Chapter 1198: Peach Blossoms Blooming Everywhere

The peach blossom's divine ability was exceptionally exquisite. Its petals sliced through the air, growing larger and larger until they gradually filled the heavens and the earth, obscuring everything else from sight.

The ghost ship's energy fully erupted, but its incredibly violent impact could not break through the myriad worlds created by the peach blossom.

However, those outside the peach blossom petals felt the terrifying fluctuations, causing their expressions to change drastically.

If these fluctuations reached them, they feared their internal energy would destabilize, causing them to explode completely and vanish without a trace!

Finally, the fluctuations subsided.

"Moon Venerable..." Qin Mu stared blankly at the spinning peach blossom petals, his mind filled with a surge of excitement. He immediately tried his best to calm himself.

They could not afford any emotional fluctuations now, as they no longer had physical bodies but were merely energy forms. Any emotional fluctuation would translate into an energy fluctuation.

Energy fluctuations meant unstable energy, liable to explode at any moment!

With no physical substance to bind their energy, an explosion would lead to complete annihilation, leaving nothing behind, not even soul black sand.

"Perhaps this is another divine ability that utterly obliterates souls..." Qin Mu thought, finding it strange that even in this state between life and death, he still had the leisure to ponder divine abilities.

At that moment, the spinning peach blossom petals grew smaller and smaller, steadily contracting. A woman with long flowing hair floated through the air, like a goddess from the Moon Palace, untouched by mortal dust. She gently extended her hand, drawing two segments of the Heavenly River.

She connected the two Heavenly River segments, then gently pinched them with her thumb and middle finger, holding a bare peach branch in her hand.

The spinning petals then flew in one after another, settling on the peach branch to form a complete peach blossom, its stamens gently swaying.

The woman lowered her head to sniff the peach blossom, but it crumbled into pieces.

The peach blossom was an ordinary one; it was her divine ability that had blocked the ghost ship's energy explosion. How could a mere blossom withstand such a terrifying impact? Thus, it was still annihilated.

"What a pity..."

The woman showed a look of regret and a hint of sadness, but then she brightened and smiled. "Fallen blossoms are not heartless; they transform into spring mud to protect new flowers," she mused. "I will plant you, and next year you will become a peach tree. That peach tree will grow into a peach forest, perhaps even spanning all heavens and myriad worlds."

She put away the peach branch and looked at Qin Mu and the others with a curious expression.

Qin Mu floated forward and bowed respectfully. "We meet again, Moon Venerable," he said.

The woman was indeed Moon Venerable, and her surprise grew more evident as she looked at his face.

"Shepherd Venerable?" she asked, both surprised and delighted, her voice tentative.

Qin Mu nodded helplessly. "It's me," he replied.

Moon Venerable hurried forward, reaching out to grasp his hand, but found nothing. She paused, momentarily stunned, then tried again, still grasping empty air.

Qin Mu said helplessly, "Our current situation is a bit peculiar and difficult to explain fully right now. Over there is my senior brother Wei Suifeng, and a few friends..."

Wei Suifeng hurried over to pay his respects. Feng Qiuyun, seeing Moon Venerable from afar, dared not approach. However, the Emperor's Corpse recognized Moon Venerable and became agitated, letting out a roar. Immediately, the Emperor's Corpse grew brighter and brighter.

Everyone's expressions changed drastically.

Moon Venerable frowned, plucked a leaf from the peach branch, and flicked it out with a shake of her hand.

The leaf grew larger and larger, and with a whoosh, it enveloped the Emperor's Corpse, wrapping him tightly like a zongzi.

Boom— Another earth-shattering roar reverberated. A terrifying beam of light shot up from the zongzi, piercing the sky and blasting into the ground, creating an incredibly deep chasm.

"Another leaf lost..." Moon Venerable sighed, frowning. "The person who just exploded seemed to be a false emperor from the Northern Emperor's Heavenly Court. Wasn't he dead?"

