Chapter 869: Reaching for the Milky Way Outside the Moon Palace
Qin Mu saw her smile, and his heart felt as if it were melting again.
Melting on that sunny day, by the reed marshes of the Yong River, where reeds drifted with snow-white catkins, a shepherd boy rode an ox, and the ox ambled slowly along the bank.
That day, a strange rhythm had echoed in his mind, wanting to hum it, sing it, yet he could never manage to hum or sing it out.
He felt that rhythm was so familiar, so intimate, yet he could never recall it.
Now, he remembered that nursery rhyme.
He had heard that nursery rhyme, that voice, while swaddled in a basket.
He walked over to the girl who was humming the childhood song that was familiar yet elusive, sat down beside her, and said with a smile, "Long time no see. Do you remember the baby in that basket, called Qin Fengqing? I am him."
Bai Qier looked at him, surprise slowly spreading across her face, which then turned into a smile: "Do you remember the girl sitting on that chest?"
"I remember."
Qin Mu's heart burned hotly, unsure if it was because his injuries hadn't healed, or if some strange emotion was at play.
Bai Qier wrapped her arms around her knees, her back straight, staring blankly at the landscape below. "Yan Kang is truly beautiful," she said.
Qin Mu looked down and saw the myriad lights of homes. On the vast, boundless land, among the mountains and rivers, the lights of cities dotted the landscape. Where there was light, there were people.
Despite the drastic changes that had befallen Yan Kang, its resilient people still found ways to survive.
Sitting in the Moon Palace and looking down at the mortal world had a unique kind of beauty.
The Heavenly Court, eternally bright and high above, could not appreciate the beauty of shadows, nor could it see the hope in the hearts of people lighting lamps in the darkness.
The moonlight was bright. Most of the moon's formation in the Celestial Chart had been activated, and it was about to become a full moon. Qin Mu guessed he had been asleep for about five or six days.
"How did you end up here?" he asked, turning his head to look at the girl's cheek beside him.
"I met the Yan Kang National Teacher, and we debated swordsmanship for a few days. Then I heard that a girl named Si Yunxiang had sent people to search everywhere for the Four Heavenly Masters and Four Heavenly Kings of the Kai Huang era, saying that the son of the Qin family was in trouble and needed rescue in the northern heavens."
Bai Qier continued, "So I rushed here first, planning to enter the Great Black Palace through the Celestial Chart. I had just finished sweeping the Celestial Chart clean of the foreign heavenly court deities when Fatty Long brought you here."
Qin Mu understood and smiled. "Entering the Great Black Palace through the Celestial Chart, even ambushing the Great Black Heaven, is an excellent idea. It perfectly avoids his perception."
Bai Qier laughed. "Indeed. While you were unconscious, Wen Tiance, Han Tang, Yan Yunxi, and the others also found their way here, entering through the Celestial Chart. Three of the Kai Huang era's Four Heavenly Masters arrived. Han Tang planned to make a hole in the Celestial Chart, then send a fishing line into the Great Black Palace to hook you out."
Han Tang was the name of the Fisherman Heavenly Master, and Yan Yunxi was the name of the Zixi Heavenly Master, though Yan Yunxi was the name she used when in female attire.
The Fisherman Heavenly Master was known for never missing a hook, so hooking Qin Mu out was indeed possible.
"Yan Yunxi planned to set up a formation to ambush the Great Black Heaven, but Wen Tiance said that Yan Kang and the Great Black Heaven had no enmity, and perhaps they could be both enemy and friend."
Bai Qier smiled. "They all care about you. Seeing you were fine, they left. How are your injuries?"
Qin Mu felt a warmth in his heart. "Strangely enough, when I woke up, my injuries were completely healed. I had damaged my origin. I thought it would take a few years of recovery before I could cultivate back to my peak. What kind of spiritual medicine did you give me?"
He was quite puzzled. Damaging one's origin was a very serious injury. Even as a grandmaster of the medical arts, he would need to search far and wide for rare spiritual medicines and slowly nurse his body back to health.
Even so, it would take at least a few years to replenish his body's deficits.
Bai Qier had fed him medicine and even used her dragon pearl to nourish his primordial spirit, leading him to believe it was the effect of her spiritual medicine.
