Chapter 627: Cross-Border Pursuit
The distance from the Buddha Realm to the Grand Imperial Heaven was farther than Qin Mu had estimated. Although they couldn't feel the passage of time while traveling through the Spirit Energy Symport Bridge, the sudden violent tremors in the bridge's light stream gave them both an ominous feeling.
This meant they had already been in the bridge for three quarters of an hour. The divine ability that Emperor Shitian Buddha had buried had erupted, destroying the Spirit Energy Symport Bridge!
Now, before they had even reached the Grand Imperial Heaven, the Spirit Energy Symport Bridge had been destroyed. Qin Mu had never encountered such a situation and was momentarily at a loss.
"If the Spirit Energy Symport Bridge is destroyed ahead of time, what will happen?" In the light stream, Emperor Shitian Buddha shouted to Qin Mu.
Qin Mu shouted back, "We'll find out soon enough!"
Emperor Shitian Buddha immediately understood his meaning and his expression changed slightly.
The light stream of the Spirit Energy Symport Bridge began to tremble violently. This was the result of colliding energies from the symport process.
The Spirit Energy Symport Bridge connected the Buddha Realm and the Grand Imperial Heaven. Qin Mu and Emperor Shitian Buddha were heading to the Grand Imperial Heaven, and for the energy of the two realms to balance, a portion of the Grand Imperial Heaven's energy had to go to the Buddha Realm. The energy being symported over had to equal the energy contained within Qin Mu and Emperor Shitian Buddha.
Now, the Spirit Energy Symport Bridge in the Buddha Realm had been destroyed early, causing the light stream carrying Qin Mu and Emperor Shitian Buddha to collide with the symporting energy, resulting in violent tremors.
The energy stream before them flickered with various colors, like entering a kaleidoscopic world where they flew rapidly through the patterns.
The energy slammed into them, causing Qin Mu's physical body to ache.
These colors stretched out long, like countless slender ribbons forming a torrent of myriad hues.
"Will we mutually annihilate?" Emperor Shitian Buddha's heart pounded as he muttered to himself.
In the colorful light stream, Qin Mu took out his computational spirit weapon and began calculating rapidly. He shook his head and said, "We won't annihilate. Both the Grand Imperial Heaven and the Buddha Realm have lost a portion of energy, so they will still guide us toward our respective target worlds to maintain energy balance. Otherwise, it would cause tremors in both realms. The energy mass from the Grand Imperial Heaven is exactly on the same path as us, and we are heading straight for a collision. We absolutely cannot use divine abilities to resist this energy collision. If we try to block it, the momentum carrying us to the Grand Imperial Heaven and the momentum carrying this energy mass to the Buddha Realm will both be canceled out."
"What happens if they cancel out?" Emperor Shitian Buddha asked.
"Then we, along with this energy mass, will be permanently stuck between the two worlds."
Qin Mu said, "Unable to advance, unable to retreat."
Emperor Shitian Buddha asked curiously, "Who taught you the art of calculation? Your skills are quite impressive."
Qin Mu, whose body was growing increasingly painful from the energy bombardment, gritted his teeth and said, "I once studied the Supreme Mystery Calculation Classic and the Maiden Calculation Classic from the Dao Sect."
"No wonder. Those Daoist priests are remarkable figures. They always look down their noses at us Buddha Sect, thinking we are mere mind studies, acting from the heart, while they believe the Dao Sect is the one that truly grasps the great principles of the universe."
Emperor Shitian Buddha laughed and said, "But their mathematical arts are indeed superb. In my early years, I encountered several Daoist masters who were no weaker than me."
As he spoke, the energy collision grew fiercer. Qin Mu could no longer withstand it, and his physical body was on the verge of cracking. Emperor Shitian Buddha emitted a gentle Buddha light around him, blocking part of the energy impact, and said, "Now is a good time for you to cultivate my technique."
He didn't fully protect Qin Mu but allowed a portion of the energy to strike him, nearly tearing his skin apart!
Hearing this, Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he immediately tried to practice the Emperor Shitian Sutra.
