Chapter 1811: The One and Only Sword Prince
The sixteen Chaos Long Rivers formed rings of varying sizes, with Qin Mu standing at their center, smiling. "Third Brother, Fourth Brother, send me back."
Prince Lingxiao let out a long howl, thrusting his Dao spear forward. The spear pierced through the Chaos Long River as he ferociously charged into the river, aiming directly at Qin Mu!
At the same time, Prince Zixiao circled around Qin Mu, his Dao sword vibrating as he pointed it at the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel!
The two had chosen the safest course of action: Prince Lingxiao would engage Qin Mu in a decisive battle, while Prince Zixiao would destroy the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel and lead their forces to annihilate the Yan Kang cultivators who had achieved Dao.
The key was destroying the Heavenly Wheel. Once it was shattered, the Yan Kang Dao achievers would face a massacre, utterly incapable of standing against the forces of Jade Capital City.
And after wiping out the Yan Kang Dao achievers, if Prince Lingxiao still hadn't defeated Qin Mu, Prince Zixiao could lend him a hand, severely wound Qin Mu, and exile him to the past!
This battle was, without a doubt, a foregone conclusion!
Just as Prince Zixiao stepped forward to strike at the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, chaos and vastness suddenly appeared before him. One after another, the Chaos Long Rivers surged in, sweeping him into Qin Mu's battle circle.
On the other side, Prince Lingxiao thrust his long spear, attempting to lift the Chaos Long Rivers and free Prince Zixiao. But his Dao spear suddenly sank heavily—he couldn't lift the Chaos Long River at all.
Prince Lingxiao exerted all his strength, and the Dao spear bent under the pressure, yet still failed to raise the Chaos Long River.
He looked around and saw that the sixteen Chaos Long Rivers surrounding Qin Mu had suddenly become immensely vast and boundless, as if they were the sixteen rivers encircling the Miluo Palace in Jade Capital City. Thick fog shrouded everything, and the opposite shore was completely invisible!
The chaotic mist completely covered the river's surface, making direction impossible.
He couldn't even see where Prince Zixiao was, nor where Qin Mu was!
Chaos.
The great chaos formed after the destruction of sixteen cosmic epochs.
Prince Lingxiao's heart sank. He withdrew his Dao spear from the river and stood on its surface.
He didn't know which epoch's destruction calamity he was on, nor his position.
When he had last fought Qin Mu, Qin Mu's Dao realm had reached the Thirty-Sixth Heaven, and he had used the Chaos Long River technique. But that was during the Guixu Battle thirty-five billion years ago.
Back then, he had easily broken that technique.
In the long years that followed, although Qin Mu had clashed with them many times, he never used that technique again.
Now, thirty-five billion years later, the technique had reappeared—but it had become something he couldn't understand.
The path of Chaos—even the master of Miluo Palace had never understood it.
"Seventh Brother didn't go back to the past, so he couldn't have achieved Dao through Chaos. These sixteen rivers aren't his cultivation; they're the true destruction calamities."
Prince Lingxiao quickly figured this out. He shouldered his Dao spear and raced across the river's surface, roaring as he went. Wherever he passed, the Chaos Long River exploded with thunderous booms!
Behind him, Dao fruits from his Dao tree flew forward one after another, their Dao light shining through, dispersing the fog ahead.
"He hasn't appeared, which means he's gone to stop Fourth Brother. I can cross the sixteen Chaos Long Rivers in just one day and find his position! I can also escape from this river and go wipe out the Yan Kang Dao achievers!"
Though he didn't understand what Qin Mu's Chaos Dao truly was, cultivation was the true measure of strength.
He couldn't comprehend the divine ability Qin Mu used, but he knew Qin Mu was merely using that strange technique to send him and Fourth Brother onto the Chaos Long River, buying time.
But even if Qin Mu had cultivated for thirty-five billion years, his cultivation was still far inferior to his and Fourth Brother's!
Prince Lingxiao moved like lightning, soon reaching the opposite shore of this river. His spirits lifted, and he pressed on without pause, racing forward at full speed.
He knew he had chosen the right direction. As long as he kept going this way, he would find the opposite shores of the other rivers, until he reached the destruction calamity of the First or Sixteenth Epoch.
