Chapter 796: Abnormal Humans
The people of the Cripples' Village who had raised Qin Mu were mostly those who had never had children, and they had not taught him any knowledge or experience in this area.
The Village Chief was the Human Sovereign, whose daily mission was to eradicate the Heavenly Court, and he dared not start a family.
The Butcher was a great literary figure, unrestrained and carefree, never paying attention to such minor details as starting a family and having children.
The Cripple had a notorious reputation, either stealing or being on the road to steal, or being chased and killed by others.
The Blind Man had never mentioned his family, and the Mute only knew that he had been deceived terribly.
Granny Si had killed her husband, Li Tianxing, on the night of their wedding.
The Deaf Man was obsessed with calligraphy and painting. After his country was destroyed and his family perished, he wandered around, half-mad. He had once had a wife and children, but they died in the destruction of his country, so he never spoke of his family.
The same was true for Master Ma, Ma Rulai. His wife and children had died in the pursuit and killing by the monks of the Great Thunderclap Monastery.
The only one with rich experience in this area was the Pharmacist, but the villagers often used him as a negative example to teach Qin Mu, making him realize that women were dangerous.
The Village Chief said, "The Heavenly Court has not been destroyed, how can one think of starting a family?" Granny Si said that all women outside were fox spirits. The Butcher's poems and blades were filled with swift horses, strong liquor, and sharp knives, never with women.
Qin Mu only then realized that if he wanted to have children, he would have to ask the Yinkang National Teacher, who had actually had children.
As for those around him, the Dragon Qilin and Water Qilin went without saying. Imperial Heaven was now foolish and didn't need to be asked. And Gongsun Yan was still a little sapling; asking her would be useless.
"I'd better go back to Yinkang."
Qin Mu sat on the back of the Dragon Qilin, turning his head to look back at the battlefield where the two Earth Mothers were fighting. The terrifying tremors from there occasionally reached this place, whether they were the lingering aftershocks of their divine abilities or the two Earth Mothers still locked in battle.
Gongsun Yan was also looking in that direction, her expression worried. "I wonder how the Earth Mother is doing. I don't know if Sister Qiuyun is alive or dead. She has the Primordial Kunlun Sword, so she shouldn't die, right..."
She was a bit lost.
For tens of thousands of years, she had been in the Earth Mother Primordial Temple outside the underground palace, farming and taking care of the Earth Mother, who was only a remnant soul. This upheaval had disrupted her life, leaving this simple girl at a loss.
She couldn't go back to the Earth Mother Primordial Temple, and she felt a bit lost about her future. In fact, she was more like a tree, preferring to take root in one place.
Drifting around, she wasn't quite used to it.
Beside her, Qin Mu was still holding her hand. The energy of the Earth Origin Dao Fruit flowed continuously into her body through his palm. The warmth from his hand calmed her down. The little Yuanmu sapling in the halo behind her head also shed its listless state, its branches stretching out and slowly growing.
"I still couldn't talk to Bai Qiu'er."
Qin Mu withdrew his gaze, a hint of melancholy in the young man's heart. "I wonder how she's been these past forty thousand years. She should be able to escape from there... And as for the Earth Mother battle, no matter who wins or loses, it's not a good thing for Yinkang. If they both die together, that would be the best outcome, but unfortunately, that possibility is too low. The next best thing would be for them to both be severely injured and then each occupy a territory, so the pressure on Yinkang and the creatures of the Great Ruin would be minimized. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of strength."
Even if he wanted to find Bai Qiu'er, it would be difficult. The current Primordial Realm was countless times larger than it was in the Great Ruin era. Finding a single person was incredibly hard.
At this moment, on the battlefield of the Northern Heavenly Court, the two Earth Mothers were still fighting. Although it wasn't as terrifying as at the beginning, it was still earth-shattering. Even Emperor Seat powerhouses would feel fear in the face of such a battle.
