Chapter 1702: The Hunter of the Seventeenth Epoch
Beneath the World Tree, pulses of tremor came, urgent and violent. Qin Mu sensed these tremors from afar, and his heart gradually sank.
He could distinguish from the fluctuations of divine abilities which ones belonged to Xu Shenhua and which to Ling Guan.
Ling Guan’s two ancient god avatars were currently using a peculiar combined attack technique to besiege Xu Shenhua. These two ancient gods sometimes merged and sometimes separated. Moreover, the Daos they each mastered were different, yet the Dao of each one perfectly matched the Dao contained within the Dao Flower and Dao Fruit.
The Lord of Ling Guan Hall had indeed gone to great lengths to break through the Great Dark Mountain!
He had achieved enlightenment four times in total, forming three Dao Fruits and blooming one Dao Flower. Qin Mu had destroyed one of his Dao Fruits earlier, and another had just been used to block Qin Mu, also destroyed. The remaining Dao Fruit and Dao Flower were assigned to avatars that matched the Daos they contained, allowing him to unleash their maximum power!
The strength of those two avatars was likely infinitely close to that of an Ascender!
“Xu Shenhua, you absolutely cannot die…”
Qin Mu tried to quicken his pace, but his steps grew heavier and heavier. In that previous battle, his divine power had been completely drained, and his physical body had long since reached its limit. His legs felt as if they weren’t his own; his body seemed to carry the weight of all heavens and myriad realms as he trudged forward.
Continuously rushing, crossing one battlefield after another in the shortest time, and killing the Lord of Ling Guan Hall’s ancient god avatar amidst the chaos with minimal cost and maximum speed—this was an unimaginable challenge even for him.
In the battle just now within Ling Guan’s Divine Hall, he had already severely overextended himself, his primordial energy exhausted. Ling Guan’s avatar had even been able to inflict physical damage on him.
The fluctuations of divine abilities from the Great Dark Mountain continued to arrive, growing even more urgent. Clearly, Xu Shenhua’s battle against Ling Guan’s two avatars had reached its most critical phase.
Qin Mu’s form still moved like wind and lightning, but his body staggered, and his speed had slowed by an unknown amount compared to before.
Then, he sensed something unusual in the fluctuations of the divine abilities.
Qin Mu raised his head and looked toward the Great Dark Mountain ahead. There, another World Tree was rising slowly—it was Xu Shenhua’s World Tree.
Back when the World Tree had been reborn, Xu Shenhua and Lan Yutian had sat beneath it, attempting to analyze the Daos contained within the World Tree, treating it as a realm of cultivation.
Qin Mu had also sat beside them, contemplating, but he hadn’t gained much insight. So he had taken a shortcut: he borrowed the Divine Axe from Taiyi, chopped down the World Tree, and transplanted it into his own divine storage.
Later, a new tree grew, and Lan Yutian and Xu Shenhua still sat beneath it, tirelessly trying to deconstruct the World Tree.
Now, it seemed that over the years, Xu Shenhua had made considerable progress.
“Thirty-three layers of the Dao Realm…”
Qin Mu didn’t stop walking. His vertical eye opened, and he saw that Xu Shenhua’s Dao realm was connected to his World Tree, which gave him some relief.
At this point, Xu Shenhua was already half an Ascender. He and Lan Yutian were creating a new cultivation system for the future, and now that system was nearly complete!
The path they had chosen was a shortcut. In the traditional cultivation system—whether the Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court system or the Dao Realm system—everything relied on the accumulation of quantitative changes.
Even if one cultivated a perfect Heavenly Court, they still needed to imprint themselves into the Ultimate Void to achieve a qualitative change. Even if one cultivated the thirty-six layers of the Dao Realm, they still had to go to the Ultimate Void to imprint their own Dao.
But Xu Shenhua and Lan Yutian’s system merged the Dao Realm system with the World Tree. The World Tree became one’s own Dao Tree.
When a cultivator reached the Five Tai Realms and began to condense the World Tree, they had already stepped into the realm of an Ascender. With each deeper layer of the Dao Realm, they drew one step closer to becoming a perfect Ascender.
The advantage of this cultivation method was that it broke the qualitative change into quantitative changes, distributing them across each Dao realm.
“Xu Shenhua’s strength is roughly equal to a single one of Ling Guan’s avatars. But with two avatars, combined with the Dao Flower and Dao Fruit, they will far surpass him. His only reliance is his divine abilities.”
Qin Mu was getting closer to the Dark Mountain. The divine abilities coming from within the mountain were also reaching their peak density, and they came from different directions. It seemed the three were moving at extremely high speeds. “Xu Shenhua’s strength lies in his ability to grow stronger when facing a powerful opponent. His mind is too agile; he can always think of ways to counter the opponent’s divine abilities and Dao techniques in the midst of battle. But this has a prerequisite: whether his knowledge reserve can match Ling Guan’s level!”
If his knowledge reserve couldn’t match Ling Guan’s, no matter how clever he was, he would still lose!
