Chapter 1802: Return to Zero
The battle at Guixu had an enormous impact. The Guixu Abyss was completely destroyed, leaving only the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel forged from Chaos Stone standing atop the Chaos Sea in the sky. Old Man Wuyai and Lord Wuji were both severely wounded, and the Third Lord and Fourth Lord failed to achieve their full objective of eliminating them.
Meanwhile, in the battle at the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, the three factions fought fiercely, suffering heavy casualties.
When Qin Mu headed to the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, the Purple Firmament and Divine Firmament, who had been pursuing Old Man Wuyai and Lord Wuji, were forced to abandon them and return to the Jade Capital.
They had the power to kill Old Man Wuyai and Lord Wuji, but if they did so, the forces in the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court would inevitably be uprooted by Qin Mu.
To preserve the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, they had no choice but to give up this excellent opportunity.
Qin Mu led the elites of Eternal Peace to withdraw from the Jade Capital, while also taking action to protect the forces under Old Man Wuyai as they retreated, astonishing the powerful experts under Old Man Wuyai’s command.
“If you die, it will only benefit the Third Lord and Fourth Lord of the Miluo Palace.”
The Kai Emperor, along with Qin Mu and the others, covered the rear and explained to those people: “Although Taishi can neutralize the blood sacrifice, he can only dissolve a portion of its power. If you die, the Third Lord and Fourth Lord will accumulate more energy, making it easier for them to descend. So you cannot die just yet. Once Taishi can completely dissolve the power of the blood sacrifice, then you can die.”
The powerful experts under Old Man Wuyai had initially felt a trace of gratitude, but upon hearing this, even that last shred of gratitude vanished.
“Seventh Brother!”
Lord Divine Firmament knew he could not keep them there, so he ordered the pursuit to stop and faced Qin Mu from a distance, saying coldly: “Second Sister Wuji has still been released. Even if you destroyed the Guixu Abyss, she will eventually return to her peak state. That will be a disaster for all living beings! This evil consequence must be laid at your feet!”
Qin Mu summoned the Cosmic Bell back and hung it before the Chaos Hall, facing him from afar: “Third Brother, when the Miluo Palace descends, it will destroy all the myriad realms, plunging the universe of the Seventeenth Era directly into collapse and destruction, killing countless living beings. On whose head should this evil consequence be placed? The Teacher’s command was for each of you to return to the universe that gave birth to you, yet you have disobeyed the Teacher’s order. How should this be accounted for?”
Lord Divine Firmament leaned on his spear and snorted coldly: “The Teacher abandoned his ideals. As disciples, it is only right that we take up his ideals and continue forward. That is how we truly become his successors! Among the seven lords of the Miluo Palace, only I and the Purple Firmament are the ones who inherit his ideals. The others—you, Wuji, Taishang—are all traitors!”
Qin Mu laughed heartily and led his forces away.
Lord Divine Firmament watched him leave, then led his forces back to the Miluo Palace, but did not see Lord Purple Firmament.
“The Fourth Lord has returned to the past.”
That cultivator whose body had been controlled by the Fourth Lord had now regained control of his own body, saying: “When he left, I sensed a deep sorrow and longing in his Dao heart.”
Lord Divine Firmament fell silent, knowing that the Purple Firmament’s act of killing Moon Venerable to interrupt her path of enlightenment had awakened his longing for his deceased wife.
“Brother Hao, your physical body has experienced the Guixu battle, shattered several times, and was later pierced through the brow by the Seventh Brother’s sword, yet it remains uninjured. This is quite strange.”
Lord Divine Firmament returned the body to Hao Tianzun, saying: “The Seventh Brother is extremely cunning. It’s hard to say whether he concealed any tricks in that sword strike. But I have examined it and found no residual divine abilities. However, this matter cannot be ignored. You are a cultivator of my Miluo Palace, and I will not allow you to be harmed.”
He summoned the many hall masters and cultivators of the Miluo Palace and instructed them: “Brother Hao’s foundation is shallow. You may teach him the Dao techniques and divine abilities of my Miluo Palace. Whether from cultivators, hall masters, or even the lords’ techniques, he may learn freely. As for the sword wound on his brow, you must also study it carefully to see if the Seventh Brother has tampered with it. I need to go see the Fourth Brother, lest his Dao heart be damaged.”
Everyone acknowledged.
