Chapter 1250: Breaking the Void

At that moment, Bai Yuqiong noticed that God Emperor Hao had suddenly gained an additional Celestial Palace! Previously, he had twenty-eight Celestial Palaces, but now he possessed twenty-nine! Not only that, Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun’s Celestial Palace had also increased by one, also reaching twenty-nine!

Although Qin Mu had anticipated this outcome, he hadn't expected Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun's Celestial Palace to also increase. This clearly indicated that God Emperor Hao possessed two Grand Celestial Court cultivation methods! While other Heavenly Venerables found it time-consuming and arduous to comprehend even one, he had comprehended two—one for himself and one for his Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun!

Emperor Kai’s defeat at his hands was justified. The Grand Emperor’s defeat was also justified. With the appearance of this additional Celestial Palace, the Grand Emperor immediately felt the pressure. An additional Celestial Palace might seem like a mere quantitative increase, but it represented a significant qualitative leap for cultivation methods.

Cultivating Emperor's Throne cultivation methods was already incredibly difficult, reserved only for prodigiously talented divine arts practitioners. However, cultivating two or three such methods was exponentially harder, almost ten or even dozens of times more difficult than a single Emperor's Throne method! Furthermore, integrating two or three Emperor's Throne cultivation methods escalated the difficulty even further. Cultivating and integrating were two distinct challenges, with vastly different levels of difficulty.

Integrating eighteen Emperor's Throne cultivation methods constituted a Grand Celestial Court cultivation method, and Qin Mu was already on the verge of achieving it. At that stage, attempting to integrate even one more Emperor's Throne method would increase the difficulty by several, or even dozens, of times! This was an exponential increase. After integrating over twenty Emperor's Throne cultivation methods, the greatest challenge was not finding new ones, but rather figuring out how to successfully incorporate them.

The Ten Heavenly Venerables of the Celestial Court had spent hundreds of thousands of years, exhausting immeasurable mental and intellectual effort, to reach their current level. The immense hardship and effort they invested were unimaginable to others. This was also why they were unwilling to accept the reforms. Accepting the reforms would mean that all their previous hard work and efforts would be wasted, requiring them to start anew and re-deduce and refine their Grand Celestial Court cultivation methods.

Suddenly, Bai Yuqiong saw that God Emperor Hao and Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun had each gained another Celestial Palace. Now, both their Celestial Courts boasted thirty Celestial Palaces! The structures of these two Celestial Courts were not entirely similar; in addition to the types of Celestial Palaces not being exactly the same, their arrangements also differed. God Emperor Hao’s Celestial Court was dominated by the Primordial Celestial Palace, with other palaces subservient to it, forming a Grand Celestial Court system where Primordial Qi coordinated the other palaces. Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun’s Celestial Court was led by the Guixu Celestial Palace. Unlike mere subservience, the Guixu Celestial Palace enslaved and devoured the power of the other palaces!

“God Emperor Hao is truly blessed,” Bai Yuqiong couldn't help but marvel, thinking that only God Emperor Hao could achieve such a feat in the current era; other Heavenly Venerables lacked his specific talent. Only he possessed the bloodlines of Heavenly Emperor Taichu and Lady Yuanmu, and the Primordial and Guixu Celestial Palaces were uniquely capable of suppressing and coordinating other palaces. This was likely the reason why God Emperor Hao’s cultivation and foundational strength surpassed those of other Heavenly Venerables.

Just as she pondered this, another Celestial Palace suddenly emerged behind both God Emperor Hao and Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun, completely putting the Grand Emperor at a disadvantage! Facing the pincer attack from Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun and God Emperor Hao, the Grand Emperor had initially been able to completely suppress God Emperor Hao. However, once God Emperor Hao’s twenty-nine Celestial Palaces formed his Celestial Court, the Grand Emperor could only fight him on equal terms. Now, with the appearance of thirty Celestial Palaces, he found himself in a suppressed state. Nevertheless, he was still the Grand Emperor; even facing such a disadvantage, he managed to hold his ground.

“God Emperor Hao, let me show you the Thirty-Sixth Heaven of the Divine Consciousness Path! The Divine Consciousness Grand Luo Heaven!” The Grand Emperor’s divine consciousness erupted once more. As the Divine Consciousness Grand Luo Heaven appeared, an incredibly profound zither melody emanated from the strings of light thousands of miles away. The Daoist sounds played, becoming exceptionally beautiful. Everyone within the strings of light fell silent, captivated by the enchanting melody.

