Chapter 694: The Shoulders of Giants
The Heavenly Yin Empress looked around and praised, "Your wisdom and intelligence are rare in this world. I never expected to see six of you at once. What kind of era is this? How can so many talents appear all at once?"
Qin Mu smiled and said, "Empress, the six people before you can be said to be the wise ones of the past twenty thousand years. They are more than one in a hundred million! Right now, the wisdom of these twenty thousand years is gathered before you."
The Woodcutter urged, "Hurry up and display your divine ability to revive the Empress. Stop boasting. Among the wise ones of the past twenty thousand years, there are only five. You are a Dominant Body, you are not smart."
Qin Mu felt a bit disgruntled. He activated his technique, took out the Book of Youdu, and once again urged his improved Soul-Pulling Divine Ability. The structure of the Heaven-Supporting Gate was altered by him, and then the Youdu language rang out, causing everyone to furrow their brows.
Qin Mu repeatedly redirected the Youdu Gate, stealing the power of the Heavenly Duke, then stealing the power of the Earth Lord. Finally, the power of these two ancient gods was stolen by him simultaneously.
The crowd was dazzled by the sight and dizzied by the sound.
"It's the Youdu language. I can understand eighty percent of it."
Yan Wang activated his technique, and a gate appeared behind him, somewhat similar to the Heaven-Supporting Gate. He said, "However, I have never seen this book before, and stealing the power of the Heavenly Duke and the Earth Lord likely carries some hidden dangers. Neither of these beings is someone we can afford to offend."
"I can understand sixty percent of the Youdu language."
Yankang National Teacher said, "I studied it with my teacher for a while, but there are still many obscure parts. I'm afraid I can't learn it either."
The Woodcutter Sage frowned and said, "I can't understand it all either. Stealing a little power from the Earth Lord and the Heavenly Duke might be fine, but if you steal too much, these two beings will likely not sit idly by. Stealing their power to revive the souls of the Heavenly Yin Realm will definitely anger them."
Xu Shenghua and the First Ancestor Human Sovereign had never studied the Youdu language and were even more confused.
Xu Shenghua ventured, "Since we can't steal the power of the Earth Lord and the Heavenly Duke, why don't we modify Sect Leader Qin's divine ability and find a way around it?"
Yankang National Teacher said, "It's not about going around it, but rather that the Sect Leader has laid a very good foundation for us. Empress, the Heavenly Yin Realm probably doesn't have its own unique system of divine abilities yet, does it?"
The Heavenly Yin Empress nodded and said, "Many cultivators once lived here, but they were all people who came from the outside world. They said they were fleeing from war and brought their external techniques here. In the past, I was the only one here; there were no cultivators."
Yankang National Teacher revealed a faint smile and said, "Then from now on, the Heavenly Yin Realm can also have its own system of divine abilities."
Xu Shenghua's eyes lit up, and he glanced at Yankang National Teacher, thinking to himself, "A sage born once every five hundred years, truly brilliant! However, the Woodcutter Sage didn't speak, probably because he wanted to see the wisdom of his own disciple."
The First Ancestor and Yan Wang also suddenly saw the light. The First Ancestor smiled and said, "With the National Teacher's guidance, we have finally found the path."
Yan Wang also breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Sect Leader Qin's divine ability is the key to unlocking the Heavenly Yin Realm's system of divine abilities."
The Woodcutter Sage looked at Qin Mu and said, "Disciple, explain your divine ability in detail."
Qin Mu explained the technique in detail. Everyone was exceptionally intelligent, and after hearing it once, they committed it to memory and began pacing back and forth.
Yankang National Teacher softly chanted the Youdu language, and the surrounding soul black sand rippled and surged with his voice.
Xu Shenghua stopped and chanted the Youdu language at the corpse demon that Qin Mu had captured. The corpse demon opened its mouth and let out a piercing howl. Black sand continuously surged out from within its body, while black sand from outside flowed in.
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign borrowed the Book of Youdu from Qin Mu and used his own primordial energy to simulate the Youdu script, trying to improve Qin Mu's divine ability.
