Chapter 1675: There Are Treacherous Ministers Beside His Majesty
“Why does Your Majesty say that?”
On the golden ship opposite the Heavenly Emperor Hao, Qin Mu’s gaze was sincere, his tone earnest as he declared loudly, “Your Majesty should know that my Old Qin family has been loyal for generations, all honest and upright people with no intention of rebelling. Yankang has always been a nation subordinate to the Heavenly Court, also with no intention of rebellion. To this day, neither my Old Qin family nor Yankang has revolted against the Heavenly Court! It is Your Majesty!”
His voice suddenly became impassioned and intense, tinged with anger: “It is Your Majesty who has been deceived by treacherous ministers, believing that my Old Qin family wants to rebel, that Yankang wants to rebel! Your Majesty, bewitched by wicked officials, has led the Heavenly Court’s billions of troops on a punitive expedition, refusing me, refusing Yankang and Carefree Village, even a chance to speak! Our resistance is not rebellion, but a correction of Your Majesty’s mistake!”
His voice grew even louder, reaching the ears of countless Heavenly Court soldiers: “There are treacherous ministers beside Your Majesty!”
As soon as these words were spoken, they were resolute and firm, striking everyone’s hearts!
Qin Mu’s voice echoed back and forth between the cliffs, forceful and powerful: “Your Majesty has been blinded by treacherous ministers! Those ministers sow discord and stir up trouble! All of you are loyal and patriotic righteous warriors—follow me to purge the sovereign’s side, eliminate the wicked and petty, and restore peace to the world, bringing clarity to the realm!”
Whether in Carefree Village or the Heavenly Court’s army, all was silent. Billions of people were utterly quiet.
Tai Shi cast an admiring glance from afar, thinking to himself, “Mu Tianzun is already invincible!”
Heavenly Emperor Hao opened his mouth and stared, momentarily unable to come back to his senses.
Tai Chu coughed and was about to speak when suddenly Qin Mu raised his hand and pointed at him, shouting, “You! It’s you! Tai Chu, you are that treacherous minister beside His Majesty! You have bewitched His Majesty into striking down the loyal ministers and righteous warriors of Yankang and Carefree Village! You eliminate dissidents, plot a restoration, and think no one in the world knows!”
Tai Chu clenched his fist, then slowly released it, snorting, “Mu Tianzun, I will not argue with you.”
Qin Mu roared, “Your Majesty, please kill this treacherous minister, and I will withdraw my troops!”
Heavenly Emperor Hao finally came to his senses, smiling ambiguously: “The greatest treachery appears as loyalty. Mu Tianzun’s face is truly thick enough that even a divine weapon forged from the Dao cannot pierce it. Mu Tianzun, you rebel and cause chaos…”
“I have not rebelled. Why would I rebel?”
Qin Mu laughed heartily, clasping his hands behind his back: “This world belongs to the Heavenly Alliance. Even Your Majesty is a founding elder of the Heavenly Alliance; your position as Heavenly Emperor was granted by the Heavenly Alliance. I am the leader of the Heavenly Alliance. The Heavenly Alliance is yours, and it is ours, but ultimately…”
His expression turned indifferent: “It is still mine. Why would I rebel against myself?”
The mockery on his face vanished, and his gaze fell on Heavenly Emperor Hao as he said calmly, “Heavenly Emperor Hao, you were a fine person, so why did you turn to banditry? Why do you oppose me, oppose the Heavenly Alliance?”
Heavenly Emperor Hao burst into laughter: “You’ve finally shown your true colors! Mu Tianzun, my army is pressing down on you. If you immediately surrender and cease resistance, the people of Yankang and Carefree Village may yet survive. If you remain stubbornly deluded, wherever my finger points, everything will turn to ashes!”
Qin Mu said leisurely, “Heavenly Emperor Hao, why don’t you raise your hand and point at me, and see if I will turn to ashes as you claim?”
Heavenly Emperor Hao’s pupils contracted sharply.
Qin Mu stood at the bow of the ship, gazing into the distance at the countless divine and demonic armies of the Heavenly Court on the opposite shore, and said calmly, “Letting both sides’ soldiers fight to the death is hardly fair. How about this: you and I, in front of both armies, fight a decisive battle here on the battlefield.”