"The spiritual medicines I used for you were nothing rare. They only kept you alive, but couldn't cure you. However, I noticed that while you were sleeping, your injuries slowly healed on their own. I was also quite puzzled."
Bai Qier pondered. "While you were asleep, Wen Tiance and the others came. They also noticed you were recovering on your own. Wen Tiance said that a kind of Buddhist dharma was operating within you in a strange way, making it seem as if you were being reborn. But he wasn't sure where this Buddhist dharma came from, and I couldn't trace its origin either."
Qin Mu's heart stirred. It felt like being reborn, and then his injuries healed, and his origin returned to its peak state. This kind of technique seemed related to the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha's method of entering the Dao through dream seeds.
Could it be that he had cultivated the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha's Imperial Throne True Sutra in his sleep?
But he had never learned this technique!
Back then, the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha had told him that a great Buddha within the Qin Continent contained his Imperial Throne True Sutra, and he would need to comprehend it himself to learn it.
However, the Qin Continent had always been occupied by his brother, Qin Fengqing. He had spent little time there and had no leisure to comprehend it.
So when did he learn it?
Not studying, not comprehending, yet obtaining this Imperial Throne technique—it was truly bizarre.
Suddenly, Bai Qier stood up and reached out her hand to him, a bright smile on her face. "Do you want to see the real starry sky?"
Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, then reached out, and their hands clasped.
Bai Qier took his hand and flew through the Celestial Chart, away from the moon, laughing. "The Celestial Chart contains false celestial phenomena, all formations. But behind the Celestial Chart is the real starry sky. I know there's a hole in the Celestial Chart. From there, we can see the real starry sky."
Qin Mu followed involuntarily, looking back. He saw the Dragon Qilin lying under a pillar in front of the Moon Palace, dozing off. But now it stood up and looked their way, wanting to run over and see the real starry sky too.
Qin Mu gave it a fierce look, and the Dragon Qilin quickly stopped, lying back down to continue its nap.
Qin Mu smiled, letting the girl take his hand as they roamed the Celestial Chart together.
They flew past the Milky Way in the Celestial Chart, which was made of stars formed by complex formations of varying sizes. The structures were intricate, but the deities here had already been eliminated by Bai Qier, leaving the formations unguarded.
Although the Milky Way was fake, flying through it, with the brilliant starlight scattering around them, was still very romantic.
"Wen Tiance said he plans to have Emperor Yanfeng send some scholars proficient in numerology to maintain the operation of the Celestial Chart."
Bai Qier led him through the Milky Way. "Over there is the sun in the Celestial Chart. During the day, the stars are dim, and the Milky Way is dark. Only the sun emits light. But at night, the sun in the star chart goes out."
Qin Mu looked in the direction she pointed. The sun formation had stopped operating. It was a circular formation shaped like a teleportation gate, empty inside, with a Sun Palace within.
As he had guessed, this formation borrowed the light of the real sun, thus radiating light and heat.
"The hole in the Celestial Chart is here."
Bai Qier arrived at the Sun Palace and led him inside, laughing. "But this hole only appears when the sun formation is activated. Then we can fly out through the hole and see the real starry sky."
Qin Mu blinked. "Right now, it's night in Yan Kang."
Bai Qier hummed in agreement.
"If we light up the sun, the moon and the sun will appear together in the night sky," Qin Mu continued.
Bai Qier hummed again, a look of regret on her face.
Qin Mu broke into a smile. "Then let's do it!"
Bai Qier cheered, quickly ran to the center of the palace, where a large piece of crimson cloth lay, made of some unknown material, embroidered with a pattern of a three-legged golden crow. Something underneath propped up the cloth.
Bai Qier pulled the cloth away with force, revealing a stand. On the stand was a handprint constructed from exquisite runic patterns.
She pressed her palm onto the pattern and looked at Qin Mu, hesitating. "Are we really going to light up the sun? Won't it be too shocking?"
Qin Mu smiled. "The people of Yan Kang are already used to it. As for shocking the world, a sun appearing at night is nothing compared to the Yuan Realm breaking its seal. In the past few years, the people of Yan Kang have witnessed natural disasters, the Yong River turning into a celestial river, countless gods and demons awakening, and heavens appearing in the sky. Their resilience is stronger than we imagine."
