Chapter 894: The Third Chapter of the Calamity Sword, the Chapter of Facing Calamity
Gongsun Yan felt reluctant, but she could only see Qin Mu off.
"He said this place is his roots. He really is a tree... When will my phoenix nest attract a phoenix?" The girl looked forward to the future.
Qin Mu arrived at the residence of the former National Teacher, Jiang Baigui. The National Teacher's wife was teaching Jiang Yunjian the cultivation of divine powers and Dao techniques. They also had a young daughter, only five years old, named Jiang Qingzhou.
"Sister-in-law, rest assured, my junior brother won't be trapped in the great prison for too long."
Qin Mu guided Jiang Yunjian on how to cultivate and passed down the cultivation methods of the Imperial Heavenly Lord's Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury and Star River Divine Treasury. He said to the National Teacher's wife, "Just be at ease. He will return. In the coming years, I will have people deliver supplies for food, clothing, and daily needs. You don't need to worry about making a living—just focus on teaching your children well."
The National Teacher's wife thanked him but was a bit puzzled. "Why only two divine treasuries? What about the ones after that?"
Qin Mu smiled. "That will have to wait until someone creates them before we can know. I hope it will be a subversion of my divine treasuries. If Yunjian can open these two divine treasuries within a few years, that would already be impressive. Let him practice for now. When I return next year, I'll find him a silly teacher."
The National Teacher's wife didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "A silly teacher? I wonder who the Sect Leader is referring to..."
Qin Mu arrived outside the capital, where a new city was already being built to provide shelter for the people. The cities were spaced a thousand miles apart and still very simple, serving only as places to rest.
There were also cultivators opening up farmland and building irrigation and transportation systems. This couldn't be rushed, yet it was the most urgent matter.
Qin Mu found the elders of the Remnant Village. Medicine King was toiling in the fields with many scholars, using the Art of Creation to grow crops to alleviate the immediate crisis. Mute and the others were rebuilding the Supervision Factory, and the Village Chief and the rest each had their own tasks.
Medicine King examined Qin Mu's body and laughed. "Nothing serious. Eat and drink as you please. Go wherever you want."
Qin Mu said, "I told you there's nothing wrong, but the Village Chief and the others always worry."
Medicine King watched him leave. The Village Chief said, "Medicine King, I never hid the matter of the Overlord Body from you, and you can't hide anything from me. What is Mu'er's true condition?"
Medicine King hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "Not good. His Indestructible Divine Consciousness is strong, but not strong enough to last through the ages. Right now, he's like a candle flickering in the wind, liable to go out at any moment..."
The Village Chief was stunned.
Medicine King continued, "I also sense a burgeoning vitality growing inside him, like something new being born—a power different from the Art of Creation. There is hope, but it's still in its infancy. Whether it can break through the cocoon, I don't know."
The Village Chief was silent for a long time. "Suddenly, I wish the Overlord Body really existed..."
Qin Mu then found Yan Qiling. Yan Qiling said, "I still have to return to the Heavenly Court, to be by His Majesty's side. I won't stay in the lower realm."
Qin Mu said, "Before she passed away, your master asked me to take care of you..."
"Take care of yourself first!"
Yan Qiling gave a half-smile. "Although the Heavenly Emperor doesn't want you dead, don't forget that there are still many people who do. This Yuan Realm may be under the Heavenly Emperor's control, but he can't fully command the Heavenly Court army occupying it. The giants of the Heavenly Alliance won't let the Heavenly Emperor swallow the Yuan Realm. They've surely planted countless spies, informants, and factions. You have no soul now. If they destroy your consciousness, you'll truly die. You're a treasure to the Heavenly Emperor, but not to them."
She had clearly heard many rumors and knew some inside information. "There are already gods and demons in the Yuan Realm planning to deal with you. Be careful. I'm leaving!"
Qin Mu waved goodbye.
Zhe Huali approached, gave Qin Mu a deep look, and said, "Sect Leader Qin, does Eternal Peace still have hope?"
"As someone who entered the Dao through the blade, you shouldn't ask that question."
Qin Mu said, "Asking that question dishonors your demon blade."
Zhe Huali laughed. "I'm just worried about you. As long as you don't die, I feel Eternal Peace can still be saved, that there's still hope. If you die, I'll leave this place and never come back."
Qin Mu laughed heartily. "Rest assured, you'll be stuck on this land forever!"
Zhe Huali laughed and left.
Qin Mu also left the capital, sitting on the head of the Dragon Qilin. Yan'er was feeding the Dragon Qilin spirit pills. As the sky gradually darkened, Qin Mu took out a relic of Ling Yushu under the cover of night and used the Soul-Drawing Art to gather Ling Yushu's shattered soul.