Hao Tianzun was both surprised and delighted. This time, he could be said to have turned misfortune into fortune, finally gaining the recognition of the Miluo Palace.
“The Dao techniques and divine abilities of the Miluo Palace are incredibly powerful! That bastard Mu Tianzun only began to rise after coming into contact with the Miluo Palace’s techniques, leaving me far behind in cultivation and strength! If I can fully inherit the Miluo Palace’s legacy, my cultivation speed will only be faster than his, not slower! This is a turn of fortune, a change from adversity to prosperity!”
He was confident that he was no weaker than others; he had only lacked an opportunity. Now, that opportunity had finally come before him!
The cultivators and hall masters in the Jade Capital examined the sword wound on Hao Tianzun’s brow one by one, but even Lord Divine Firmament had found no residual divine abilities, so naturally, they found nothing either.
They also examined Hao Tianzun’s body and found no hidden dangers, leaving them all pondering.
Hao Tianzun laughed: “Everyone can rest assured. Although I did not participate in the Guixu battle, I watched the entire process. At that time, the Seventh Lord Qin Mu had exhausted all his abilities to dismantle Guixu and had no strength left to strike at Lord Divine Firmament. That sword strike was merely a bluff.”
“Let us hope so.”
They set aside the matter and led him into the treasure vault of the Miluo Palace’s Daoist scriptures, allowing him to browse freely, saying: “The Dao techniques and divine abilities of the Miluo Palace can be learned by anyone. Brother Hao, the texts here are vast as an ocean. Feel free to consult them. If there is anything you do not understand, feel free to ask us.”
Hao Tianzun was both surprised and delighted, repeatedly expressing his thanks, and asked: “Can the texts of the Miluo Palace Master also be learned?”
Huadu Hall Master smiled: “They can be learned as well. Not only can the cultivators of the Miluo Palace learn the Teacher’s Dao techniques and divine abilities, but everyone else can too. The texts of the Miluo Palace have never been a secret.”
He gave Hao Tianzun a meaningful look and said: “However, how much you can learn and whether you can grasp the mysteries depends entirely on your personal talent and comprehension. Brother Hao, your insight is extraordinary, but your foundation is not solid. I suggest you start with the techniques of the hall masters and cultivators to build a solid foundation. Once your foundation is firm, you can learn the techniques of the lords, and finally, the Teacher’s techniques. This will be easier to grasp. If you go directly to the Teacher’s techniques, you would need the intelligence and insight of a lord.”
Hao Tianzun said solemnly: “A slow bird should fly early. I am willing to put in more effort and learn the Teacher’s techniques first.”
The other hall masters chuckled softly, led him to the collection left by the Miluo Palace Master, left him there, and departed.
Hao Tianzun’s heart pounded wildly: “My luck has finally arrived! Mu Tianzun comprehended a single Hongmeng rune and became the Seventh Lord. Now that I have obtained the Miluo Palace Master’s techniques, my achievements will surely far surpass his!”
He opened the first text. The pages were made of divine metal, the same as the Salvation Golden Ship, and were inscribed with characters written in Hongmeng runes.
Hao Tianzun stared wide-eyed, his head spinning. He looked for a long time but could not understand a single word.
To read the characters in this text, one first needed to comprehend all the variations of the Hongmeng runes, and only then could one grasp the mysteries within the characters!
Any single character in this text likely contained information comparable to an entire Dao!
After a long while, Hao Tianzun put down this text and opened others, only to find the same situation!
His wisdom was exhausted, yet he could not understand a single word!
“If I cannot understand the Miluo Palace Master’s texts, then I will settle for the techniques of the Miluo Palace lords!”
He steadied himself and went to the texts left by the First Lord, Taishang. He opened one, and his face immediately darkened.
The First Lord Taishang had written his Dao techniques and divine abilities using the exact same characters as the Miluo Palace Master!
Hao Tianzun went to the texts of the Second Lord, Wuji. His face darkened again. The Second Lord Wuji’s texts had no characters at all, only a pile of incomprehensible symbols.
He went to the texts left by the Third Lord, Divine Firmament, and opened one. It contained Divine Firmament’s annotations on the Miluo Palace Master’s Dao techniques and divine abilities, densely packed.
Yet even the annotations were impossible to understand!
Only with a deep understanding of the most basic Hongmeng runes could one hope to comprehend these annotations.
