Chapter 1694: Ten Steps to Slay a God (Another Long Chapter)
"Time is pressing. No more drinking."
Empty wine jars were piled high around Cloud Sovereign and Qin Mu. Only one last jar remained untouched. Cloud Sovereign smiled and said, "For beings like us, it's already very difficult to get drunk. You need to go and stop the Hall Master of the Lingguan Hall. After all, he has split himself into thirty parts, and eliminating him won't be easy. This jar of victory wine will be left here. Between you and me, whoever returns first will drink this jar of victory wine!"
"Agreed!"
Qin Mu also knew there was no time to waste. He rose to his feet and laughed, "This jar of wine is the victory wine. Whoever returns here first will be qualified to drink it!"
He turned and left.
At the moment he turned around, Cloud Sovereign sensed a faint, almost imperceptible aura within his own shadow. It was Shang Jun leaving Qin Mu's shadow and lurking within his. Under normal circumstances, it would be very difficult to detect. Shang Jun had deliberately emitted a slight fluctuation to signal his arrival.
Cloud Sovereign looked down at the various battlefields below. The battlefield surrounding Carefree Village was vast and magnificent. Reinforcements and supplies from Eternal Peace were continuously delivered here through teleportation gates. The masters of the thirty-three heavens under Carefree Village's control had all led their troops into battle. Among the Four Heavenly Masters, only the Woodcutter remained to oversee the overall situation, fully unleashing his wisdom to command the battlefield!
Because Moon Sovereign, Cloud Sovereign, and Qin Mu were stationed in Carefree Village, even the Martial Heavenly Master had led the warriors of the Dipper and Ox Heavens into the fray, without needing to protect the Woodcutter, Wen Tiange.
Cloud Sovereign's gaze flickered. The first battle of the Hall Master of the Lingguan Hall, and also the most perilous one, was Carefree Village!
Carefree Village was the closest, so his first arrival would inevitably be at the Carefree Village battlefield. His targets for hunting were the Four Heavenly Kings of Carefree Village: the Founding Emperor Di Yiyue, the Azure Wilderness Old Man, the Emperor Shakra Heavenly King, and the Nether Capital Heavenly King Tian Shu!
In addition, he would also hunt the Four Heavenly Masters on the Carefree Village battlefield: Wen Tiange, Yan Yunxi, Zhuo Cha, and Han Tang!
If Carefree Village fell into chaos and had no leader, even with the divine artifacts of Eternal Peace and countless gods and demons, without coordination, it would be difficult to avoid defeat.
The second place the Hall Master's ancient god avatar would arrive was the Southern Sea battlefield. The Southern Sea battlefield had the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird, the Two Emperors of Chiming, the First Ancestor Human Emperor, and the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu.
Then came the Netherworld Realm, to hunt the Netherworld Lady!
Next was the Heavenly Lord and Earth Lord, who resided behind the Grand Supreme Heaven in the heartland of Eternal Peace. That would be his fourth destination.
The Nether Capital, where Little Earth Lord Qin Fengqing was located, would be his fifth destination!
Then came the Northern Wastes Kan Land, where the Black Tortoise and the Two Emperors had just descended, along with Wei Suifeng, who was in charge of the overall situation there.
The next target was the Dao Ancestor of the Dao Sect and the Great Brahma Heavenly King of the Buddhist Sect!
The closest to the Dao Sect was Eternal Peace's capital city and its emperor, Yan Feng, along with the Earth Virtue Primordial Lord Gongsun Yan. Next was the Eastern Sea's Jiang Baigui and the newly resurrected Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon.
After the Eastern Sea, the Hall Master's arrival point would be the Western Lands. The Western Emperor White Tiger had descended there, and his purpose was to eliminate the Western Emperor and Heavenly Master Yue Tingge!
After that came the Beast Realm's master, Dragon Qilin, and finally, the Ancestral Court's World Tree, where Xu Shenghua was located!
What Qin Mu needed to do was to reach these places in the shortest possible time and slay the Hall Master's ancient god avatars!
