Chapter 1817: Third Young Master's Skull
Young Master Lingxiao panted heavily, dragging his spear behind him, his expression dark as his heavy footsteps stomped across the sea surface, step by step approaching Qin Mu.
He had still arrived too late.
When Zixiao's sword path power erupted, he too had sensed that astonishing sword might, and had even heard the zither music of Zixiao's enlightenment melody.
It was precisely by following that zither sound that he had come here.
Zixiao's sword path power had both shocked and delighted him, making him believe that Qin Mu absolutely could not withstand Zixiao's sword, that victory was assured. Yet when he arrived here, he saw Zixiao's figure sinking into the river.
Zixiao, just as he had feared, had suffered a collapse of his dao heart, abandoning everything to return to the destruction tribulation and accompany his deceased wife.
"Third Senior Brother."
Qin Mu offered a greeting. Though his injuries were extremely severe, he did not neglect propriety, saying, "Fourth Senior Brother has obtained what he desired. What wish does Third Senior Brother have? Your foolish junior brother will do his best to fulfill it."
The anger in Young Master Lingxiao's heart gradually subsided. He too bore many sword wounds on his body, injuries inflicted by Zixiao's sword, but compared to Qin Mu, his wounds were much lighter. He said coldly, "Seventh Junior Brother, I am not like Fourth Junior Brother. His dao heart had flaws, making him easy for you to exploit. But my dao heart has no weaknesses—it is perfect and transparent. If you had encountered me from the start, you would have undoubtedly been defeated."
Qin Mu smiled faintly, taking small steps backward. His dao blood dripped into the Chaos Long River. The dao wounds left by Young Master Zixiao were simply too severe; even he could not recover in a short time.
"Fighting Fourth Senior Brother, I truly had no chance of victory. When Fourth Senior Brother's full power erupted, his brilliance was astonishing, leaving me in awe. I imagine Third Senior Brother possesses the same ability. Therefore, I have prepared another battle for you, Senior Brother."
The Chaos Long River beneath their feet transformed into a massive ring. Qin Mu walked along the inner surface of the river, while Young Master Lingxiao, dragging his long spear, followed closely at his heels.
Suddenly, with a whoosh, another Chaos Long River intersected. Qin Mu's foot landed on that Chaos Long River, and Young Master Lingxiao's foot also landed on it, refusing to give him any chance to escape.
Whoosh—
Another long river swept in. Qin Mu shifted his steps, stepping onto that river. Young Master Lingxiao still followed him, his battle intent rising higher and higher, his killing intent growing stronger and stronger.
He was preparing to strike with his strongest blow, directly killing Qin Mu without giving him any opportunity!
"Even at my peak, I wouldn't dare claim I could defeat you, Senior Brother. And now, I am at the end of my strength."
Qin Mu moved his steps, making it difficult for Young Master Lingxiao's aura to lock onto him. He said, "All seven young masters of Miluo Palace have the strength to survive the destruction tribulation. But only three can survive the creation tribulation. First Senior Brother Taishang, Second Senior Sister Wuji, and myself."
As his words fell, Young Master Lingxiao's expression changed slightly. Following Qin Mu's movements, he found that the surroundings were no longer the Chaos Long River but a Chaos Sea.
He looked around and saw that the earlier Chaos Long Rivers had vanished without a trace; he couldn't see where they had gone.
He looked up and saw countless Sixteenth Epoch universes!
Those universes were like countless slices of time, forming the history of the Sixteenth Epoch universe!
He turned his head and saw countless Seventeenth Epoch universes, also countless slices. The entire history and future of the Seventeenth Epoch universe lay exposed before him!
Then, everything turned into chaos. Both the Sixteenth Epoch universes and the Seventeenth Epoch universes disappeared completely!
He looked down and could no longer see the Chaos Sea.
At that moment, he saw countless Qin Mus and countless versions of himself!
All around him, there were himself and Qin Mu everywhere. Each version of himself seemed to possess independent consciousness, looking around, but all their faces showed expressions of vigilance.
Young Master Lingxiao reached out to wipe away the version of himself in front of him, but at that moment, he touched the back of his own head.
Other versions of himself made various movements—some touched another self's face, some looked around, some stood on another self's soles—each doing different things.
He couldn't even count how many versions of himself there were!
"This is the precursor to the eruption of the creation tribulation."
Suddenly, countless Qin Mus all looked toward him at once. This scene was extremely eerie and strange, yet Qin Mu seemed able to control countless versions of himself.
Those Qin Mus walked through strange spaces, but no matter how they moved, they always faced him, facing the countless versions of him.
"This is the scene after the complete destruction of the Sixteenth Epoch universe. Chaos gathers at a single point, appearing as a Chaos Sea, but in reality, it is an incredibly dense, bizarre point where countless spaces are compressed together."
Qin Mu's voice seemed to come from countless spaces, but no matter where, the sound reached his ears simultaneously.
"The entire Seventeenth Epoch universe will be born from here. Third Senior Brother, please look."
Young Master Lingxiao followed the direction of his finger and saw Miluo Palace. He was slightly startled.
Miluo Palace was not split into countless versions like him; it remained a single palace.
"Teacher's Hongmeng runes are the One, evolving the ten thousand paths from the One, which cannot be further divided. Thus, Miluo Palace is also the One within the creation tribulation."
Qin Mu said, "First Senior Brother Taishang inherited Teacher's legacy and can also achieve this step. Second Senior Sister Wuji is a Guixu goddess, embodying both destruction and creation, and can also achieve this step. They can all become the One within the creation tribulation. Of course, I can do it too."