Bai Qier felt reassured and channeled her primal energy. A buzzing sound came from the stand, followed by a humming that flowed along the ground in all directions.
Soon, the runes outside the Sun Palace were lit up, turning red. The formation rotated and split open to the sides.
At this time, Yan Kang had not yet entered the deep night. Countless homes still had their lights on. The cities were even brighter, with pedestrians strolling through the night markets.
But suddenly, the sun rose so abruptly in the sky, hanging in the heavens, instantly dispelling the darkness!
Not only that, but the moon was also in the sky, and its light was almost as dazzling as the sun's, extremely bright.
The people of Yan Kang were stunned. The gods, demons, and demigods of the Yuan Capital were also stunned. Countless people looked up, staring blankly at the sky.
Inside the Sun Palace, Bai Qier grabbed Qin Mu's hand and ran, her laughter coming from ahead. "Hurry up! Let's sneak out before the gods and demons come looking!"
Qin Mu's heart pounded as he followed her to the center of the sun formation. Inside, there was a large sunspot, a very conspicuous dark patch.
Bai Qier leaped with him into the dark patch. Her clothes fluttered, brushing against Qin Mu's face.
Qin Mu raised his other hand to push aside the girl's skirt and pockets, and found they had already jumped out of the sun formation, out of the Celestial Chart, leaping from the false celestial phenomena.
They were now floating in the vast, boundless cosmic starry sky. Behind them was the Celestial Chart, of unknown length and distance. Ahead of them was a massive fireball floating in the silent universe.
Incredibly huge, unimaginable.
Standing before this sun, they were as insignificant as ants.
Suddenly, Bai Qier flew with him, moving at an unimaginable speed, rising upward. She pointed in a direction and laughed. "Look over there!"
Qin Mu looked in the direction she pointed. He saw heavens like gems, embedded outside the sky of the Yuan Realm. Within these giant gems were suns, moons, and stars, like tiny points of light embedded in the gems, flickering on and off.
They flew past these giant gems. The world barriers were like invisible membranes, gently pushing them away as they approached.
Bai Qier used the world barriers to gain momentum, accelerating as she roamed the void with Qin Mu.
They flew away from that real sun. Qin Mu looked up and saw another sun, but it was dim, emitting a dark red light. Then, above this sun, he saw another dark red sun.
"That was the Kai Huang era's thirty-three heavens."
Bai Qier roamed with him. "The Kai Huang built thirty-three worlds there, but those heavens have been destroyed, ruined."
She led him past the first extinguished sun. Circling it, they saw a massive galaxy.
"That's the Heavenly Duke's eye! He should be able to see us!" Bai Qier excitedly waved at the galaxy.
Qin Mu also excitedly waved at the galaxy, his face flushed with excitement.
Inside the Qin Continent, the Heavenly Duke's avatar snorted and said to the Molten Earth Bo, "I see that kid. He's all smug."
The Molten Earth Bo looked at the "Little Earth Bo," who was excitedly sticking his big head into the Life-Devouring Cauldron with his butt sticking out, and said, "Is he as smug as that?"
Qin Fengqing was inside the cauldron, counting his spoils one by one, not hearing what they were saying.
The Great Sun Star Lord flapped his wings and climbed up to the Qin Continent, his three claws gripping the sky like a giant bat lying on a rooftop, greedily looking at the outside world through Qin Mu's vision.
"That brightest sun just now was where I was born. The only divine sun of the Yuan Capital!"
The Great Sun Star Lord murmured, "The place of my birth, the first and brightest crow's cry. I still remember pulling the sun across the sky..."
Suddenly, his vision went dark. Qin Mu had taken out a willow leaf and covered his third eye, preventing him from seeing the outside world anymore.
"Bastard! Take it off! Take it off now!"
The Great Sun Star Lord shouted, "I want to see my homeland!"
The Red Emperor's consciousness pulled him down. "The kid is out there flirting. Why are you butting in? We barely have a foothold here, lodging in this place. Don't make more demands."
The Great Sun Star Lord shrank his head. "You're lodging here; I'm imprisoned. We're different. Say, what are they doing now, not letting us watch?"