He raised his hand and made a cutting motion: “If I die by your hand, Yankang and Carefree Village will surrender completely and submit to your judgment. If you die by my hand, then the Heavenly Court will disband. Hao, do you dare?”
Heavenly Emperor Hao’s gaze locked onto his face, and the two stared each other down without yielding.
Heavenly Emperor Hao rose from his imperial carriage, his aura growing stronger and stronger, and said grimly, “I killed Imperial Heavenly Lord Yu in my youth, eliminated Xie Wuqi, deposed the Heavenly Emperor as an adult, killed Heavenly Lord Yun, destroyed Chi Ming, pacified Shang Huang, and forced Kai Huang to flee to Carefree Village! In recent years, Tai Di has been beheaded, Tai Chu has submitted, and I have suppressed the Ten Heavenly Lords to become the Heavenly Emperor! I sit on this throne by virtue of unmatched martial power! What do I not dare to do?”
Qin Mu’s robes fluttered in the wind as he smiled slightly: “You have only suffered two defeats, both at my hands.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao’s killing intent grew stronger, and he was about to step out of his carriage.
Just then, the Ling Guan Hall Master said solemnly, “Heavenly Emperor, in a battle between armies, for the Heavenly Emperor to engage in personal valor is extremely unwise.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao narrowed his eyes, snorted, and retreated back to his seat in the carriage, saying flatly, “The Hall Master speaks rightly. Mu Tianzun, I intend to destroy your nation, destroy your ideals, destroy the faith of your life—not merely kill you. Killing you would be too easy.”
Qin Mu laughed: “Hao, you have lost to me twice and no longer dare to face me in battle.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao clenched his fist and was about to stand again.
Ling Guan Hall Master coughed and said, “As the Heavenly Emperor, one must have the bearing and cultivation of a sovereign. Acting on mere personal valor—how can one be the ruler of heaven and earth?”
Tai Chu, Tai Ji, and other beings stepped forward one after another, advising, “Fighting in front of the armies is the act of a reckless man. Your Majesty, think thrice!”
Heavenly Emperor Hao waved his hand, and the imperial carriage turned back. Qin Mu’s voice came, tinged with disappointment: “So you still don’t dare. Hao, you child, you don’t even have the courage to fight me. What virtue or ability do you have to command the heroes of the world? How can the masses submit to you?”
Heavenly Emperor Hao’s chest heaved violently as he suppressed his anger and returned to the Heavenly Court’s camp.
Ling Guan Hall Master said, “Your Majesty, your strength is still a notch below his. You are not his match.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao could barely contain the rage in his chest and said in a low, cold voice, “Brother, I have already patched all the flaws in my techniques. How can I still fear that mere bandit Qin? If I were to fight him now, he wouldn’t last ten moves against me!”
Ling Guan Hall Master shook his head: “If Your Majesty truly fights, you would likely not last ten moves against him. Your Majesty, patching the flaws in your techniques only means your own techniques have no flaws. But why would the Seventh Young Master need to seek out your flaws? He has already comprehended the master’s ultimate techniques, and there is also one technique from the master’s archenemy. In two moves, Your Majesty will surely lose. In ten moves, Your Majesty risks falling. The Third and Fourth Young Masters cultivated you not to have you die at the Seventh Young Master’s hands. Your role is not to clash with the Seventh Young Master.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao frowned.
Ling Guan Hall Master said, “If Your Majesty wishes to defeat him, it is simple. You only need to master a third method of achieving Dao, and you can break his divine abilities.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao was about to inquire further when suddenly Qin Mu’s voice came: “That headless prehistoric Dao achiever, last time I cut off your head, destroyed your Dao tree, and extinguished one of your Dao fruits. I forgot to ask your name. Dare I ask, which hall master of the seventy-two halls of Mi Luo Palace are you?”
Ling Guan Hall Master did not continue speaking. He turned around and bowed deeply: “Ling Guan Hall of the seventy-two halls, known as Mi Luo Palace’s Ling Sheng, also called Ling Guan Hall Master. Greetings to the Seventh Young Master.”
Qin Mu turned his head and said joyfully to his shadow, “Shang Jun, this time we finally know who we killed!”
Shang Jun’s voice came from his shadow: “Young Master, for a man about to die, why bother asking his name?”
“Just a matter of courtesy.”
Qin Mu turned back and smiled slightly: “Ling Guan, do you dare to fight me in front of the armies?”