The Hall Master of the Lingguan Hall was an existence who had attained the Dao across four lifetimes. Three lifetimes of Dao fruits, one lifetime of Dao flower. He cultivated the Dao realm system of the Miluo Palace and the system of attaining the Dao through strength, achieving the Dao through four types of great paths.
His physical body was split into thirty parts, transforming into thirty of the most powerful ancient gods, each with strength comparable to a top-tier Heavenly Sovereign!
The number of techniques he had cultivated was incalculable. The types of great paths he had cultivated were numerous. His thirty ancient god avatars likely wielded non-repeating Dao techniques and divine abilities!
Neither Cloud Sovereign nor Shang Jun could, in the shortest possible time, discern the Dao techniques and divine abilities mastered by his ancient god avatars and kill him.
The fastest person in this world was the ancient god Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird, who controlled the Dao Fire Ancestral Land. However, the Southern Emperor was no longer an ancient god, and the Dao Fire Ancestral Land had also fallen under Eternal Peace's control.
Moon Sovereign's Extreme Void Carriage was not fast in terms of speed, but rather in folding space, creating the illusion of ultimate speed.
The third fastest was the Lame One, whose speed had reached the point of ignoring space.
Then came teleportation divine abilities and the spiritual energy transfer between different worlds.
Qin Mu was the only one who possessed the strengths of several schools. Even the spiritual energy transfer technique was pioneered by him and the Black Tiger God in his youth.
Therefore, he was the only one who might possibly intercept and kill the Hall Master's thirty ancient god avatars. Even so, there was a very high chance that the rescue mission would fail.
Cloud Sovereign looked towards the battlefields surrounding Carefree Village. In those battlefields, there were eight brief, urgent, and immensely powerful fluctuations of divine abilities!
These eight brief fluctuations of divine abilities might not be conspicuous in the vast and boundless battlefield, but the sense of shock they gave to a Heavenly Sovereign was unparalleled. Even a Throne-Seated powerhouse could not feel how terrifying the power contained in these eight brief fluctuations was. But for a Heavenly Sovereign, it was truly horrifying!
Moon Sovereign, Lang Huan, Nether Sovereign, Tai Shi, and Lan Yutian were all startled. They perked up and looked towards the battlefield. At the same time, on the Heavenly Court's side, the two Taiji ancient gods, Ancestral God King, Void Heavenly Sovereign, Lady Yuanmu, and even Heavenly Emperor Hao and Tai Chu, also changed color dramatically and looked towards the battlefield.
Heavenly Emperor Hao even directly transformed into a woman, controlled by the Second Young Master, and gazed into the distance at the situation on the battlefield.
The directions from which these eight divine abilities came were all different, belonging to seven war zones, and the Grand Supreme Heaven where Wen Tiange was overseeing the overall battle situation. The interval between the eight divine abilities was very short, only the time of a single brief breath!
Eight positions, eight breaths, and then everything was settled!
Cloud Sovereign looked into the distance at these eight locations. He saw eight ancient gods with extremely peculiar appearances lying dead on the battlefield. The ancient god in front of Wen Tiange had not even fallen yet; his corpse was tilting, about to hit the ground.
Not far from Wen Tiange, there were streams of light from teleportation divine abilities and Extreme Void Carriage divine abilities. Within the streams of light, there was even a row of huge footprints. The footprints were stepping on the streams of light and had not disappeared!
"Pastoral Heavenly Sovereign."
Cloud Sovereign picked up the unopened jar of wine, slapped the seal off, raised his head, and drank deeply.
"This victory wine, I'll drink it first. You said whoever returns first drinks this wine. I hope that when you return, you will see this empty jar and mistakenly believe that I returned alive."
He drained the victory wine in one go, wiped the wine from his mouth, and smiled slightly. "You are too clever, skilled at breaking situations and calamities. I know this little trick won't fool you, but you are also human. No matter how clever you are, if there is a glimmer of hope, you will cling to that hope and imagine more beautiful things."
He put down the empty wine jar, stepped down from the Supreme Purity Realm, and reached out his hand. The Tai Chu Emperor Sword flew over. The Divine Sense Grand Paradise moved with him.
