Chapter 890: Darkness Approaches
What is Ugly?
Ugly is merely a person who has lost everything.
Ugly, transformed from Lord Tu, had his parents, wife, and children buried in a conspiracy orchestrated by the Heavenly Court against him. At that time, even Lord Tu’s power restricted him from seeking revenge.
Ugly and Lord Tu were two consciousnesses within the same life. Lord Tu was controlled by the rules, while Ugly wanted to break the rules. Yet, in the end, he was left alone, beaten back to the Nether Realm by the Heavenly Emperor, and suppressed by Lord Tu at the Jade Lock Pass in the Nether Realm.
Qin Mu was now also Ugly. Like Ugly, he was merely an appendage of the original body. Ugly was the reincarnated form of Lord Tu, while he was the second consciousness born from the infant’s body after Qin Fengqing was sealed away.
Ugly had no soul of his own, and neither did he.
Ugly was a guardian, an avenger, burning with rage to protect his loved ones, yet he could never protect them, ultimately falling into the grasp of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.
Qin Mu also wanted to protect Eternal Peace, to avenge those who died in this catastrophe.
Ugly was powerless to turn the tide and was eventually suppressed at the Jade Lock Pass, enduring endless burning by karmic fire.
Ugly ultimately became a sinner against the rules of the Nether Realm.
He was originally supposed to be Lord Tu, impartial and selfless, possessing only divine nature. Yet, he gave birth to human nature.
Qin Fengqing was the Little Lord Tu. The other consciousness born from his shell, Qin Mu, was also supposed to possess only divine nature. However, Qin Mu was the human nature of the Little Lord Tu.
The same circumstances, the same fate—so he was Ugly, a person who wanted to protect and avenge but was powerless to resist.
Qin Mu chuckled softly, gripping Ling Tianzun’s peachwood hairpin tightly in his hand, pointing it at his own brow. Where his third eye should have been, there was only a deep eye socket.
“Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, you’ve been waiting all along, not making a move, waiting until I’m utterly desperate and finally have no choice but to rely on you?”
Blood still flowed from the socket of his third eye, streaming down both sides of his nose. Even so, his hand remained steady as the peachwood hairpin delved into that hollow eye socket. He murmured with a low laugh, “Eternal Peace is gone, and I have nothing left. Nothing matters anymore. As long as I activate Ling Tianzun’s hairpin, the Heavenly River will surge from it, destroying my body and obliterating my consciousness. You will have no chance of resurrection!”
A vast surge of thought swept down from the sky, turning into a thunderous voice in his mind. The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor’s tone was cold: “You shouldn’t have gouged out your own eye. Once you did, you lost even your soul. You’re already crippled. What ability do you have left to break Ling Tianzun’s divine ability? You can’t retrieve my physical body. Why should I still help you?”
His voice grew even colder: “You think you can control everything. You think you can toss my imperial decree to that black boar demon. You think you can negotiate with me, make me your ally, your pawn. But you’ve always been one step short. Do you remember Wei Suifeng?”
Qin Mu was stunned.
“My Imperial Guard Right General, Wei Suifeng, once commanded the right wing of my Imperial Guard. He was just like you—arrogant to the point of madness.”
The Heavenly Emperor’s voice carried a note of mockery: “He was as self-righteous as you, thinking he could infiltrate the Heavenly Alliance, thinking he could hide the truth from the heavens, thinking he could do something for the lower realm. But he couldn’t fool me after all. Because his official position was granted by me! The moment he sneaked into the Heavenly Alliance, I saw through him and captured him! He also comprehended Ling Tianzun’s divine ability. I’ve already ordered the Eastern Heavenly Azure Emperor to take him and sink him into the river, to exchange him for the Ghost Ship!”
His laughter was hearty: “As long as I can swap out the Ghost Ship, I can also swap out my physical body, locked in the Heavenly River by Ling Tianzun. I can use the Empress’s body to blackmail her. I have the Dao Ancestor as my helper. I can even use Lord Tu’s daughter to threaten him!”
“Why should I still rely on you? I used you to reshape your soul, to make your three souls complete. I used you to severely wound Heavenly Lord Hao, forcing him to return to the Heavenly Court and not dare to interfere in the Primordial Realm. I used Heavenly Lord Hao to eliminate the Earth Mother Primordial Lord, obtaining her physical body and thus the entire Primordial Realm! Half of this universe, heaven and earth, is now in my grasp!”