One of these two Earth Mothers was on the ground, the other underground. But the earth itself seemed to not exist, as only the Dao light filled with the rules of the Great Dao could be seen, turning the land a brilliant gold. Thousands of golden mountains and peaks continuously rose and collapsed.
The Primordial Magnetic Divine Power pulled at the stars, sun, and moon in the sky. From time to time, the magnetic force of the celestial bodies would erupt, transforming into soul-shaking light blades that fell from the sky, slashing at the opponent.
"With my strength, it's very difficult to kill both Earth Mothers. After all, I'm only at the Heavenly Staircase Realm and haven't cultivated to the Emperor Seat. Don't you agree, Lu Zheng?"
At the edge of the battlefield, the scholar sat sideways on the donkey's back, watching this breathtaking battle, and said to the donkey, "I can only settle for the next best thing: severely wound these two Earth Mothers, create a situation where they are opposed, and split the forces of the Primordial Realm, so they won't pose too great a threat to Yinkang."
The donkey said, "Hee-haw——"
The scholar opened a small bundle and laughed. "It's also fortunate that both Earth Mothers were injured during their fight and are not in their peak state. Otherwise, I would need to cultivate to the Emperor Seat Realm to severely wound them."
The donkey laughed. "Hee-hee."
"You're right. I was able to defeat Zhuo Cha, the number one in martial arts, so naturally I can severely wound the current Earth Mothers. But facing two Earth Mothers puts a lot of pressure on me."
The bundle contained countless Go pieces. The donkey carried her towards the distance, and the scholar threw the pieces, dropping one at every interval. She laughed, "The game of Go has nineteen lines, which is for mortals. In a real game, there are far more than nineteen lines. With the starry sky as the board and the earth as the grid, with tens of thousands of lines, such a game, when turned into a formation, becomes a great calamity. Lu Zheng, I think my formation skills are number one."
"Hee-haw." The donkey ran at great speed.
This donkey circled the battlefield of the two Earth Mothers once, and the scholar also dropped countless black and white Go pieces.
She looked up to observe the celestial phenomena, then suddenly let out a sharp cry, sweeping her feather fan towards the battlefield, waving it with force!
In the distance, Qin Mu was hurrying along when his heart suddenly trembled. He quickly turned his head to look, and his mouth fell open in shock.
In that ancient battlefield where the two Earth Mothers were, suddenly a black and a white light intertwined and shot straight into the sky, like two great dragons, one black and one white, wreaking havoc and intertwining there!
He was already extremely far from the ancient battlefield, probably over ten thousand li away, yet he could still see the black and white lights with perfect clarity. This meant those two lights must be incredibly thick, forming a devastating, world-destroying twisting force!
"Is this a divine ability? No, no. No one has such powerful magic power! This is a formation!"
He watched, utterly captivated. A formation filled with deadly tribulations was destroying everything within the Earth Mother's battlefield!
He was too far away to see the changes in the formation, but he could feel the changes and the killing intent within the tremors that reached him.
The power of this deadly formation was terrifying.
"Who is setting up the formation? Could it be someone using the laws of heaven and earth to destroy the Earth Mothers? Too many powerful beings have emerged since the Primordial Realm was unsealed."
He turned his head, composed himself, and focused wholeheartedly on studying the realm of the Life and Death Divine Treasury.
The Life and Death Divine Treasury was a divine treasury created by Nether Lord, also known as the Yin Cha old man. It was the sixth divine treasury in the divine treasury system, leading directly to the Netherworld, connecting life and death, and borrowing the power of the Netherworld.
Qin Mu's understanding of the power of the Netherworld went without saying. However, his Life and Death Divine Treasury was different, having both the Netherworld and the Celestial Realm aspects. There was no previous experience to draw from in this regard.
He had to figure it out himself.
"And the key is that I have no further path in the Life and Death Divine Treasury. I still need to open the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury."
Qin Mu's eyes flickered. The Dragon Qilin advanced unhurriedly, while Imperial Heaven worked hard to learn how to refine spirit pills as food for the Water Qilin. Occasionally, the alchemy furnace would explode, leaving him covered in soot.
