Chapter 873: The Bloody Chaos of the Dragon Han Calamity
"You stayed in the Dragon Han Heavenly Court for too short a time. You only lived there for a while; you have no idea about the darkness of the Dragon Han era."
The old man of the Yin Cha hid his face in the dimness, making it impossible to see his expression, his voice devoid of any emotion: "During the era of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, countless races of acquired beings were exterminated. Even the demigod races lived in constant fear. What you saw at Yao Chi was merely the most glamorous side of that era. You know nothing of its ugliness."
Qin Mu was silent for a moment, then asked, "How ugly was it?"
The old man of the Yin Cha suddenly extended a finger and pressed it against Qin Mu's forehead.
The scenery before Qin Mu's eyes instantly shifted, and he entered the old man's memories.
He arrived in what seemed like a barbaric age. People wore animal skins or grass skirts, ragged and tattered. Yet not far away stood an extremely tall and majestic divine temple, resplendent and luxurious beyond compare.
In front of the temple was a towering altar. Those people, barely clothed and starving, fed the finest food to the most beautiful boys and girls. Then they offered these children on the altar, praying for favorable weather.
A flash of light crossed the altar, and the phantom images of the Heavenly Emperor and the divine kings of the Heavenly Court appeared, taking the children to enjoy.
He saw another scene—a race that had not offered blood sacrifices to the Heavenly Emperor and the divine kings of the Heavenly Court. Its people were seized by towering deities, dragged to the altar, and beheaded as offerings to appease the wrath of heaven.
Beneath the altar lay countless corpses and bones, piled into mountains.
The old man of the Yin Cha then showed Qin Mu another memory. In this one, slaves from various races were mining in the mines of the Yuan Realm. Those cultivators had their bodies pierced by chains, pus oozing from their wounds. Barefoot, they walked into bottomless mine shafts, extracting ores in the light emitted by divine metals.
Guarding these cultivator slaves were divine beings from the Xiao Han Heavenly Court.
The sharpness of the divine metals caused the skin of these cultivators from various races to constantly fester, their souls feeling as if they were being sliced by knives every moment—a torture nearly equivalent to death by a thousand cuts!
The old man's memory shifted again, taking Qin Mu to another recollection.
It was a war between races in the various heavens. Before the battle, the clan leader ordered sacrifices, beheading commoner slaves and offering them to the deities of the Heavenly Court, praying for the gods to come and assist. Countless corpses lay before the battle lines, their blood light shooting straight into the clouds.
When the war erupted, the divine beings and demons of the Heavenly Court descended to the mortal world to partake in the offerings.
These ancient gods fought on the battlefield between the two armies, but not against the ancient gods who had also descended from the Heavenly Court. Instead, they attacked the enemy's army. Whoever eliminated the opposing army first would win.
For these ancient gods of the Heavenly Court, the war in the mortal realm was merely a game, trivial and inconsequential, allowing them to enjoy blood sacrifices.
But for the mortal races, it was a battle of life and death.
Every time they fought, they had no choice but to offer sacrifices to the Heavenly Court, because if they didn't, they would face extermination!
Qin Mu's body trembled as he broke free from the old man's memories. He gasped for air like a drowning man crawling ashore.
In such a terrifying era, the founding master Wei Suifeng truly had no choice but to adapt to local customs!
The old man of the Yin Cha said, "What I have seen is merely the tip of the iceberg. There is much more I haven't witnessed. This was the daily reality of the Dragon Han era. With a Dragon Han Heavenly Court and an Ancient God Heavenly Emperor like this, both demigods and acquired races wished to eradicate them."
Qin Mu steadied himself. His time traveling back to the early Dragon Han era had been too short. Back then, it was the grand Yao Chi Gathering of the Heavenly Court, where leaders of various races and ancient gods assembled in a lively spectacle.
What he had seen was indeed the most prosperous and glorious side of that era.
He had not gone to the mortal realm, nor had he seen the lives of the people in the various heavens and worlds.
Thus, he had no particular aversion to the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor. When he felt it was possible to ally with him, he had taken the initiative to contact him through Yan Qiling and form an alliance.
Now he realized he had been somewhat naive.
Although the Heavenly Alliance was his proposal and he was one of its founding elders, he had not understood why Yun Tianzun and the Heavenly Alliance had joined forces with the Long Xiao Heavenly Court established by Hao Tianzun at that time. He hadn't grasped why they had set aside their mortal enmity to scheme against the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.
Now it was clear: the Heavenly Court formed by the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was brutally oppressive, plunging all races of the world into immense fear—the fear that their race might be annihilated at any moment.
The Long Xiao Heavenly Court and the Xiao Han Heavenly Court were merely pawns to maintain his rule. He used these two minor heavenly courts to manage the mortal realm for him, offering sacrifices to the lofty Dragon Han Heavenly Court. He also made them fight each other to prevent them from growing strong!
At that time, the conflict between demigods and acquired races was not the primary contradiction. The contradiction with the Dragon Han Heavenly Court was!
Therefore, the Xiao Han and Long Xiao Heavenly Courts had to unite. All races, whether demigods or acquired beings, had to unite. They had to eliminate the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor!
The world was not simply black and white. Now, the Heavenly Alliance had become corrupt, replacing the ancient gods as the rulers of a decaying heavenly court. But back then, the Heavenly Alliance still had people of goodwill striving for the survival rights of all races.