Ling Guan’s knowledge reserve came from the past four cosmic epochs and the Miluo Palace!
The Miluo Palace could be said to be the most glorious and vast sacred ground across sixteen cosmic epochs—the supreme sacred ground!
Even though Ling Guan couldn’t have absorbed all the foundations of the Miluo Palace, it was still no small matter. This hall master could physically encompass almost all ancient gods, showing his astonishing mastery of these innate Daos.
For Xu Shenhua to surpass him in knowledge reserve was almost impossible!
Qin Mu charged into the Great Dark Mountain. The mountain range was vast. Qin Mu climbed to the top of a peak and looked out. He saw that many mountains had split open. An unimaginably fierce battle had taken place here, shattering the peaks!
Suddenly, the fluctuations of divine abilities ceased.
Qin Mu’s heart sank. Dragging his exhausted body, he struggled toward the place where the last fluctuations had come from. Just then, he suddenly saw several grave mounds at the foot of a black mountain, with tombstones standing in front of them.
Qin Mu was momentarily stunned. He opened his vertical eye, barely activating it, and looked inside the graves.
His expression shifted to surprise, and then he smiled. “That Xu Shenhua… I thought he wouldn’t resort to stealing from the graves. In terms of knowledge reserve, Ling Guan might not even match him!”
He looked toward other black mountains and saw more grave mounds and stone tablets. The number of graves here was somewhat beyond Qin Mu’s expectations.
He slowed his pace and continued forward.
Among the prehistoric strongmen who had smuggled themselves through the World Tree, very few were Ascenders. Most Ascenders had gathered in the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, which was the sacred ground for Ascenders, where Dao Trees grew in forests.
The prehistoric strongmen who chose to smuggle themselves through the World Tree were mostly those who had no hope of achieving enlightenment and thus no qualification to enter the Jade Capital City. To survive, they had no choice but to use the World Tree.
Back then, because of Cripple’s death, Qin Mu had been enraged and had ventured deep into the Great Dark Mountain’s ore veins in a single night, killing over a hundred prehistoric strongmen.
Xu Shenhua probably hadn’t achieved such battle merits in a single night. Instead, he had been doing similar things every day for over thirty years. That meant he fought these prehistoric strongmen daily, honing himself. His understanding of prehistoric Dao techniques and divine abilities was likely even greater than Ling Guan’s!
This was the opportunity for Xu Shenhua to win!
“He secretly drank a lot of Dao Dew. This dew greatly boosted his cultivation. Drinking a little each day, releasing one prehistoric strongman at a time, accumulating little by little, made up for his short cultivation time. If I were him, the moment I saw Ling Guan arrive, I would decisively drink all the Dao Dew at once, using the power of Taiyi’s Dao Dew to fight Ling Guan!”
“Xu Shenhua will do the same! He’s as smart as I am!”
Even so, Qin Mu still struggled forward. He had to see Xu Shenhua with his own eyes to be at ease.
Finally, Qin Mu arrived at the place where the last divine ability fluctuations had occurred. He saw the Lord of Ling Guan Hall’s two ancient god avatars standing tall in a valley. All around were remnants of divine abilities, with deadly aftershocks still lingering.
These divine abilities were derived from the Miluo Palace’s techniques. The Dao chains were extremely intense, forming a heavenly net and earthly trap that sealed off the area!
And Xu Shenhua was lying between those two ancient god avatars, surrounded by bloodstains. He didn’t move.
“Could it be…”
Qin Mu’s heart sank. The Lord of Ling Guan Hall’s Dao Fruit was still there, and the Dao Flower was also there, though tattered and damaged, not completely destroyed. It was the Dao Fruit and Dao Flower that maintained the heavenly net and earthly trap formed by the Dao chains!
Qin Mu walked forward. His gaze fell on Ling Guan’s two ancient god avatars, and he was momentarily startled.
He walked straight toward the heavenly net and earthly trap, passing through the terrifying Dao chains. The power of the Dao chains erupted violently.
Qin Mu grunted. He had no divine power left to resist. Relying on his powerful Hongmeng Body, he forcefully endured the last of the divine abilities and stepped inside the net.
Boom! Boom!
Two loud sounds rang out. Ling Guan’s Dao Fruit exploded, and the Dao Flower also exploded. Then the two ancient god bodies swayed and collapsed to the ground.
Xu Shenhua looked up, then lowered his head again, gasping for breath. His voice was hoarse. “Chief Qin, you’ve arrived. I couldn’t break through his final divine abilities. He used his last strength to seal me here. When night falls, this place will become a paradise for prehistoric strongmen, and they will kill me…”
Qin Mu came to his side and examined his wounds. Xu Shenhua had many wounds on his body, and they hadn’t healed. The remnants of Miluo Palace’s Dao techniques were still embedded in them.
Qin Mu tried to heal him, but he had no primordial energy left to use.
“I tried my best to avoid fatal wounds.”
Xu Shenhua showed a rare smile. “You’re in worse shape than I am. Treat yourself first. As long as I can climb to the World Tree and wait for Taiyi’s Dao Tree to appear, I can collect some Dao Dew and probably save my life…”
Suddenly, he felt water droplets hitting his face.
