Chapter 1752: The Compensation of the Miluo Palace Master
These six months were nothing short of torture for Qin Mu, yet at the same time, they were a rare opportunity for self-improvement.
The Elder Wuyai possessed an overwhelming wealth of knowledge regarding techniques and Dao. He had a complete grasp of the Miluo Palace's Dao techniques and a portion of the Heavenly Capital's Dao techniques. The only things he did not understand were the Great Dao techniques of those he slandered as the Heavenly Capital's Dao Defilers, as well as the Dao of Guixu.
He could not use the Dao Tree trap to spy on the techniques and Dao of those who had achieved enlightenment without cultivating a Dao Tree.
Even so, the knowledge he commanded was unparalleled across seventeen cosmic epochs!
Facing such an opponent, Qin Mu naturally struggled immensely. However, fortunately, he also understood the Red String Knot Seal technique, which the Miluo Palace Master had created specifically to counter the Dao of Guixu.
When Elder Wuyai used the Red String Knot Seal against him, Qin Mu repeatedly neutralized it, rendering this ultimate technique against the Dao of Guixu completely useless!
To deal with him, Elder Wuyai was ultimately forced to resort to the World Tree, employing a tactic that harmed the enemy a thousand points while losing eight hundred of his own. He used it to counter Qin Mu's Guixu Lotus, attempting to grind it away.
However, Qin Mu had his back to the Chaos River. His Guixu Lotus was rooted in the chaos, constantly absorbing energy, which became his lifeline to endure.
If he hadn't had the Chaos River at his back, given Qin Mu's strength, he would have long been defeated and crushed by Elder Wuyai.
Elder Wuyai did have a way to make the Chaos River disappear, but if he did that, Qin Mu could immediately retreat from the World Tree's range, and Elder Wuyai would be unable to throw him back into the past.
The two remained locked in a stalemate for half a year.
Under Elder Wuyai's pressure, Qin Mu's comprehension of the Dao of Guixu grew stronger and deeper.
Originally, his understanding of the Dao of Guixu was only slightly inferior to that of Empress Di Hou. Although he hadn't achieved enlightenment through Guixu like she had, he had received "sponsorship" from the Second Young Master Wuji, planting a seed that grew into lotus leaves and a flower. The power he could unleash from the Dao of Guixu actually surpassed Empress Di Hou's by a bit.
Now, with his lotus forming a platform, a second-grade Dao realm lotus platform, his comprehension of the Dao of Guixu had far surpassed Empress Di Hou's. He could be said to be second only to the Second Young Master across all seventeen cosmic epochs.
Through the tempering of Elder Wuyai, his understanding deepened, and he drew closer and closer to the third-grade Dao realm lotus platform.
However, the area of greatest improvement was not the Dao of Guixu, but Qin Mu's World Tree.
The World Tree and the Guixu Lotus counter each other. When Elder Wuyai activated the World Tree to refine Qin Mu's Guixu Lotus, he inevitably had to display all the mysteries and wonders of the World Tree.
And Qin Mu also cultivated the World Tree.
His World Tree was also a true World Tree, not born from visualization, nor analyzed from Dao techniques by Lan Yutian's Illusory Flower. It came from Elder Wuyai's "sponsorship."
Qin Mu's understanding of how to use the World Tree had always been superficial. After all, it was directly planted, lacking much personal insight.
Elder Wuyai's attempt to refine him was, in effect, a demonstration. He was teaching Qin Mu by example, personally showing him how to activate the World Tree and comprehend the Dao techniques hidden within it. This naturally brought about a qualitative leap in Qin Mu's abilities!
This was also one of the reasons Qin Mu could hold out against Elder Wuyai for half a year!
But the crudest method was often the most effective. Elder Wuyai forcibly refined Qin Mu, spending a total of half a year, and finally managed to snap Qin Mu's Guixu Lotus!
Success was within reach!
With the Guixu Lotus broken, Qin Mu was severely injured and fell from the lotus. Elder Wuyai flicked his finger, and a leaf from the World Tree flew out, landing beneath Qin Mu's feet.