"I've refined a batch!"
Imperial Heaven's delighted voice came. He grabbed a handful of spirit pills from the scorching furnace and, under the Water Qilin's expectant gaze, stuffed them into his own mouth.
Immediately, Imperial Heaven's face turned green, and he foamed at the mouth.
Qin Mu spent some effort to rescue this younger brother, detoxify him, and patiently taught him, "Alchemy is a craft of patience, a technical skill, and also very dangerous. If the proportions of the medicinal herbs are slightly off, or the heat is slightly off, what you refine might not be a spirit pill but a poison pill. In the future, when you refine something, don't eat it yourself first. Let Ah Shui eat it first."
The Water Qilin, with a dark face, carried Imperial Heaven on its back and trudged along silently.
"That's right, weren't the pills you refined supposed to be Ah Shui's food?"
Qin Mu suddenly realized and asked in confusion, "Why did you eat them yourself?"
Imperial Heaven lowered his head and admitted his mistake. "They smelled very fragrant, and I couldn't resist..."
Qin Mu shook his head, threw him some more medicinal herbs, and then went back to pondering the Life and Death Divine Treasury and how to open the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury.
He was deep in thought, occasionally pacing back and forth on the Dragon Qilin's big head. Gongsun Yan, still holding his hand, had to follow him back and forth.
The energy of the Earth Origin Dao Fruit was rapidly increasing her cultivation, and her primordial spirit was also growing stronger. The growth of the little Yuanmu also allowed her to awaken more of the Primordial Realm's Great Dao.
Gongsun Yan was a bit dazed, not knowing what changes were happening to her. She wanted to ask Qin Mu but didn't want to disturb him, so she kept it to herself.
She stared at the ground, feeling a unique attraction from this land, giving her an urge to immediately land and take root.
She now wanted to plant her primordial spirit and turn it into a big tree, preferably with a nest of little phoenixes in its crown.
Suddenly, she sensed a tree inside Qin Mu's body. That tree stood tall, piercing through Qin Mu's divine treasuries, and was also constantly absorbing the nutrients of the Earth Origin Dao Fruit.
"Is he also a tree?"
Gongsun Yan blinked, feeling a little happy in her heart. "He's also a tree, so we can find a warm place to take root, holding hands, roots intertwined, and sunbathe together. Then our tree crowns can house a few nests of little phoenixes, who will sing when they have nothing to do and visit each other..."
She was very much looking forward to this kind of happy life.
However, the Jianmu tree inside Qin Mu was different from what she imagined. The Jianmu was created by Xu Shenghua, and Qin Mu had perfected it with him. It was mainly constructed using mathematics and primordial qi, used to achieve Heaven-Earth Connection, opening up each divine treasury and merging all divine treasuries into one.
"The Divine Bridge Divine Treasury is a flying bridge connecting to the Heavenly Palace. The primordial spirit ascends the bridge, step by step, and can reach the outside of the Southern Heavenly Gate. Using the Jianmu Divine Bridge can also achieve this effect, but the Jianmu Divine Bridge is too difficult, only slightly simpler than using martial arts to ascend to the Heavenly Palace. The mathematics involved are too complex."
Qin Mu calculated silently in his heart. "The Martial Combat Heavenly Master destroyed my Divine Bridge Divine Treasury, forcing me to reopen it. This is an opportunity for experimentation. The Divine Bridge Divine Treasury isn't the only way to ascend to the Heavenly Palace, is it? There might be other methods."
He became excited and immediately began to experiment within his own body, thinking to himself, "Can I open a 'Other Shore' Divine Treasury? Riding a 'Other Shore Ark', I can directly reach the Heavenly Palace on the other shore!"
Various whimsical ideas surged in his mind. "The Jianmu Innate Divine Bridge is too hard to cultivate. So, I can create a Jianmu Divine Treasury. Planting a Jianmu in the seventh divine treasury is simpler than the Jianmu Innate Divine Bridge. The Jianmu grows, reaching straight to the Heavenly Palace."
