Chapter 930: The Hundred Methods to Slay Mu
"This is the twenty-sixth time the Heavenly Venerate Hao has killed me."
Qin Mu sat quietly, sipping tea. The tea had been steeped for so long that it had become somewhat weak. He set down the cup, lost in thought. "Twenty-six times, and not once did he repeat the same divine ability he used to kill me. Truly remarkable... Since arriving at the Heavenly Court, I've been busy with this and that, rarely having a moment to spare. I wonder what fine teas the Heavenly Court has to offer? The Heavenly Court is a gathering place for the powerful and noble—surely the tea here must be better than that of the lower realms, right?"
His mind stirred with the thought of buying some tea leaves to bring back to the lower realms as gifts for his closest friends.
At that very moment, within the illusion, the Heavenly Venerate Hao killed him once again.
"But what currency does the Heavenly Court use? I certainly can't buy anything with the Great Abundance Coins of Yankang."
Qin Mu couldn't help but miss Hu Ling'er and Si Yunxiang. If those two were here, why would he ever have to worry about money?
"In a little while, the Empress will establish the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge, connecting the Primordial Realm to the Heavenly Court. Then I'll have money."
He closed his eyes to rest his mind. "I've already died fifty-one times at the hands of the Heavenly Venerate Hao, and he used fifty-one different divine abilities without a single repetition. Truly impressive. I never realized my own techniques and divine abilities harbored so many flaws."
A sense of admiration welled up within him.
As the saying goes, the bystander sees clearly. It's hard to spot one's own weaknesses and flaws.
To someone as proud as Qin Mu, his own techniques and divine abilities seemed absolutely perfect, without any flaws. But to others, perhaps many flaws existed.
The Heavenly Venerate Hao was, after all, a Heavenly Venerate—the second person in this world to open the Divine Treasures, second only to the Heavenly Venerate Yu.
After all these years of study, he had created the Hundred Methods to Slay Mu, proving that Qin Mu's techniques and divine abilities contained at least a hundred flaws. To have such a brilliant mind help him perfect his techniques was an immense stroke of luck!
In the Heavenly Venerate Hao's world, Qin Mu died over and over again. Strangely, each time he killed Qin Mu, it was as if he returned to the starting point.
That starting point was him standing in the pavilion, facing the sea, with Qin Mu walking toward him, stepping into the pavilion to stand by his side.
Every time, his first words were the same.
"Mu Heavenly Venerate doesn't seem surprised at all."
But the Heavenly Venerate Hao grew more and more astonished and bewildered. This scene felt eerily familiar to him, increasingly so, as if he had experienced it before—and not just once!
Ever since obtaining the Primal Chaos Stone, Qin Mu's divine consciousness had grown stronger and stronger.
Even before coming to the Heavenly Court, his divine consciousness was already formidable, allowing him to find flaws in the divine consciousness techniques of Zuo Shaobi Yan Shaoqing, trapping the Heavenly Court's foremost expert in divine consciousness in a cycle of reincarnation illusions, unable to distinguish truth from falsehood.
Now, his divine consciousness was several times stronger than it had been then. The Creator's Supreme Consciousness of the Taiwei Enclosure, combined with the Primal Chaos Stone and the indestructible divine consciousness of the Three Primordial Spirits, had propelled his progress beyond imagination.
Moreover, this time he wasn't merely using pure divine consciousness techniques. He also employed his as-yet-unrefined Immutable Technique, creating an Immutable Space within the small pavilion!
Within this Immutable Space, the Heavenly Venerate Hao was trapped in an endless cycle, repeating over and over without end!
Beyond the Immutable Space, Qin Mu also utilized the Great Buddha Vairocana's Sutra of Infinite Kalpas, but not to enter a dream and create a dream world himself. Instead, he caused the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone—this version of Qin Mu—to fall into a dream world.
This dream would repeat endlessly within the Immutable Space, washing away his memories and returning him to the starting point.
"Eighty-first time."