Yan Wang, who had some research on Youdu techniques, directly modified Qin Mu's divine ability.
The Woodcutter Sage walked around the Kaicheng Divine Being, Ning Jin, examining him incessantly.
Each of them had their own thoughts and different insights, all tampering with Qin Mu's divine ability.
Only Yan Jingjing had absolutely no research in this area and could only obediently watch these strange people.
Qin Mu watched them with a dark expression. In the past, he was always the one tampering with others' divine abilities; now he finally understood what it felt like to have his own abilities tampered with.
After a long time, they walked, lay down, sat, or ran, all lost in deep thought.
Yankang National Teacher drew strange runes on the sandy beach by the sea. The First Ancestor used his primordial energy to write and draw in the air. Xu Shenghua took out a ruler and a mathematical artifact, rapidly calculating, writing down strange equations on the ground, trying to find a solution.
Behind Yan Wang floated a huge metal ring, with various runes flickering on and off on the ring.
The Woodcutter Sage took the necklace pendant that Qin Mu had refined for Ning Jin from his neck, then went to look at the Heavenly Dipper refined by the Netherworld Heavenly Emperor.
After who knows how much more time, everyone gathered around the Heavenly Dipper, each using their primordial energy to imprint runes into the void. Magnificent symbols appeared in the air.
These were golden runes, continuously emitting sand-like golden light, resembling soul black sand but not black.
"What are they doing?" The Heavenly Yin Empress couldn't understand either and quietly asked Qin Mu and Yan Jingjing.
Qin Mu's expression was serious, and he said in a low voice, "They are trying to extract the basic runes of the Heavenly Yin Realm's divine abilities from my technique and the Netherworld Heavenly Emperor's Heavenly Dipper, and then deduce all the basic runes."
The Heavenly Yin Empress was slightly stunned. "Basic runes of the Heavenly Yin Realm? Such a thing exists?"
"Empress has never been to the outside world, has she? You may not know, but most divine abilities in the world are constructed from basic runes."
Qin Mu explained, "Wind, rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, mist, celestial bodies, including creation—each category of divine ability has its most basic structure. These are the basic runes. For example, swordsmanship has eighteen basic sword stances. And the Empress's Heavenly Yin Realm is a world different from the outside, with different rules. It can be said that its techniques and divine abilities form their own system."
Yan Jingjing had been forcibly elevated to the divine realm by the Sun Ship and didn't have a deep understanding of the basics of techniques and divine abilities. At this moment, she also listened carefully, trying to make up for her shortcomings.
"The divine ability I used to revive the Empress was born from several major systems of techniques: Youdu, Mingdu, Xuandu, Creation, the Divine Path, the Demonic Path, the Buddhist Path, and the Daoist Path. These are the major systems, and the minor systems within them are too numerous to count. Only by fusing so many systems of divine abilities could I revive the Empress."
Qin Mu continued, "However, what I used were not the basic runes of the Heavenly Yin Realm, but rather the knowledge from these systems of divine abilities to imitate the basic runes of the Heavenly Yin Realm."
The Heavenly Yin Empress began to understand and said, "So they are using your divine ability and the Netherworld Heavenly Emperor's treasure to remove the external systems of divine abilities and try to create a set of basic runes for the Heavenly Yin Realm. The more they deduce, the closer they get to the true basic runes."
Qin Mu nodded and smiled, "Empress, look at the runes before them. They are increasingly losing the appearance of external runes. Besides my divine ability and the Netherworld Heavenly Emperor's treasure, they also need to understand the Empress's divine power and the rune imprints on the Empress's body."
The Woodcutter Sage and the others walked over, floated up, and carefully examined the divine light on the Heavenly Yin Empress's body, recording one natural rune after another. They also examined the rune imprints on the Empress's body, which were strange marks she had been born with.
The Heavenly Yin Empress had little contact with the outside world and knew little about the imprints on her body.
After who knows how long, the five of them landed separately, gathered together, and whispered among themselves.
"The Empress has one hundred and eight types of rune imprints on her body. From the Sect Leader's divine ability and the Netherworld Heavenly Emperor's treasure, we have deduced another two hundred and sixteen types."