If he reached the First Epoch, he would see Miluo Palace. Turning back from there would take at most two days. And if he walked out of the Sixteenth Epoch's destruction calamity, he could immediately break free.
These sixteen rivers couldn't trap him!
A day later, Prince Lingxiao crossed the sixteen Chaos Long Rivers, but his heart suddenly sank. Ahead lay only the vast, boundless Chaos Long River again.
Prince Lingxiao's eyelid twitched violently, but he lowered his head and continued running forward.
Another day passed, and he crossed sixteen more Chaos Long Rivers. Yet the chaotic fog ahead was still thick and endless.
Prince Lingxiao stopped, pondered for a moment, then left a Dao fruit suspended in the mist before continuing his mad dash forward.
This Dao fruit's purpose was to suppress any divine ability Qin Mu might have left on the river!
He realized that he might have inadvertently triggered Qin Mu's divine ability while crossing the Chaos Long River, causing him to circle endlessly among the sixteen rivers.
Though he couldn't see through or understand Qin Mu's divine ability, if he could suppress it and render it useless, he could break free!
He reached the second river and left another Dao fruit.
The third river, another Dao fruit.
When his eight Dao fruits were all used up, he left his Dao tree in the chaotic mist.
At the tenth Chaos Long River, he left his Dao spear. At the eleventh, his Dao hall. At the twelfth, his Great Luo Heaven.
He continued his mad dash. Logically, only four Chaos Long Rivers should remain ahead. But when he reached the thirteenth Chaos Long River, he encountered his own Dao fruit.
Prince Lingxiao's eyelid twitched, but he ignored the fruit and charged on.
At the fourteenth Chaos Long River, he encountered his Great Luo Heaven, which should have been on the twelfth river.
He pressed on and saw his Dao spear.
Prince Lingxiao stopped, reached out, and grabbed the Dao spear. With a muffled roar, rolling Dao sounds blasted the Chaos Long River's surface apart with thunderous explosions!
"Seventh Brother!"
Prince Lingxiao was filled with fury. His Dao spear stabbed wildly in all directions!
He finally understood the operating principle of Qin Mu's divine ability: the sixteen rivers were constantly rotating around Qin Mu, each river's position changing continuously and unpredictably!
As long as he stood on the river's surface, he would never escape!
Just then, he sensed waves of terrifying divine ability fluctuations. His heart stirred.
"Fourth Brother and Seventh Brother are fighting! They're also on the river!"
He lifted his Dao spear and thrust it heavily into the river's surface. One by one, his Dao fruits flew in from the chaotic mist, and his Dao tree, Great Luo Heaven, and Lingxiao Hall arrived behind him almost simultaneously.
Prince Lingxiao followed the source of those terrifying divine ability fluctuations and began to run.
Beneath his feet, the Chaos Long River continued to shift. The sixteen rivers changed, making his distance from the source of the fluctuations sometimes close, sometimes far, and sometimes impossible to detect at all.
Prince Lingxiao's face darkened as his speed increased. "No, they shouldn't be on the Chaos Long River. They're at the center of the sixteen rivers—the Miluo Palace! We... we're still in Jade Capital City. Seventh Brother's divine ability has just disrupted the positions of the Chaos Long River. I fell onto the river's surface, while Fourth Brother Zixiao fell into the Miluo Palace!"
"Once I know their positions, Seventh Brother's divine ability can't trap me!"
In the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, the Miluo Palace sat at the center of the sixteen Chaos Long Rivers. This ancient complex consisted of the Miluo Palace master's Miluo Palace and the Dao halls of the seven princes.
Grand Prince Taishang's Taishang Hall, Second Prince Wuji's Wuji Hall, Third Prince Lingxiao's Lingxiao Hall, Fourth Prince Zixiao's Zixiao Hall, Fifth Prince Wuzong's Wuzong Hall, Sixth Prince Zhanji's Zhanji Hall, and Seventh Prince Hundun's Hundun Hall.
After the destruction of the Sixteenth Epoch, the Miluo Palace master had been utterly disheartened. He ordered all the princes, hall masters, and Dao achievers to return to their respective eras, while he himself returned to the Miluo Palace of the First Epoch to dissolve into Dao.
But the seven princes hadn't followed his orders. Taishang went into seclusion, Wuji was suppressed, Third and Fourth Princes plotted to descend into the Seventeenth Epoch, Fifth and Sixth Princes vanished without a trace, and Seventh Prince Hundun acted strangely and unpredictably, like a dragon that showed its head but not its tail.