He himself had no soul, but his cultivation and strength were still there, as were his insight and experience. He quickly gathered Ling Yushu's soul.
Ling Yushu's soul stood in the gloomy clouds, staring at him. Qin Mu said, "Prince Yushu, the yama officials will come here to guide you to the Netherworld. Don't hate Emperor Yanfeng. He did it for the sake of Eternal Peace."
Ling Yushu still stared at him, his form ethereal and illusory. "I was never a match for my sister anyway. She has the same boldness as our father, which I never had. That day he called me up, I knew he was going to sacrifice me to protect Yuxiu. I knew it, but I was willing."
Just then, a ray of lamplight shone through the darkness. The old yama official, steering a paper boat, arrived from the Netherworld to guide Ling Yushu aboard.
Ling Yushu still stared fixedly at him, unwilling to board the boat.
Qin Mu asked, "Do you have any unfinished wishes?"
"Stay away from my sister!" Ling Yushu said.
Qin Mu's face darkened. The old yama official shone his lamp, seized Ling Yushu, and put him on the boat. Ling Yushu stood on the deck and shouted, "Either marry her now, or stay away from her! If I find out you're fooling around, I'll turn into a ghost and strangle you! If I can't strangle you, I'll haunt your dreams every day and scare you to death!"
The old yama official paused the paper boat, took out a jade pendant from somewhere, and tossed it to Qin Mu. Qin Mu was startled. The jade pendant had the character "Qin" on it—it was the same pendant that contained the Qin Continent.
"Your brother has left. He left the Netherworld and went to the Carefree Realm with your parents. The Opening Emperor can protect him."
The old yama official said, "He'll be safer there. Earth Lord no longer needs to worry about his safety. Earth Lord said he has become a competent little Earth Lord. Growing up by your side, he matured quickly. This jade pendant is a horn of the Earth Lord, originally used to suppress him. It was also because of this pendant that you developed countless ties to the Netherworld. Earth Lord said to give it to you."
Qin Mu took the jade pendant and examined it carefully. The Qin Continent inside the pendant was empty, with only some mountains and the abyssal iron he had gathered from the Return to Void, along with the crystal coffin of Lady Yuanmu.
The Heavenly Lord, Earth Lord, Red Emperor, Great Sun, Old Buddha, and the others had all disappeared.
Qin Mu was filled with emotion. He took out a ribbon, threaded it through the pendant, and hung it around his neck.
"The Heavenly Lord and Earth Lord have returned. Great Sun Star Lord has also gone back to the Netherworld. The Red Emperor found the Red Ming Divine Son and returned to the Suspended Realm. The Great Brahma Heavenly King of the Buddhist Realm woke up and took back the Old Buddha."
The old yama official said, "The Life-Devouring Cauldron belonged to Ugly Earth Lord. Earth Lord said he is no longer Ugly—you are. He gave it to you. Perhaps it can help you through a few difficult times."
He looked at Qin Mu. After a long silence, he suddenly bowed. "Heavenly Lord Mu, take care!"
Qin Mu returned the bow.
When he straightened up, the old yama official and the ghost boat had vanished without a trace.
"Don't recklessly use your primal energy. It will damage your consciousness." The old yama official's voice came from another world.
Qin Mu coughed violently, feeling his divine treasuries shake violently with each cough, and even his Indestructible Divine Consciousness struggled to stabilize.
After a moment, the divine treasuries calmed down, but he still felt his primal energy draining away.
Without a soul, the physical body was like a tree without roots. Even his Indestructible Divine Consciousness couldn't bind the vast primal energy within him, causing it to slowly leak away.
The Great Brahma Heavenly King's Infinite Calamity Sutra could temporarily slow this leakage, but only temporarily.
If Qin Mu could cultivate to the level of an Imperial Throne, he could, like the Red Emperor, refine his Indestructible Divine Consciousness to its peak and exist for a long time without a soul. But he was far from reaching that step.
He could only rely on the Three Primordial Spirits Indestructible Divine Consciousness Sutra and the Infinite Calamity Sutra to keep his consciousness from dissipating.
Qin Mu sat on the Dragon Qilin's large head, closed his eyes to rest, and unknowingly fell asleep. The Dragon Qilin wandered aimlessly, walking from night to day, and from day to night.
Qin Mu occasionally woke up. Yan'er had already cooked meals, which were quite tasty. Life was leisurely.
One day, a waning moon rose in the sky. A woman's figure appeared in the moonlight, inviting him. The Dragon Qilin ran up to the moon. This moon was a corner of the Heavenly Diagram, containing a Moon Palace within.