It was the Heavenly Alliance that schemed to eliminate the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, paving the way for the later Chi Ming, Shang Huang, Kai Huang, and the current Yan Kang eras.
Otherwise, if the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor had continued to rule, the entire universe, all the heavens and myriad worlds, would have remained trapped in that barbaric age, with no room for development!
Although the Heavenly Alliance later became corrupt, in its early days, it had done a great deed that affected all acquired races, including demigods!
Eliminating the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor—this was a merit beyond measure!
"So, was my alliance with the Heavenly Emperor the right choice?" Qin Mu pondered.
In the ruins of the Dragon Bo Nation, the old men of the Yin Cha silently flew back and forth on paper boats, guiding the people of the Dragon Bo Nation to board them. Some Dragon Bo refused to board, flying about wildly to avoid capture.
Those old men of the Yin Cha raised their horse lanterns, shining the light on the faces of the Dragon Bo souls. Struck by the light, the souls lost consciousness and, dazed, lined up to board the boats.
The boats, filled with Dragon Bo, sailed into the Netherworld and disappeared.
Soon, the place fell silent again, a dead stillness.
"But if I don't ally with the Heavenly Emperor, Yan Kang will be in danger. Just dealing with the Earth Mother alone would be too much for Yan Kang."
Qin Mu withdrew his gaze, feeling a sense of confusion. He paced aimlessly through the bone-strewn Dragon City.
Long Qilin wisely chose not to disturb him.
"The Heavenly Emperor deserves to die, but without allying with him, Yan Kang won't last long. If I ally with him and he revives, reclaiming his body, he will inevitably return to that barbaric era!"
"The Heavenly Emperor can be used, used to buy time, but he must never be revived!"
"He cannot be revived. Let him remain in this half-dead state."
...
Qin Mu calmed his mind and began searching for any traces left by his senior brother, Wei Suifeng.
Wei Suifeng was meticulous. He had left something for Qin Mu in the Gui Xu, and he must have anticipated that the Gui Xu might become unreachable in the future.
Thus, he would have left clues.
But the Dragon Bo Nation had become a ruin, and this place was enormous—a continent comparable to Yan Kang, filled with relics. Searching for Wei Suifeng's clues would take an unknown amount of time.
As Qin Mu walked, he suddenly turned, lay down on his back with his hands behind his head, and stared blankly at the sky amidst a pile of dragon bones.
After a moment, he slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Long Qilin chuckled, "Sister Yan, the Sect Leader is slacking off too..."
Before he could finish, a tiny Qin Mu poked its head out from between Qin Mu's hair, looking around cautiously, babbling incomprehensibly.
Long Qilin was startled and was about to speak when more tiny Qin Mus emerged from Qin Mu's hair. They stretched their limbs, moving their arms and legs, speaking in a language no one could understand, like sleep-talking.
Then, from Qin Mu's mouth, nostrils, and ears, more tiny Qin Mus crawled out. They grew in number, running around everywhere, speaking in meaningless tongues.
Soon, Long Qilin had no place to stand and had to float in the air.
These miniature Qin Mus—some rose with the wind, some burrowed into the ground, and others muttered incantations over the Dragon Bo's dry bones. Suddenly, the skeletons of the Dragon Bo clattered to their feet.
The little Qin Mus stood on the heads of the Dragon Bo skeletons, on their horns, in their eye sockets, looking spirited. They waved their hands and shouted, "Maha—!"
Long Qilin understood this word, as he was half a dragon himself. "Maha" expressed excitement, movement, and had multiple meanings.
The tiny Qin Mus rode the Dragon Bo skeletons, running everywhere, flying into the air, diving into ruins, and plunging into the sea, searching the heavens and the earth with great commotion.
"Maha! Maha!"
When they encountered each other, these little Qin Mus would exchange serious looks and converse.
Long Qilin and Yan Er stared dumbfounded at the scene. More and more tiny Qin Mus emerged from Qin Mu's mind, and soon the desolate Dragon Bo Nation became lively. Countless little Qin Mus searched through things with grave expressions, turning the entire nation upside down!
"I've heard of this technique. It seems to be the Emperor's Seat Sutra of the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha from the Buddhist Realm."
Yan Er transformed into a human form and picked up a tiny Qin Mu. The little one ran frantically across her palm, then climbed onto her body, scurrying around aimlessly.
"According to the Empress, this technique requires sleep to cultivate and is very mysterious."
Yan Er giggled as the little Qin Mu crawled all over her, tickling her. "Stop crawling, that's ticklish... Come out, you can't go in there!"
She tried to catch the little Qin Mu, but he ran onto her head, grabbed one of her feathers, and pointed forward with a serious expression, shouting, "Maha—!"
Yan Er couldn't help but spread her wings and fly, obeying the little one's command and heading in the direction he pointed.
Another tiny Qin Mu jumped onto Long Qilin's head, shouting "Maha, Maha!" as he drove Long Qilin forward.
In the sky, on the ground, and in the sea, these little ones were everywhere. Their three eyes blazed with light as they used their divine vision to search for clues left by Wei Suifeng.
Suddenly, all the tiny Qin Mus rushed back, swiftly returning to Dragon City. They drilled into Qin Mu's brow and vanished.
Qin Mu yawned, stretched lazily, and smiled, "Found it!"
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