Chapter 1793: Sweet Words, Ruthless Hands
As he stepped into the Chaos Sea, the scenery before him instantly transformed. Vast abysses, large and small, appeared above his head like deep wells. Towering lotus stems, thick and immense, rose high from the Chaos Sea, with lotus blossoms plunging into the great abysses.
The sea surface was not only covered by Qin Mu's Return to Ruin lotus leaves; there were also the Return to Ruin lotus leaves from the other sixteen cosmic epochs. When Qin Mu arrived, he saw Young Master Wuji sitting on one of those lotus leaves, leaning sideways, scooping up a handful of Chaos Water to wash her hair.
Her hair was pure white, yet she appeared very youthful.
Qin Mu stood on his own lotus leaf, quietly appreciating the sight. Young Master Wuji was indeed a stunning beauty; if she weren't so evil, she would be a captivating woman.
After a long while, Young Master Wuji suddenly let out a soft laugh. "Old Seventh, how much longer are you going to stare?"
Qin Mu smiled faintly. "Second Sister washing her hair in the Chaos Sea is a beautiful sight. I'll watch for as long as you wash."
"Such sweet words."
Young Master Wuji lifted her head and cast him a charming, reproachful glance. "Wherever Young Master Chaos passes, not a blade of grass grows, yet when he speaks sweet nothings, he can make one's heart bloom with joy."
Qin Mu laughed heartily, looking around as he spoke. "Second Sister, when will you break free?"
Young Master Wuji asked in surprise, "Old Seventh, what makes you say that?"
"You've been replacing the Hongmeng runes with Return to Ruin runes, gradually gnawing away at Teacher's Red String Knot Seal. I didn't notice it before, but this time, knowing you'd stir up trouble, I took a closer look and still managed to see some clues."
Qin Mu looked up into the distance at the five chains hanging down from the Great Abyss of the Sixteenth Epoch. Those chains were manifestations of the Red String Knot Seal's divine power. "In the Red String Knot Seal, Teacher ranks first, another person ranks second, and I rank third. Naturally, you can't hide your tampering from me. You've been working on breaking the Red String Knot Seal for about three thousand years now, haven't you? Back then, when the Heaven-Opening Ones borrowed a path from you, did they reach some agreement with you?"
"You think the Heaven-Opening Ones helped me unlock one of the runes in the Red String Knot Seal?"
Young Master Wuji's eyes darted around, and she smiled. "Ah, I see. You think that the person who mastered the Red String Knot Seal and ranks above you is the thirty-sixth Heaven-Opening One, so you believe that person helped me unlock one of the seal's runes, right?"
Qin Mu didn't deny it.
Those who had studied the Red String Knot Seal and surpassed him in skill were first its creator, the master of the Miro Palace, and second, Ling Tianzun! Ling Tianzun and the thirty-five Heaven-Opening Ones were all experts from the Heavenly Capital. He suspected that Ling Tianzun had helped Young Master Wuji unlock one rune, giving her a chance to escape.
"It wasn't that Dao-defiler; it was the Third Brother."
Young Master Wuji said leisurely, "The Third Brother, to prevent your child from being born, asked me to act so that you couldn't borrow power from the Chaos River. But I wouldn't help him for nothing. Naturally, he had to pay a price."
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. Young Master Lingxiao had once been suppressed by him using the Red String Knot Seal, so it was reasonable that he had some understanding of it. As long as it wasn't Ling Tianzun, Qin Mu could relax.
"Of course, the Heaven-Opening Ones also helped me."
Young Master Wuji blinked, looking somewhat cunning. "Their strength is immense; it would be a waste not to borrow their power. Those Heaven-Opening Ones aren't too sharp, but their strength is passable. When they attacked me, I used their divine powers to wear down Teacher's Red String Knot Seal. Later, that Smiley Face guy noticed something was off, realized he couldn't do anything to me, and made a pact with me."
Qin Mu raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What pact?"
Young Master Wuji said with a smile, "They could help wear down some of the runes, but I had to do them a small favor."
When Qin Mu asked what that small favor was, Young Master Wuji refused to reveal it.
The two fell silent, not continuing the conversation.
After a long pause, Qin Mu asked with a smile, "So, Second Sister, how much longer until you break free?"
"Guess!"
Young Master Wuji beamed, gathering her washed silver hair behind her with both hands, snipping off a few strands, and tying the rest up. A silver ponytail cascaded down her back, reaching her waist.
Qin Mu smiled, quietly watching her.
Young Master Wuji dragged the five chains as she paced back and forth on the lotus leaf, giggling. "It could be tomorrow, or ten thousand years from now, or of course, it could be right now. Take a guess; if you're right, there's a prize."
"I'm not much for guessing games."
Qin Mu's vertical eye on his forehead opened, and he said calmly, "Ever since I gained strength, I've preferred to directly take action and search for the answers."
Young Master Wuji stopped in her tracks. "Then what are you waiting for?"
The two fell silent again.
The atmosphere grew increasingly tense.
In Qin Mu's vertical eye, it seemed as if endless starry skies surged, then transformed into the rising and setting of sun and moon, forming a Tai Chi wheel, then into Tai Su Qi, then into Azure Nether Qi, then into Tai Chu, then into Tai Yi, and finally returning to Chaos. His aura grew stronger and stronger, more and more intense, as if he were a god of Chaos standing there, calming the Chaos Sea so that even the lotus flowers and leaves stopped swaying.
