Chapter 1166: Blackwood Tree Rings

The ancient god egg within the Azure Heaven Pagoda and the Grand Primordium Egg had already been exposed to many worldly affairs. Having been unearthed quite early, Qin Mu keenly perceived that these two ancient god eggs were no longer pure.

The ancient god egg of the Azure Heaven Pagoda, which grants all wishes, was a treasure unearthed by Empress Xin. After enduring the catastrophe of the Creators' downfall, it fell into the hands of Northern Emperor Xuanwu, who refined it into the Azure Heaven Pagoda.

As for the Grand Primordium Egg, it was unclear which branch of the Creators unearthed it, but it later fell into the hands of Heavenly Emperor Grand Primordium.

Because Heavenly Emperor Grand Primordium was imperfect at birth, he feared the emergence of a perfect oviparous ancient god. Consequently, he sealed the Grand Primordium Egg and hid it within Zhaoyang Palace.

Having been unearthed, they subsequently experienced the treacherous nature of human hearts. Even Heavenly Emperor Grand Primordium, an oviparous ancient god himself, could become a tyrannical ruler. Thus, Qin Mu felt that the ancient gods within these two eggs might not be as detached as the two ancient gods in the Grand Ultimate ore vein, nor as transcendent as the ancient gods in the Chaos ore vein.

Ever since the two ancient god eggs began communicating, they had consistently avoided him, clearly harboring some ulterior motive.

"Soon," he mused, "I will be able to decipher the Dao language of the Grand Primordium Egg. At that point, by analyzing their communication, I can then decipher the Dao language of the Azure Heaven Pagoda's ancient god egg. Once both Dao languages are cracked, I will know what they are discussing."

Qin Mu strode out of the ore vein, temporarily setting aside the matter of how to deal with the two ancient god eggs. He quickly descended the mountain, summoned Dragon Qilin and Yan'er, and declared, "We are leaving this place."

Dragon Qilin and Yan'er exclaimed in surprise, "Cult Master (Young Master), what an incredible treasure trove this is! Why would we abandon it?"

Qin Mu glanced at the Void Beast beside him and smiled, "Heavenly treasures and earthly resources are acquired by those with fortune and possessed by those with virtue. My fortune and virtue are insufficient; if I forcefully occupy this place, I will surely suffer harm."

Dragon Qilin and Yan'er were both greatly perplexed. Qin Mu would usually make thorough use of any opportunity; why would he return empty-handed from a treasure mountain?

Moreover, this was the Ancestral Court's supreme five great ore veins. The five types of ore veins contained five different powers, and could even be said to represent five distinct cultivation systems, directions, and paths!

The Creator race, solely by relying on the Grand Primordium Divine Stone, developed the ability of divine consciousness creation, ruling the universe for hundreds of millions of years in the primeval era, even enslaving ancient gods!

If the Grand Primordium Divine Stone alone was so powerful, other divine stones surely wouldn't be inferior. Occupying a treasure vein would present many more possibilities in the future.

However, since Qin Mu wanted to leave, they could only follow him.

"It's a pity about the few acres of land I just planted..."

Dragon Qilin regretfully looked at the farmland he had cultivated, thinking to himself, "Vast as this world is, it cannot accommodate a few acres of fertile land."

They re-entered the Black Sand Desert and headed outwards. Ahead, black sand filled the sky, and the sandstorm was extremely fierce, forcing them to activate the Azure Heaven Pagoda.

Qin Mu inadvertently glanced behind him and was stunned.

He saw the Black Sand Desert they had just traversed transform into a vast starry sky, with countless stars forming a galaxy. The surging black sand was actually the stars themselves, moving like tides.

He withdrew his gaze and looked forward. The desert stretched to the horizon, completely dark, making it impossible to see his hand in front of his face.

"What a peculiar place, capable of birthing such gods and devils," he mused.

He took out a Grand Ultimate Divine Stone and channeled his vital qi into it. Suddenly, his vital qi split into two, transforming into yin and yang qi.

Qin Mu was momentarily stunned. The yin and yang qi produced by his vital qi through the divine stone was more powerful than the vital qi he had put in, and contained more variations, seemingly capable of evolving into all things in heaven and earth.