She was greatly puzzled.

Many Imperial Forest Army soldiers dragged over a coffin made of light. Inside, two women lay side by side, clearly visible without even opening the lid.

One of them was exquisitely beautiful and mesmerizing, though unfortunately, she had already transformed into an energy body.

The other was the Empress. As an ancient god, she still retained her physical body even after death, undissolved by the Dao of Grand Prime.

Qin Mu felt relieved. On the ghost ship, besides everyone's lives, the physical bodies of the Empress and Jie Wuchen were the most crucial.

"Moon Venerable, our state is very unstable," Qin Mu said. "Could we find a secluded place?"

Qin Mu continued, "I need to calm myself and think, to see if I can resolve the difficulties we are currently facing."

Moon Venerable smiled. "Come with me. I happen to have a place in the Primordial Realm where you can stay, without fear of disturbance. Truth be told, Earth Mother Primordial Lord is afraid of me; she would never dare to provoke me there."

Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a flicker of curiosity. "Earth Mother Primordial Lord? What era is it now?"

"The Emperor's Era, of course," Moon Venerable replied, looking back with a smile. "It's been over nineteen thousand years since Southern Emperor ascended the throne. In just a few more years, it will be the Emperor's twentiethousandth year anniversary."

She was overjoyed. "You came at just the right time," she said. "Over these years, my sister Ling and I have managed the Primordial Realm, and it has developed wonderfully."

Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself, "Southern Emperor's reign lasted three hundred thousand years, and it's only twenty thousand years into the Emperor's Era. It's still early before that great upheaval..."

Moon Venerable continued, "This reigning Emperor is the fifteenth Emperor, having held the throne for nearly twenty thousand years. Previous Emperors were often deities from the human race and other acquired races. The various races in our Primordial Realm have developed so rapidly that even the Cloudy River Heavenly Court of old couldn't compare!"

At this point, she grew somewhat melancholic, likely thinking of Cloud Venerable, who had died in battle.

"The fifteenth Emperor?" Qin Mu's hair stood on end. He immediately felt his internal energy becoming unstable and quickly brought his emotions under control.

The fifteenth Emperor, nearly two decades into his reign—didn't that mean the Emperor's Tribulation was very close now?

Spirit Venerable and Moon Venerable were both harmed during this period; Spirit Venerable trapped in an eternal cycle of life and death, and Moon Venerable crippled with broken legs!

Moon Venerable observed him curiously, then quietly reached out and poked his body.

Her hand passed right through Qin Mu's body without encountering anything solid; she only felt an extremely formidable energy.

"Sister Moon, please stop," Qin Mu said helplessly.

Moon Venerable withdrew her hand, but after a moment, she couldn't resist poking him again. Qin Mu said helplessly, "Seriously, stop. It doesn't hurt, but it feels very strange."

Moon Venerable stopped being mischievous and looked back. She saw Wei Suifeng leading tens of thousands of Imperial Forest Army soldiers carrying the Empress's coffin, following behind. In the distance, Dragon Sovereign, the seven Dragon Lords, and Feng Qiuyun watched from afar.

"Aren't they coming along?" Moon Venerable asked curiously.

Qin Mu waved his hand and called out loudly, "Dragon Sovereign, Sister Qiuyun, come along. Only I can undo this divine ability; without me, you could explode at any moment."

Dragon Sovereign, helpless, said in a low voice, "Let's follow them!"

Feng Qiuyun also hesitated, gazing at the sky of the Primordial Realm. To the north, a Heavenly Court crafted from pure divine gold floated above the Primordial Wood—that was Earth Mother Primordial Lord's Northern Emperor's Heavenly Court.

"I am in that Heavenly Court," Feng Qiuyun thought to herself as she followed the main group. A strange feeling arose in her heart: that another version of herself existed in this world. "Yet, I can only betray Earth Mother Primordial Lord and follow Shepherd Venerable all the way into the abyss. What truly despairing helplessness this is!"