Chapter 467: Heavenly Palace
Qin Mu soared into the air, looking upward. He saw that the tremors of the Five Thunder Pot had gradually ceased. Fu Yunxi was leading many women of the Fu family to divert the surrounding lightning away.
"Chief Qin, your sword!" Fu Yunxi called out loudly.
Qin Mu summoned his flying swords. Eight thousand swords converged in the air, forming a sword pellet the size of an orange.
"How did the sword pellet shrink so much?"
Qin Mu was slightly startled. Just as he was about to grab the sword pellet, several Fu family girls flew over, their expressions tense. "Chief Qin, don't move!"
Qin Mu stood still. The girls chanted incantations, and streaks of lightning flew out from Qin Mu's body surface, which they collected.
"Your body still contains residual thunderous energy that hasn't erupted. Since you haven't touched anyone else, the thunder's power won't explode for now."
One of the girls explained, "But if you touch something else, the thunder's power will burst forth. The lightning in this big gourd is divine thunder, terrifyingly powerful. We'll help you remove the thunder, and you'll be fine."
Qin Mu expressed his thanks. Suddenly, a continuous rumbling sound reached his ears. He quickly looked towards the source and saw Dragon Qilin stepping on fiery clouds, trying to descend from the air. Before he even landed, the thunderous energy on his body erupted.
Thunder and lightning crackled violently from Dragon Qilin's body. The big fatty became like an electric ball, bouncing up and down, up and down, instantly charring him black.
The Fu family girls rushed over. Qin Mu pretended not to see and reached out to grab the sword pellet. The weight of the sword pellet was still there, but it had become much smaller, fitting in his palm and easier to control than before.
He couldn't help but feel delighted. "By tempering it with the Five Thunder Pot to this extent, I'm not far from liquefying the sword into water!"
"Chief, didn't you say you wouldn't harm a single hair on my head?" Dragon Qilin's voice came, thick smoke billowing from his mouth.
Qin Mu pretended not to hear, put the Five Thunder Pot into the True Dragon Nest, and charged towards the True Heavenly Palace.
"Chief!"
Dragon Qilin tried to rush over, but more Fu family girls surrounded him. "Don't run around, you chubby one. You're too big, and you were carrying that big gourd just now, so you have the most thunder on you. Run again, and you might get yourself killed!"
Dragon Qilin quickly stood still, forcing a smile. "Ladies, I haven't been disfigured, have I? This dragon scale of mine is the most beautiful, majestic when worn. It can't be ruined!"
"Well..." The girls all showed troubled expressions.
Dragon Qilin grew suspicious, trying to twist his head to look at his body, but he was too fat and his neck too thick to turn around.
The Yan Kang National Teacher was the first to land before the gates of the True Heavenly Palace. Around the gates, scorched corpses lay everywhere, with large craters formed by lightning strikes still emitting black smoke. Some places were still ablaze.
The True Heavenly Palace Master sat slumped on the ground, struggling to lift her head to look at the middle-aged man approaching. She said in a low voice, "I am with child. For the sake of the child in my womb, do not kill me..."
The Yan Kang National Teacher walked past her, saying calmly, "Whether you are pregnant or not is none of my concern. I have no grudge against you, and I won't deliberately kill or harm you. I only want this True Heavenly Palace, only this Western Land."
The True Heavenly Palace Master was momentarily stunned.
Xiong Xiyu brought Xiong Qier to the palace gates. The True Heavenly Palace Master's eyelids twitched, and she whispered, "Nai Kui, I am with child..."
"Many of the daughters of my Xiong family who died were also with child."
Xiong Xiyu's eyes burned with intense hatred. She snatched the Black Tortoise Pearl from her hand, then took the Azure Dragon Pearl from Xiong Qier, lowering her voice. "Did you ever show them any mercy?"
The True Heavenly Palace Master was bathed in the light of the Azure Dragon Pearl. She struggled, but her body and primordial spirit were instantly petrified into wood, turning into a wooden sculpture trying to flee.
Xiong Xiyu exhaled a breath of foul air, leading Xiong Qier into the True Heavenly Palace. She said coldly, "I won't kill you, but I can't let you off just because you're pregnant. You will become a wooden sculpture before the gates, kneeling here forever!"
Behind them, women from various major clans surged into the True Heavenly Palace, attacking the remaining Yu family cultivators inside.
Qin Mu also arrived at the True Heavenly Palace. This palace complex was extremely vast, with many streets and alleys inside. Remnants of the Yu family's power were still hiding within the palace, between the halls and lanes.