His gaze fell above the Heavenly Court's camp. There, two other Grand Paradises were also moving. Taiji, Ancestral God King, Void Heavenly Sovereign, and other beings were also launching a general offensive. The Heavenly Court's army of gods and demons was almost fully deployed!
He even saw Lady Yuanmu's Return to Ruins appearing in the sky!
Ancestral God King's Xuan Du army began to fly over Carefree Village, advancing towards Eternal Peace. In the Primordial Realm's Nether Capital, demons and monsters from the Nether Capital surged like a tide!
Cloud Sovereign took a long, deep breath, and divine light blazed from his eyes. "Second Young Master, Heavenly Sovereign Hao, today, I will make you never forget Yun! The shadow of this battle will be eternally branded on the Dao hearts of you two!"
---
Southern Border of Eternal Peace, Jade Cliff Pass.
The Two Emperors of Chiming and the Southern Emperor looked at the three ancient gods who had suddenly appeared. Their expressions were grave. The feeling these three ancient gods gave off was extremely terrifying, like the Heavenly Lord and Earth Lord at their peak. But the Heavenly Lord and Earth Lord were dead, and after being reborn, they had become post-natal beings, also known as half-gods.
Besides them, were there other such powerful ancient gods in this world?
The Southern Emperor's face changed drastically. She immediately said, "Yan'er, Qin Wu, Red Emperor, you lead the troops away quickly! I will hold them off!"
She walked out alone to face the three strangely shaped ancient gods, not turning her head back. "Yan'er, if you see Bai Yuqiong after you return, tell her that she won. Your mother... your mother might not be able to make it back. Red Emperor, Bright Emperor, you go too!"
Yan'er was bewildered. Red Emperor and Bright Emperor whispered, "Zhu Yan'er, we must leave this place. It is too dangerous here!"
The two of them had supported the Chiming Era for a full hundred thousand years. Bright Emperor was even a ruthless person who had almost attacked the Heavenly Court. If he hadn't died, the Two Emperors of Chiming would probably have been existences on the level of the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns.
Their judgment was extremely sharp, and they immediately saw the extraordinary nature of these three ancient gods!
Just then, another voice suddenly sounded: "Which one is Red Emperor Qi Xiayu? I searched the Southern Sea for a while but couldn't find you... Ah, here you are! Fellow Daoist Qi, greetings from the Lingguan of the Miluo Palace."
Red Emperor Qi Xiayu turned around and saw another ancient god, whose body was as red as blood, walking over from the Southern Sea. Her eyelids twitched. She let out a long cry, transformed into a nine-headed phoenix form, and stood ready.
"Young friend, no need to be nervous."
That blood-colored ancient god smiled and said, "The gap between you and me is too great. You will die very quickly, and without pain. Heavenly Sovereign Hao asked me to make a move. Besides killing you, I also need to extinguish your soul so that the Seventh Young Master cannot resurrect you. For me, this is a very easy task."
Suddenly, another voice came, laughing heartily: "Is the Human Emperor Qin Wu here?"
The First Ancestor Human Emperor suppressed his pain and followed the sound. He saw an ancient god with a green face and fangs walking over, like a Nether Capital Ghost King. The green-faced ancient god's gaze fell on his face, and he laughed, "You are the Human Emperor Qin Wu. Excellent. I have been searching all the way, and I didn't expect to find you here, young friend. Heavenly Emperor Hao asked me to kill you."
The Village Chief and the others silently stood up, blocking the most severely injured First Ancestor.
"Gentlemen, no need for this."
The five ancient gods looked at each other and said in unison, "Killing you is just a simple task for us. But Heavenly Emperor Hao is cautious, so he invited our five avatars to come, each to deal with one person. In truth, one avatar would have been enough. Even if Fellow Daoist Southern Emperor wanted to escape, she wouldn't be able to."
The despair in the Southern Emperor's heart deepened. Dao fire blazed around her body. She shouted sternly, "Yan'er! From today onwards, Bai Yuqiong is your mother! Go——"
She soared into the air. The Vermilion Bird Soul emerged. The Dao fire twisted space. With magnificent tragedy, she pounced towards the five ancient gods!
