Chapter 946: The Wicked Taoist
Lian Huahun's pupils contracted. "You've been by his side all along. Why didn't you just take it back yourself?"
Yun Chuxiu smiled. "You'll take it back for me. You have my physical body in your grasp, and you hold leverage over me. That way, we sisters can cooperate sincerely, and you won't have to doubt me."
Lian Huahun was skeptical.
Yun Chuxiu's eyes darted around as she laughed. "Besides, it's very difficult for me to snatch it from him. If he were to summon my soul to my corpse, the consciousness in this body of mine wouldn't be able to hold on. I'd be dead with one move from him. That's why I have to ask you to go."
"So that's your real intention, isn't it?"
Lian Huahun's gaze flickered. "During this trip to the Great Void, your disciples are also here, aren't they? Why not have them make a move?"
Yun Chuxiu sighed, tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke pitifully, "You don't know how strong that little nemesis of mine is. My disciples are no match for him at all. From what I know of that little nemesis, my disciples would only end up being killed by him, let alone taking back my physical body from him."
Lian Huahun recalled the incident from last night when Qin Mu triggered the Fire Heavenly Sovereign's imprint, and she couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart.
If not for the quick thinking of the two sisters, using the Guixu divine abilities to hide, they too would have ended up like Pan Chunjin, Xiu Youfang, and the others, buried in this city!
The Heavenly Sovereign's imprint was too terrifying, but fortunately, the Guixu divine abilities had their own subtleties, and most importantly, the Great Dao of Guixu had yet to be deciphered by anyone.
It was precisely because of the unique nature of the Guixu divine abilities that they had managed to survive the upheaval last night.
Lian Huahun had crossed hands with Qin Mu once before. Qin Mu had broken her four arms, and she was confident she could defeat him and reclaim Yuan Mu's physical body. However, Qin Mu's most terrifying aspect wasn't his strength but his ability to borrow any power available and turn it into his own weapon, like the Fire Heavenly Sovereign's imprint from last night.
"Get ready. Retrieve my physical body from the ghost ship and exchange it for yours."
Lian Huahun flicked her sleeves and turned to leave. "And don't forget one thing: you are Hao Heavenly Sovereign's birth mother. Stop calling him 'little nemesis' and 'little nemesis' all the time! Have some decency!"
Yun Chuxiu was furious, but then she suddenly laughed. Her figure flickered, and she vanished from this Creator city.
"Sister, you have decency, you're the mother of the world, but you're just a bit foolish. Hehe, you go snatch my physical body, and then I'll kill you and take it back. This is the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!"
The Great Void was incredibly vast. Qin Mu and Luo Wushuang had been walking for several days but still hadn't found that city.
"I wonder if that dragon you visualized got blown to bits," Luo Wushuang said, lost in thought as he recalled the divine dragon that had exposed them to the Empress and her sister.
Qin Mu was checking the medicinal herbs in his Taotie pouch. He shook his head at the remark. "It was born from visualization. In a place like the Great Void, it can't die."
Luo Wushuang was taken aback and probed, "You mean the divine dragon you visualized could withstand the Fire Heavenly Sovereign's divine ability and survive? That's impossible, isn't it? You don't have that kind of power."
Qin Mu scattered some medicinal herb seeds on the ground and then performed a ritual. The seeds sprouted and grew rapidly, soon turning the area ahead into a medicinal garden.
"It won't survive, but it will be reborn."
He continued his work as he spoke. "This strange place, the Great Void, has a peculiar trait when it comes to visualized creations: they reassemble after being shattered. Those Great Void monsters are the same. Their rebirth relies on the divine consciousness of the entire Great Void world. So, I suspect that divine dragon might have died in the city, but it will be reborn using the Great Void's divine consciousness. Because the entire Great Void world was visualized by the Creators using their divine consciousness. As long as the Great Void doesn't perish, these visualized beings will have an endless supply of divine consciousness to fuel their resurrection. Of course, once they leave the Great Void, they're easy to kill."
The medicinal herbs matured, and he began harvesting them, storing them for later use.
Luo Wushuang watched his technique. He handled the herbs like an experienced farmer, and his method of baking and refining them was like that of an apothecary. He thought to himself, "Qin the Overlord Body really has a wide range of skills."
