Chapter 1732: Ultimate Cold Silence
In the final Dao words of the Great Elder Tai Shang, he revealed a vision of the ultimate void expanding infinitely.
All heavens and myriad realms, the Ancestral Court, the Four Extremes Heavens, the Xuan Du and You Du—all expanded along with the infinite expansion of the ultimate void, ultimately flattening and voiding into a membrane of emptiness with no thickness or mass.
All matter would infinitely decompose with the infinite unfolding of the void. The smallest particles would shatter, breaking down to the level of Hongmeng runes after eight hundred billion years.
Hongmeng runes were already the smallest structure of the Dao. After eight hundred billion years, they too would shatter with the void’s expansion. With the collapse of Hongmeng, all great Daos would cease to exist, and every Dao technique and divine power would dissolve into nothingness!
By then, any who had achieved the Dao would see their Great Luo Heavens expand infinitely and collapse, their Dao trees, Dao flowers, and Dao fruits turning into void, vanishing without a trace!
The scene depicted by the Great Elder Tai Shang was the cold silence following the infinite expansion of the ultimate void.
All heavens and myriad realms, the Ancestral Court, the Four Extremes Heavens, the Xuan Du and You Du—all life, all matter—would become mere ornaments on this vast void membrane, invisible and intangible.
Any great Dao would have no place to rely on.
Even the World Tree would void along with it, continuously unfolding into the void until it became a massless void membrane.
All energy in the universe would extinguish, and all mass would disappear.
In the end, even the Guixu Abyss would exhaust all its energy, evaporate cleanly, and cease to exist!
Ultimate cold silence.
Qin Mu sat quietly, not moving for a long time.
The result deduced by the master of the Miluo Palace, as shown to him by the Great Elder Tai Shang, was highly likely to happen—indeed, it could be said to be inevitable!
Because when Qin Mu first came to the ultimate void, he had discovered that it was constantly expanding and growing on its own!
Moreover, even without entering the ultimate void, one could see this expansion from the trajectory of history.
In the primordial era, the universe underwent the changes of the Five Tais of Primordiality, evolving into the Ancestral Court and giving rise to the Creators, who lived within it. At that time, whether it was the myriad heavens or the Four Extremes Heavens, they were all very close to the Ancestral Court. In the beginning, the Four Extremes Heavens were even four sacred lands within the Ancestral Court!
Back then, "reaching out to pluck stars" was no empty saying.
As time passed, with the expansion of the ultimate void, the Four Extremes Heavens gradually drifted away from the Ancestral Court. The stars in the sky grew more numerous, the universe became larger, the Xuan Du expanded endlessly, and the cosmos continued to grow.
By the early Long Han era, the map of the universe was already countless times larger than in the primordial age!
If one took the Four Extremes Heavens and the Ancestral Court as observation points, they would find that the space between them was still expanding!
The root cause of all this was the continuous growth of the ultimate void.
The ultimate void drove the unfolding of layer after layer of void, and these layers in turn drove the continuous unfolding of the entire universe, ultimately causing the spaces between heavens and between stars to stretch farther and farther apart.
This was the sign of ultimate cold silence.
"Formation, existence, decay, and emptiness—they do not necessarily occur in sequence. It is also possible for only formation and emptiness to appear."
The Great Elder Tai Shang's Dao words became much simpler, no longer carrying such complex information, said dryly: "The result of the teacher's deduction was that the Seventeenth Epoch would only have the stages of formation and emptiness. He could find no way to resolve it, and thus fell into utter despair."
In the past, the evolution of the universe followed formation, existence, decay, and emptiness: the universe formed, stabilized, decayed, and perished. Then it would undergo the calamity of rebirth, re-evolve into the primordial chaos, and repeat the cycle of formation, existence, decay, and emptiness.
The World Tree and the Guixu made the cycle of formation, existence, decay, and emptiness extremely stable.
But the universe of the Seventeenth Epoch might have been in a state of continuous formation, ultimately turning into void.
Qin Mu sat there in a daze. After a long while, he suddenly laughed and said: "Senior brother Tai Shang, what does what you’ve said have to do with me coming to rescue Tai Yi?"
The Great Elder Tai Shang was like one who had entered nirvana, devoid of any life aura, and continued to answer with Dao words: "The reason the teacher eliminated Tian Du was also because of this. Tian Du opened the heavens and evolved the universe in the Seventh Epoch. The ultimate result was to lead to ultimate cold silence. The teacher calculated this and, failing to persuade him, had no choice but to act. Tian Du is Tai Yi."
Qin Mu fell silent.
The two of them sat opposite each other, each saying nothing.
The Great Elder Tai Shang had made clear the reason he had suppressed and imprisoned Tai Yi: releasing Tai Yi might cause the Seventeenth Epoch to eternally evolve toward ultimate cold silence. Therefore, he would not agree to Qin Mu’s request to free Tai Yi.
Qin Mu also realized this, but he lacked the certainty to rescue Tai Yi, so he could only remain silent.
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Mu slowly said: "The teacher couldn’t solve it and thus entered nirvana. If you keep Tai Yi, can you solve it?"
The Great Elder Tai Shang shook his head.
If keeping Tai Yi could resolve everything turning to void, then the master of the Miluo Palace would not have needed to enter nirvana.
Qin Mu said unhurriedly: "In that case, why suppress Tai Yi? He has nothing to do with the emptiness of the Seventeenth Epoch. Suppressing him does nothing to help."
The Great Elder Tai Shang opened his eyes, and within them, purple qi swirled, revealing a scene of the heavens and earth first opening, a chaotic and vast universe. He said: "He is an enemy of the Miluo Palace."
Qin Mu laughed: "Then, am I considered an enemy of the Miluo Palace?"