Some Yu family experts had mastered the Vermilion Bird Pearl and the White Tiger Pearl and were still resisting. The power of the Vermilion Bird Pearl and the White Tiger Pearl was immense. Even if the cultivator wielding these two spirit treasures wasn't very advanced, they could still unleash astonishing might.
Qin Mu followed the crowd into the palace, thinking to himself, "Ban Gongcuo should still be in the palace, right? I can't let him escape this time, no matter what!"
Suddenly, a flash of golden light scattered. A woman held a golden yet transparent pearl, within which was the refined soul of a white tiger. Golden light burst from the pearl, and wherever it passed, everyone was instantly torn apart!
Qin Mu quickly activated his sword pellet. Eight thousand swords whirled around him at high speed, and a dense clanging sound rang out. The golden light sent him, along with his swords, flying.
Qin Mu tumbled and rolled before finally stabilizing himself, realizing he had been blasted dozens of zhang away.
"White Tiger Pearl!"
He dodged behind a large hall. Golden light surged like a tide, flowing from both sides of the hall. Qin Mu squinted, seeing countless golden energies darting within the light. The women who had just died under the golden light were killed by the razor-sharp golden energy within!
He grabbed a large pillar of the hall, intending to use his waist strength to lift the hall and crush the Yu family expert controlling the White Tiger Pearl.
The pillar didn't budge.
Qin Mu grunted, exerting force again. The pillar remained motionless.
"Chief Qin, this is the True Heavenly Palace."
Suddenly, Liu Zhenqing's voice came. Qin Mu was startled, but saw a group of black coffins escorting a golden divine coffin flying over. The Liu mother and daughter were each sitting on their own coffin lids. The little girl Liu Zhenqing put down her sugar-coated hawthorn stick and laughed, "True, Heavenly Palace! The real Heavenly Palace!"
Qin Mu was astonished. "You mean...?"
"This Heavenly Palace fell from the sky. It's not fake."
Liu Zhenqing jumped off her coffin lid, stuck the sugar-coated hawthorn stick into a crack in the coffin, climbed onto the golden coffin, and peeled off strips of sealing talismans. "Hurry up and move it over! The old thing is coming out! Put the chains away!"
As she spoke, the golden divine coffin burst open with a bang. A divine might erupted, and a soul-shaking roar came from within the coffin. A towering figure charged straight into the golden light.
Boom—
A loud crash came from behind the hall, followed by the sound of chewing.
Liu Zhenqing was extremely nervous, quickly instructing the other Liu family members. "Pull the chains, hurry! Drag this old thing back! Don't be afraid! He has the White Tiger Pearl in his mouth, suppressed by it! Hurry! Hurry!"
From within the many black coffins, Liu family experts strained to pull the chains attached to the golden coffin. The chains clanked loudly. After a moment, they dragged a burly divine corpse back from behind the hall.
The divine corpse was still struggling fiercely, trying to break free. Liu Zhenqing and Liu Ruyin also stepped forward, exerting all their strength to drag the divine corpse back into the coffin.
Liu Zhenqing climbed onto the divine corpse's head, raised her little fist, and pounded hard on its nose, saying crisply, "Spit it out! Spit it out now!"
The divine corpse's cheeks were bulging, clearly hiding something inside.
The divine corpse glared fiercely at this audacious little girl, looking as if it might devour her at any moment, but its limbs were bound by chains, unable to move.
Moreover, the thing in its mouth was the White Tiger Pearl. It had just swallowed it along with the True Heavenly Palace expert, but once the White Tiger Pearl entered its mouth, it realized how terrifying it was. It was nearly assimilated by the White Tiger Pearl and couldn't swallow the pearl into its stomach.
Liu Zhenqing beat the divine corpse until blood flowed from its nose. Unable to bear it any longer, the divine corpse spat out the White Tiger Pearl and lunged at Liu Zhenqing, spewing a cloud of corpse poison.
Bang.
The coffin lid closed. Liu Zhenqing quickly sealed the sealing talismans, picked up the fallen White Tiger Pearl, beamed with joy, jumped back onto her small coffin lid, pulled out her sugar-coated hawthorn stick, licked it, and said to Qin Mu with a smile, "Brother Qin, we're going back. Come find us at the Divine Burial Valley when you have time!"
Qin Mu laughed heartily and waved to them.
"Let's go!"