This leaf rapidly expanded. Its veins and textures resembled the mountains, rivers, and channels of a continent, crisscrossing in all directions. As Qin Mu fell toward the World Tree leaf, the leaf's veins and textures also grew larger and larger.
Before he even landed in the leaf, it had already transformed into a vast continent, carrying him as it rushed toward the Chaos River!
Elder Wuyai's expression was grave, as if facing a great enemy. The World Tree behind him suddenly erupted with Dao light. He had sensed it long ago, when the giant Taiyi had set foot into the Chaos River.
The reason why a second river appeared before Taiyi after he split the first Chaos River was also due to Elder Wuyai's obstruction.
There were few beings in this world who could make him feel danger. The Second Young Master Wuji was one, and Taiyi was another!
As for the other young masters of the Miluo Palace and the other Dao Defilers of the Heavenly Capital, he didn't consider them worth mentioning!
Taiyi's actions were incredibly ostentatious and blatant. The moment he stepped into the Chaos River, the Dao light from his Great Luo Heaven shone down from above, sweeping across Elder Wuyai with a *whoosh*.
This was also the reason Elder Wuyai was forced to forcibly break the Guixu Lotus and deal with Qin Mu first.
Suddenly, the Chaos River violently churned. Elder Wuyai stood beneath the tree, looking up. He saw the Chaos River suddenly split open. An axe light cleaved through the surging chaos, and on either side of the axe light was the divided Chaos Annihilation Calamity.
That axe light was incredibly sharp, incredibly terrifying. This technique actually pierced through the Annihilation Calamity, whistling its way to the base of the World Tree, and slashed down toward Elder Wuyai's head!
Within the Annihilation Calamity, the chaotic energy surged violently. Vaguely, behind the vast chaotic energy, one could see an immensely majestic giant figure, striding across the river and walking this way!
The chaotic energy in the river crashed against his rock-solid body without causing him any trouble. The Annihilation Calamity seemed unable to harm him in the slightest.
At the same time, Taiyi's Great Luo Heaven also appeared above Elder Wuyai's head. A Dao Fruit emerged on the Dao Tree, and the Great Dao contained within the fruit exploded forth!
At this moment, Taiyi recreated the heroic posture he had displayed when he crossed the sixteen-epoch Annihilation Calamity, heading straight for the Miluo Palace of the First Epoch to battle the Miluo Palace Master!
The Miluo Palace Master had been able to defeat Taiyi and cast him down into the Fourth Epoch's Annihilation Calamity, but Elder Wuyai was not the Miluo Palace Master.
Although he knew more than the Miluo Palace Master, although he was uniquely gifted, having achieved enlightenment through the World Tree, his entire set of Dao techniques was not something he had cultivated himself.
As the saying goes, knowing the "what" and the "why" was Elder Wuyai's state.
Facing Taiyi's axe strike, Elder Wuyai's white hair fluttered, and he also mobilized all his strength!
*Boom!*
Within the sixteen-epoch Annihilation Calamity, countless dark, thick roots, like black dragons, churned through the calamity, surging toward Taiyi's true body.
The scene was like ten thousand dragons racing through the chaos!
The World Tree was a naturally indestructible substance. Its roots could appear in any era, any Annihilation Calamity. It was even more solid and indestructible than the Miluo Palace itself.
Its roots rapidly climbed up Taiyi's legs, winding upward along them, trying to drag Taiyi into the Sixteenth Epoch's Annihilation Calamity.
At the same time, behind Elder Wuyai, the World Tree's main body blazed with Dao light. The Dao light on the World Tree converged, condensing into the forms of thirty-six thousand Dao Fruits, each emitting a different radiance!
These were not real Dao Fruits, but the projections of the Dao Fruits of all those who had achieved enlightenment by cultivating a Dao Tree over the sixteen cosmic epochs.
Even so, this power was unparalleled!
Under the illumination of those Dao Fruits, the Great Dao seemed to crawl and flow within the World Tree's branches and leaves, winding and moving through them. This made the entire World Tree appear to be an aggregate of all the Great Dao from the First Epoch to the Sixteenth Epoch!
He had to block this strike.