"I can also create a 'Heavenly Rope'! The Southern Heavenly Gate lowers a heavenly rope, and one climbs along it to reach the Heavenly Palace."
"Oh, right! I can also create a 'Ascension Pool' Divine Treasury! Using the Heavenly Palace's Jade Pool, one ascends from below, piercing straight through the Jade Pool, and lands on the Jade Terrace! Hmm, but that would mean the realm instantly rises to the Jade Terrace Realm, becoming a celestial god. It would require a cultivator to have the vast magical power of a True God to accomplish. It's fundamentally impossible for anyone to have such a profound accumulation. But the method is feasible..."
"That's right, there's another method: the seventh divine treasury is the 'Heavenly River'. The Celestial River flows out from the Heavenly Court, a single river reaching the Heavenly Palace!"
...
Qin Mu was incredibly excited, thinking of more and more types of seventh divine treasuries, each with its own feasibility. All he needed to do was turn these ideas into reality.
"My current cultivation isn't yet at the level to open the seventh divine treasury, but I can try to use my primordial qi to form the shapes of these divine treasuries. With the Earth Mother's Earth Origin Dao Fruit, my cultivation is improving rapidly. It won't be long before I can open the seventh divine treasury!"
He was full of confidence, looking up into the distance. "With the Dragon Qilin's speed, it will probably take a few months to reach the Yinkang capital. By the time we reach the capital, my cultivation should be enough to open the seventh divine treasury! After I open my first 'Other Shore' Divine Treasury and arrive at the capital, I'll have the Martial Combat Heavenly Master destroy it, and then try the Jianmu Divine Treasury. I'll try out all kinds of seventh divine treasuries and find the simplest one. That way, I can perfectly solve the problem of the broken divine treasuries for the people of Yinkang and the Great Ruin."
He devoted himself entirely to constructing the form of the divine treasury and connecting it to the Heavenly Palace, having no time to pay attention to the outside world.
The Dragon Qilin traveled at full speed. Eight months later, they finally arrived near the capital. On the road, they saw many demigods appearing, occupying the great mountains and rivers, but they were very peaceful.
The Dragon Qilin sent the Water Qilin to scout for information. The Water Qilin returned and said, "Brother, now there are two Earth Mothers, and no one knows which is real and which is fake. Also, a scholar riding a donkey severely wounded both Earth Mothers, and they ran away. Now everyone is panicked and doesn't dare to cause trouble."
The Dragon Qilin was surprised. "Such a thing happened... Sect Leader, are you awake?"
Qin Mu opened his eyes and shook his head.
These days, he had been completely absorbed in deducing the seventh divine treasury, and he had been somewhat careless when refining pills and cooking for them.
"Where's my virtuous younger brother?" Qin Mu looked around, only seeing a round Water Qilin and a round, chubby kid, but not Imperial Heaven. He asked in confusion.
"Brother, I'm here!" The round, chubby kid raised his hand and said.
The Dragon Qilin explained, "Sect Leader, while you were meditating, Imperial Fatty finally succeeded in refining some pills, and then he started eating them with Ah Shui. After eight months, he ended up like this. Sect Leader, I didn't eat any!"
Qin Mu hurriedly looked at Gongsun Yan beside him, only to find he was still holding her hand. Gongsun Yan hadn't gotten fat, but a small tree had appeared in the halo behind her head, swaying gently.
Gongsun Yan had even woven a bird's nest in the tree crown with branches, which looked a bit like Feng Qiuyun's phoenix nest.
Qin Mu blinked, thinking to himself, "The people around me are all a bit abnormal. Only I and Dragon Fatty... well, only I am normal!"
"Dragon Fatty, let's go!"
The young man was full of high spirits. "Into the capital! Go find the Martial Combat Heavenly Master. I'm about to open the seventh divine treasury, and I'll have him shatter it again... Wait, first go to the National Teacher's Mansion and ask the National Teacher how to have a baby!"
——A big chapter, asking for guaranteed monthly votes!