Those five strangely shaped ancient gods looked at each other and smiled, shaking their heads. "Pitiful. A moth flying into the flame, seeking its own destruction. How could the Dao techniques and divine abilities of the Miluo Palace be something you can contend with?"
One of the ancient gods, whose great path was like fire, raised his hand to meet the Southern Emperor. An incredibly terrifying pressure came. The space twisted by the Vermilion Bird Soul was imprisoned. The Southern Emperor's divine power was also imprisoned, fixed in mid-air!
The Dao rhyme of fire emanating from that ancient god's body was stronger and deeper than hers, completely suppressing her, leaving her without any power to resist.
The Southern Emperor's heart was calm, with only one last concern left: "Silly girl, run quickly..."
The ancient god smiled slightly and struck with lethal force.
At the same time, the other four ancient gods each took a step forward, walking towards the Two Emperors of Chiming, Red Emperor Qi Xiayu, and the First Ancestor Human Emperor!
A suffocating despair filled Jade Cliff Pass. Yan'er suddenly screamed and rushed forward.
Boom!
Space suddenly exploded. A fist pierced through the back of the head of the ancient god who had immobilized the Southern Emperor and was about to kill her, and came out through his forehead!
The fingers of that fist spread apart. The five innate great paths of Tai Yi, Tai Chu, Tai Shi, Tai Su, and Taiji burst forth from the five fingers, tearing the ancient god into pieces!
Qin Mu's body crashed out of the space, smashing the split body of that ancient god into dust. The dust disintegrated and scattered as streams of chaotic energy.
The Southern Emperor, fixed in mid-air, had her bright red robes rustling loudly in the wind. The Dao fire fluttered behind her. She looked at this scene in disbelief!
Qin Mu did not say a word. The vertical eye on his forehead opened. Hongmeng divine light shot out, piercing through the head of another ancient god. His right hand formed a sword and made a level slash. One Sword Splits the Heavens!
Heavenly Splitting Chapter!
With this sword strike, the body of the third ancient god exploded. It was like the creation of the world, transforming into a rising universe within Jade Cliff Pass!
Qin Mu raised his left hand and pointed. The Hongmeng Finger erupted. The ancient god who was walking towards the First Ancestor had just leaped up when his body was pierced through by the Hongmeng Finger and nailed to Jade Cliff Pass!
The ancient god who had charged at Red Emperor Qi Xiayu gnashed his teeth in fury, turned around, and fled into the Southern Sea. Qin Mu took a single step. With a loud rumble, Jade Cliff Pass was smashed through, creating a huge hole. The sea surface split open, revealing the deep seabed. This was the terrifying destructive power caused by the rapid movement of the two figures!
Hundreds of thousands of miles out in the Southern Sea, it was as if a star had crashed into the ocean. The sea surface exploded, and the resulting waves and tsunamis roared towards the coastline of Eternal Peace!
"Seventh Young Master!" The Dao sound echoed unceasingly over the Southern Sea.
The Southern Emperor, the Two Emperors of Chiming, and the others had not yet recovered from the shock when they suddenly saw Qin Mu's figure flying back, sprinting towards Jade Cliff Pass!
He pressed his hands downwards, forcibly flattening the tsunami. Then, light flickered around his body, and just before he crashed into Jade Cliff Pass, he suddenly disappeared!
In Jade Cliff Pass, bricks and stones fell from the towering city wall. That was the human-shaped hole Qin Mu had smashed through.
On the inner city wall, the ancient god who had been nailed there by Qin Mu's Hongmeng Finger came loose from the wall, slowly slid down, and sat on the ground, his head drooping.
Thump.
A soft sound came. The body of this ancient god suddenly crumbled like sand, turning into a ball of purple primordial energy that slowly dissipated.
Yan'er flew to the Southern Emperor's side and quickly checked her for injuries.
The Southern Emperor was shocked and uncertain. Suddenly, she remembered something and quickly said, "Yan'er, Bai Yuqiong is not your mother! You are my biological daughter! If you dare to acknowledge a thief as your mother, I'll beat you to death!"