Chapter 865: Seeing Mountains No Longer as Mountains, Wandering Amidst the Peaks
"Great Dark Heaven, you've been beaten so thoroughly that you've lost your edge. Hiding in the lower realm for so long, you have no idea how terrifying the Heavenly Court has become."
"Imperial Heaven" smiled faintly, walking toward the palace entrance. "This body of mine is the culmination of the Heavenly Court's wisdom over the past million years—the most powerful weapon! In the future, the Heavenly Court will use such weapons to sweep through the cosmos, purify the universe, quell all demonic influences, and ascend to that unknown realm you've spent your life yearning for but could never reach."
Great Dark Heaven's expression darkened. He snorted coldly, rose to his feet, and followed him outside.
"In the future, ten divine beings will rule the cosmos and govern all worlds—whether Nether Capital or Mystic Capital, Primordial Capital or Returnless Abyss. Everywhere, there will be no more rebellious forces, no possibility of defying or opposing the Heavenly Court!"
"Imperial Heaven's" voice carried a stirring power that shook the soul. "At that time, there will be no so-called reforms or changes, because all achievements, all techniques, all divine abilities, and all great paths will be contained within these bodies. No matter how future beings of gods and men might display their wisdom and talent, they will never be able to step beyond the knowledge these bodies encompass. They will tragically discover that every effort they make, every reform they attempt, is entirely under the control of these bodies! The future..."
He revealed a smile. "For those with ambition, it will be an infinitely bleak and hopeless future. But for us, the rulers, it will be a future of carefree peace."
Great Dark Heaven's heart trembled violently. He murmured, "A lifeless future..."
He even felt a hint of fear at the future his imagination conjured.
Imagine it: in the near future, ten supreme, towering "Imperial Heavens," wielding the most powerful forces from ancient times to the present, floating above the cosmos and all realms, suppressing everything!
Their faces would become like tangible heavenly laws, their eyes like suns and moons, their bodies harder than any weapon in the world, their divine power vast and profound, deeper and broader than the Nether Sea.
They would float above the sun, moon, stars, and even the galaxy, with heaven and earth revolving around them.
In this world, ancient gods would sink into oblivion, common people would be like straw dogs, and whether gods, demons, or humans, all would be mere ants, all under the watch of these ten majestic beings.
What a terrifying future that would be!
"May that day never come!" Great Dark Heaven steadied himself and followed "Imperial Heaven."
"Imperial Heaven" stepped out of the Great Dark Palace. Qin Mu stood before the palace, stretching his body into poses that seemed impossible for an ordinary person.
"Imperial Heaven" smiled, watching him loosen his muscles.
After a moment, Qin Mu turned to look at Great Dark Heaven, revealing a grin. "Great Dark Heaven, is this the strong one you've brought? If I defeat him, will our bet take effect?"
Great Dark Heaven nodded, his voice deep. "Correct. If you defeat him, the three hundred and sixteen lords of the heavens will be at your disposal. Those three hundred and sixteen fools, I'll let you take them away, and I won't interfere further. But I won't hand over the Northern Heavens either."
Qin Mu laughed heartily. "I wanted to make a Earth Lord's Pact with you, but since you're also from Nether Capital, the Earth Lord's Pact has too many loopholes. Earth Lord is too honest, too inflexible. If I made a Lesser Earth Lord's Pact with you, the Lesser Earth Lord might not be able to defeat you. So, I can only rely on you to keep your word."
"Young man," "Imperial Heaven" said with a smile, "you don't need to worry about such things, because you simply cannot win. You're the legendary, unparalleled Overlord Body, but this body of mine is the king of Overlord Bodies—one in a million years."
Qin Mu chuckled softly, took a step back, and his figure vanished into the darkness outside the palace, leaving only two rows of gleaming white teeth floating in the air.
The floating teeth opened and closed, and Qin Mu's laughter came through. "Esteemed friend, please!"
"Esteemed friend? You call me esteemed friend?"