"This Grand Ultimate Divine Stone also contains a cultivation path," he thought, "similar to the Grand Primordium Divine Stone and the Creators. If the Grand Ultimate divine egg were unearthed, then those who master the eight Grand Ultimate primeval stones would become eight Grand Emperors. And the two ancient gods within the egg might very well become another Heavenly Emperor Grand Primordium."

He put away the Grand Ultimate Divine Stone, turned around, and waved at the Grand Ultimate ore vein.

Of the five oviparous ancient gods, two had already emerged. It was unknown when the ancient gods in the Grand Ultimate divine egg would emerge, and what changes they would bring to the world if they were to emerge.

"I forgot to ask them," he realized, "if the Void Beasts were artificially created. Were they created by the oviparous ancient god who has already emerged? And what was the purpose of creating the Void Beasts?"

Qin Mu frowned slightly. After Heavenly Emperor Grand Primordium defeated the Creators and the Grand Emperors, he united with almost all the powerful beings of that era to seal the Ancestral Court, with the specific aim of sealing the Void Beasts here.

Furthermore, Divine King Gong Jun, also known as Heavenly Venerable Gong, although a Creator, also believed that the Void Beasts should remain sealed here and never be released.

Clearly, even the Creators believed that the being who created the Void Beasts harbored ill intentions.

What story lay behind this?

Did Heavenly Emperor Grand Primordium seal the Ancestral Court with the intention of also sealing the oviparous ancient god who had emerged?

After traveling north for more than ten days, they finally saw the black wood mentioned by the two ancient gods from the Grand Ultimate ore vein. Qin Mu looked up, his heart filled with shock. Had those two ancient gods not told him it was a black wood, he would never have discerned its true nature.

Ahead, countless black mountains stood, with strange peaks rising sharply, majestic and rugged. From a distance, the hundred thousand mountains were arrayed, scattered like stars, forming a circular mountain range, ring after ring, interlocking. It was utterly impossible to tell that this was actually the stump of a tree!

This was indeed the stump of an extremely ancient tree. The mountain range, forming a circular structure, was actually the tree rings of this black wood!

However, with the hundred thousand mountains arrayed circle after circle, it seemed there weren't many tree rings.

Qin Mu flew high into the sky and counted. The mountains here formed only sixteen rings; if interpreted as tree rings, this black wood should only be sixteen years old.

"A sixteen-year-old tree can grow this large?" he chuckled, shaking his head.

"That pair of ancient gods said this is a treasure land second only to the five great ancient god ore veins," he thought. "Then my territory will be right here!"

Qin Mu guided the Void Beast to fly over the dark mountain ranges, heading directly for the black wood's core. At the center of the hundred thousand mountains was a massive black peak, standing precariously but with an extremely flat summit.

Qin Mu took out the Azure Heaven Pagoda and, with a thud, plunged it into the center of the precarious peak. He then softly commanded, "Rise!"

Buzz—

The layers of canopies of the Azure Heaven Pagoda slowly unfurled, and the numerous heavens gradually expanded outwards, swiftly enveloping the circular black mountains, completely covering all sixteen circles of black mountains within the twenty-eight heavens.

As he protected his territory, he immediately opened his vertical eye at the center of his brows and, through visualization, created a magnificent palace.

Just then, Dragon Qilin's voice came, calling out, "Cult Master, this massive black mountain also has tree rings!"

Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he walked over, only to see little Earth Count kneeling on the ground meticulously counting the tree rings of the massive black peak. He had already counted into the thousands of years.

"These… are really tree rings!"

Qin Mu was astonished. Little Earth Count had already counted to three thousand, yet had only moved about two steps.

The entire massive black peak was hundreds of miles long and wide; it was impossible to tell when the counting would be finished!

Qin Mu was greatly shaken. He stared blankly at the rings of the massive black peak, his mind reeling: "This black wood is only sixteen years old. What unit of time was used to count its sixteen years? How long is one year for this tree?"

Dragon Qilin, meanwhile, paced out the length of the massive black peak, calculating how many rings were in one step, taking an average, and then multiplying by the number of steps. He then chuckled, "Cult Master, if this massive black peak is a tree, it should be thirty billion years old!"