Chapter 1668: The First Visit to the Thatched Cottage
“Such a small Grand Celestial Heaven?”
Qin Mu was somewhat taken aback. This Grand Celestial Heaven was quite different from the ones he had seen before.
Whether it was the Grand Celestial Heaven of the Grand Emperor, or the Unified Qi Grand Celestial Heaven of Grand Beginning and Heavenly Emperor Hao, they were all extremely vast and expansive, possessing heavens and earth, sun, moon, and stars. Some were like carved jade, others like worlds of gold.
The essence of the Grand Celestial Heaven was the Dao’s interpretation of the universe, so every Grand Celestial Heaven was a complete cosmos of heavens.
But the Grand Celestial Heaven before him was pitifully small.
A sparrow may be small, but it has all five vital organs. Although this Grand Celestial Heaven was small, behind the thatched cottage hung a small sun, and in front of it rested a small moon. They were very delicate and elegant, revolving and cycling around this tiny Grand Celestial Heaven.
Qin Mu stepped forward. The sun rose from behind the cottage and came to the front, while the moon had already sunk to the back of the Grand Celestial Heaven.
As the sunlight cast his shadow behind him, the figure of Shang Jun emerged.
Shang Jun had grown accustomed to lurking in his shadow. Suddenly appearing and being exposed to the sunlight, he seemed at a loss, standing there dumbfounded.
“Shang Jun, you weren’t like this back in the village.”
Qin Mu said gently with a smile, “Back then, you were slaughtering pigs at the village entrance. With a single stroke of your knife, you showed no unease even when you saw me. As long as one’s heart is open and honest, what does it matter if a thousand fingers point at you or ten thousand eyes stare?”
Shang Jun remained silent.
Qin Mu arrived before the thatched cottage and looked it over. He saw the plaque above the door bearing the two characters “Tai Shang” (Supreme).
“Tai Shang Hall?”
Qin Mu was slightly startled, his expression turning serious. In the Miluo Palace of the Jade Capital in the Ancestral Court, there was a Tai Shang Hall, refined from the Great One’s Great Dao, symbolizing his achievements.
But that Tai Shang Hall was majestic, ancient, and solemn—completely different from the thatched cottage before him!
Could this Tai Shang Thatched Cottage be the Tai Shang Hall of the Great One of Miluo Palace?
If it was formed from his Great Dao, then where did the Tai Shang Hall in Miluo Palace come from? Which one was the real Tai Shang Hall?
If there was a real one, there must naturally be a fake one.
Qin Mu couldn’t help but find it amusing. “The Great One is also a man of strong character. I thought he was stern and unsmiling, just like the master of Miluo Palace.”
Full of interest, Qin Mu circled the thatched cottage a few times, examining the structure of every single stalk of straw. Suddenly, he burst out laughing, “This thatched cottage is the real Tai Shang Hall. The one in Miluo Palace is indeed a fake!”
Shang Jun couldn’t understand and asked, “Celestial Venerable, how can you tell?”
“Every stalk of straw in this cottage is condensed from Hongmeng runes. Each stalk is a complete Great Dao, and they are all different Great Daos.”
Qin Mu explained patiently, “I just counted. There are six thousand four hundred stalks of straw here, representing six thousand four hundred types of Great Dao, with no repetition. Using Hongmeng runes to evolve these Great Daos—this is the supreme achievement, hence the name Tai Shang. The Tai Shang Hall of the Great One of Miluo Palace can only be this thatched cottage.”
Shang Jun was greatly shaken. He looked at the Dao Tree behind the cottage and asked, “Then how many types of Great Dao does Tai Shang’s Dao Tree encompass?”
“It should also be six thousand four hundred.”
Qin Mu’s gaze fell on the Dao Tree. “His Dao Tree is not a real one; it’s just a projection. His true body and Dao Tree should be in the era of his birth.”
Shang Jun was silent for a moment before saying, “It’s impossible for anyone to cultivate six thousand four hundred types of Great Dao to the Grand Celestial Heaven realm. The Great One Tai Shang cannot be that strong.”
“It is possible.”
Qin Mu walked toward the door of the thatched cottage. “The greatest characteristic of Hongmeng runes is that they can evolve different Great Daos. Whether it’s Grand Ease, Grand Beginning, and the other Five Grands, various innate Great Daos, or acquired Great Daos, they can all be evolved using Hongmeng runes. Different Great Daos have different basic runes, and the foundation of those basic runes is the Hongmeng rune. I think the straw of Tai Shang’s thatched cottage is still a bit lacking.”
He reached out to push the door of the cottage. “If the master of Miluo Palace used Hongmeng runes to evolve the Great Dao, it wouldn’t be a thatched cottage but an entire Miluo Palace.”
The door of the thatched cottage shook slightly, but he couldn’t push it open.
Qin Mu frowned and tried to decipher it, but the Hongmeng runes on the door kept changing, evolving into different Great Daos, making it impossible for him to unlock.
Soon, the moon rose, but the cottage door still hadn’t been opened.
Shang Jun tried to force the door open with his Killing Dao, but when his blade struck the door, a terrifying burst of power erupted, sending him flying far away.
Qin Mu quickly went to rescue him, barely managing to save him. Otherwise, the power unleashed by that door would have been enough to severely wound her!
Qin Mu knocked on the door and said with a smile, “Is anyone home? A guest has arrived!”
There was no sound from behind the door.
Qin Mu had no choice but to sit in front of the cottage and think. After a while, the moon and the sun appeared together in the sky of this tiny Grand Celestial Heaven. Qin Mu had a sudden inspiration. He took out the Grand Ease walking stick and tried knocking on the door with it. “Grand Ease, are you in the thatched cottage? I’ve come following the map to rescue you!”