At this moment, only the Wuji Hall, Zhanji Hall, and Wuzong Hall remained in the Miluo Palace.
The Taishang Hall had also been moved by Prince Taishang to the Second Epoch.
Just then, two halls suddenly flew in and landed with a thunderous crash in the Miluo Palace.
Prince Zixiao stood atop his hall, pressing down on the hilt of his Dao sword, slowly raising his head.
Across from him, atop the Hundun Hall, Qin Mu stood there, his hand pressing down on the hilt of his Chaos Sword.
The two faced each other from a distance.
Whoosh—
Outside the Miluo Palace, a deafening roar erupted. The Chaos Long Rivers surrounding the palace operated in a bizarre manner, closely resembling Qin Mu's Thirty-Sixth Heaven Dao realm divine ability.
The sixteen Chaos Long Rivers wove in and out around the Miluo Palace, their order constantly shifting, creating a magnificent yet eerie beauty!
"Seventh Brother, after thirty-five billion years, has your magical power reached such a level?"
Prince Zixiao pressed his sword, the Dao sword's power almost impossible to contain. Countless purple sword lights formed layers of sword Dao heavens. From his Zixiao Hall, the torrent of sword Dao let out earth-shattering roars that even the sound of destruction calamities couldn't suppress.
"But what surprises me even more is your Chaos divine ability."
Prince Zixiao said in a deep voice, "No wonder the teacher said even he couldn't fully understand your Chaos Dao. Truly extraordinary, opening new vistas. But choosing me as your first opponent is a mistake. Because you also cultivate the sword Dao."
Qin Mu pressed his hand on the Chaos Sword, a smile on his face. Behind him, on the World Tree, a Dao fruit shone brilliantly—the sword Dao fruit. Though he hadn't achieved Dao through Chaos, he had achieved Dao through the sword first.
The sword Dao fruit resonated with his Chaos Sword, making this Dao sword forged from Chaos Stone grow increasingly powerful.
"The reason I chose Fourth Senior Brother is because Fourth Senior Brother is slightly weaker than Third Senior Brother. Not in strength, but in the heart of Dao."
Qin Mu smiled. "Facing Third Senior Brother, I have no means to defeat him. But facing Fourth Senior Brother, I can win!"
"You've never seen my true strength."
Prince Zixiao drew his sword. The Dao sword pierced through the air as he struck. From the very first move, it was a sword of Dao achievement.
A sword light reflected in Qin Mu's pupils. The power of the sword Dao caused his pupils to contract sharply, leaving nothing else in his sight.
Sword Twenty-Three!
He, Kai Huang, and Jiang Baigui had perfected the sword Dao, pushing it to Sword Twenty. Sword Twenty was the sword of domain.
After that, progress in the sword Dao had slowed. Few in the world could comprehend Sword Twenty. Kai Huang Qin Ye, in the years that followed, had deduced Sword Twenty-One, using it to become a hall master-level existence and cultivate his Dao hall.
He had speculated about Sword Twenty-Two, and even Sword Twenty-Three.
He even had a startling hypothesis: Sword Twenty-Three was the sword of Dao achievement. Anyone who could master it would directly achieve Dao through the sword!
Qin Mu, Jiang Baigui, Kai Huang Qin Ye, Village Chief Su Mozhe, and other top sword Dao experts from Yan Kang had gathered to try to complete Sword Twenty-Two, but so far, they had only finished most of it.
As for Sword Twenty-Three, they hadn't even touched its shadow!
Unexpectedly, Qin Mu witnessed here the Sword Twenty-Three that Kai Huang Qin Ye and the others had dreamed of!
No wonder Prince Zixiao had difficulty achieving Dao and had to rely on the Zixiao Dao Achievement Melody created by his wife to succeed. In his era, he must have been a fanatical sword Dao master, obsessed with the sword, pushing it to Sword Twenty-Two and then striving to create Sword Twenty-Three to achieve Dao in one stroke!
What Qin Mu, Kai Huang, and the others couldn't accomplish in thirty-five billion years, he had done!
The seven princes of Miluo Palace—each one was unique!
He had achieved what even the master of Miluo Palace couldn't. He deserved to be called the Sword Prince!