Chapter 1781: Your Name
"I humbly ask the Teacher to bestow blessings upon Lingyun." Qin Mu bowed and paid his respects.
"Why would you need me to bestow blessings?"
The voice of the Lord of the Miluo Palace came through: "The blessings you have already given her are more than enough for her to bear. If I were to bestow further blessings upon her, she would be utterly unable to withstand them. It would not be her fortune, but rather a calamity. Fellow Daoist Mu, leave a thread of life for your child."
Qin Mu's heart tightened. He wanted to inquire further, but the Lord of the Miluo Palace had once again fallen into silence. He asked again, but the Lord of the Miluo Palace never spoke again.
Qin Mu sighed. He knew that this Teacher possessed abilities so vast and unfathomable that he could even calculate the future.
Not only that, but the Lord of the Miluo Palace could even find traces of things that Qin Mu could not detect from the slightest clues.
He had some foreknowledge but was unwilling to speak of it, so Qin Mu had no choice but to let it go.
Qin Mu took Ling Yuxiu's hand, held Qin Lingyun in his arms, bowed deeply, and walked out of the Miluo Palace.
Nanxiang Yuanjun hesitated for a moment. She had a belly full of questions she wanted to ask the Lord of the Miluo Palace, but since Qin Mu had already withdrawn and the Lord of the Miluo Palace had fallen silent again, she had no choice but to leave the Miluo Palace as well.
She looked back, and the palace gates had already closed.
Nanxiang Yuanjun sighed, feeling a sense of loss.
The Lord of the Miluo Palace, the teacher of all beings across sixteen cosmic epochs, was truly dead.
Qin Mu arrived at the Golden Ship, smiled slightly, and said, "Let us stay here for a few days. I need to raise myself to my peak state before we return. The journey back will likely be many times more dangerous than the journey here."
Ling Yuxiu nodded and said, "Sister Nanxiang, you should go back first. Thank you for everything along the way."
Nanxiang Yuanjun hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Young Master, Madam, I can be of no further help here. I take my leave."
Qin Mu expressed his thanks, and Nanxiang Yuanjun quickly said, "I dare not. May the two of you be very careful!" With that, she rose and departed.
The couple watched her until she was far away. Ling Yuxiu said, "This Sister Nanxiang is not a bad person."
"In truth, almost no one in the Miluo Palace is a bad person."
Qin Mu smiled. "Including me, I am not a bad person. The enlightened beings in the Miluo Palace, the hall masters—even Lingguan Hall Master, who seems utterly ferocious—all hold the ideal of saving the world. They are not unreasonable. It's just that we stand in different positions from them and see things from different angles, so we mistake them for villains and invaders."
Ling Yuxiu chuckled. "Husband has suddenly become so magnanimous. That doesn't match the legendary Mu Tianzun."
Qin Mu became interested. "What kind of person is the legendary Mu Tianzun?"
"A complicated person. He hates evil as much as he hates an enemy, yet he is also extremely wicked. He is kind and compassionate, yet ruthless and merciless. He breaks his word, yet he keeps his promises."
Ling Yuxiu covered her mouth with a smile. "He doesn't like to talk much, yet he can talk someone to death. Some say he is exceptionally intelligent, while others say he is as stupid as an ox. Some say his Dao heart is eternally stable, unshakable, while others say his Dao heart is a complete mess, always changing expression. In short, Mu Tianzun is an extremely complicated person."
Qin Mu laughed heartily.
The couple settled down on the Golden Ship. Qin Lingyun had only just been born and was often fussy. As first-time parents, the couple was inevitably flustered and busy.
"I have the ability to reshape heaven and earth, and no one can defeat me, yet I am defeated by a child a few days old."
Qin Mu was dejected. Fortunately, Qin Lingyun did not cry and fuss all the time. When she was quiet, she was very cute, which was some comfort to her old father.
After more than two months, Qin Mu's cultivation and strength had returned to their peak. They finally set sail, heading back the way they came.
The couple enjoyed a happy time on the ship, playing with the child and washing diapers. It was quite amusing, as if they were completely unaware of the coming storm.
On the way here, Qin Mu had to control the Guixu Lotus and the World Tree to absorb the energy of the Destruction Calamity to nourish Qin Lingyun, so the speed was slower. But the return trip was much faster. In three months, they arrived at the Destruction Calamity of the Seventh Epoch.
The Golden Ship's speed gradually slowed. Ling Yuxiu sensed this and looked at Qin Mu.
Qin Mu was crouching on the deck of the Golden Ship, playing with Qin Lingyun, trying to get her to learn to walk. This father still seemed carefree.
However, the Golden Ship's speed was indeed slowing down, and it was getting slower and slower.