"Imperial Heaven" couldn't help but laugh. He stepped forward into the darkness, saying, "How utterly ignorant of heaven and earth."
In the darkness, light suddenly burst forth. Qin Mu and this "Imperial Heaven" had already clashed, their divine abilities sweeping away the darkness around the Great Dark Palace in an instant, revealing the massive planet behind it.
The planet's surface was mottled and rough.
Around the Great Dark Palace, towering gods and demons stood like carved boulders, motionless in the darkness, resembling strange, rugged mountain ranges. The residual waves of Qin Mu and "Imperial Heaven's" divine abilities whipped up winds so fierce that the air friction caused lightning and thunder.
As the winds swept over these gods and demons, they ignited roaring flames on their skin, creating a sense of a blazing prairie fire.
These gods and demons numbered three hundred and sixteen, the rulers of the three hundred and sixteen Northern Heavens.
Their strength far surpassed that of other gods and demons, most of them at the Jade Capital realm, so powerful that even at the center of the collision between Qin Mu and "Imperial Heaven's" divine abilities, they remained unharmed.
This battle concerned their fate and future, and they had come to witness the outcome themselves.
Mo Santong, Xue Taidou, and other disciples of Great Dark Heaven quickly rushed out of the palace, looking into the darkness, their expressions shifting dramatically.
In the darkness, "Imperial Heaven" wielded all kinds of great path divine abilities with effortless ease. Any technique he casually used seemed like a divine ability that had entered the Dao!
It was as if he had mastered every divine technique and method in the world, comprehending each system to the level of entering the Dao!
Entering the Dao also had levels. Cultivators and gods divided these levels using heavens.
Comprehending one divine ability that entered the Dao was one heaven; comprehending a second was two heavens.
Different great paths had different levels of heavens.
For example, in the Sword Dao, the highest record was set by the Opening Emperor, who was said to have reached thirty-three heavens in the Sword Dao, unmatched throughout history. No one had yet broken his record.
Thus, the Opening Emperor's Heavenly Court had thirty-three heavens, with the court itself built on the thirty-third.
Another example was the Buddhist path, where the highest record belonged to the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha, with twenty heavens in the Buddhist realm, all said to be manifestations of his great path.
As for the demonic path, Great Dark Heaven's demonic path had reached unfathomable depths. He had never revealed exactly how many heavens he had entered.
However, during the last visit from the Martial Emperor, one of the Opening Emperor's Four Heavenly Masters, Great Dark Heaven had used seventeen divine abilities that entered the Dao, resulting in mutual injury with the Martial Emperor, Zhuo Cha.
Mo Santong, Xue Taidou, and others, as disciples of Great Dark Heaven, had been fortunate enough to witness that battle. Some of their junior brothers, who hadn't yet entered the Dao, had achieved it by observing that fight, gaining extraordinary accomplishments.
Witnessing a clash between two throne-level experts was an opportunity that could not be sought, only encountered.
But what truly shocked them was that the young man invited by Great Dark Heaven could also unleash any great path divine ability, and no matter how many heavens it reached, he wielded it with effortless grace and profound mystery!
This was something that should have been impossible, yet it was happening right before their eyes.
For the same great path, such as the Heavenly Dao, he could even unleash forty-nine different divine abilities that entered the Dao, with no repeats!
For the Earth Mother's Primordial Magnetic Path, he could unleash fifty-eight different divine abilities!
The three hundred and sixty cycles of heavens, with their various divine abilities, were a dazzling spectacle!
For Mo Santong and the others, the realm of entering the Dao was divided into different heavens. But for the ancient beings of the Heavenly Court, these so-called heavens were merely numbered as Dao One, Dao Two, Dao Three, and so on.
—In the lower realm, countless cultivators toiled, meditated, and sought tirelessly to enter the Dao.
Yet these brilliant minds would never imagine that the Dao Ancestor of the Dao Sect had reorganized almost all the great paths of the ancient gods using mathematics, turning them into knowledge, making entry into the Dao unexpectedly simple.
What shocked Mo Santong and the others even more was that Qin Mu had blocked it all.
