Chapter 1739: A Brave Man Must Sever His Roots
The Joy Hall Master was flying at full speed, with only her upper body remaining. Shang Jun’s attack, “Entering the Painting,” had caught her off guard and wounded her, forcing her to coil up her Dao Tree and Dao Fruit and flee in retreat.
However, she had still been severely injured by Shang Jun, who had severed both of her legs.
She had originally planned to seek out the Song Hall Master nearby, but before she could even reach his landing site, the Song Hall Master had already died.
So she made a prompt decision and immediately set off to see the Long Wind Hall Master.
Suddenly, a beam of Hongmeng Dao Light flew toward her. The Joy Hall Master’s heart jolted with alarm. Wounded by Shang Jun, she was like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring. Hastily dodging, she saw the Hongmeng Dao Light arc through the air mid-flight, actually chasing after her!
“The Seventh Young Master!”
A chill ran down the Joy Hall Master’s spine. News of Qin Mu killing the Song Hall Master had already reached her ears. Since she had not fully descended into the Seventeenth Epoch—part of her still remained in the Jade Capital City of the Sixteenth Epoch’s Ancestral Court—she knew that the Song Hall Master had died at the hands of the Seventh Young Master, Qin Mu.
Although Qin Mu’s Hongmeng Dao Light appeared to have little power, she dared not take it head-on. Abandoning her plan to meet with the Long Wind Hall Master, she immediately turned and fled at full speed toward the Ancestral Court!
“Long Wind should have also received word that the Seventh Young Master killed the Song Hall Master. He likely won’t stay put either. I don’t need to rendezvous with him; I’ll head straight for the Ancestral Court! Once I’m there, I’ll be safe!”
Her speed was astonishing. As her divine power surged, space folded layer upon layer, and she tore through the void and vanished.
Yet Qin Mu’s Hongmeng Dao Light followed her, disappearing along with her.
The Joy Hall Master distanced herself from the Primordial Realm, folding the starry sky behind her as she accelerated.
Each of the seventy-two hall masters possessed unique divine abilities. The Joy Hall Master had mastered the Dao of Space; traversing the vast cosmos was effortless for her. However, the Ancestral Court was far too distant, and even with her extraordinary skills, it would take several days to reach.
To her surprise, that beam of light clung to her relentlessly. No matter how fast she flew, she couldn’t shake it off.
The Joy Hall Master grew anxious: “The Seventh Young Master’s divine ability is so swift! I’m afraid I won’t make it to the Ancestral Court before his technique catches up to me! What’s more, I don’t know how many techniques he’s launched! If I stop to counter this one strike, but there are a hundred more behind it, won’t I be dead?”
Her speed was unmatched in the world; that was precisely why Shang Jun had given up chasing her.
It was because he recognized her speed, knowing he could never catch her, that Shang Jun had returned to the Supervisory Factory to continue working for money.
But Qin Mu’s Hongmeng Dao Light matched her speed, even surpassing it slightly, leaving the Joy Hall Master both terrified and bewildered.
“I achieved enlightenment through the Dao of Space. If I wish to flee, no one can stop me. Not even the Seventh Young Master’s technique should be able to catch up. Could it be…”
She had a sudden thought. Her Dao Tree manifested, and a single leaf detached itself, drifting through the starry sky. It transformed into a replica of the Joy Hall Master, charging straight at the Hongmeng Dao Light!
Shiiing—
The Hongmeng Dao Light passed cleanly through the leaf-formed Joy Hall Master’s body, as if it had encountered nothing at all!
“It’s divine consciousness!”
The Joy Hall Master’s mind went blank. She immediately halted, only to see the Hongmeng Dao Light streak toward her and pass straight through her body.
In that instant, she saw herself shattered into pieces—her physical form obliterated, her primordial spirit ground to dust, her Dao Tree severed, everything annihilated!
Yet she felt herself still alive and well.
It was the work of divine consciousness.
In truth, Qin Mu’s Hongmeng Dao Light was not a true Hongmeng technique from the Miluo Palace—or perhaps it was, but one constructed from divine consciousness, using Hongmeng runes woven from that very power!
The moment the Joy Hall Master had laid eyes on the Hongmeng Dao Light, she had already fallen into the trap.
However, this technique was not meant to harm or kill her. Its purpose was to create a terrifyingly realistic illusion, forcing her to retreat and preventing her from joining forces with the Long Wind Hall Master!
“The Seventh Young Master doesn’t have enough confidence to take on both me and Long Wind at once. So he used a divine consciousness technique to scare me off, allowing him to kill Long Wind with minimal cost!”
Divine consciousness techniques were mere tricks to hall master-level beings like her. She was ancient beyond measure; she had witnessed not only the Dao of Divine Consciousness but even the complete Five Primordial Daos.
She should not have fallen for it so easily. But wounded by Shang Jun and having heard that even a formidable existence like the Song Hall Master had died at Qin Mu’s hands, she had been preconditioned to believe that if Qin Mu came for her, she would be utterly defenseless.
Realizing this, the Joy Hall Master immediately sensed her own Dao, channeled her divine power, and shattered Qin Mu’s divine consciousness technique!
Boom!
A thunderous roar, like the birth of a universe, echoed in her mind. The technique was broken. All the illusions before her eyes vanished instantly. Her body, primordial spirit, Dao Tree, and Dao Fruit were all intact, without a scratch.
“So… should I turn back and join Long Wind to face the Seventh Young Master?”
The Joy Hall Master hesitated. She had already plunged deep into the starry sky, an incalculable distance from the Primordial Realm. By the time she returned, it would likely be too late.