The Heavenly Diagram that once covered Eternal Peace had been destroyed in the war, leaving only scattered remnants of the formation.
They stayed in the Moon Palace for a while. His primal energy continued to drain, and his cultivation gradually declined.
The spirit embryo, when combined with the soul, formed the primordial spirit. His spirit embryo had originally stood on the Heavenly River, close to the Southern Heavenly Gate. Now, without a soul, his magical power was hard to bind, and the spirit embryo drifted farther and farther from the Southern Heavenly Gate.
From the perspective of his spirit embryo, the Southern Heavenly Gate became increasingly hazy.
The girl in the Moon Palace said to him, "Stay. I can take care of you for the rest of your life."
Qin Mu still chose to leave. He smiled and said, "Life and death are uncertain. I can't hold you back."
The girl stood before the Moon Palace and shouted loudly, "I don't care! I've already waited forty thousand years! I don't care!"
"I do." Qin Mu waved to her and turned away.
After descending from the Moon Palace, he fell into a period of depression. His cultivation drained even faster. His spirit embryo had already fallen from the middle of the Heavenly River to the World Tree and was still sinking.
If it sank further, it would reach the Netherworld and sink into the Life and Death Divine Treasury.
One day, Qin Mu suddenly perked up, shaking off his previous dejection. He activated the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique and cultivated diligently. But instead of helping, it made his primal energy drain even faster!
Qin Mu immediately stopped. He muttered to himself, and the Dragon Qilin and Yan'er heard him reciting various cultivation secrets and methods, but they were disjointed and unsystematic, as if he had fallen into a trance.
Two days later, Qin Mu fell into a deep sleep. The Dragon Qilin and Yan'er saw an invisible bubble emerge from between his brows. Many tiny Qin Mus crawled out of his mind, chattering in the bubble world in a language no one could understand.
Those tiny Qin Mus each practiced different techniques: the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique, the Three Primordial Spirits Indestructible Divine Consciousness Sutra, the Leakless Creation Profound Sutra, the Ancestral Dragon Supreme Profound Technique, the Imperial Lord Sakra Heavenly King Sutra, the Heaven and Earth Heart Sacred Art, the Martial Combat Heavenly Art, the Netherworld Demon Path, the Dark Demon Jia Sutra, and even some tiny Qin Mus practicing the Infinite Calamity Sutra, creating even smaller bubble worlds within the bubble world!
"Fatty Dragon, what is he doing?" Yan'er asked.
The Dragon Qilin thought for a moment. "The Sect Leader is deducing the possibility of his own survival, searching for a path to life among countless possibilities."
"Fatty Dragon knows a lot." Yan'er praised him and fed him a spirit pill, then continued to watch the bubble world nervously.
In the bubble world, one tiny Qin Mu after another died in various gruesome ways.
Some died suddenly as their consciousness dissipated, their tongues hanging out. Some had qi deviations and exploded with a bang. Some died in their sleep. Some suddenly caught fire and burned to ashes!
The tiny Qin Mus in the bubble world grew fewer and fewer. After more than ten days, the bubble world was littered with corpses. Yet one tiny Qin Mu stubbornly survived. Though his aura was weak, he wore a smile.
Suddenly, the bubble world popped and vanished. Qin Mu opened his eyes, waking from his dream. He yawned and laughed. "Sister Yan'er, I'm hungry again."
Yan'er quickly prepared a meal. After eating his fill, Qin Mu fell back into a deep sleep.
The dream world once again turned into a bubble. Many tiny Qin Mus crawled out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. But this time, they didn't search for a path to life. Instead, they gathered with serious expressions, chattering in incomprehensible language.
Then, those little figures began to practice swordsmanship in the dream world, fighting each other. Sword techniques flashed out, and many tiny Qin Mus died in the mutual slaughter.
"Fatty Dragon, what is the young master doing?" Yan'er asked.
The Dragon Qilin couldn't understand either and shook his head. "I don't know."
Yan'er squinted her eyes, cut his rations, and didn't feed him any spirit pills.
The Dragon Qilin drooped his head in dejection.
Finally, a flash of sword light appeared. The sole surviving tiny Qin Mu swung his sword, suddenly cutting through Qin Mu's dream world and charging from the dream into reality!
Qin Mu abruptly woke from his sleep, springing to his feet. That tiny Qin Mu had also vanished.
"Turning over startles the Ox and Dipper; pondering, facing calamity is late!"
Qin Mu drew his sword and let out a long cry. A sword strike came out of nowhere, slashing toward his own divine treasuries and heavenly palace!