Over the past few days, Qin Mu had been injured multiple times, consuming medicinal herbs quickly, and Luo Wushuang was a major drain, requiring even more herbs to heal his Celestial Palace injuries.
"The divine dragon I visualized—even though I only imagined that creature—my divine consciousness essentially contributed to the Great Void. The Great Void will then gain the divine consciousness needed to form the energy of a dragon. This world probably follows a law of conservation of divine consciousness matter. So even if it dies, the Great Void will resurrect it."
Qin Mu packed up the herbs and continued on his way, full of confidence. "After it's resurrected, it might still chase us. Right now, it's probably behind us, following our trail. Everything that's happened since we arrived here has confirmed my guesses. And my guesses are usually spot on."
He thought of Yun Chuxiu and Lian Huahun, and the corner of his eye twitched, his confidence wavering slightly.
He had guessed wrong about the identities of those two women.
Luo Wushuang asked, "You're also skilled in visualization. Why don't you just visualize miraculous pills and medicines instead of using the Art of Creation to plant them?"
The corner of Qin Mu's eye twitched again. He looked a bit dejected, a hint of bitterness in his voice as he murmured, "My divine consciousness isn't strong enough. I'm only at the level of a newborn infant Creator. I've let down the name of the Overlord Body..."
Luo Wushuang was surprised.
Qin Mu usually gave him and others the impression of being as confident as a torrential downpour, or like a flood that couldn't be contained. Why was he being so humble now?
And he seemed utterly crushed and dispirited.
What Luo Wushuang didn't know was that a Creator lived in the eye on Qin Mu's forehead, constantly belittling him, saying how pathetic his divine consciousness was. Over time, Qin Mu had come to believe it himself, leading to this inferiority complex.
But in the blink of an eye, Qin Mu was brimming with confidence again. He laughed, "But I'm the Overlord Body. As long as I work hard enough, my divine consciousness will soon grow to the level of an adult Creator, and it'll only get stronger! I'll become another Grand Emperor!"
Luo Wushuang hadn't interacted with him much and was seeing this blind faith in the Overlord Body for the first time. He shook his head, thinking, "What Overlord Body? Don't you know the Celestial Court treats the Overlord Body as a joke?"
There were rumors in the Celestial Court that the Heavenly Sovereigns had long realized that all the Overlord Bodies in history came from the same person: Qin Mu.
The Dragon Han Overlord Body was Qin Mu.
The Shang Huang Overlord Body was also Qin Mu.
And now, the Yancheng Overlord Body was still Qin Mu.
In the long river of ancient history, there had never been any Overlord Body doing earth-shattering deeds. Those rumors about the Overlord Body were just ripples left behind by Qin Mu when he traveled back in time.
The so-called Overlord Body was just a one-man show by Qin Mu.
Many in the Celestial Court knew this well, but Qin Mu didn't. He still believed that he, as the Overlord Body, was all-powerful, and if he wasn't, it was because he wasn't working hard enough.
They spotted another Creator city ahead, but along the way, they hadn't encountered a single Creator, which puzzled them.
Luo Wushuang's injuries had improved significantly after Qin Mu's treatment, allowing him to use the power of the Revered God and True God realms. Qin Mu, on the other hand, was enthusiastically teaching him about the Yancheng Reformation and the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, trying to tempt him into abandoning the Divine Bridge and switching to the Heavenly River Divine Treasury.
Luo Wushuang knew the stakes and turned a deaf ear.
Although he was tempted by the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, he also knew that if he switched, he would become a reformer, and it would be hard to even survive.
After all, he had no background.
Moreover, he knew something about Qin Mu's actions. His most prized disciple, Zhe Huali, had been seduced by this kid using some unknown method, severing ties with him and running off to join the Yancheng Reformation.
"If I stay with him any longer, I might get seduced by him too and follow him in the reformation."
He grew anxious. Qin Mu had a unique charm, a unique infectiousness. The longer one stayed with him, the harder it was to see him as an enemy.
"Once my injuries are fully healed, I'll spar with him. Win or lose, I'll bolt the moment it's over. That way, I won't get seduced by him!"
