Chapter 1757: Clear Judgment of Right and Wrong
Everyone was on high alert, as almost everyone here had been captured by the Grand Duke Taiyi!
The Grand Duke Taiyi was like an idle old monster. Ever since he followed the Lord of the Mirage Palace, he had been constantly watching those forces that refused to submit to the Mirage Palace. At the slightest misstep, he would capture and suppress them.
The number of steles in this forest of obelisks was countless. Within each stele was a prehistoric cultivator who had achieved the Dao, sealed and suppressed. Many had not been able to endure and had long since turned to ashes within the steles.
The Grand Duke Taiyi was still not at ease. Before Qin Mu arrived, he had even planted his Dao Tree here, and his eyes had turned into the sun in the sky, monitoring day and night without a moment's rest.
It wasn't until Qin Mu's last visit, when he exposed the existence of the eighth Dao Tree here, that they realized the Grand Duke Taiyi had been spying on them all along!
Since then, Taiyi's Dao Tree and eyes had disappeared.
"Shameless!" the girl shouted at the sky.
"If you have the guts, come down and fight me one-on-one, Grandpa Zhu!" Zhu Santong shouted with righteous indignation.
In the sky, Taiyi's face showed no expression, completely indifferent to her insults.
The old man was filled with murderous intent, looking up and saying, "Taiyi, you may have the power to reach the heavens, but you are not invincible! Back in the day, we were equals in fame. If I hadn't willingly allowed myself to be suppressed by you, how could you have dared to act recklessly in front of me?"
Just then, Taiyi's face in the sky grew lower and lower, as if he were leaning down to look at them. But the pressure, like the sky collapsing, made their scalps tingle.
They had been imprisoned for too long, and their cultivation and strength were far from what they once were. As one side declined and the other rose, Taiyi had only grown stronger. Now, they were no longer worthy opponents for Taiyi.
When this pressure reached its peak, they could no longer hold back and were about to strike. Suddenly, Taiyi's face pressed down above the forest of obelisks, then rapidly shrank and fell into the stele forest.
Whoosh—
Zhu Santong was the first to lose control of himself. He involuntarily flew backward and, with a *shua*, vanished into an obelisk, becoming a figure within the stone.
Zhu Santong struggled and roared inside the stele, but not even a sound could escape.
*Shua shua shua!*
A series of flashes passed by. The girl, the lady, and the old woman were sent flying backward one after another, landing in various obelisks. They could only struggle behind the mirror-like surfaces of the steles, unable to escape.
The Grand Duke Taiyi walked out from the stele forest. Although Qin Mu had placed one stele on the Ferry of Salvation Golden Ship and had the ship transport it to the Ancestral Court to prevent Taiyi from completing the formation of the stele forest, Taiyi seemed to act as the missing stele. When he entered the forest, he completed the formation.
The old man's hair stood on end with rage. Under the suppression of the obelisk forest, his body trembled constantly as he tried to strike. But the suppressing force of the forest was too strong, causing his cultivation to rapidly disappear and his Dao conduct to become dormant, unable to sense any Great Dao.
"Taiyi, don't you dare fight me one-on-one?" he blocked in front of Qin Mu, his eyes bloodshot, and hissed.
"Old Monster Dongyang, from the moment you willingly let yourself be suppressed by me, you were no longer my match."
The Grand Duke Taiyi raised his hand and gently pushed. The old man flew away with a roar, crashing into an obelisk.
His back had already sunk into the stele's surface, but his hands and legs were still blocking the outside. He shouted fiercely, "If you have the skill, fight me to the death! What kind of ability is it to bully a cripple?"
The Grand Duke Taiyi's face was expressionless. He raised his hand, and with a *boom*, the old man Dongyang's legs and arms could no longer hold out. They were forcibly pressed into the stele and sealed.
The five of them stood behind the mirror-like surfaces of the steles, watching Taiyi approach Qin Mu, their faces filled with grief, anger, and despair.
The cripple had finally had a glimmer of hope for recovery, but Taiyi's arrival had shattered that hope into pieces!
The Grand Duke Taiyi came to Qin Mu's side. Qin Mu's cultivation was also suppressed by the complete obelisk forest, and his dream slowly faded.
