Chapter 1744: The Dagger Is Revealed
In the Heavenly Court, palaces collapsed with a thunderous roar, one after another. Prehistoric powerhouses who had smuggled themselves in kept sliding down from their upper bodies, meeting untimely deaths.
The collapse of the Heavenly Court was even more terrifying in scale. The arrangements of the Five Elders of Peak Peak were almost useless against the string of the Fourth Young Master!
A single string, a single note from the zither, had sliced the Heavenly Court cleanly in half, even killing Feng Hualian, the leader of the Five Elders. Such skill was unheard of!
Many prehistoric powerhouses in the Heavenly Court had narrowly escaped, avoiding injury from the Fourth Young Master's zither string. But the shock caused by that single string instantly crushed all their grand ambitions and shattered their Dao hearts!
Cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of the Four Elders of Peak Peak. Their Dao hearts, too, were on the verge of collapse.
They had believed that by seizing the initiative, they could surely block the descent of the Miluo Palace. In the past, the Miluo Palace had only held the upper hand because it commanded the overarching momentum and, with the Miluo Palace Master present, had suppressed one cosmic epoch after another. Therefore, they had willingly remained dormant.
Now that they themselves held the upper hand, they thought the young masters of the Miluo Palace were merely occupying positions without merit, seeking fame through pretence. In terms of real skill, they were not necessarily superior. Hence, they had conceived the idea of blocking the Miluo Palace from dominating the Seventeenth Cosmic Epoch.
But now that they were actually fighting, they realized just how vast the gap between themselves and the Miluo Palace's young master truly was!
The Heavenly Emperor Hao stood up, suddenly taking a step forward, and said coldly and sternly, "Four Elders of Peak Peak, will you not submit? If I pluck the zither string again, I will reduce your millions of years of bitter cultivation to nothing!"
Qin Mu frowned slightly.
He had long anticipated that the Heavenly Emperor Hao's Dao heart would collapse, but he hadn't expected it to happen in such a manner, so utterly pathetic.
During the battle in the Yuan Realm, Yun Tianzun had killed the Second Young Master's avatar while also shattering his Dao heart, creating a flaw in it.
During the counterattack in the Eternal Peace war, Qin Mu had stalled him, dragging things out until Jiang Baigui had pacified the Mystic Capital and came to reinforce him, dragging things out until his advantage was lost.
After that, the Heavenly Emperor Hao's Dao heart had completely collapsed.
Qin Mu had experienced a similar situation.
After the Heavenly Emperor Hao had seized the Nether Capital, Qin Mu's own Dao heart had also completely collapsed. He had wanted to go to the Heavenly Court, confess his faults, kneel, and surrender.
The difference was that, at that time, Yu Chenzi had brought news of the Dao Ancestor and the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha, bringing a glimmer of hope. The current situation of the Eternal Peace was turned around precisely because of this insignificant glimmer of hope, allowing them to overcome the seemingly invincible Heavenly Court.
The Heavenly Emperor Hao also had hope. That hope came from the Jade Capital City in the Ancestral Court. But he had failed to revive his Dao heart and push himself further.
This was because Qin Mu and the Heavenly Emperor Hao had different goals.
Qin Mu fought to realize his own ideals and ambitions, to gain the right to survive and to be equal, to make gods serve humanity, to promote the principle that "the daily needs of the people are the Dao of the sages."
After his utter despair, any hope brought him closer to his ideals and ambitions, thus strengthening his Dao heart.
The Heavenly Emperor Hao fought for his own desire for power. His Dao heart was also built on the foundation of this desire for power.
Even if he gained the support of the Jade Capital City in the Ancestral Court, his Dao heart could never return to what it was. The Jade Capital City held him in a death grip, becoming his master, while he was merely a puppet on strings.
He was getting further and further away from monopolizing power.
"Four Elders of Peak Peak, kneel before me, kneel before your Emperor!"
The Heavenly Emperor Hao's gaze fell upon the four old men, and he said coldly and sternly, "I will commandeer your strength! I order you to immediately pass down the decree: capture the Seventh Young Master, Qin Mu, and annihilate the Eternal Peace bandits!"
The Four Elders of Peak Peak hesitated for a moment, exchanging glances in pairs. They silently looked at Feng Hualian's corpse lying on the altar, wavering in their decision.