Ling Yuxiu walked over, picked up Qin Lingyun, and tested the waters. "Husband, do you have something on your mind?"
Qin Mu stood up and looked outside the ship. Outside was the Great Destruction sweeping through the Seventh Epoch. Even the universe created by the Heaven-Emperor's Heaven-Opening Multitude could not escape the cycle of cosmic birth and destruction, and it was annihilated in an instant.
"Along this journey, there has been no trouble at all, which only makes me more worried."
The smile on his face faded, and his voice became low: "The calmer it is, the more treacherous the coming storm will be. I don't have enough confidence to protect you and our daughter."
Ling Yuxiu looked at his face. The invincible Mu Tianzun was now showing signs of anxiety. The supreme confidence he had built since childhood, the unshakable faith forged in the Yan Kang Reforms, was now wavering.
Ling Yuxiu leaned against him, holding Qin Lingyun with one hand and grasping his hand with the other, as if to give him strength and courage.
Qin Mu put his arm around her, his voice low but thick and powerful: "Rest assured, I will definitely protect you both. I will not let anything happen to you!"
His gaze as he looked at the Destruction Calamity was deep and calm, so deep it was almost frightening.
Back then, his parents, Qin Hanzhen and Princess Zhen, left Wuyou Township and were pursued and intercepted by the Heavenly Court all the way, eventually being caught up with in the Great Ruins of the Yuan Realm.
Qin Hanzhen turned to wood and sent Princess Zhen, who was already pregnant with him, to the Nether Realm.
This scene before him was so similar to that one.
Later, Princess Zhen placed him in a basket and had Aunt Ping'er carry the basket out of the Nether Realm. From then on, a boy named Qin Mu appeared in the Crippled Elderly Village.
"I will not let my daughter walk the same path I did," he thought silently.
The bitterness of an orphan searching for his birth parents—he understood it more deeply than anyone.
The Golden Ship of Salvation set sail again, heading towards the subsequent Chaotic Rivers.
The Destruction Calamity of the Eighth Epoch: Safe.
The Destruction Calamity of the Ninth Epoch: Safe.
The Destruction Calamity of the Tenth Epoch: Safe.
Qin Mu's expression grew heavier and heavier. It was hard to see a smile on his face anymore. The danger had not appeared, which meant that when it did arrive, it would be incredibly violent!
So violent that it might even exceed what he could bear!
Although he was immensely powerful, facing the Heaven-Opening Multitude, the Miluo Palace, Wuyai Old Man, and the possible arrival of countless prehistoric forces, he was absolutely unable to stand alone!
He could not afford to lose this battle, but it was highly likely that he would lose, and lose the beauty before him!
The Destruction Calamity of the Eleventh Epoch: Safe!
The Destruction Calamity of the Twelfth Epoch: Safe!
The Destruction Calamity of the Thirteenth Epoch: Safe!
The Destruction Calamity of the Fourteenth Epoch: Still safe!
Finally, they arrived at the Destruction Calamity of the Fifteenth Epoch. Qin Mu's throat went dry. He activated the Guixu Lotus and the World Tree, rooted them in the Chaotic River, and tried to harness the power of the Destruction Calamity for his own use.
His heart gradually sank. The Guixu Lotus and the World Tree could not mobilize any power from the Destruction Calamity.
Qin Mu took a deep breath. It seemed that Second Young Master Wuji was also waiting for their family of three!
Although Second Young Master Wuji could not break the Lord of the Miluo Palace's red-string knot, her power could already seep out, preventing him from borrowing strength.
Ahead, the Chaotic River suddenly surged violently. A burst of light erupted from within the Destruction Calamity. It was a new world being born amidst the destruction!
Someone was performing the Heaven-Opening Art within the Destruction Calamity, forcibly opening up heaven and earth and evolving a small universe!
That small universe was born, appearing so brilliant and colorful within the Destruction Calamity.
In the Chaotic River, patches of colorful light lit up, one after another. Small universes emerged within the surging Chaotic River.
The Heaven-Opening Multitude, who had opened up the universe's heavens and earth together with the Lord of Heaven-Emperor during the Seventh Epoch, had appeared.
At the same time, Qin Mu saw the World Tree at the center of the Great Destruction Calamity. Its leaves were like magnificent heavens, its branches and roots like manifesting Dao.
Wuyai Old Man stood beneath the tree.
In the distance, the Jade Capital City of the Fifteenth Epoch emerged. Behind its dilapidated walls, forests of Dao Trees grew lush and green. The Dao Fruits on the Dao Trees exuded different Dao mights!
In the Chaotic River, many broken Great Clarity Heavens drifted. In some of them, Dao Trees swayed, and indistinct enlightened beings stood within.