The Grand Ease walking stick knocked on the door with a thumping sound, but there was still no movement from inside.
Qin Mu was completely out of ideas. He stuck the Grand Ease walking stick in front of the door and frowned in deep thought.
Suddenly, the Grand Ease walking stick made a popping sound and sprouted a tender leaf!
Qin Mu stared at the tender leaf. It gradually grew, and after a moment, the texture of the leaf changed, forming the shape of an axe.
Qin Mu’s heart stirred. He carefully studied the changes in the texture, his eyes flickering. “Grand Ease is using the World Tree leaf grown from the walking stick to teach me his axe technique for splitting the World Tree! He wants me to use this method to split this door! This means that Grand Ease is indeed inside this Tai Shang Thatched Cottage!”
He opened his vertical eye on his brow and observed the fine structure of the World Tree leaf’s texture. These textures were constantly changing, extremely complex, but they contained Grand Ease’s Dao techniques and divine abilities.
Qin Mu had already achieved profound mastery of Grand Ease’s Dao, and he unconsciously immersed himself in the changes of the textures.
The Grand Ease walking stick was refined from a branch of the World Tree and turned into a treasure by Grand Ease. Clearly, Grand Ease was suppressed inside the Tai Shang Thatched Cottage and couldn’t make a sound, but he used the World Tree’s characteristics of the walking stick to convey information.
Without realizing it, Qin Mu took out his Calamity Sword and used it as an axe, slowly executing the Grand Ease Dao and divine abilities shown on the leaf.
Shang Jun was healing nearby when he saw that Qin Mu’s sword techniques with the Calamity Sword were ancient and unsophisticated, but their power grew stronger and stronger. Qin Mu used the sword as an axe, like a giant splitting heaven and earth. The force contained in each axe strike seemed capable of cleaving the Ultimate Void and splitting the Grand Celestial Heaven in two!
After a long time, the textures on the leaf stopped changing, and the leaf quickly withered, turning into a fallen leaf that decayed and vanished into nothing.
Qin Mu closed his eyes, holding his breath and concentrating.
Shang Jun waited quietly by the side. The sun and moon cycled more than ten times before Qin Mu finally opened his eyes. The divine light in his eyes was as bright as snow, then slowly faded and disappeared.
He appeared very simple and unadorned, his aura and presence completely concealed. He looked like an ordinary person, showing no signs of any special traits.
He walked to the door of the thatched cottage, stood still, and held the Calamity Sword with both hands, slowly beginning to move it.
In the Ultimate Void, there was no wind, nothing at all. But at this moment, the sound of wind arose.
As Qin Mu’s sword moved, the wind grew faster and louder. Yet Qin Mu’s sword moved slower and slower, so slow it made one anxious.
The Calamity Sword never stopped moving, but its speed grew increasingly slow, while the wind grew louder. Soon, the sound turned into the roar of waves, which also grew louder, emitting rumbling noises!
Quickly, the rumbling turned into the sound of bells, the continuous tolling of great bells that shook Shang Jun until only the bell sounds remained in his ears!
Finally, Qin Mu’s Calamity Sword reached the door of the thatched cottage and made contact with it!
At that moment, the sun and moon stopped cycling. The stalks of straw on the thatched cottage danced, emitting the light of the Dao. The light surged like a tide, flowing into the door.
Bang!
From within the door came the sound of something snapping, like a taut bowstring suddenly breaking with a whistling sound!
Bang, bang, bang!
One sound after another came. Qin Mu’s arms shook violently, the tendons on his arms jumping, muscles bulging in strips and strands, causing his arms to grow thicker and thicker!
The Calamity Sword continued to move, cutting into the door, but the speed at which it sliced through the door panel grew slower and slower.
Qin Mu’s arms trembled, as if the Calamity Sword was growing heavier and heavier. The snapping sounds became more and more frequent.
Flames flickered above his head, and behind him, a World Tree and a Return to Void Great Abyss emerged. The World Tree grew more robust, and the Great Abyss devoured everything!
His divine storage domain appeared, with thirty-three heavenly palaces suspended high above, five great mineral veins seated in the Ancestral Court. The veins shimmered with radiant light, and the Great Daos of the Five Grands—Grand Ease, Grand Beginning, and the others—were pushed to their limits!
Within his celestial court, his primordial spirit stood before the Chaos Hall, mobilizing the power of the entire celestial court!
That was his Hongmeng primordial spirit!
The Hongmeng primordial spirit empowered his Hongmeng physical body, pushing his strength to the extreme. The sound of the Great Dao roared within his body!
He was enveloped in a vast expanse of Hongmeng purple qi, and the Chaos Hall behind him grew clearer and clearer!
Suddenly, his tiger’s mouth split open, and the skin on his arms burst. At the same time, his clothes and pants made tearing sounds. His thighs grew incredibly thick, splitting his pant legs, revealing strips and strands of muscle that were hard to cover!
The robe on his upper body was also torn apart. His sinewy body was ferocious, with bulging muscles. The torn clothes turned into strips of cloth that drifted away.
The Calamity Sword continued to swing forward, but it became increasingly unable to bear his power. Cracks spread all over the sword!
The cracks grew finer and denser!
Snap—
The Calamity Sword suddenly exploded, shattering into countless fine powder!
Qin Mu let out a muffled groan. The hilt in his hand also turned to powder, mixing with his blood to form a mist that scattered!
“My sword cannot withstand my power. I’ll forge a better one before I come back to open this door!”
Qin Mu turned around. His clothes were completely shredded, fluttering away like butterflies. His muscles retracted, returning to normal, and he strode away from this tiny Grand Celestial Heaven.
“Shang Jun, let’s go!”
Shang Jun entered his shadow, following closely as they departed.
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