Feng Hualian's blood flowed from his corpse, dyeing the altar red. Yet the blood sacrifice in the Ancestral Court continued, devouring the essence and energy, unhurriedly carrying out the energy exchange.
The Four Elders of Peak Peak silently stood up, one after another. The Heavenly Emperor Hao revealed a smile.
Yue Tianzun's heart tightened. She loosened the strap holding her zither.
The nearby Joy Hall Master saw this and smiled slightly. "Little sister, big sister would very much like to hear your zither melody."
Suddenly, a Dao fruit from her Dao tree floated up and spun. With a *weng* sound, Yue Tianzun saw the Joy Hall Master everywhere around her!
This was the ultimate expression of the application of the Dao of Space!
Qin Mu had once told her that the Joy Hall Master also cultivated the Ultimate Void, but her expression of the Ultimate Void was different. Now, it seemed this was indeed the case.
The Joy Hall Master's Dao of Space followed the path of external manifestation. She relied on the Ultimate Void to achieve the Dao, her Great Dao entrusted to the external. When her Dao of Space was unleashed, it manifested as the surrounding space being folded into countless copies, creating countless Joy Hall Masters.
When fighting her, the Joy Hall Master could attack from countless directions!
Furthermore, every leaf on her Dao tree could be said to be an incarnation of the Joy Hall Master. When her divine ability was activated, countless incarnations of the Joy Hall Master attacked simultaneously, winning through numbers while making it difficult to discern her true body!
Yue Tianzun laid her zither horizontally. Her slender jade fingers gently plucked a string. The sound of the zither rang out as she said, "Since big sister wants to hear, little sister will make a fool of myself."
The Joy Hall Master let out a soft exclamation of surprise. The moment the zither sound rang out, the Yue Tianzun in her eyes began to change.
She had folded space into countless copies, making it seem like there were countless versions of herself. She could see every aspect of her opponent, even their internal organs, the structure of their divine hideouts, the structure of their primordial spirit, the structure of their Great Dao—everything was crystal clear!
This was the ultimate expression of the Dao of Space!
However, when she looked at Yue Tianzun from her perspective, all she saw was Yue Tianzun's front. No matter which angle she looked from, she only saw Yue Tianzun's front, unable to see any other direction!
This was the internal manifestation of the Ultimate Void, the appearance shown when the Dao of Space was entrusted to the internal.
Although both she and Yue Tianzun cultivated the Dao of Space, they had embarked on two completely different paths to achieving the Dao. Even though the Joy Hall Master was widely experienced, she couldn't help but marvel in amazement!
Beside Yue Tianzun, Qin Mu's brow slightly raised. Yue Tianzun's Ultimate Void was somewhat similar to his own Divine Hideout Domain, which surprised him quite a bit.
But he didn't dwell on it. Qin Mu's techniques and divine abilities had all been thrown into the Wen Dao Academy of the Eternal Peace for anyone to study. Yue Tianzun had likely studied them as well and had thus gained some insights.
The two women faced off. Yue Tianzun had a smile on her face as she gently plucked the zither strings. The notes came out in twos and threes, not forming a melody, scattered and sporadic. The Joy Hall Master, however, felt a dull ache in her wounds.
Although Yue Tianzun wasn't playing a tune, the plucking of the strings stirred the ultimate killing intent left in the Joy Hall Master's wounds by Shang Jun, making it possible for that ultimate killing intent to erupt at any moment.
To her, although the Dao wound left by Shang Jun couldn't kill her, it was definitely a significant threat!
If they started fighting and the ultimate killing intent erupted, it would drastically reduce her combat power. In a battle between those who had achieved the Dao, even the slightest mistake could lead to death and the dissipation of the Dao. She had to be cautious!
Among the Four Elders of Peak Peak, Huang Tang looked up to the heavens and laughed loudly. Blood and tears flowed from his eyes. His aged voice was thick and powerful: "Huang Tang's wind turns, the blue canopy opens!"
Cang Yan Cui shed tears as he said, "Strange rocks, Cang Yan's shadow, emerald haze!"
"The four seas, the common people, rely on the fields!"
"The Yan Pavilion's new fragrance, the Three Elegants!"
The four chanted in unison: "Above the tower, a thousand mountains are green; at the head of the view, the peak blooms a lotus! Big brother, if we don't avenge this, what use is it for us to achieve the Dao? We cannot guard our Dao hearts!"