Ling Guan Hall Master’s pair of ox horns on his shoulders twitched as he laughed heartily: “Seventh Young Master, you have an assassin hidden in your shadow, waiting to ambush me. Do you think I don’t know? Today, I will not fight you. The day of our decisive battle will come!”
Heavenly Emperor Hao invited him into the palace, saying eagerly, “Brother, you must explain this third method of achieving Dao in detail. Please!”
Qin Mu frowned. The Golden Ship of Salvation sailed toward Carefree Village and stopped in the Tai Qing Realm. He said, “Prepare for battle!”
His gaze fell on the Heavenly Court’s camp across the way, a hint of worry in his eyes.
“The third method of achieving Dao was created by the Second Young Master of Mi Luo Palace. The Second Young Master, Wu Ji, is the Goddess of the Return to Nothingness. Her Dao is limitless, vast and indistinct, without trace or origin. When she achieved Dao, she discovered that the Dao Realm method and the Jade Capital method passed down by the master were useless to her. Her Dao of Return to Nothingness could never be imprinted on the void.”
Ling Guan Hall Master walked into the palace with Heavenly Emperor Hao and sat down, saying, “At that time, she created the Return to Nothingness method of achieving Dao and finally succeeded. Its power was so great that even the master praised it repeatedly. I see that you have the bloodline of the Goddess of Return to Nothingness and have cultivated the Dao of Return to Nothingness, but since that Dao cannot achieve Dao, I thought of the Second Young Master’s method.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao bowed deeply and said, “Please teach me, Brother!”
Ling Guan Hall Master shook his head: “The Return to Nothingness method is useless to me. I know little about how to achieve Dao. I only heard the master mention it once—it seems to require planting a lotus in chaos. The master said, ‘A pond of chaos, plant a golden lotus to bloom.’ As for how to plant it and how to make it bloom, that is beyond my knowledge.”
When he said, “A pond of chaos, plant a golden lotus to bloom,” he used Dao language, which was profound and ancient in meaning, clearly not something Ling Guan Hall Master could have comprehended himself. It came from the mouth of the master of Mi Luo Palace.
Ling Guan Hall Master was merely repeating the master’s words.
Heavenly Emperor Hao pondered this sentence deeply, feeling it held great significance, but how to achieve the planting and blooming of the lotus in the chaos pond left him completely baffled.
“Planting a lotus in chaos—I can only ask Yuan Mu to explain!”
Heavenly Emperor Hao hesitated. Although he was Yuan Mu’s son, Yuan Mu had little familial affection. If Yuan Mu achieved Dao, she might usurp the throne!
“Brother, may I ask how the fourth method of achieving Dao works?” Heavenly Emperor Hao inquired.
“Your Majesty, you are too greedy.”
Ling Guan Hall Master said, “You have already mastered one of the first three methods. Do you intend to cultivate all four? You might be able to master the first three, but the fourth—you can never cultivate it.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao pressed further.
Ling Guan Hall Master had no choice but to say, “The fourth method of achieving Dao was created by the archenemy of our Mi Luo Palace. I do not know how it works. I only know that this method does not cultivate a Dao tree, does not borrow external power, does not imprint on the void, and does not plant a lotus in chaos. It is mysterious and unfathomable.”
Heavenly Emperor Hao exhaled a turbid breath and abandoned this thought. He said solemnly, “Summon the Empress Dowager!”
The Empress Dowager arrived. Heavenly Emperor Hao said, “Brother, please repeat that sentence just now.”
Ling Guan Hall Master repeated the sentence in Dao language. The Empress Dowager’s mind shook violently. As the Dao language entered her ears, the deepest scene of the Great Abyss of Return to Nothingness involuntarily emerged in her mind.
Suddenly, her own Dao of Return to Nothingness contracted sharply. All her heavenly palaces collapsed, and then even her divine treasures collapsed!
At that moment, all her cultivation settled down, like a calm lake into which a pebble had been thrown, producing a soft thud. Even her spiritual embryo treasure collapsed and dissolved!
Inside her body, only a pond of chaos remained!
Looking up from this chaos pond, she could only see a sliver of sky—the Great Abyss of Return to Nothingness!
“So that’s it.”
The Empress Dowager suddenly understood. In the chaos pond, a lotus leaf began to emerge. She had finally achieved the Return to Nothingness Dao!