Qin Mu flew into the sky, unrolled a map, and compared it with the surrounding mountains and rivers. A look of disappointment crossed his face, and he descended.
The map left by Wei Suifeng didn't match the geography of the Great Void. In a place like the Great Void, where divine consciousness matter was conserved, the geography couldn't change over time. If Wei Suifeng had been here and left a map, he would definitely have found that place.
They entered this Creator city, which was also abandoned. As they walked into a Creator's house, they saw a fire still burning in the stove, a teapot on top, and the water inside bubbling.
The bed, bedding, gold, silver, and treasures—everything was still there, untouched.
It was as if, moments ago, the Creators had been busy in the city—some preparing tea, some getting ready to sleep, some visualizing gold and silver treasures—when suddenly something major happened. They left everything behind and fled in panic, abandoning this place.
"The Creators must have abandoned this world," Luo Wushuang said, looking around. "Were they driven away by those Great Void monsters?"
The Great Void monsters died and resurrected endlessly, which would indeed annoy and disturb the Creators, making them move away.
In the square, they also saw a giant bonfire, with a beast leg over a dozen zhang long roasting on it. They didn't know what creature it was from.
Next to the bonfire were wine cups as tall as two or three people, filled with fragrant wine mixed with the aroma of meat, making their mouths water.
Qin Mu walked over, cut off a piece of meat, tasted it, and praised, "Good!"
He cut another piece and handed it to Luo Wushuang.
Luo Wushuang hesitated. Qin Mu laughed, "This is meat created by the Creators. Eating it won't do any harm. At worst, it'll just turn into divine consciousness."
Luo Wushuang tasted it, and it was surprisingly delicious.
Qin Mu sat down, eating the roasted meat, and then raised his hand to summon the wine from the cups. The wine was also incredibly good, making the two of them exclaim in delight.
"Being a Creator isn't so bad," he couldn't help but laugh.
"So fragrant, so fragrant!"
Suddenly, a voice rang out. Qin Mu and Luo Wushuang were startled. They looked toward the source and saw a Taoist in a black robe with wide sleeves and a high bun emerge from who knows where. His face was fierce-looking, and he plopped down beside them, swallowing his saliva. "So fragrant!"
Luo Wushuang was about to ask about the Taoist's origins when the Taoist suddenly opened his mouth and spat a mouthful of saliva onto the beast leg. He grinned slyly, "This has my spit on it now. Are you still going to eat it? If not, this beast leg is mine!"
Qin Mu and Luo Wushuang exchanged glances.
The Taoist pulled down the beast leg and devoured it. Suddenly, he spat into each large wine cup, grinning, "You're not drinking the wine either, are you?"
Qin Mu frowned but then smiled. "Luo Divine Blade, let me show you a trick."
He opened the vertical eye on his forehead, activated the Three Walls Upper Consciousness, and visualized for a moment. Various delicacies and fine dishes descended from the air, along with plenty of wine, laying out a full feast.
After a moment, many beautiful women emerged from the void, singing and dancing, surrounding the two of them, laughing and playing, attending to their meal.
"Luo Divine Blade, how's this?" Qin Mu asked with a smile.
Luo Wushuang was dumbfounded. It took him a moment to come to his senses. "Qin the Overlord Body really knows how to have fun."
Qin Mu laughed heartily, pulling the beauties close.
The black-robed Taoist looked at the two of them, envy in his eyes, and moved closer.
"Ptooey!"
Qin Mu and Luo Wushuang quickly spat on all the dishes. Luo Wushuang even considered spitting on the visualized beauties to keep the Taoist from taking them, but Qin Mu stopped him.
The black-robed Taoist sneered, "You're from the Celestial Court. Do you know who I am? How dare you be so rude to me!"
Qin Mu smiled faintly and turned to Luo Wushuang. "Luo Divine Blade, tell him who I am."
Luo Wushuang cleared his throat. "This is the Dragon Han Overlord Body, the Heavenly Sovereign appointed by the Heavenly Emperor's decree, one of the Five Founders of the Heavenly Alliance, Mu Heavenly Sovereign."
The black-robed Taoist's face changed dramatically.
Qin Mu smiled. "So, who are you? And why are you here?"