“Pastoral Celestial Venerable, did you really think you had the qualifications to negotiate with me?”
He was the true victor of this battle for the Primordial Realm!
Whether it was Qin Mu, the countless beings of the Primordial Realm, the divine demon army of the Heavenly Court, the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court, the Earth Mother Primordial Lord, or even Heavenly Lord Hao—all were his pawns!
He was about to make a comeback, to seize half of the universe!
In the past, he had failed because he was in the open, and everyone was scheming against him—half-gods, post-natural beings, and ancient gods alike all wanted him dead.
But now, he was in the shadows. Who could still scheme against him?
He was the winner, the sole great victor of this battle for the Primordial Realm!
Qin Mu said coldly, “The Eastern Heavenly Azure Emperor? The Eastern Heavenly Azure Emperor is right behind me. Why don’t you ask him about the result of the swap?”
The Heavenly Emperor’s voice vanished, and his conscious thought withdrew, evidently to inquire of the Eastern Heavenly Azure Emperor, who was approaching Qin Mu from the east.
After a moment, Qin Mu felt another surge of thought in his mind.
It was the Heavenly Emperor’s conscious thought. This time, he did not prattle on like a lofty victor as before.
He fell silent.
Qin Mu said indifferently, “Wei Suifeng is my senior brother—the most stubborn person under heaven, and also the most slippery. He has roamed through ancient and modern times for a million years. You can’t keep him.”
The Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court were already close, ready to capture Qin Mu at any moment or casually erase him.
The Heavenly Emperor’s voice sounded again, not in Qin Mu’s mind this time, but from beyond the heavens: “Four Emperors, halt.”
Qi Xiayu, the Nether Emperor, and the others stopped and looked up. They saw a lush Primordial Tree descending from the sky, planting itself at the center of the Primordial Realm.
Another “Imperial Celestial” descended with the Primordial Tree, majestic and towering, his body radiating countless rays of light, exuding an air of upright righteousness.
The root ball formed by the Primordial Tree’s roots gently expanded, and massive roots stretched out, burrowing into the earth.
The roots tunneled underground, raising mountain ranges tens of thousands of miles long on the surface.
This scene was like a grand, spectacular orogeny—even more so. The vitality contained in the Primordial Tree caused these suddenly appearing peaks to burst with wild growth, forests to form, and the landscape to become lush and picturesque.
This strange spectacle fully displayed the power of the Earth Mother, yet it was not the Earth Mother Primordial Lord who wielded this power, but the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.
That “Imperial Celestial” walked over and said to the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court, “Withdraw. He is no longer the Nether Realm God Child.”
Qi Xiayu and the others were taken aback.
The Nether Emperor said, “This child is one of the Three Heroes of the Eternal Peace Reform, the renowned Eternal Peace Overlord Body, a remnant of the Kaihuang Era. He cannot be spared…”
The “Imperial Celestial” glanced at him, a faint smile on his face: “Yin Chaojin, he has another identity: Pastoral Celestial Venerable.”
The Nether Emperor’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
The “Imperial Celestial” said calmly, “Pastoral Celestial Venerable’s merits are vast, spreading the teachings at the Jade Pool, benefiting countless generations for ten thousand ages. How many in this world are qualified to kill him? If you kill him, you will only bear infamy. Withdraw. He is already crippled, without a soul, only spirit and flesh. He is no longer the Overlord Body.”
The Nether Emperor was dazed.
He wanted to scrutinize Qin Mu carefully, but because of guilt in his heart, he averted his gaze, not daring to meet Qin Mu’s eyes.
Though he was the Black Emperor of the Heavenly Court, a being at the Throne Realm, ruling the Nether Capital and wielding immense power, when his eyes met Qin Mu’s, he couldn’t help but think of a million years ago.
Qin Mu, however, was calm.
The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was not wrong. He no longer had a soul, only a spirit embryo and a physical body.
He himself was the consciousness born from this body after Qin Fengqing was sealed. Strictly speaking, even the body wasn’t his—it was Qin Fengqing’s.
From beginning to end, he was just an orphan.
On that night thirty-two years ago, when Granny Si picked him up from the basket by the river, his consciousness was born.
Qin Mu—that name was given to him by the Village Chief.
The Nether Emperor turned and left. Qi Xiayu’s gaze fell on Qin Mu, and after a moment, she too flapped her wings and departed.