Xu Shenghua organized the runes and reached out to trace through the air. Lines of runes composed of golden sand appeared where his hand passed.
"That makes a total of three hundred and twenty-four types of runes. These runes are the foundation of the Heavenly Yin Realm's system of divine abilities."
Xu Shenghua continued, "Empress, please observe. Different sequences of runes can produce different effects of divine abilities."
He changed his primordial energy, combining dozens of runes into a divine ability, and struck the corpse demon that Qin Mu had captured. The black sand inside the corpse demon instantly turned to nothing, dissipating as strands of heavenly and earthly spiritual energy and power.
Yankang National Teacher performed another divine ability, also composed of these three hundred and twenty-four basic runes, and said, "It can also reassemble souls, gathering the souls that originally belonged to this body back together."
After the corpse demon died, only a human skin remained. Yankang National Teacher activated his divine ability, and black sand flew in like smoke from the Heavenly Yin Realm, drilling into the human skin.
Yan Wang activated another divine ability and said, "It can also reshape the soul black sand into a soul."
His divine ability acted on the black sand within the human skin, and the black sand gradually condensed, showing a tendency to return to a complete soul state.
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign also performed a hand seal composed of these runes and said, "It can also suppress corpse demons and subdue them!"
When his hand seal was executed, it was like a king of corpse demons, causing many corpse demons in the Heavenly Yin Realm to tremble in fear.
The Woodcutter Sage smiled and said, "Empress, in the past, the basic runes of the Heavenly Yin Realm were incomplete. Now they are complete. The Empress can control the corpse demons to fight for you, punish them, and also protect the people living in the Heavenly Yin Realm. From now on, you can rest easy."
Qin Mu sighed with emotion and said, "In the future, countless techniques and divine abilities in the Heavenly Yin Realm will likely be born from these three hundred and twenty-four runes."
The Woodcutter Sage took out his woodcutting axe, chopped at a cliff by the sea, and carved these runes onto the rock face. He said, "Empress, since this matter is settled, we will take our leave."
The Heavenly Yin Empress stood up to see them off and said, "My talent is dull, so I can only trouble you wise ones. If there is ever a need in the future, you can come with this token, and I will surely help!"
She drew a strand from her divine light, divided it into seven parts, and refined them into seven bright pearls. She gave them to the Woodcutter, the National Teacher, the First Ancestor, Yan Wang, and Xu Shenghua, and also to Qin Mu and Yan Jingjing.
Yan Jingjing hurriedly declined, saying, "I haven't done anything; I dare not accept."
The Heavenly Yin Empress smiled and said, "It's for the young lover by your side. Keep it for him."
Yan Jingjing's face flushed slightly, and she put away the divine pearl.
Everyone walked out of the Heavenly Yin Realm and saw the sunlight outside. They all felt relaxed and refreshed.
"Disciple, now do you know what truly smart people look like?" the Woodcutter Sage said with a smile.
Qin Mu also smiled. "Because you are standing on the shoulders of this giant. Without me creating the divine ability to revive the Heavenly Yin Empress, you would have had no way to deduce the basic runes of the Heavenly Yin Realm."
"The shoulders of a giant?"
The Woodcutter Sage laughed heartily, and teleportation formation patterns swirled around him as he whooshed away and vanished without a trace.
"Sect Leader Qin, farewell." Yan Wang stepped backward, darkness surging behind him, and then he disappeared.
Yankang National Teacher said, "Sect Leader, we will meet again in Yankang." With that, he also teleported away.
Qin Mu looked at the First Ancestor Human Sovereign. The First Ancestor shook his head and said, "I can't stay to accompany you. I have important matters to attend to." With that, he soared into the air and vanished as a streak of divine light.
"Truly some smart fellows."
Qin Mu sighed and, without turning back, said, "Brother Xu, I wasn't talking about you."
Xu Shenghua burst out laughing, stepped into the void, and walked away. His figure flickered in and out of sight, and lotus flowers bloomed one after another in the air.