He opened his eyes. "Senior Brother Taiyi. Didn't you say you would be impartial, neither favoring me nor favoring Third and Fourth Brothers? Why have you appeared today to stop me?"
The Grand Duke Taiyi sat down in front of him. His gaze passed over Qin Mu and landed on the cripple and the coffin. He said, "I will not favor you, nor will I favor them. But you should not have tried to resurrect the Lord of the Heavenly Capital."
Qin Mu was puzzled. "I ask Senior Brother to enlighten me."
"The Teacher killed the Lord of the Heavenly Capital without any selfish motive. It was because of the Lord of the Heavenly Capital's actions. The Great Dao of Heaven and Earth is a public instrument, supremely impartial and selfless. The Dao does not favor you because you are a cultivator who has achieved the Dao, nor does it ignore you because you are unknown. But when the Heavenly Capital opened the heavens, it turned the Dao, this public instrument, into a private one."
Taiyi spoke unhurriedly. "You have never been to the Seventh Epoch, so you don't know the situation there. It is understandable that you have some sympathy for the Lord of the Heavenly Capital. In the Seventh Epoch, after the Heavenly Capital City opened the heavens, the Great Dao became private, belonging to the group that opened the heavens. At that time, all living beings had to cultivate their Dao. And the heaven-openers of the Heavenly Capital City could control the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, doing whatever they pleased. Among them, there were not a few who acted wantonly and recklessly."
Qin Mu raised an eyebrow. "The grudge between the Teacher and the Lord of the Heavenly Capital was instigated by the Boundless Old Man. Senior Brother Taiyi should know better than I how the term 'Dao Desecrator' came about."
"What kind of existence is the Teacher? The Boundless Old Man's influence on him was limited. At most, it helped him confirm his own thoughts. The Boundless Old Man overestimated his own importance, but in the Teacher's heart, he was not that important."
The Grand Duke Taiyi continued unhurriedly, "The Heavenly Capital City taught without discrimination, but there were many people of corrupt morals among them. The heaven-openers could take and seize their Great Dao at will, based on their own likes and dislikes, arbitrarily deprive others of their hard-earned cultivation, and arbitrarily bestow cultivation on others. The entire history of the Seventh Epoch was chaotic and foul, with no one else achieving the Dao. The Teacher went to reason with the Lord of the Heavenly Capital, advising him three times. I was by his side for all three times."
Qin Mu frowned.
He knew very little about the grudge between the Heavenly Capital and the Mirage Palace. Now, listening to Taiyi recount the history, he realized it was far more complicated than he had imagined.
"The Teacher visited the Heavenly Capital City three times, each time as a fellow Daoist, to discuss, seek advice, and hope to persuade the Lord of the Heavenly Capital to abandon his original ideas. But when the Teacher arrived at the Heavenly Capital City, all he received were the cold mockery and disdainful looks of the heaven-openers."
The Grand Duke Taiyi said, "What kind of existence is the Teacher? He achieved the Dao in the First Epoch. After that, through five cosmic epochs, the Teacher willingly entered the world, spread the Dao, taught disciples, opened forums, and lectured on the Dao, hoping to find more fellow travelers. Who among the Heavenly Capital City had not received the Teacher's grace to achieve their later cultivation? Yet the heaven-openers of the Heavenly Capital dared to insult the Teacher. The Teacher treated all provocations as fleeting clouds, not bothering to haggle. But after three visits, the Lord of the Heavenly Capital refused the Teacher."
Qin Mu glanced at the cripple beside him and frowned slightly.
"At that time, the Teacher had not yet developed the intention to kill. But later, signs of collapse appeared in the Seventh Epoch. The Seventh Epoch universe was on the verge of destruction due to the Heavenly Capital's turmoil. It was then that the Teacher saw the heaven-openers of the Heavenly Capital City preparing to open the heavens again."
Taiyi said, "At that time, to prevent the Eighth Epoch from repeating the same mistakes, the Teacher finally made up his mind and went into seclusion for several thousand years. After emerging from seclusion, the Teacher killed the Lord of the Heavenly Capital and ordered me to suppress his corpse here."
Taiyi pursed his lips and said, "The Teacher did not take this matter to the extreme. If he had, the Dao Desecrator named Ling would not have been able to rescue the Lord of the Heavenly Capital's primordial spirit. The Teacher still left the Lord of the Heavenly Capital a chance, allowing him to become Taiyi of the Seventeenth Epoch. Moreover, the Teacher sent Taiyi into the destruction tribulation of the Fourth Epoch, giving him the possibility of making a comeback. Ask yourself, who in the world has such magnanimity?"