In addition, there were all kinds of strange Dao Weapons, forming massive constructs. These were forces that did not belong to the Miluo Palace's Heaven-Opening Multitude or Wuyai Old Man!
Qin Mu steadied himself, turned to Ling Yuxiu, and showed a smile. "My lady, is there anything else you want to say to Lingyun?"
Ling Yuxiu understood his meaning. She held Qin Lingyun and kissed her face, murmuring, "Child, remember your name. You are Qin Lingyun! You are Qin Lingyun! Your father is Qin Mu, your mother is Ling Yuxiu. One day, your father will find you. He will call your name!"
She suddenly lifted Qin Lingyun and brought her before Qin Mu.
"Qin Mu, you must find her!" she said sharply, and then suddenly threw Qin Lingyun out of the Golden Ship of Salvation.
"Rest assured!"
Qin Mu shouted. Qin Lingyun fell towards the Chaotic River. Countless immensely powerful figures in the river chased after her, reaching for Qin Lingyun.
At that moment, one of the lotus leaves of Qin Mu's Guixu Lotus flew up, severed from the Guixu Lotus Flower, wrapped around the swaddled Qin Lingyun, and shot away!
Qin Mu took Ling Yuxiu's hand and rose to his full height. He stomped heavily, and the Golden Ship of Salvation followed Qin Lingyun, flying towards the Chaotic Rivers.
Instantly, countless powerful figures stepped on the river's surface and madly chased after the Golden Ship and that lotus leaf!
Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu landed on the lotus platform, their faces ashen, and walked across the river's surface towards the Sixteenth Epoch.
"One day, I will put all you rotten bastards into coffins! One day!"
The Guixu Lotus Leaf carried Qin Lingyun as it flew madly, crossing one Chaotic River after another. Nanxiang Yuanjun was on her way back. When she saw the lotus leaf flying towards her, followed by the Golden Ship, she was stunned for a moment. The lotus leaf had already flown past, disappearing into the vast Chaotic Mist.
Then, the river's surface boiled. Countless immensely powerful beings chased after them, and the Chaotic River nearly erupted!
Those powerful figures rushed past her. Nanxiang Yuanjun was bewildered.
"What happened?"
The Guixu Lotus Leaf and the Golden Ship arrived at the Destruction Calamity of the First Epoch. Suddenly, the lotus leaf flew up from the river's surface, and the Golden Ship also leaped up from the river. The lotus leaf carried Qin Lingyun and landed on the ship.
The Golden Ship suddenly turned. Under the watchful eyes of the pursuing powerful figures, it carried Qin Lingyun and plunged headfirst into the Chaotic River!
"No!"
Countless Dao sounds rang out. Then, figures plunged into the river one after another.
The First Epoch. The universe had already shown signs of the Great Destruction. The Lord of the Miluo Palace had built the Golden Ship of Salvation, preparing to carry all living beings across the Destruction Calamity using the ship.
In a mountain village, a lotus leaf drifted down. A baby girl staggered off the lotus leaf, looking confusedly at this world on the verge of destruction.
She was a little lost. The earth, water, wind, and fire were erupting everywhere. People were fleeing in all directions.
She survived tenaciously. A voice in her mind always told her that her name was Qin Lingyun, that she had a father and a mother, but her memories of her parents grew fainter and fainter.
When she grew to be five or six years old, she displayed extraordinary abilities. However, in this Great Destruction, her abilities were useless.
She followed the fleeing people, watching familiar faces around her fall one by one, turning to ash.
She survived, her clothes in tatters. But that lotus leaf still followed her, accompanying her through danger after danger.
One day, everyone around her had died. Only she remained.
She looked at the destroyed world. The earth, water, wind, and fire surged. In the flames, powerful figures walked towards her.
"Finally found her..." Someone in the flames let out a laugh that sounded like crying.
At that moment, the world in destruction suddenly froze. The powerful, twisted figures in the flames also became exceptionally slow.
A tall figure parted the raging fire and walked towards her. The figure gradually became clear. His temples were streaked with white. His face had three eyes, and his gaze was warm. He came directly before her.
"Found you."
That man's voice gave Qin Lingyun a familiar feeling. The blurred voice in her memory was awakened.
"Found you, my child."
The man picked her up and kissed her face. His three eyes were filled with tears.
"Qin Lingyun, my child. Your father is Qin Mu, your mother is Ling Yuxiu. Your father turned into Chaos and crossed a hundred billion years of history to find you. To you, it has only been a few years. To him, he has already spent tens of billions of years of the Seventeenth Epoch."
He lifted Qin Lingyun and placed her on his shoulder. "Daughter of Chaos, from this day forth, your name will be branded into the future!"