He wore the Wisdom Bead around his neck. As he activated this technique, a faint Buddha light appeared behind his head, gently flickering. Various Buddha sounds transformed into strange runes that merged with his physical body and primordial spirit, even reinforcing his divine hideouts, making them more stable.
Emperor Shitian Buddha looked at Qin Mu with a gratified expression, thinking to himself, "This kid has a wicked heart, but his talent and comprehension are not bad. He picked up my technique quickly."
He could see that Qin Mu's physical body was clearly improving, and his primordial spirit and divine hideouts were becoming more stable and powerful, indicating that Qin Mu had considerable Buddha nature.
"If he weren't a descendant of the Qin family, I would consider taking him as my disciple." He had never taken a disciple before, but seeing Qin Mu's talent and comprehension now stirred a feeling of pity for talent.
Suddenly, Emperor Shitian Buddha's expression darkened, and he immediately cast aside that pity.
Qin Mu was modifying his Emperor Shitian Sutra, tampering with his technique!
This kind of master-betraying scoundrel, who immediately started altering the technique as soon as he learned it—what teacher could still feel pity for talent in the face of such a disciple?
The Buddha light behind Qin Mu's head was gradually changing, turning into countless tiny swimming dragons and miniature Buddhas moving within the light wheel, and the Buddha sounds were mixed with dragon roars.
Before long, the Emperor Shitian Sutra had been altered by Qin Mu into a mess, almost unrecognizable as a Buddha Sect technique!
What infuriated Emperor Shitian Buddha even more was that his technique was becoming increasingly unrecognizable. As time passed, the proportion of his technique in Qin Mu's practice grew smaller and smaller, until eventually, his technique had become just a small part of Qin Mu's own technique!
"Good thing I didn't take him as a disciple. If he were my disciple, I'm afraid I would have to slap him to death!" Emperor Shitian Buddha exhaled a turbid breath, thinking to himself.
This wave of energy collision was extremely long. As it progressed, the impact grew so intense that even Emperor Shitian Buddha found it hard to bear.
The energy collision couldn't be blocked with divine abilities. If the symporting energy stopped flowing, they wouldn't be able to enter the Grand Imperial Heaven. They could only rely on their physical bodies to endure, which put him at a significant disadvantage.
The final wave of energy impact even caused Emperor Shitian Buddha's physical body to begin cracking. His skin kept splitting open, turning to ash like it had been burned, constantly annihilating, but then new skin would grow back. Clearly, his physical body had been cultivated to an incredible level!
Even so, he still did his utmost to protect Qin Mu, preventing him from being damaged in the energy frenzy. At the same time, he deliberately released a portion of the energy to strike Qin Mu's body, putting pressure on him and forcing him to continuously improve under that pressure.
Finally, the last wave of energy frenzy passed. Emperor Shitian Buddha breathed a sigh of relief and stopped protecting Qin Mu.
Just then, a faint sound of a zither came through. Emperor Shitian Buddha's expression changed, and he quickly looked back. He saw that the energy collision torrent that had just passed suddenly split apart, breaking into countless thin surfaces.
The zither sound grew clearer. Space was constantly vibrating. The various colored lights emitted by the symporting energy became layered and orderly, continuously trembling, as if turning into leaping musical notes!
Those leaping thin spaces, carrying the changing colors of the energy, formed a nine-headed phoenix, growing farther and farther away from them.
Then, the nine-headed phoenix suddenly underwent nirvana, turning into blazing flames that annihilated that energy in space!
"Southern Heavenly Red Emperor Qi Xiayu!"
Emperor Shitian Buddha's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed in shock, "The one chasing us is that ruthless woman! We're doomed!"
Without another word, he swept up Qin Mu and tried to accelerate forward to escape.
Qin Mu snapped out of his cultivation and quickly said, "King Buddha, don't fly off course! It will deviate us from the trajectory into the Grand Imperial Heaven!"
Emperor Shitian Buddha shouted loudly, "The divine ability of an Imperial Seat powerhouse is right behind us! We'll be caught soon! If we don't flee, we'll die without a burial place!"