No matter how many heavens "Imperial Heaven's" divine abilities reached, Qin Mu blocked every single one, even counterattacking.
In the darkness, light erupted continuously. Their figures flickered in and out of sight. One moment they clashed, the next they could be a hundred miles away!
One moment they fought in close combat, flesh against flesh, perilously close; the next, they were a hundred miles apart, hurling great divine abilities at each other, colliding in the center with brilliant explosions.
Suddenly, their figures appeared on the head of a four-headed god standing in the darkness.
That god had four heads, each covered in thick, tree-like black hair. They each stood on a single strand of hair, bending it slightly.
Qin Mu formed a sword seal with his fingers, and his sword orb suddenly exploded into countless flying swords that darted through the forest of hair on the four-headed god, surging upward toward "Imperial Heaven."
"Imperial Heaven" radiated Primordial Magnetic Light, and a galaxy of stars appeared above his head, with magnetic light connecting them. With a whoosh, he sucked up all the flying swords, which clinked as they stuck to the stars.
"Imperial Heaven" rubbed his hands, and the galaxy stood upright, spinning, and roared toward Qin Mu. In an instant, it transformed into a Star Formation, engulfing him.
The thick strands of hair on the four-headed god's head were torn out by the formation, each strand dripping with demon blood as they flew into the air.
Suddenly, a demonic sun rose within the Star Formation, polluting all the stars in an instant, plunging them into darkness.
Qin Mu tore open the willow leaf on his brow, revealing a black sun behind his head. He shattered the Star Formation, shook his head, and grew two more heads. With three heads and nine eyes, he stood on the single remaining strand of hair on the four-headed god, spinning like a top.
Whoosh—
The nine-eyed light cut in all directions, slicing through the flying stars and the god's thick hair alike!
"Imperial Heaven" leaped into the air, dodging the attack, and moved swiftly, landing on the eyelashes of one of the god's left eyes.
The next moment, Qin Mu appeared on the eyelashes of the god's right eye.
The four-headed god widened his eyes, staring down at them, and a massive bead of sweat, the size of a small hill, rolled down his nose and hung at its tip.
The moment Qin Mu and "Imperial Heaven" unleashed their divine abilities, the god finally couldn't help but close his eyes.
When he opened them again, Qin Mu and "Imperial Heaven" had already left his eyes, appearing on the shoulder of another towering god. From there, they fought their way down to his massive earlobe.
The god's earlobe was long. They stood on it, their bodies parallel to the ground, engaging in close combat. Qin Mu used martial great path divine abilities, while "Imperial Heaven" coiled true dragons around himself, unleashing the Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon's great path with full force.
A thunderous crash rang out. The long-eared god couldn't help but tilt his head and pat his ear. By then, Qin Mu and "Imperial Heaven" had already left his earlobe, moving to the rainbow sash draped over a female god.
They raced along the sash, ten miles apart, their divine abilities shifting endlessly as they furiously attacked each other.
The female god's eyes darted around, trying to see the battle on the sash behind her head, but she couldn't. Suddenly, she saw the two figures slide down from her sash, passing across her chest like crossing two steamed bun mountains.
Qin Mu glanced away, and "Imperial Heaven" sent him flying, breaking his bones and tendons.
The female god couldn't help but giggle, her twin peaks trembling.
"Imperial Heaven" glanced over, only to be struck on the forehead by a sudden blade, which embedded itself between his brows.
Their figures vanished again, reappearing between two gods. Both spat blood, glaring at each other.
"Relying solely on this body's power won't be enough to take you down."
"Imperial Heaven" showed an appreciative smile. "It seems I'll have to use my own divine techniques and methods to capture you. Great Dark Heaven, this opponent of yours is truly remarkable. Trading the Dark Demon Karma Sutra for my intervention was not a loss."
In the distance, Great Dark Heaven snorted.
Qin Mu held his breath, focusing his mind. The demonic path divine treasury within him burst open, merging the divine path treasury and the demonic path treasury into one!