Qin Mu fell silent.
He did not have such magnanimity.
If it were him, he would certainly uproot the weeds and leave no chance for the Lord of the Heavenly Capital.
Taiyi did not have such magnanimity either.
That was why, after the Lord of the Mirage Palace's Dao heart died, Taiyi suppressed Taiyi, imprisoned him in the Taiyi Hall, and used the Burial Dao Divine Coffin to suppress him.
The one who had such magnanimity was only the Lord of the Mirage Palace, the man known by countless people as the Teacher.
"You rescued Taiyi, and I did not make things difficult for you. I allowed you to rescue Taiyi, because the Teacher gave him a chance, and I cannot deprive him of it."
The Grand Duke Taiyi was silent for a moment, then said, "But you want to save the Heavenly Capital, to merge Taiyi and the Heavenly Capital into one. That I cannot allow. Chaos, I will not fight you. I only ask you one question."
Qin Mu composed himself and bowed. "Senior Brother, please ask."
"If the Heavenly Capital's injuries heal, and Taiyi merges with the Heavenly Capital, resurrecting the Lord of the Heavenly Capital, have you thought about the consequences?"
Taiyi said, "The Heavenly Capital City is dead but not gone. The heaven-openers of that time are hidden in history, in dark corners. If the Lord of the Heavenly Capital is resurrected, he will raise his arm and call for followers. It will no longer be a struggle between you, Lingxiao, and Zixiao. It will be a struggle between the Mirage Palace and the Heavenly Capital City. Without the Teacher, no one can suppress the Lord of the Heavenly Capital or the Heavenly Capital City. Is your Seventeenth Epoch universe ready to welcome the transformation by the heaven-openers of the Heavenly Capital?"
Qin Mu shivered several times, a chill running down his spine.
Taiyi stood up, raised his hand, and pointed at the steles in the obelisk forest. "The cultivators who achieved the Dao suppressed in these steles are all heinous criminals. Every single one of them has a reason for being suppressed here. Including Shangjun, whom you rescued, including Old Monster Dongyang, including Zhu Santong! Not one of them is innocent!"
His gaze fell on the cripple behind Qin Mu. "He is no exception."
Qin Mu stood up and looked at Taiyi's coffin and the cripple on the sickbed, finding it difficult to make a decision.
"Seventh Brother, you cannot control the Lord of the Heavenly Capital, nor can you control the Heavenly Capital City."
Taiyi's figure rose slowly, higher and higher, gradually merging with the sky of this forbidden zone. His voice came from beyond the heavens: "If you release him, you will release a monster that will destroy the entire universe! Make your own decision!"
His figure disappeared, and the terrifying suppressing force vanished without a trace.
Not long after, Old Monster Dongyang, Zhu Santong, and the others walked out of the obelisks. They saw Qin Mu pacing back and forth around Taiyi's coffin and the cripple, at a complete loss, as if he had no idea what to do.
"I am not yet the Seventh Young Master!"
They heard Qin Mu muttering to himself, "If I were to become the Seventh Young Master, then I wouldn't have so many troubles..."
After a long time, Qin Mu stopped pacing, hoisted Taiyi's coffin onto his shoulder, and turned to leave.
"Young Master Seven!" the girl called out, her voice full of confusion.
Qin Mu waved his right hand and disappeared into the obelisk forest. "I am not yet the Seventh Young Master. The Seventh Young Master does not rely on anyone. From now on, I have decided to rely on my own strength. Gentlemen, when I can clearly distinguish right from wrong and control the situation in the future, we will meet again!"
—Writing this, Zhai Zhu suddenly remembered Qin Mu when he first left the Crippled Old Village. Unknowingly, Qin Mu has grown to this point. It's not his cultivation that has grown, but his state of mind. I can't help but feel a myriad of emotions. Qin Mu's character starlight value is still 90,000 points short of 500,000. At 500,000, there will be a character-exclusive card. Everyone, please help by clicking the heart for Qin Mu on the "Shepherd God's Record" book page to increase his starlight value. Character tips can also increase the starlight value.