The purple qi in the Great Elder Tai Shang’s eyes completely turned into chaos, as if he were caught in confusion. Even he did not know whether Qin Mu was a disciple of the master of the Miluo Palace or an enemy of the Miluo Palace.
Qin Mu smiled and said: "The Miluo Palace is merely a gathering place for those who have achieved the Dao and share the same ideals. The teacher was like this, you are like this, and I am like this. Our ideals are no different; our goal is all to save the world. You uphold the teacher’s ideals, and every move you make is a manifestation of them, as am I. Senior brother, the teacher did not kill Tai Yi, nor did he suppress him. Do you think that if the teacher truly wanted to keep him, he could have left the Miluo Palace?"
The Great Elder Tai Shang shook his head: "If the teacher wanted to kill him, when he last entered the Miluo Palace to provoke, he would have been kept within the palace, not cast down to the Fourth Epoch."
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief and laughed: "On the contrary, those who go against the teacher’s ideals are not you or me, nor Tai Yi, but the Third and the Fourth. The Third and the Fourth, for their own selfish desires, tried to forcibly enter the Seventeenth Epoch. Perhaps it was their actions that led to the ultimate cold silence of the Seventeenth Epoch. I am releasing Tai Yi precisely to stop them."
His eyes brightened, and he said excitedly: "Senior brother Tai Shang, think carefully—isn’t this the truth? It was the Third and the Fourth who stirred all this up! Senior brother Tai Shang should not only release Tai Yi but also join forces with us to stop those two unfilial disciples! We senior brothers should join hands and teach them a good lesson. They have gone against the teacher’s ideals and are the true betrayers and enemies!"
His power of persuasion and influence was extremely strong, but the Great Elder Tai Shang remained completely unmoved, saying dryly: "The Third and the Fourth have no selfish motives. They also uphold the teacher’s ideals."
Qin Mu sneered: "Upholding the teacher’s ideals means they can destroy the life of the Seventeenth Epoch and manipulate the beings of the Tenth Epoch to slaughter wantonly? How much suffering have they caused? How many people have died because of them? Senior brother Tai Shang, are you even unable to distinguish right from wrong?"
He stood up and said coldly: "Is this how the Miluo Palace acts? Is this how the teacher acts? If so, how can he speak of making the Dao achievers of each cosmic epoch willingly help him? Senior brother Tai Shang, if the teacher were here, he would certainly not allow the Third and the Fourth to act so recklessly!"
The Great Elder Tai Shang remained silent.
Qin Mu paced back and forth in front of him: "If Tai Yi had not taken over a body and entered this epoch, cutting down the World Tree, the Seventeenth Epoch would have been destroyed long ago! That is why I want to save him! From the beginning of the Seventeenth Epoch to now, how many people have died? The Third and the Fourth have controlled the entire cosmic upheaval and progress, blood-sacrificing the beings of the Seventeenth Epoch. These beings have nothing to do with you, but they have everything to do with me! Senior brother Tai Shang, if you cannot help, then at least do not take sides!"
He stopped, panting heavily, his face almost pressed against the Great Elder Tai Shang’s, and shouted loudly: "Since you uphold the teacher’s ideals, then act more like it! Do not take my side, but do not take theirs either! Today, no matter what, I am taking Tai Yi away! Will you allow it or not?"
The Great Elder Tai Shang remained silent.
Qin Mu straightened up, activated the Tai Yi Dao to form the Tai Yi Divine Axe, and strode toward the thatched cottage, his aura blazing.
Now he had his back completely to the Great Elder Tai Shang. If Tai Shang attacked at this moment, he would be utterly defenseless.
Not only that, but he also had no absolute certainty of opening this Tai Shang Thatched Cottage, but he had to try!
"Chaos."
The voice of the Great Elder Tai Shang came from behind him. Qin Mu stopped in his tracks. The Great Elder Tai Shang closed his eyes and said: "The teacher said you achieved the Dao through chaos, which made him somewhat unable to understand. Perhaps you will solve the problems that the teacher and I could not. I will not help you open the door, nor will I help Ling Xiao and Zi Xiao. I will not help anyone in your conflicts. But if the Miluo Palace is endangered, I will act."
A smile appeared on Qin Mu’s face, and he said: "I understand."
The Great Elder Tai Shang stood up, walked past him, opened the wicker door, and went inside, closing it behind him and carefully locking it.
His voice came from within the Tai Shang Thatched Cottage: "Whether you can save Tai Yi depends on your own ability. I will not interfere."
Qin Mu laughed heartily, his aura fully erupting. Behind him, the World Tree suddenly appeared, standing tall to support his internal universe. Beneath his feet, the Guixu Abyss spun, elevating his power to its peak!
Behind his head, the Chaos Hall emerged, vast and chaotic, with Dao sounds ringing out. Qin Mu planted his feet firmly, activated the Tai Yi Divine Axe, and struck horizontally toward the wicker door of the thatched cottage!
The Tai Shang Thatched Cottage was the true Tai Shang Hall, condensed from the Dao attainment of the Great Elder Tai Shang, and could be called the supreme Dao within the Miluo Palace!
The moment his Tai Yi Divine Axe fell on the wicker door, every thatch of the cottage lit up, the Dao transformed, and Hongmeng runes flowed, bringing him an indescribable pressure!
Qin Mu roared, and the chaotic qi overflowing from the Chaos Hall behind him grew even denser. Suddenly, a tremor rang out, and a gate emerged from the hall seated in the chaos!
—Wishing the alliance leader, Heavy Sword Without Edge, Absolute Soul, a happy belated birthday. I feel ashamed—I forgot when uploading last night. Please don’t hit me…