Xu Shenhua was startled. He saw tears falling from Qin Mu’s eyes like rain.
Xu Shenhua quickly said, “Chief Qin, what’s wrong? I’m still alive and well…”
Qin Mu suddenly burst into loud sobs. He staggered to his feet and struggled to walk away. “I can’t save Cloud Sovereign anymore. I won’t make it back in time… I have to go back, as fast as I can…”
Xu Shenhua raised his hand, grabbing his ankle with effort. His voice was hoarse. “Calm down! You’re not much better off than I am. Even if you force yourself to rush back to the Yuan Realm, you won’t make it in time. Instead, you’ll waste even more time. Calm down. Night is almost here. Rest a bit. When Taiyi’s Dao Tree appears, drink some Dao Dew, recover some of your cultivation, and you’ll actually get back to the Yuan Realm faster!”
Qin Mu stopped. He was silent for a moment. Then he bent down and helped Xu Shenhua up, but he stumbled, and both of them nearly fell to the ground.
Supporting each other, they struggled forward toward the World Tree.
The two most outstanding experts of the Eternal Peace Kingdom now moved like old men, trudging forward with faltering steps.
The sun was setting.
By the time the sun went down, they finally reached the World Tree. Qin Mu recovered a trace of his cultivation and used his divine power to bring Xu Shenhua to the top of the World Tree.
The two sat on the highest leaf, looking up. The starry sky of the Ancestral Court was brilliant, but the stars moved like a revolving lantern, shifting unpredictably. The cause of this strange phenomenon lay in the Xuan Du.
The Ancestral God King was leading the star gods of the Xuan Du, commanding the armies of the Sun Guardians and Moon Guardians of the Xuan Du to attack the Carefree Realm and the Eternal Peace Kingdom. The star gods and the Sun and Moon Guardians were all star deities, naturally causing chaos in the celestial phenomena.
The great disorder in the heavens indicated that the armies of the Xuan Du had been almost fully deployed!
Taiyi’s Dao Tree emerged from the Ultimate Void. Qin Mu and Xu Shenhua staggered to their feet and caught the falling Dao Dew.
“Can the Eternal Peace Kingdom be saved?” Xu Shenhua suddenly asked.
“The Eternal Peace Kingdom can be saved, but the Carefree Realm cannot.”
Qin Mu drank the Dao Dew and worked hard to activate his cultivation technique, refining it. He said, “But for the Heavenly Court to take the Carefree Realm, they will have to pay a tremendous price. The Carefree Realm is a weapon—a weapon forged with all the wealth of this era during the Kaihuang Era.”
Xu Shenhua was somewhat puzzled.
“I went to the Carefree Realm and examined the internal structure of its layers of heavens. The outer appearance of those heavens is ordinary land and mountains, but inside, they are made of divine gold and divine iron, like an incredibly precise machine.” (See Chapter 982: The Truth of the Carefree Realm)
Qin Mu continued to catch the Dao Dew. “Kaihuang Qin Ye’s Carefree Sword is hollow, and the thirty-three layers of the Carefree Realm are the sword’s core. The complete Carefree Sword should have the Carefree Realm hidden inside it. The Carefree Sword’s power has never been very high, and it breaks easily. The main reason is the sword core. Without the Carefree Realm as the core, the Carefree Sword’s power cannot be unleashed to its fullest.”
Xu Shenhua was silent for a moment. “Kaihuang was so patient.”
Qin Mu nodded. “That’s the kind of person he is. The Carefree Realm is his final means of harming the enemy. When the Heavenly Court’s army occupies the thirty-three layers of the Carefree Realm, the secret of the Carefree Realm will be triggered.”
He had recovered some cultivation and immediately began to treat Xu Shenhua’s Dao wounds. “Tonight, I cannot act. I need to conserve strength to return to the Yuan Realm at dawn. Can you hold out?”
Xu Shenhua said calmly, “I’ve been killing here for thirty years. I have some reputation in the prehistoric universe. Some smugglers call me the Hunter of the Seventeenth Epoch. My fame is no less than that of the Seventh Young Master of the Miluo Palace. No one should dare to come in the first half of the night…”
He coughed violently. After a moment, he calmed down and continued, “In the second half of the night, there might be a probing attack. The second night will be the real assault. Don’t worry. After you leave, if I can’t win, I’ll retreat.”
Qin Mu nodded silently, refining the Dao Dew and doing his utmost to recover his cultivation. He said, “What worries me more is that Heavenly Lord Hao has taken away almost all the sacred grounds of the Ancestral Court. In the past, with these sacred grounds suppressing things, it wasn’t a big problem. But now, if even the Great Dark Mountain falls, some existences might take the opportunity to crawl out.”
His gaze was deep. He lowered his voice. “The prehistoric universe doesn’t only have the Miluo Palace as a sacred ground. There are other forces as well. Even if they aren’t as powerful as the Miluo Palace, they are still no small matter.”
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