Looking through the strings of light, they saw the Divine Consciousness Grand Luo Heaven, an ultimate domain seemingly composed of pure Great Dao, its entirety cast from jade, resembling a Jade Capital formed by the Great Dao itself. Within the Grand Luo Heaven, magnificent treasure trees formed from condensed Divine Consciousness Great Dao shone brilliantly. Dao flowers bloomed on these trees, and fruits began to form. From afar, Qin Mu's primordial spirit observed that the treasure trees in the Grand Emperor’s Divine Consciousness Grand Luo Heaven had formed, and the Dao flowers had bloomed, but the Dao fruits had not yet matured.

Qin Mu wondered, “Is the reason the Grand Emperor’s Grand Luo Divine Consciousness Dao fruit hasn’t matured because he borrowed the sacrificial power of other Creation Masters during his cultivation?” A shiver of apprehension ran through Qin Mu as he considered this. After Emperor Kai had slain Ming Fangyu, the Eleventh Heavenly Venerable and another identity of the Grand Emperor, Qin Mu, Lang Wo, and Shu Jun had foolishly attempted to capture and refine the Grand Emperor’s divine consciousness. They had divided the Grand Emperor’s divine consciousness into three portions, with each of them receiving one. Lang Wo used her share to strengthen her divine consciousness, Shu Jun used his to bolster his physical body, while Qin Mu had left his portion untouched.

In truth, he had always wanted to use this portion of the Grand Emperor’s divine consciousness to enhance his own cultivation and strength, but he had vaguely felt that doing so would leave hidden dangers. Now, it seemed the Grand Emperor’s divine consciousness was a potent poison: it would strengthen one's power in the early stages, but in the later stages, it would inevitably prevent one from reaching the highest realm of the Dao. Qin Mu mused, “When the Grand Emperor’s divine consciousness attacked us from the Grand Luo Heaven back then, yet failed to overcome us, was he deliberately poisoning us?”

A shiver ran down Qin Mu's spine. However, he also realized how formidable Emperor Kai's Dao realm path was. While the Grand Emperor hadn't fully cultivated this path and thus hadn't formed a Dao fruit, Emperor Kai, if he continued his cultivation, would undoubtedly refine the Sword Dao Grand Luo Heaven and form a Sword Dao Dao fruit!

God Emperor Hao remained composed. Even as the Grand Emperor revealed his Divine Consciousness Grand Luo Heaven, God Emperor Hao’s Celestial Court gained yet another Celestial Palace, further boosting his cultivation and strength! Soon, his Celestial Palaces numbered thirty-three, matching the Grand Emperor’s Divine Consciousness Grand Luo Heaven without the slightest inferiority! Moreover, Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun also reached thirty-three Celestial Palaces!

The combat power of these three giants was so immense that even the world of Tai Xu could not withstand it. Previously, the void here had merely collapsed, leading to a disorder of consciousness that formed the void. Now, it had directly transformed into a complete absence of void! Bai Yuqiong’s expression drastically changed. She quickly retreated with her lantern. Though Qin Mu, hidden within the strings of light, was not affected by the shattered void or the aftermath of the divine arts, he clearly saw that the Tai Xu land was being drawn closer! This was due to the void’s annihilation!

The immense power of the Grand Emperor, God Emperor Hao, and Divine Weapon Yu Tianzun caused the collapsed void to completely shatter. A large section of the void in their battleground simply vanished! Furthermore, he saw that the spatial passages diligently constructed by the Celestial Court's divine and devil armies were also disappearing! Soon, the Southern Emperor Divine Artifact and the Western Emperor Divine Artifact, used to suppress the collapsing void, appeared before their eyes! Moreover, Qin Mu gazed intently and even saw the Eastern Emperor Divine Artifact and the entrance to Tai Xu! Looking behind him, he saw the Northern Emperor Divine Artifact and the land of Tai Xu! A third of Tai Xu’s void had been annihilated by these three powerful individuals!

At this moment, amidst the surging light from the Celestial Court behind God Emperor Hao, a thirty-fourth Celestial Palace emerged!