Even though she knew the Long Wind Hall Master was probably still alive, and that if she went back, they could join forces to drive Qin Mu away, there was always that “what if.”
What if the Long Wind Hall Master had already been killed by Qin Mu? Wouldn’t she be walking right into a trap?
“The three of us hall masters were ordered to descend into the Seventeenth Epoch to allow the two young masters of the Miluo Palace and the other hall masters to descend. This goal is of utmost importance!”
The Joy Hall Master vanished in a flash, silently thinking to herself: “Fellow Daoist Long Wind, it’s not that I fear death and don’t want to save you. It’s just that saving you is too risky. For the sake of the Miluo Palace’s grand plan of descent, I’m afraid you’ll have to make the sacrifice…”
Qin Mu arrived at the Flying Wheel Fort. Looking around, he saw chaos everywhere. The Ferry World Golden Ship had smashed through the remnants left behind by Mistress Cloud and White Jade Qiong, crushed the third hall master, and charged straight out of the Primordial Realm into the starry void beyond.
Sensing the Golden Ship’s aura, Qin Mu took a single step and followed the trail it had left, exiting the heavens. He mused, “That Joy Hall Master’s skill is indeed extraordinary. Her speed is unmatched in the world, even faster than mine. Like the Moon Venerable, she cultivates the Ultimate Void and achieved enlightenment through space. But in terms of foundation, she is far more powerful than the Moon Venerable. Such an existence is extremely dangerous…”
In the starry sky, the Ferry World Golden Ship was tightly bound by countless roots. Those roots coiled around the ship’s surface like writhing dragons, some even piercing through the palaces aboard the ship, creating a bizarre and eerie sight.
The Long Wind Hall Master had unleashed his full power, transforming into a colossal giant. Roots writhed beneath his feet, some entwining the Golden Ship while others snaked through the starry void, wrapping around planets to pull his massive body toward the Ancestral Court.
The Golden Ship grew larger and larger, severely slowing his progress.
Yet he could not free his roots from the ship. His battle with Lan Yutian had been frustrating. That seemingly honest and simple young man was as slippery as an eel. He had killed one Lan Yutian, only to find it was a human-shaped artifact created by the Creation Divine Artifact. He killed another—another artifact. By the time he had slaughtered all dozens of Lan Yutians on the ship’s bow, he still hadn’t found the real one.
It was then that he sensed the Song Hall Master’s death. His mind thrown into chaos, he immediately stopped bickering with that slippery fellow and fled. But the Ferry World Golden Ship suddenly accelerated again, crashing into him from behind and sending him reeling!
The Long Wind Hall Master stopped to fight, but unable to find where Lan Yutian was hiding, he had to abandon the ship and resume his journey.
Yet the Golden Ship rammed him from behind once more, crushing him beneath its hull. Once or twice was tolerable, but the ship pursued him relentlessly, each impact devastatingly heavy. Enraged, he sent countless roots shooting out, burrowing into the ship’s palaces to search for that grinning, chubby little fellow.
He didn’t find the grinning chubby one, but he was horrified to discover that every time his roots entered a palace, the ship grew larger, and another golden hall appeared on the deck.
He kept sending more roots into more golden halls, only to find that the number of halls seemed infinite, and the ship itself kept expanding!
To make matters worse, that grinning chubby fellow kept appearing in various halls, using bizarre hand seals to seal his roots inside, preventing him from pulling them back!
He had only descended with a limited number of roots. A tree without roots dies, and he absolutely could not abandon them. So, despite knowing he had been tricked, he had no choice but to drag the Golden Ship along as he frantically raced toward the Ancestral Court, hoping to reach it before Qin Mu found him.
But hauling such a massive golden ship through the starry sky was exhausting, and he couldn’t help but curse his misfortune.
As a hall master of the Jade Capital City’s seventy-two halls, he was naturally familiar with divine artifacts like the Ferry World Golden Ship. He had also heard tales about it from other cultivators who had achieved enlightenment.
But the Ferry World Golden Ship was a treasure of the Miluo Palace’s master, and it was badly damaged. No one dared to board it and investigate its secrets. Thus, he knew little of its mysteries, which was why Lan Yutian had managed to trap him.
“Where did that little brat come from? So vicious and underhanded, using such a crooked trick to trap me!”
Suddenly, the Long Wind Hall Master’s heart stirred: “Earlier, he called the Seventh Young Master ‘big brother.’ Could he be the Seventh Young Master’s own younger brother? No wonder—they’re cut from the same cloth!”
He strained to drag the ship, his roots extending, probing into a sun ahead. Other roots pierced the void, penetrating the thirty-six layers of space, pulling his massive body toward that sun.
A cultivator who had achieved enlightenment possessed boundless power. The Long Wind Hall Master, though having attained enlightenment as a divine tree, should not have been reduced to such a state. But Lan Yutian was too cunning. Though far weaker than him, he had used this bizarre method to trap him.
“You should sever your roots like a brave man.”
A voice suddenly rang out, clear and distinct in the Long Wind Hall Master’s ears.
Startled, the Long Wind Hall Master looked up and saw the thirty-six layers of space twist into rings. Even the sun ahead was swept up by the swirling void, rising and falling into those rings!
Bathed in sunlight, the thirty-six void rings shimmered with myriad colors, shrinking smaller and smaller until they stood vertically behind a youth with graying temples.
“Sever your roots like a brave man, and you may yet find a path to survival.”
—Well, tearfully begging for monthly votes!!