Not only block it, but he also had to severely wound Taiyi, even kill him!
Taiyi was far more dangerous than Qin Mu. Qin Mu was merely the Seventh Young Master in the past universe, someone who liked to stir up trouble everywhere. But Taiyi was a true Dao Defiler!
Defiling the Great Dao!
The Divine Axe and the World Tree were about to collide. At the same time, the Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master of the Miluo Palace, along with a host of Miluo Palace Hall Masters and Enlightened Ones, pushed their Dao techniques to their absolute limits!
This was a golden opportunity, a chance to eliminate two major opponents of the Miluo Palace in one fell swoop.
If they didn't seize it, heaven itself would not forgive them!
In the ancestral court of Jade Capital City, above the First Epoch's Annihilation Calamity, the Miluo Palace floated with its seven palaces.
Inside the Tai Shang Hall, the First Young Master, Tai Shang, also opened his eyes at this moment, his gaze deep and distant, watching the battle of the Seventeenth Epoch.
The Tai Shang Hall was no longer the opulent structure of the past. It was now a thatched cottage. The cottage's door was open, and Tai Shang inside gazed at this scene from afar, shaking his head slightly. He murmured, "Ling Xiao, Zi Xiao, you still underestimate these two."
His gaze fell on the tightly closed main gate of the Miluo Palace. Within that gate was his teacher, the Miluo Palace Master, whose Dao heart was dead and whose physical body was ruined.
"The teacher cast the Heavenly Capital down to the Fourth Epoch, and there was great meaning in it. The Heavenly Capital rose in the Fourth Epoch. The teacher destroyed it in the Seventh Epoch and sent it to the Fourth Epoch. This should have been to make amends for his own mistakes."
The First Young Master, Tai Shang, said softly, "Now, I understand the teacher's good intentions. But you are still stubbornly deluded..."
He did not leave the Tai Shang Hall to stop the Third and Fourth Young Masters. He had always been indifferent to fame and fortune. After the Miluo Palace Master's Dao heart died and the Second Young Master Wuji was suppressed, if he had taken charge of the Miluo Palace, the Third and Fourth Young Masters would never have been able to compete with him.
But he had no interest in that.
At this moment, his gaze fell on the nearby Chaos Hall. The Chaos Hall was the achievement of the Seventh Young Master, Qin Mu's Great Dao. To his surprise, the door of the Chaos Hall had also opened, revealing a vast, chaotic expanse within.
The Seventh Young Master, Qin Mu, pushed open the hall door and was stretching lazily, looking quite at ease.
Their eyes met. The Seventh Young Master, Qin Mu, smiled slightly at him and nodded in greeting.
*Bang.*
The First Young Master, Tai Shang, closed his hall door, ignoring him.
"Scorning me..."
The Seventh Young Master, Qin Mu, looked with great interest toward the battle of the Seventeenth Epoch. Suddenly, his gaze shifted, landing on a mass of indestructible substance within the Chaos River. His heart stirred.
"Ling..."
He turned around, returned to the Chaos Hall, and closed the door.
The moment the Chaos Hall's door closed, within the Fifth Epoch's Annihilation Calamity, a Dao Fruit rose from the indestructible substance. Its light was dazzling. It broke through layers of chaos on the river's surface and whistled toward the Seventeenth Epoch.
At the same time, within the Sixth Epoch's Calamity, another Dao Fruit surfaced, flying from the river alongside the previous one. This Dao Fruit was also hidden within a mass of indestructible substance.
From the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, all the way to the Sixteenth Epoch, a Dao Fruit rose from the indestructible substance within each calamity. Only the Seventh Epoch did not show this phenomenon!
Within the Sixteenth Epoch's Annihilation Calamity, a total of eleven Dao Fruits came whistling through the air, arriving behind Taiyi.
And above the World Tree of the Seventeenth Epoch, within Taiyi's Great Luo Heaven, Taiyi's Dao Fruit blazed with light, shining in resonance with those eleven Dao Fruits!
The Miluo Palace Master's compensation for his own mistakes lay precisely in this!
He had given Taiyi, that is, the Heavenly Capital, a chance to start over!