Chapter 1783: Chaos Embryo
The divine abilities and Dao techniques of the Heaven-Opening Multitude were not merely a matter of some achievement. If it were only that, they would not have been enough to wound Qin Mu. In the past, Qin Mu had suffered the most severe Dao wounds and had still been able to heal himself.
In fact, he had been hailed by the young master of the Miluo Palace as the most difficult person to kill!
The last person who had managed to wound him with an injury that refused to heal was the Third Young Master, Lingxiao.
The cultivation of the Heaven-Opening Multitude was certainly far inferior to that of Young Master Lingxiao, yet they had still managed to wound Qin Mu, and the injuries were incurable. This showed that they had already traveled a great distance along that path.
"But they have gone astray."
Qin Mu suddenly spoke. "The reason those Heaven-Opening Multitude members blocked me on the river was to show me a thing or two. They were probably somewhat resentful that I didn't merge you with the Heavenly Capital, and at the same time, they wanted to show off their divine abilities to me. Their divine techniques and Dao methods did indeed catch me off guard, but once I got used to them, I immediately sensed that their path had deviated."
Taiyi examined the Dao wounds on his body carefully and said, "They have indeed all gone astray. The runic great path created by the master of the Miluo Palace uses Hongmeng runes to explain all the great paths of the world, merging them into one, reaching the level of chaotic unity. In the sixteen cosmic epochs since, no one has been able to surpass him in this regard. The method that Fellow Daoist Ling and I thought of to surpass him was to completely abandon the runic great path, using no runes at all."
The Fellow Daoist Ling he referred to was Ling Tianzun.
At that time, Taiyi was still the master of the Heavenly Capital. Together with Ling Tianzun and a group from the Heaven-Opening Multitude, they had attempted to break free from the runic great path created by the master of the Miluo Palace.
They had thought of many methods, but before they could produce any results, the signs of the Great Extinction of the Seventh Epoch had already appeared.
After that came the master of the Miluo Palace's three visits to discuss matters. The master of the Heavenly Capital was absorbed in their research and paid him little attention. When the master of the Miluo Palace came a fourth time, he struck and killed the master of the Heavenly Capital.
Although Ling Tianzun had saved the primordial spirit of the master of the Heavenly Capital, Taiyi was not the master of the Heavenly Capital. His state was extremely strange. The way he thought about problems and the way he solved them were both different from the master of the Heavenly Capital.
Taiyi had once suspected that Ling Tianzun had tampered with him when she saved him, but whether that was actually the case was impossible to know.
"But regardless, the runic great path of the master of the Miluo Palace is the orthodox path. This cannot be denied."
Taiyi continued, "The Dao wounds left on you by the Heaven-Opening Multitude may seem terrifying, but each of them has gone to an extreme. They can deny the runes created by the master of the Miluo Palace, but they should not deny the great paths themselves."
He frowned and said, "The great path aura in your Dao wounds is each one extremely strange and peculiar. These are the things they concocted for themselves after denying the great paths of the world."
Qin Mu nodded. It was precisely because he had never seen anything like them before that he had been caught off guard and wounded by those Heaven-Opening Multitude members.
But once he had reacted, it became difficult for them to wound him again.
"Creating great paths of heaven and earth from nothing is very similar to the Yan Kang Reformation."
Taishi couldn't help but say, "Brother Dao, the Yan Kang Reformation created many types of acquired great paths. What difference is there between what they did and what the Heaven-Opening Multitude does? Some people even used acquired great paths to cultivate and become Dao Achievers."
The person he was referring to was Kaijiang Qin Ye. Kaijiang Qin Ye had achieved Dao through the sword path, and his realm had reached the level of a Hall Master.
"The essence is different."
Jiang Baigui, without waiting for Taiyi to answer, explained, "The Yan Kang Reformation created great paths that did not exist in heaven and earth, but their foundation, without exception, was runes. The sword path may seem to have no runes, but in reality, every basic sword form is a sword path rune. The path of the blade, the path of formations, architecture, calligraphy, and painting—all are the same. The acquired great paths also follow the runic great path created by the master of the Miluo Palace."
Taiyi continued, "The Heaven-Opening Multitude is different. The Heaven-Opening Multitude has completely abandoned the runic great path system. In Fellow Daoist Mu's Dao wounds, there are no basic runes."
Taishi suddenly understood.
"The path they walk should be to find a myriad world, destroy it, turn it into chaos, and then open the heavens again and again, destroy the world, open the heavens and destroy the world again, testing their various ideas."
Qin Mu said, "I sensed all kinds of terrifying thoughts from their divine abilities. These thoughts are chilling and filled with fear. They..."
He frowned and continued, "I couldn't sense any humanity in their thoughts. But it wasn't divinity or demonic nature either. The thoughts hidden in their great path divine abilities can no longer be described by human, divine, or demonic."
"This is the Heaven-Opening Multitude."
Taiyi sighed and said, "This is also the reason why, after returning to the past, I was unwilling to come into contact with them. After all, they were once my fellow Daoists."
Through their repeated experiments, the Heaven-Opening Multitude had become beings he no longer recognized.
"Evil."
Kaijiang suddenly spoke. "They should be evil!"
Taiyi shook his head. "Not evil. Evil cannot describe their state of mind either. There is no evil thought in their hearts."
Yue Tianzun couldn't help but ask, "Then Sister Ling..."
Ling Tianzun was her best friend, and the words of Qin Mu and Taiyi made her worry about Ling Tianzun as well.
"Fellow Daoist Ling's talent is extremely high. She may not have fallen into this state of mind."
Taiyi was not certain either. He said, "I have always felt that her talent is one of the few that can match mine."