Hao Tianzun went to the texts of the Fourth Lord, Purple Firmament. The Purple Firmament’s texts were also annotations on the Miluo Palace Master’s Dao techniques and divine abilities.
He then went to the texts of the Fifth Lord, Wuzong, and the Sixth Lord, Zhanji. These texts were no different.
Hao Tianzun came to the texts of the Seventh Lord, Chaos, hesitated for a moment, and thought: “A stone from another mountain can polish jade. Although Qin Mu is my mortal enemy, being a mortal enemy does not prevent me from understanding his techniques and divine abilities!”
He opened the text. The runes on the golden pages looked like random scribbles, completely incomprehensible!
Hao Tianzun was completely in the dark. Suddenly, the runes on the golden pages transformed into characters he could recognize—a series of numbers, precise down to the smallest unit.
And those numbers were constantly changing.
Hao Tianzun closed Qin Mu’s text, puzzled: “Lord Chaos is truly a chaos, hard to understand… Strange!”
Even though he had closed the golden book, the series of jumping numbers still appeared before his eyes!
Hao Tianzun rubbed his eyes, but the series of numbers seemed to be branded into his vision, still there and still changing!
“Could it be that Qin Mu anticipated I would read his text here and now, and thus planted a divine ability in the book to ambush me? That’s impossible!”
He was panicked. The constantly changing series of numbers seemed to be counting time. The foremost unit was years, followed by months, with a base-12 conversion from months to years. Then came days, with a base-30 conversion from days to months.
After days came hours, base-12, and then even finer units, all the way down to the smallest decimal unit.
The jumping of the characters seemed random, but it was actually the result of different base calculations at each stage.
“These characters are decreasing. When everything returns to zero, what will happen?” Hao Tianzun felt a sense of confusion.
The number for years was ninety-three. That meant that after ninety-three years, the numbers in his eyes would all return to zero.
Hao Tianzun set this matter aside for the moment and went to study the techniques of the hall masters, but they were still obscure and difficult. In the end, he had to go to the techniques of the cultivators, learning their understanding of the Miluo Palace Master’s Hongmeng runes.
At that time, Lord Divine Firmament arrived at the Tenth Era, standing before the destruction tribulation of that era, looking into the Chaos River.
In the Chaos River, Lord Purple Firmament had returned to the time of his wife’s death. This universe had already shown signs of great destruction. Just as the destruction tribulation was about to erupt, he held his wife tightly in his arms.
Lord Divine Firmament stared blankly at this scene. He knew that the Purple Firmament had repeated this final moment of tenderness countless times.
Every time he missed his deceased wife, he would always return here, enter the destruction tribulation, go back to himself in the Tenth Era, hold his beloved wife, and then struggle desperately, striving to save everything.
But it was all in vain.
This time was no different.
Lord Divine Firmament did not continue watching. He also abandoned the idea of consoling the Purple Firmament and left directly.
Some wounds were beyond his ability to heal.
“Purple Firmament, only by defeating the Seventh Brother, descending into the Seventeenth Era, and continuing the Teacher’s ideals can you have a chance to save your wife!”
Lord Divine Firmament thought silently: “Now, no one is disturbing your Dao heart. I hope you can pull yourself together and fight for the future!”
“Where is Moon Venerable?” On the Salvation Golden Ship, Langhuan looked around but could not find Moon Venerable. She asked, puzzled.
She had the best relationship with Moon Venerable, and their bond was the deepest. The two often fought side by side. But this time, she had not seen Moon Venerable in the battle, and she could not help but feel uneasy.
Qin Mu said gently: “Moon Venerable has gone to the universe of the Fourteenth Era. In the future, I will return to the past and meet up with her there.”
Langhuan looked at him deeply but did not press further.
On the other side, Old Man Wuyai and Lord Wuji had gained a chance to catch their breath and hid away to heal. Because Old Man Wuyai was the World Tree, everyone knew where he was, but Lord Wuji’s whereabouts were unknown.
Unbeknownst to them, ninety-three years passed. One day, the forces of the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court attacked the Eternal Peace group. Hao Tianzun’s cultivation and strength had greatly increased, and he was full of confidence as he faced the Kai Emperor Qin Ye alone.
The Kai Emperor Qin Ye glanced at him, his gaze strange, and shook his head: “Hao, your time of death has come.”
Before Hao Tianzun’s eyes, the final numbers kept jumping. Suddenly, they returned to zero.