"We four once swore an oath: we seek not to be born in the same year, the same month, or the same day, but we seek to die in the same year, the same month, and the same day!"
"Big brother, wait for us to avenge you!"
The Heavenly Emperor Hao sensed trouble and quickly bowed, saying, "Four Elders of Peak Peak are stubborn and unyielding. I beseech the Fourth Young Master to kill the enemy! Blood sacrifice this place!"
The Four Elders of Peak Peak roared in unison. The altar suddenly activated. In an instant, the altar became like a sea of blood. The Dao patterns and Dao chains buried beneath the altar activated, shooting out with a *shua shua shua* sound, piercing the bodies of everyone on the altar!
Qin Mu sat there without moving. The Chaos Hall behind him suddenly manifested. The Dao chains from the altar entered his body but were shattered by the Chaos Hall, turning into chaotic energy.
At the same time, Yue Tianzun plucked her zither strings. The sound of the zither rose loudly. Countless spaces split open around her, blocking the altar's power. Her figure drifted and wavered within those spaces. The small altar seemed to contain a vast universe, allowing her to shuttle back and forth freely.
On the other side, the Joy Hall Master activated her Dao tree and shouted, "Four Elders of Peak Peak, do you intend to bury yourselves here? You hid and burrowed under the World Tree for cosmic epoch after cosmic epoch. Why throw your lives away for a moment of passion?"
Her Dao tree spun. Large and small branches danced. The branches of the Dao tree lashed out at those Dao chains, while the roots coiled around them, reducing the altar's power.
Suddenly, a zither sound pierced her ears, making her heart skip a beat: "The Purple Firmament Dao-Realization Melody! That girl is interfering with the Fourth Young Master!"
She abandoned her attempt to persuade the Four Elders of Peak Peak and immediately struck a killing blow against Yue Tianzun, disrupting her playing!
The two women clashed for the first time. The Joy Hall Master immediately sensed Yue Tianzun's insufficient cultivation base and was secretly delighted: "Her Dao-realization is not perfect. She is far inferior to me in terms of magical power!"
Yue Tianzun played the Purple Firmament Dao-Realization Melody. The zither string that the Heavenly Emperor Hao had drawn from the Fourth Young Master remained completely still, as if the Fourth Young Master, Zi Xiao, was listening to this melody amidst the destruction tribulation of the Sixteenth Epoch, forgetting to activate his divine ability.
*Pu pu pu—*
The Heavenly Emperor Hao immediately suffered. Dao chains pierced through his body, hanging him in the air. The Four Elders of Peak Peak attacked, each activating their Dao trees and Dao fruits, and also taking out their Dao-realization treasures. Huang Tang swung his treasure canopy. The canopy spun and, with a *hu* sound, pierced through the Joy Hall Master's Dao tree defense. He twisted it with force, and the Joy Hall Master's Dao tree shattered into pieces!
This old man's combat power was extremely formidable, possessing strength not inferior to that of a Hall Master!
Of course, this was also because the Joy Hall Master had just descended and was severely wounded by Shang Jun, and was startled by Qin Mu. She hadn't had time to re-entrust herself to the void to achieve the Dao.
The Five Elders of Peak Peak, however, had already descended and re-entrusted themselves to the void, achieving the Dao in the Seventeenth Cosmic Epoch. Therefore, their strength even surpassed that of the Joy Hall Master.
The third elder, Cang Yan Cui, activated a patch of emerald haze, enveloping Qin Mu. He activated his Dao tree and Dao fruit to strike at Qin Mu's glabella.
The other two elders also activated their respective Dao-realization treasures. The power of their Dao trees and Dao fruits erupted simultaneously as they struck killing blows against the Heavenly Emperor Hao and Yue Tianzun!
Just then, Yue Tianzun's Purple Firmament Dao-Realization Melody was disrupted by the Joy Hall Master. The zither melody was cut off.
The zither string behind the Heavenly Emperor Hao's head immediately vibrated. The Fourth Young Master's divine ability erupted through this string!
The moment the power of this zither string erupted, Qin Mu raised his hand and formed a Returning Void Great Abyss, trapping Cang Yan Cui inside. His form flickered as he appeared behind the Heavenly Emperor Hao's head, pinching the zither string between two fingers!
*Boom!*
The altar shattered into pieces!