Qin Mu coughed.
Taiyi shook his head and said, "You haven't. You're a little short."
Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua showed smiles. Taiyi said, "You two are a little better than Fellow Daoist Mu, but still a little short."
Xu Shenghua said, "As long as I am a little better than Lord Qin, I am already satisfied."
Qin Mu snorted, displeased. "Brother Taiyi still hasn't answered my question. If the Heaven-Opening Multitude comes to find you, how will you deal with it? Will you become the master of the Heavenly Capital and become their leader, or will you stand with us?"
"I will not allow them to descend."
Taiyi paused, then suddenly laughed. "I am Taiyi of the Seventeenth Epoch, one of the Five Primordial Tai. I have the responsibility to protect this universe. There is no shirking that duty."
"Well said!" Taishi immediately applauded.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. What he needed was Taiyi's statement of position. Otherwise, if the Heaven-Opening Multitude attacked and Taiyi defected, it would be dangerous.
Ling Yuxiu asked worriedly, "Then your injuries..."
Qin Mu laughed. "I have been thinking about how to deal with these Dao wounds along the way. Although I haven't yet figured out the Dao principles contained within the wounds, I already thought of a method to erase these injuries on the road. I just kept the Dao wounds to show Brother Taiyi, which is why I haven't removed them yet."
Taiyi's eyes flickered. "How will you remove the Dao wounds?"
"The Heaven-Opening Multitude does not follow the runic great path, but that doesn't mean the runic great path cannot break their Dao techniques and divine abilities!"
Suddenly, rolling chaos qi surged out from within Qin Mu's body. The chaos qi moved like a dozen long dragons coiling around him, the rolling chaos qi resembling sixteen smaller Chaos Long Rivers!
Soon, his entire body transformed into chaos and disappeared, replaced by a huge chaos embryo standing before everyone.
Everyone looked up. They saw that the chaos embryo was still growing, quickly surpassing the hall where Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu lived, surpassing the massive Ferry World Golden Ship!
The chaos embryo grew even larger, forcing them to retreat repeatedly. Before long, the chaos embryo had already risen above the towering divine mountains all around!
Everyone quickly boarded the Ferry World Golden Ship. The ship sailed, floating like a golden leaf beside the chaos embryo. Wisps of clouds drifted all around.
From within the chaos embryo came rhythmic pulses, like the heartbeat of a giant within the embryo, or like a morning bell, deep and long.
Suddenly, a shocking sword light appeared from within the chaos embryo. A single sword opened the heavens, splitting the chaos!
Boom!
At the place where heaven and earth were first separated, the huge chaos embryo split in two. Hongmeng purple qi swirled and surged within the embryo, the purple light dazzlingly bright!
This was the sign of chaos opening and Hongmeng evolving!
After a long time, the purple light and purple qi gradually dissipated. Qin Mu stood within the split chaos embryo. All the injuries on his physical body had completely disappeared, and he was radiant with vitality.
The split chaos embryo gradually disappeared, merging back into his body.
Qin Mu walked down from mid-air, his body growing smaller and smaller. By the time he reached the ship, he had returned to normal.
Everyone couldn't help but praise him repeatedly. Even Taiyi couldn't help but compliment, "Excellent Dao method! Truly worthy of being called the Chaos Man by the master of the Miluo Palace!"
Ling Yuxiu also breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing him praise Qin Mu, she was happy for him as well.
"Heaven-Opening Multitude!" Taishi pointed at Qin Mu and exclaimed in surprise.
Kaijiang Qin Ye couldn't help but raise his sword scabbard and strike him heavily on the head. Taishi covered his head, puzzled. "Lord Mu used the Heaven-Opening method to break the Dao wounds on his body. Isn't that the same as the Heaven-Opening Multitude?"
"Of course it's different."
Kaijiang Qin Ye said, "Lord Mu uses the runic great path, and he also doesn't destroy worlds one by one to open the heavens and evolve his divine techniques and Dao methods. His heart has no evil thoughts..."
When he said this, he hesitated, feeling that his Dao heart was lacking, so he stopped speaking.
Qin Mu's Dao wounds were completely healed, and his eyes flickered.
Everyone saw the light flashing in his eyes and couldn't help but think, "Lord Mu has indeed forgotten the pain once the wound is healed. He's thinking of some scheme again."
"Brother Taiyi, when will your Dao wounds be fully healed?" Qin Mu asked.
Xu Shenghua said, "If Lan Yutian and I work together, even if no one else does anything, it will take thirty years to heal him."
"What if I join in?"
Qin Mu's eyes lit up, and he was eager to try. "If I join, it will probably take only ten years to heal him!"
Taiyi quickly said, "If you join, it will take a hundred years! Fellow Daoist Xu and Fellow Daoist Lan can help me heal my injuries. You don't need to help."
Qin Mu had no choice but to give up.
In the Sixteenth Epoch's Great Extinction Tribulation, above the Guixu Great Abyss, figures descended one after another onto the cliff walls of Guixu.
The leading Heaven-Opening Multitude member wore a smile. That smile seemed painted on his face, giving people an eerie feeling.
"The Second Young Master of the Miluo Palace, Wuji."
The smiling man's voice penetrated deep into the Guixu Great Abyss. "We wish to borrow your path to travel to the Seventeenth Epoch. We humbly request Young Master Wuji's permission."
"Come on down!" The Second Young Master Wuji's voice came from the abyss, giggling. "Come on down!"
"Very well!" The smiling man leaped, jumping into the abyss.
Behind him, the other thirty-four members of the Heaven-Opening Multitude all leaped down one after another.