Suddenly, the countless Qin Mus in the tiniest spaces vanished, replaced by a single Qin Mu appearing before all the versions of Young Master Lingxiao, pacing back and forth in front of them.
"Other young masters have the strength to survive the destruction tribulation but cannot survive the creation tribulation because, at the moment the creation tribulation erupts, countless versions of themselves are destroyed by countless creation tribulations."
Qin Mu's gaze fell on Young Master Lingxiao's face, meeting the eyes of countless versions of him. "And these countless versions of yourself are actually the countless time slices of your future self in the Seventeenth Epoch. Within your body are countless material particles. If any of these particles undergoes a subtle change, it will create a possibility in the future. Every material particle has countless variations over the long Seventeenth Epoch, and countless material particles have countless possibilities in the future. But all of this is encompassed within the creation tribulation."
Young Master Lingxiao's mind exploded. He saw countless versions of himself—some asking questions, some shocked, some terrified.
Those versions of himself were himself, but they were future selves, countless versions of himself formed by changes in his own matter.
The moment before the creation tribulation erupted, its strangeness was beyond his imagination!
"Third Senior Brother, if you cannot withstand the creation tribulation, all your countless futures will be destroyed by it, and you will naturally cease to exist. The creation tribulation will erase you completely!"
Qin Mu said unhurriedly, "All your countless futures will become nourishment for the Seventeenth Epoch universe. This is why even those who have achieved the Dao cannot survive the creation tribulation. However, you have a glimmer of hope: to gather all futures into one, like Teacher, like Taishang. Only then can you preserve your life within the creation tribulation."
Young Master Lingxiao heard countless versions of himself shouting in anger, asking questions, and saw countless versions of himself attacking, but they could never harm Qin Mu in the slightest.
"Is this the scene Teacher encountered in the First Epoch when he forged the Salvation Golden Ship to ferry all beings?" he asked amidst the noise.
Qin Mu, as if clearly catching this question from among the countless versions of him, said, "At that time, Teacher could only survive the destruction tribulation. He likely never took all beings into the creation tribulation. In the destruction tribulation, the beings of the First Epoch had already turned to ash. If he had encountered the creation tribulation, he would have been even more despairing. However, I believe that after the beings were destroyed, Teacher still encountered the creation tribulation, but he survived. In that brief moment, he should have been able to see the future."
Young Master Lingxiao let out a long breath. At that time, Miluo Palace Master's strength, though impressive, was still inferior to his current self.
If Teacher could survive the creation tribulation back then, then he certainly could too!
"Whether one can survive the creation tribulation does not depend on strength, but on whether one can gather the future into a single self."
Qin Mu seemed to hear his thoughts and said, "Senior Brother, if you were me, you could even leap out of the creation tribulation and arrive directly at the aftermath. This is the way of chaos. If my guess is correct, the reason Teacher's dao heart died and he returned to the First Epoch to dissolve into the Dao is because, before the destruction of the Sixteenth Epoch and the arrival of the Seventeenth Epoch's creation tribulation, he saw the entire future of the Seventeenth Epoch. A future that filled him with utter despair."
Young Master Lingxiao's pupils contracted sharply.
Just now, he had caught a fleeting glimpse of all the future slices of the Seventeenth Epoch, but there were too many future slices; he couldn't see the end of the Seventeenth Epoch!
However, Miluo Palace Master should have been able to do it.
"This is my first time entering the creation tribulation, and I too am encountering this strange scene for the first time. I haven't had time to clearly see the future of the Seventeenth Epoch within the creation tribulation."
Qin Mu said gloomily, "But Teacher said that the future of the Seventeenth Epoch is ultimate cold stillness. After eight hundred billion years, it will become a completely frozen void, with no life and no next universe. It seems he saw the future of the Seventeenth Epoch and thus fell into despair."
"Don't you feel despair?" Young Master Lingxiao asked.
Qin Mu shook his head. "I don't. I don't believe the future of the Seventeenth Epoch is already fated. Even if it is fated, I will change it! Senior Brother, Teacher's path was wrong. Will you continue walking down his path?"
Young Master Lingxiao fell silent, gripping his dao spear tighter and tighter.
"Junior Brother, you say my only path to survival is to gather all futures into one, like First Senior Brother and Teacher. I disagree with that."
He pursed his lips, revealing a faint smile. "Besides that, there is another glimmer of hope: the garbage ground of the ultimate void, that abandoned land!"
Qin Mu's expression darkened, his pupils contracting sharply.
The creation tribulation erupted!
Suddenly, countless versions of Young Master Lingxiao rose up, their dao spears thrusting forward simultaneously, charging toward the abandoned land that had not been destroyed by the destruction tribulation!
Qin Mu flicked his sleeve, vanishing from the creation tribulation at the moment of its eruption!
Whoosh—
Above the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, Qin Mu's figure appeared. His wide robe and large sleeves shook violently as he charged into the ultimate void!
In the garbage ground of the ultimate void, a massive skull was blown by the cold stillness wind, crashing against a broken ship, its head caught by a tattered long spear.
That strange head was the one Qin Mu had encountered during his first entry into the garbage ground. The skull had gained a trace of flesh and blood, and over the years, more flesh had begun to grow on its surface.
It had grown eyes, and its features were vaguely discernible.
Third Young Master Lingxiao, who had escaped from the creation tribulation and had been in a dazed state all along!
At this moment, Third Young Master Lingxiao vanished from the Jade Capital City, finally remembering his name and identity. Various divine techniques and dao methods came flooding back into his mind.