"An Imperial Seat powerhouse?"
Qin Mu was startled, his mind going blank. "The person chasing me is this strong? I'm just a small fry at the Seven Star realm. Is it necessary to send an Imperial Seat powerhouse after me?"
"It's not chasing you! It's chasing me!"
Emperor Shitian Buddha gritted his teeth. His Buddha light wrapped around Qin Mu as he ran at full speed, his figure almost turning into a rapidly fleeing beam of Buddha light. He said, "I had a grudge with this woman during the Kaicheng era. She probably heard that I was in trouble and came looking for me on her own, wanting to settle the score!"
The zither sound came from behind. This was the central vacuum zone between the Grand Imperial Heaven and the Buddha Realm. No sound could travel in a vacuum, but Southern Heavenly Red Emperor Qi Xiayu's divine ability propagated by cutting through space, moving at an incredibly fast, almost unbelievable speed!
Qin Mu looked back and saw the space behind them constantly leaping and transforming—sometimes splitting, sometimes overlapping, sometimes forming pillars. The space turned into pillars of varying heights that kept changing, then into circles, large circles enclosing small circles. The small circles emerged from nothingness, expanded, surpassed the large circles, and the spatial ripples continuously evolved in a cycle.
This sound wave divine ability was beyond Qin Mu's imagination. He watched with wide eyes, completely stunned. He could no longer understand Qi Xiayu's sound wave divine ability, and it was hard to guess just how powerful an Imperial Seat powerhouse's divine ability truly was.
But from Emperor Shitian Buddha's tense expression as he fled, the power of this divine ability was likely something even he couldn't withstand. If it caught up to them, they would surely be injured or killed!
"King Buddha, you've already deviated from the trajectory to the Grand Imperial Heaven!" Qin Mu calculated carefully and frowned.
"Life comes first!" Emperor Shitian Buddha shouted.
Qin Mu said nothing more and let Emperor Shitian Buddha carry him as they sped away, but he couldn't help worrying inwardly. "King Buddha has strayed from the path. If he keeps running, he'll only go further and further off course, getting farther from the Grand Imperial Heaven. Will we ever be able to return to the Grand Imperial Heaven, to the Great Wasteland..."
The zither sound grew clearer. Qin Mu suddenly saw Emperor Shitian Buddha's running figure stretch out long, startling him.
He didn't sense any danger. Qi Xiayu's divine ability gave him no feeling of killing intent, yet it had already closed in!
"Be careful!"
Emperor Shitian Buddha roared loudly. Suddenly, he turned around and ran backward at full speed. His Buddha light blazed brightly as he unleashed countless divine abilities in rapid succession, striking toward the zither sound coming from the depths of space!
Boom—
Qin Mu closed his eyes. In that instant, all kinds of dazzling light struck him, making his eyes sting and tears stream down his face.
"That old woman is incredibly strong!"
He heard Emperor Shitian Buddha's voice beside him. Qin Mu felt blood flowing onto his neck, and his heart skipped a beat.
Emperor Shitian Buddha had actually cursed. With such good cultivation, he couldn't help but curse, which clearly meant his injuries were severe. Just then, a series of crashing sounds came. Qin Mu opened his eyes, but he still couldn't see anything. He could only feel himself being carried by Emperor Shitian, tumbling and rolling, crashing into something unknown countless times, rolling who knows how far before finally stopping.
Qin Mu secretly untied the Golden Willow Leaf and looked around. He was stunned. "This place is..."
Behind him, Emperor Shitian Buddha, who had been protecting him, fell backward, barely breathing. His voice hoarse, he said, "The second heaven of the Kaicheng Heavenly Court... not far from the Grand Imperial Heaven... This shit pot is even stinkier and heavier than I imagined..."
Ugh—
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
——Zhai Zhu's shoulder tendonitis is getting worse. Yesterday while typing, he suddenly lost feeling in his right arm. Today, it happened twice again. The pain is unbearable. Sorry for the few minutes' delay in the update. Shamelessly asking for monthly votes~