The coffin lid flipped over with a bang, covering the little girl inside. Liu Zhenqing's muffled voice came from within, tinged with pride. "No more fighting! Back to the Divine Burial Valley! Our Liu family isn't here to carve up power in the True Heavenly Palace. With this White Tiger Pearl, our Liu family's Divine Burial Valley can become a holy land of the Western Land!"
A large group of coffins, escorting the golden divine coffin, whooshed away and withdrew from the True Heavenly Palace.
"That little sister Liu Zhenqing is extraordinary. She might actually be able to create a corpse family holy land."
Qin Mu continued deeper into the True Heavenly Palace, thinking to himself, "But I can't really call her 'little sister.' Her age should be about the same as her mother, Liu Ruyin, around four or five hundred years old."
Deep within the True Heavenly Palace, the power of another spirit treasure, the Vermilion Bird Pearl, was astonishing. The Vermilion Bird True Fire incinerated everything it touched, leaving only the True Heavenly Palace's halls intact.
People from various major clans were surging towards the area where the Vermilion Bird Pearl's power erupted, clearly intending to get their hands on this pearl before Xiong Xiyu and her daughter.
"So it's Chief Qin."
From another hall, the Yan Kang National Teacher emerged, showing a rare smile and nodding to Qin Mu.
Qin Mu walked over, puzzled. "National Teacher, with your current abilities, it wouldn't be difficult for you to seize the three spirit pearls. Yet you turn a blind eye to the treasures of the True Heavenly Palace. What exactly are you looking for?"
"Looking for history."
The Yan Kang National Teacher walked towards another hall, saying leisurely, "The treasures of the True Heavenly Palace belong to the Western Land. I won't compete for them. To me, while the treasures of the True Heavenly Palace are tempting, its history is the true wealth. Chief Qin, there's no need for you to vie for treasures and power like the others. Come with me. Let's witness the past history of the True Heavenly Palace together."
He extended an invitation.
Qin Mu gladly accepted. "The National Teacher's vision is extraordinary. If I were also tempted by the wealth of the True Heavenly Palace, wouldn't I be looked down upon by you?"
He followed the Yan Kang National Teacher into another hall.
The halls of the True Heavenly Palace were majestic and imposing. Even though the battle was still raging, with various techniques and spirit weapons flying everywhere, this palace complex remained unharmed.
"The Dao Sect, the Great Thunderclap Monastery, and the Lesser Jade Capital are all failures. If even failures record history, how would the victors write their own history of triumph?"
The Yan Kang National Teacher entered this hall. Many Yu family disciples were hiding here and immediately attacked the two. The Yan Kang National Teacher waved his hand, and everyone suddenly felt their strength rendered useless. They were slapped against the four walls of the hall, unable to move.
"I have already seen the histories recorded by the Dao Sect, the Lesser Jade Capital, and the Great Thunderclap Monastery. I want to see the history written by the victors."
He waved his hand again, and the many Yu family women on the walls involuntarily parted to both sides, revealing murals.
Qin Mu looked at these murals. The first depicted a divine being standing on a palace, descending from the sky. This divine being's appearance was somewhat similar to Ba Gou.
In the second mural, Ba Gou came to visit a female divine being. This divine woman sat on equal footing with Ba Gou, treating him as a rival.
"She is the founder of the True Heavenly Palace, the True Heavenly Old Mother."
The Yan Kang National Teacher showed a contemplative expression. "To be able to sit on equal footing with Ba Gou, she shouldn't have been killed by a single sword strike from me... Something is strange."
Qin Mu was slightly startled, recalling the wooden divine statue he had seen in the Flame Desert. Its face was vaguely that of this True Heavenly Old Mother.
He continued looking. Ba Gou's figure did not appear in the third painting. The third painting showed the True Heavenly Old Mother using the Vermilion Bird Pearl to turn tens of thousands of li of land into a sea of fire, turning it into a desert.
"The Flame Desert!"
Qin Mu narrowed his eyes. Turning tens of thousands of square li into a fiery desert—such magical power was truly terrifying!
"Chief, do you think someone with such power could be killed by a single sword strike from me?" the Yan Kang National Teacher asked.
Qin Mu shuddered. "She is still alive!"
The Yan Kang National Teacher nodded. "The True Heavenly Old Mother I killed with one sword strike was probably a divine statue. Her art of natural creation is infinitely varied. She can even transform mountains and rivers into living beings. Creating a false body wouldn't be difficult. Is she still in the True Heavenly Palace?"
————There will be two chapter updates tonight! Zhai Zhu continues writing!