Qin Mu cleared away the tea, walked to the edge of the Jade Sea beneath the pavilion, and began washing the teacups and teapot. He mused to himself, "I've died at the hands of the Heavenly Venerate Hao eighty-one times now, each time perfectly slain, with no repetition in the method of death! He truly broke my Tribulation-Severing Sword, Calamity-Opening Sword, and other techniques. This bastard is too formidable. Nineteen more remain..."
Suddenly, he frowned slightly.
A faint ripple disturbed the space within the pavilion—the Heavenly Venerate Hao had sensed something!
"The Immutable Technique I derived from the Peachwood Hairpin and the Ghost Ship is still too shallow. Trapping him is easy, but my technique is far from the perfection of Ling Heavenly Venerate's."
Qin Mu grew alert. "After eighty-one cycles, the flaws have grown too large. The sliver of consciousness the Heavenly Venerate Hao hid within this clone has likely spotted the cracks!"
Within the Immutable Space, the Heavenly Venerate Hao killed Qin Mu. Qin Mu lay on the ground, every bone in his body broken, slowly drawing his last breath.
The Heavenly Venerate Hao stared at the corpse, the confusion in his eyes deepening.
Just then, matter flowed backward, returning to its original state. The memories in the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone of Qin Mu were also washed away, reverting to the past.
He stood by the pavilion, facing the Jade Sea. On the sea's surface, Qin Mu walked toward him.
The Heavenly Venerate Hao's confusion grew even stronger. He turned to look back at the pavilion. Inside the pavilion lay a severed foot, dripping with blood.
He turned back to face Qin Mu walking across the sea. The Qin Mu on the sea was missing a foot, yet he still walked with perfect steadiness!
A look of bewilderment crossed his face, but then it faded. His three eyes grew clearer and clearer.
"Dare to play tricks before me? You have some nerve!"
A terrifyingly powerful divine consciousness struck from beyond the heavens, slamming into the Immutable Space of the pavilion!
In the eyes of the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone of Qin Mu, the surrounding world shattered and crumbled, and the true Jade Pool appeared before him!
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He had sensed something was wrong, so his true body had sent a blast of divine consciousness from afar, breaking Qin Mu's spell and freeing him from the endless cycle!
But this blast of divine consciousness from his true body would inevitably alert the other powerful figures in the Heavenly Court. Once alerted, they would come to investigate, robbing him of any chance to silently kill Qin Mu and take his place!
His plan to create a new Mu Heavenly Venerate to replace Qin Mu was now shattered. His enemies in the Heavenly Court would never give him a second chance!
The Heavenly Venerate Hao grew furious. The Qin Mu in the pavilion suddenly turned around and saw Qin Mu standing outside the pavilion, looking at him with a faint, knowing smile.
The Heavenly Venerate Hao quickly calmed his mind and smiled. "Mu Heavenly Venerate's skills are impressive. This elder brother admires them."
"Well said, well said."
Qin Mu asked with concern, "I hope the Heavenly Venerate Hao wasn't too startled? You've only demonstrated eighty-two of the Hundred Methods to Slay Mu. There are still eighteen left that you haven't shown me. How about we start over?"
The Heavenly Venerate Hao's heart tightened, but he smiled. "I think it's best we don't."
"I insist."
From between Qin Mu's brows, a sword pellet slowly emerged from his third eye, transforming in midair into a fine sword. Qin Mu smiled. "You can't escape anyway. You're destined to die here. Why not display the remaining eighteen methods? This time, I won't use divine consciousness techniques. I'll give you that chance."
Above the Jade Sea, waves of terrifying divine consciousness roiled violently, stirring the heavens, causing thunder to rumble and boom.
The many powerful figures of the Heavenly Court had been alerted. They hadn't come in person but had sent their divine consciousness first to probe the commotion at the Jade Pool!
Qin Mu laughed. "Who knows? With the remaining eighteen techniques, you might just kill me. Or perhaps you'll die by my hand."
The Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone of Qin Mu narrowed his eyes, a habit strikingly similar to Qin Mu's own.
Qin Mu frowned. Even now, he was still imitating him.
"What if I don't use the remaining eighteen techniques but instead use the eighty-two I've already shown?" the Heavenly Venerate Hao asked with a smile.
Qin Mu's face remained cheerful. "You can try."
Suddenly, the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone moved, unleashing the power of the first technique of the Hundred Methods to Slay Mu. He pointed a finger, and this strike targeted the flaws in Qin Mu's techniques. Though Qin Mu's swordplay was endlessly changing, his techniques, when in motion, revealed fleeting flaws that vanished in an instant!
His finger technique was aimed precisely at these flaws, which was why, in the illusion, he could kill Qin Mu with a single finger!
Now, the scene from the illusion repeated itself. Qin Mu raised his sword to defend, using the same Tribulation-Severing Sword with all its bizarre and unpredictable variations.
But in the next moment, a flash of sword light severed the finger of the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone, sending it tumbling into the Jade Sea.
The Heavenly Venerate Hao changed his technique, switching to the eighth method of the Hundred Methods to Slay Mu. Light burst from his three eyes, beams colliding and refracting, forming a myriad of nets.
In the illusion, he had used this very move to break Qin Mu's technique, slicing him into countless pieces!
But three flashes of sword light later, the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone had all three eyes pierced by Qin Mu's sword!
The Heavenly Venerate Hao roared, his muscles bulging as he adopted a wide, sweeping fist technique, pulling with the strength of mountains and rivers. In the illusion, he had used this technique to shatter Qin Mu into a pulp!
Suddenly, pain shot through both his wrists as they were severed cleanly!
"This is how to break the second method of your Hundred Methods to Slay Mu!"
Qin Mu moved with his sword, circling the frozen Heavenly Venerate Hao. Sword light flashed, hissing like lightning. In the next instant, the sword pierced his body and emerged from his back!
"This is how to break the third method!"
"The fourth!"
"The fifth!"
"The sixth!"
...
Within the small pavilion, countless sword lights darted and leaped. In an instant, the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone of Qin Mu was drenched in blood, covered in wounds. Qin Mu always narrowly avoided his vital points, never killing him outright!
But each flash of sword light seemed to stab into the Heavenly Venerate Hao's heart, showing him in bloody reality that all his efforts and hard work over the past million years were utterly useless!
The Hundred Methods to Slay Mu, which he had painstakingly created over the years, were all broken by Qin Mu after being used just once!
Not only did Qin Mu break them, but he also used the flaws pointed out by the Hundred Methods to Slay Mu to modify his own Tyrant Body Three Elixir Technique and refine his swordplay, making his techniques and divine abilities even more perfect!
Moreover, Qin Mu even abandoned the sword pellet, using fists, kicks, and other divine abilities. The flaws in his combat techniques and divine abilities grew fewer and fewer!
Soon, all eighty-two techniques of the Hundred Methods to Slay Mu were broken by Qin Mu. His robes fluttering, the sword pellet flew back and vanished into his brow.
In the pavilion, the Heavenly Venerate Hao's clone of Qin Mu had become a bloody mess.
"What is the eighty-third method?" Qin Mu asked.
The blood-soaked clone of the Heavenly Venerate Hao revealed a sinister smile. "You'll find out, Mu Heavenly Venerate. I will pass the remaining eighteen methods of slaying Mu to my disciples. They will kill you."
His consciousness rapidly withdrew, leaving behind a laugh. "You still have eighteen flaws. These eighteen flaws will bring you eighteen deadly calamities!"
"Stubborn to the end!"
Qin Mu snorted, raised a finger, and pointed. With a bang, the head of the Qin Mu in the pavilion exploded. The corpse swayed and tumbled into the Jade Sea.
The divine consciousness roiling in the sky witnessed this scene and was horrified.
"As soon as we arrived, we saw Mu Heavenly Venerate killing Mu Heavenly Venerate..." a voice whispered.