A Chaos Hall rose from the Chaos Sea, breaking through the water's surface. As the Cosmic Bell emerged from the Chaos Sea, the Five Tai on its walls spun continuously, flashing with various bright Dao lights, seemingly absorbing energy from the Chaos. By the time the Chaos Hall had fully surfaced from the Chaos Sea, the light of the Cosmic Bell had gradually subsided, but it appeared even more ancient and weighty.
Young Master Wuji looked toward the Chaos Hall and saw its doors tightly shut, with no idea what lay inside.
*Whoosh!*
The Chaos Sea suddenly churned violently, breaking through Qin Mu's suppression. Another hall rose from the Chaos Sea, radiating Dao light and filled with the vast vitality unique to the Dao of Return to Ruin, as if it could sustain the birth of an entire universe! Yet this hall's doors were also tightly closed, and Qin Mu had no idea what was inside.
This hall was Young Master Wuji's supreme achievement in the Dao: the Wuji Hall! Young Master Wuji was indeed very close to breaking free; she could even summon her Wuji Hall from the Miro Palace!
At the same time, the Return to Ruin Great Abysses emitted loud rumbles. One by one, the Return to Ruin lotuses vanished. A lotus flower appeared beneath Young Master Wuji's feet, the first tier of the lotus platform emerging, followed by the second, the third...
Qin Mu's pupils contracted sharply, his gaze fixed on the lotus platform. When the platform beneath Young Master Wuji's feet manifested ten tiers of Dao grades, it finally stopped. The surface of the Chaos Sea stirred with waves, and the other six Return to Ruin lotuses swayed and reappeared. Clearly, Young Master Wuji hadn't fully unsealed herself, so she couldn't gather the other Return to Ruin lotuses into a sixteen-tier platform.
Her path to enlightenment through Return to Ruin differed from Qin Mu's. Qin Mu relied on his own insights, drawing energy and nourishment from successive Destruction Calamities and Creation Calamities to elevate the Dao grades of his lotus platform. Young Master Wuji, on the other hand, seemed to follow a different path: absorbing the Return to Ruin lotuses from other cosmic epochs to form a sixteen-tier Dao-grade platform!
However, the Miro Palace Master's seal prevented her from mobilizing more platforms. If she could command all sixteen tiers, she would be able to break free.
Qin Mu smiled slightly. "Second Sister, are you up to it? Your little brother is quite formidable."
Young Master Wuji also smiled faintly. "Old Seventh, since you haven't achieved enlightenment through Chaos, you truly aren't up to it."
Before her words faded, Qin Mu took a step forward. As he did, the bell tolled, and the Chaos Sea erupted. The Cosmic Bell swept up the Chaos Qi from the sea, amplifying the power of his strike! On the Chaos Sea, he was the Seventh Young Master of the Miro Palace, capable of unleashing boundless strength!
On the sea's surface, a universe was born amid the bell's toll, carrying the energy of creation, sweeping across the waters and surging straight toward Young Master Wuji!
This strike was Qin Mu's Thirty-fifth Dao Realm: The Beginning of Hongmeng, Dao Splits Heaven and Earth! This move could be considered his most powerful divine ability. In terms of pure power, it had surpassed everything he had ever learned or created, even surpassing the Hongmeng Finger and the Heavenly Capital Creation Chapter!
"Old Seventh, it seems you really aren't up to it!"
Young Master Wuji stood on her lotus platform, letting out a chuckle. Suddenly, the Wuji Hall behind her swung open. The moment the doors opened, a torrent of annihilation energy surged out, clashing briefly with Qin Mu's Cosmic Bell. The universe that the Cosmic Bell's vibrations had created was instantly destroyed!
But just as the Five Tai inverted, Qin Mu grabbed the bell's body, gently flicked it, and the great bell spun, rose, and then inverted downward.
*Boom!*
The bell tolled again. The Chaos Sea and the Destruction Calamity around Qin Mu were swept away. At the same time, Qin Mu stomped heavily, and Hongmeng runes formed an Creation Altar that rose up. Using his hand as a sword, he slashed, and the exploding Chaos Sea around him transformed, splitting into heaven and earth, forming one universe after another around him!
*Whoosh!*
Behind Qin Mu, a magnificent and bright Six Paths Heavenly Wheel spun, encompassing all the large and small universes under the Six Paths of Reincarnation, with birth and destruction cycling endlessly!
Young Master Wuji had just charged forward but was repelled by the surrounding universes. No matter how many miniature universes she annihilated, the wheel would turn, and new ones would be born.
Young Master Wuji grew furious, activating her Return to Ruin divine abilities, also using the Dao of Birth and Destruction like Qin Mu to counter him. However, she had to expend her own cultivation to maintain the cycle of birth and destruction, while Qin Mu used the Dao of Reincarnation to sustain it—a clear difference in efficiency!
"Second Sister, you're outdated. You really aren't up to it!"
Qin Mu stepped forward, reaching out to grab the five chains behind Young Master Wuji. He refined the foreign runes within them and replenished them with Red String Knot Seal runes.
Young Master Wuji's eyes blazed with fury as she attacked him wildly, but under the rotation of the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, she couldn't get close.
Qin Mu quickly repaired the Red String Knot Seal, restoring the runes that Young Master Wuji had damaged one by one.
Suddenly, Young Master Wuji stopped attacking, standing still, and said coldly, "Old Seventh, does doing this help? After all, you're not Teacher. You're only prolonging my escape, but in the end, it's all in vain!"
Qin Mu finished repairing the damaged Hongmeng runes, let out a sigh of relief, stretched lazily, and walked toward the Return to Ruin, saying casually, "When you've finished deciphering my runes, I'll come back and fix them again."
"You!"
Young Master Wuji was enraged, but a deep sense of helplessness welled up inside her.