“Pastoral Celestial Venerable? Qin Overlord Body?”
The Azure Emperor and the White Emperor shook their heads and left indifferently: “He’s already crippled.”
The “Imperial Celestial” held Qin Mu in the palm of his hand, examining him left and right, then shook his head: “A man without a soul—how could he help me reclaim my physical body? Pastoral Celestial Venerable, it’s hard for me to trust you.”
Qin Mu put away the peachwood hairpin, sat down in his palm, and said calmly, “Indeed. If I hadn’t cultivated the Indestructible Divine Consciousness, I might have died the moment I gouged out my third eye, my consciousness dissipating. Your Majesty’s lack of trust is natural. But Your Majesty needs to take a gamble.”
The “Imperial Celestial” smiled: “I rarely gamble. But since meeting you, I’ve gambled correctly. For the Heavenly Court and the Heavenly Alliance, the threat is minimal now. This descent of the ultimate divine artifact is just a distribution of interests within the Heavenly Court. We’ve come to divide the spoils. Someone got the Nether Realm, someone got the Mystic Capital, someone got the Return to Ruins, someone got the Four Heavenly Extremes. And I snatched the Primordial Realm from Imperial Celestial’s hands! In the future, I will seize even more.”
Qin Mu’s aura was withered and failing. He forced a smile: “Your Majesty has obtained the Primordial Realm. Then what about Eternal Peace…”
“I can spare Eternal Peace. I promised you.”
The “Imperial Celestial” smiled: “My word still counts. I won’t break it. The Primordial Realm is complex and hard to govern. Giving your human race a small place to survive is also the virtue of heaven’s love for life. Besides, I am heaven.”
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief.
“But the reform must stop. The Three Heroes of Eternal Peace must be beheaded, paraded on the Execution Platform, or else what authority does the Heavenly Court have?”
The “Imperial Celestial” looked at his face and smiled: “You can live. The people of Eternal Peace can also live. A new celestial map will cover the entire Primordial Realm. That is the future I give to you, Eternal Peace, and all beings of the Primordial Realm.”
Qin Mu’s heart grew heavier and heavier.
A future of utter despair, shrouded by a celestial map.
The Eternal Peace Emperor and the Eternal Peace National Teacher would become the sacrifices to end this Eternal Peace Reform.
“There are still some forces in the Primordial Realm that need to be suppressed and subdued. For example, the Great Black Heaven, the Red Bright God Child, and the Fengdu.”
The “Imperial Celestial” set him down and laughed: “Your friends are coming for you. Go with them.”
Qin Mu saw the Cripple rushing over like the wind, fear and anxiety clearly written on his wrinkled face. He seemed to have made up his mind, gathering his courage as he charged toward Qin Mu and the “Imperial Celestial.”
Among the elders, the Cripple was the most timid, yet he was willing to sacrifice his own life to save Qin Mu.
The “Imperial Celestial” laughed heartily and floated away into the sky.
“Grandpa Cripple.”
Qin Mu looked at the old man who had rushed to his side, a smile spreading across his face: “I’m fine. I’m just too tired.”
“Don’t talk!”
The Cripple hoisted him onto his back and ran desperately toward the east. The old man felt warm blood flowing down his back, soaking his chest. He sensed Qin Mu’s breath growing weaker and weaker.
“Grandpa Cripple, I remember when I was little, Granny would give me away to people from other villages, and you always stole me back.”
Blood kept flowing from Qin Mu’s mouth, his voice growing fainter and fainter. He murmured, “I couldn’t remember things from when I was little back then. I was just a very faint consciousness in this body. But now, suddenly, I remember… I’m just a consciousness born from this body, slowly growing up, able to remember many things…”
“Don’t talk.”
The Cripple’s eyes widened as he ran with all his might.
“Mu’er, don’t talk. I’ll take you to see Medicine Master… Medicine Master, why the hell haven’t you come yet? I’m too slow, too slow!”
He ran desperately, coughing up blood from exhaustion. Behind him, Qin Mu had fallen silent. The Cripple grew worried again and said, “Mu’er, talk to me for a bit. Don’t fall asleep. Mu’er?”
Qin Mu opened his eyes, looking blurrily ahead. A roc flew, dancing with the sky in its beak. Yan Qiling stood on the roc’s back with the Dragon Qilin.
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