suddenly said, "Brother, do you know the cultivation technique of the Netherworld Venerable?"
Qin Fengqing was puzzled.
"I mean the method of the Netherworld Venerable's billions of incarnations."
Qin Mu said, "Your mastery of the Netherworld Dao should be on par with his. If he can do it, you probably can too."
Qin Fengqing's eyes lit up. Suddenly, his body shook, and another Qin Fengqing walked out of his body.
The two Qin Fengqings looked at each other. Their cultivation bases were exactly split in half. Each of them shook their bodies again, and another Qin Fengqing split off from each.
Qin Fengqing kept splitting, and soon there were tens of thousands of him!
This was the Netherworld Venerable's technique.
The Netherworld Venerable's strongest primordial spirit was cultivated this way. With billions of incarnations, each containing a primordial spirit, the primordial spirit naturally became powerful.
But this method also had a weakness: the physical body was weak.
Because the Netherworld Dao rejected living, fresh bodies, this cultivation method made it very difficult to train the physical body to its peak. Therefore, the Netherworld Venerable's achievements in physical cultivation were not high.
Countless Qin Fengqings ran around, charging into one hall after another, but even more halls appeared out of thin air.
These Qin Fengqings kept running, shaking their bodies, and splitting off more of themselves.
Qin Mu's eyes flickered. The halls he visualized were also increasing, and the patterns gradually became clearer.
Taishi watched in astonishment and suddenly said, "Has Qin Fengqing studied the Netherworld Venerable's technique?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "No, he hasn't. The Netherworld Venerable is too withdrawn; few people can have a good conversation with him. The Netherworld Dao is also extremely profound and difficult to understand. He's too lazy to teach others."
Taishi stammered, "Then how did Qin Fengqing learn it?"
"Brother is, after all, the Earth Lord. Besides, brother and I are ultimately the same person."
Qin Mu said calmly, "He may look foolish, but he's just as smart as I am."
Taishi thought for a moment and then asked, "Then why can't you do it?"
...
Finally, Qin Fengqing finished searching the last hall. No new halls appeared. He withdrew all his incarnations, showing a disappointed look, and shook his head. "I didn't find the old ancestor... Little Fatty, why are your eyes swollen?"
Taishi stammered, unable to speak.
Qin Mu let out a breath of turbid air. Looking at the halls he had visualized, he analyzed their mathematical patterns and shook his head. "There is still one great hall on the ship that hasn't been revealed. However, I can determine its location!"
He walked forward to an empty space, raised his hand, and lightly tapped his brow. His vertical eye opened.
A dazzling light, like countless crystal shards, shot out from this divine eye in his brow, refracting in all directions. He activated the Moon Venerable's Scripture of the Ultimate Void to its fullest extent.
The crystal-like light from his eye refracted countless spatial dimensions. In those strange spaces were halls, which were the internal spaces of the Golden Ship of Ferry!
Suddenly, Qin Mu's gaze focused, shining on one hall. The crystal shards in his gaze slowly rotated, turning from the front to the back. A strange thing happened. When the crystal turned to the back, a treasure hall appeared out of thin air right before them!
The vanished golden hall on the Golden Ship of Ferry had thus appeared!
"Once you understand the mathematical principles, all mysteries will have no secrets left." Taishi said meaningfully to the dumbfounded Qin Fengqing.
Qin Fengqing stared blankly at the golden hall and murmured, "If you weren't such a little fatty, I'd definitely think your words made a lot of sense..."
Qin Mu shook his robe, pushed open the door of the hall, and stepped inside.
Before his eyes, a Dao flower, as if composed of countless blades, slowly rotated.
Qin Mu stood there, his expression caught between crying and laughing, unmoving for a long time.
In the Heavenly Court, after the enthronement ceremony of the Heavenly Emperor Hao, there was another period of excitement. The Heavenly Emperor Hao enfeoffed his meritorious officials, and the most eye-catching was the appointment of new Heavenly Venerables.
The Netherworld King was appointed as the Great Sage Netherworld Heavenly Venerable of Reincarnation. The Taiji Ancient Gods were appointed as the Sun Heavenly Venerable and the Moon Heavenly Venerable. The Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon was appointed as the Azure Dragon Heavenly Venerable.
The most unexpected was that Long Xiao also came and was appointed by the Heavenly Venerable Hao as the Tenth Heavenly Venerable, the Long Xiao Heavenly Venerable, in charge of the Beast Realm.
The other Heavenly Venerables, such as Fire, Void, and Ancestor, also received their own rewards and became even more honored.
After the grand event, the Heavenly Venerable Hao ordered a campaign against the disobedient, preparing to use force against the Western Extreme Heaven and the Northern Pole Heaven.
The rulers of the myriad realms returned to their own realms, and the various Heavenly Venerables also returned to their territories to recruit soldiers and prepare for the campaign.
The Fire Heavenly Venerable rode in his Heavenly Venerable chariot, sitting inside with his eyes closed in meditation. The chariot traveled through the starry sky, its light shining brightly, leaving a long trail in the stars.
Returning home rich and honored without showing off was like wearing fine clothes at night.
He didn't take the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge but chose to ride his chariot back to the Southern Heaven for this very reason.
A Heavenly Venerable must have the air of a Heavenly Venerable.
The journey was uneventful.
When the chariot arrived at the Southern Heaven, its speed gradually slowed. The chariot passed over the various celestial realms of the Southern Heaven, with the common people below kneeling in worship.
The Fire Heavenly Venerable inspected the area along the way. He saw that the Southern Heaven was orderly but also showed signs of chaos, and he frowned.
The rebels were not the human race but the demigods, who were burning, killing, and looting everywhere. The human race, on the other hand, remained submissive as always, offering no resistance at all.
The Fire Heavenly Venerable captured a demigod and questioned him. The demigod stiffened his neck and said, "We're out of money! The Southern Heaven is all about farming, raising silkworms, and weaving cloth. Who knows how to build manufacturing plants? Who knows how to make civilian spiritual weapons? We have to buy everything from Yancheng. Now even we, the masters, have no money, so we have no choice but to rebel!"
The Fire Heavenly Venerable let him go and waved his hand to dismiss him, falling into deep thought.
"If we don't plunder Yancheng, it will be very difficult for the Southern Heaven to sustain itself. The Southern Heaven is a land of small states and few people, a pastoral life. How can it compete with the large-scale manufacturing of Yancheng..."
Just as he thought this, he suddenly heard a voice laughing, "The Fire Heavenly Venerable is truly a talent! You've trained the humans here so well—docile, obedient, with no will to resist and no power to resist. These people live to be sixty years old before being eaten by the demigods? Too late. The taste is already bad. From now on, let's lower it to forty years old. At forty, the taste is just right."