Chapter 1253: Impending Disaster

The Celestial Palace behind the four exploded with crackling sounds, and countless buildings within the Celestial Heaven Palace crumbled. Dazzling divine light enveloped an area of 100,000 miles. Even Qin Mu and Bai Yuqiong could only discern shifting shadows moving with lightning speed within the light, unable to clearly see what was truly happening.

"The Third Divine Eye!" Qin Mu immediately opened the vertical eye on his forehead, activating it with all his might to peer into the center of the divine light. He trembled with excitement, his fists clenched tightly.

Unable to discern the details within the light, Bai Yuqiong stopped observing the battle and carefully manipulated her lantern to control the light string. Seeing Qin Mu's state, she secretly shook her head, thinking, "How can the esteemed Celestial Venerable Mu be so curious? He's like a moth to a flame... No, more like a silly roe deer in the snow, bound to be killed by his own curiosity sooner or later!" She resolved to inform him of this weakness once he had satisfied his curiosity.

As Bai Yuqiong pondered this, she suddenly froze. "Celestial Venerable Mu is clearly an enemy," she thought. "Why would I tell an enemy his weakness? Wouldn't it be better for me if he died?" Panic welled up in her heart, which could only mean that her stance was slowly shifting.

Previously, she viewed herself as a Heavenly Master of the Celestial Heaven, always acting in its best interests. Even as a sworn enemy of Black Emperor Yin Tianzi, she had never contemplated betraying the Celestial Heaven. Since meeting Qin Mu, she had harbored murderous intentions towards him on more than one occasion, but had never acted on them. However, after learning about the conflict between Fire Celestial Venerable and Qin Mu, and after her visit to the Southern Heaven, she gradually came to understand Qin Mu. This understanding subtly led her to side with him.

While she had never explicitly judged which was right or wrong, or superior or inferior, regarding Fire Celestial Venerable's Southern Heaven and Qin Mu's Yankang, she had already made her internal judgment. She didn't believe she was the reincarnation of the Southern Emperor's soul, but she had always identified as human. It was from the perspective of humanity that she decided to side with Qin Mu.

As she realized all this, she suddenly felt relieved and smiled. As a Heavenly Master, she was a Heavenly Master of humanity, not of the Celestial Heaven.

Qin Mu, with his vertical eye open, finally caught sight of the changes at the center of the light. Aided by Celestial Venerable Yue's qin strings, countless miniature Qin Mus diligently worked in his dreamscape, accelerating the deciphering of Dao sounds, perfecting Primordial Qi, and breaking down the Grand Initial Dao runes. If he could fully decipher the Grand Initial Dao runes on the eggshell, he would effectively gain half of the Grand Initial Dao, potentially even more than what Emperor of Heaven Grand Initial himself obtained. Furthermore, his innate Celestial Palace was rapidly growing and taking shape; pavilions and towers rose from the ground, countless bricks and pillars flew into place, and divine palaces and temples automatically formed. His Divine Consciousness Celestial Palace also became more complete and magnificent due to the battle between Grand Emperor and Celestial Venerable Hao. Though others might not admit it, Qin Mu was undoubtedly the greatest beneficiary of this battle.

The moment he clearly discerned the scene within the light, several more figures suddenly appeared. Qin Mu saw sword light instantly filling the heavens and earth, boundless sacred flames consuming everything, the cold and emotionless Lang Wo, and Celestial Venerable Xu, enveloped in darkness and volcanic flames.

Kai Huang's sword pierced Celestial Venerable Hao, and his thirty-four heavens' sword domain erupted, its sharp light nearly tearing Celestial Venerable Hao apart! Fire Celestial Venerable ambushed Kai Huang; his unprecedented flame domain was more terrifying than the Southern Emperor's birthplace, even melting the Carefree Sword, which dripped molten divine metal. Even Kai Huang's physical body, primordial spirit, and his sword Celestial Palace were ignited by Fire Celestial Venerable's unmatched fury. Goddess Lang Wo ambushed Grand Emperor, and Celestial Venerable Xu attacked Consort Qiang. However, being enemies and in such close proximity, they attacked each other almost simultaneously. Both women were struck nearly at the same time, while also striking Consort Qiang and Grand Emperor respectively.

Severely wounded, Celestial Venerable Hao struggled to escape Kai Huang's sword, flying into the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu's body for shelter. However, the one-armed Grand Emperor charged forward, enduring various attacks, and with his remaining arm, shattered the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu into pieces with a single punch.

Through the light string, Qin Mu watched, wide-eyed, clapping his hands in applause. The sheer number of dazzling changes that occurred in such a short time, and the astonishing transformations of various divine arts, left him breathless.

"But the qin music is gradually becoming chaotic," Qin Mu sighed, feeling quite regretful.

The chaotic battle among the Celestial Venerable-level beings, with their divine power fluctuations impacting Celestial Venerable Yue's qin strings, caused the music to become chaotic. Previously, in the battle between Grand Emperor and Celestial Venerable Hao, the divine consciousness abilities and Primordial Qi they used were all derived from the Grand Initial Dao. Though there was minor interference from the Dao of Returning to the Ruins then, the interference was now overwhelming. With the current chaotic music, it was difficult to discern which melodies corresponded to Primordial Qi, which to the Dao of the Sword, and which to the Dao of Divine Consciousness.

Nevertheless, Qin Mu was quite content. "The eight Celestial Venerables are fighting; we have to leave!" Bai Yuqiong's exasperated voice rang out. Qin Mu quickly pleaded, "Let's watch a bit longer..." "Watch what, you dimwit!" Bai Yuqiong retorted, furious. "Go home and watch your brother Qin Fengqing! Even Master Yue's qin strings can't withstand the power of eight Celestial Venerable-level beings. If we don't leave now, we'll all die here!"

Qin Mu hastily dispersed his dream-state enlightenment and looked around, seeing the light string's fluctuations becoming increasingly frantic and its amplitude growing. It was indeed as Bai Yuqiong had said; the string could no longer hold. Bai Yuqiong retracted the light string. The now shortened string continuously vibrated, evading terrifying aftershocks, and rapidly sped towards the Grand Void.

Qin Mu glanced at Lan Yutian, who was still in a state of enlightenment, seemingly comprehending something profound. He looked down and saw that most of the collapsing void had been annihilated. Numerous Celestial Heaven divine armies were desperately fleeing towards the Grand Void. Towering ships flew rapidly, and war chariots advanced madly, crushing countless of their own people along the way. In addition, divine demon generals were driving the divine artifacts of the Northern Emperor and Western Emperor, charging along the void pathway. Soldiers unable to evade them were directly trampled to death and shattered by the two divine artifacts.

"When disaster strikes, the supposedly high and mighty gods and demons are actually not much different from ordinary people," Qin Mu couldn't help but think with a touch of irony. "How laughable that you still consider yourselves superior and arrogant."

Suddenly, the light string rapidly retracted, transforming into a lantern in Bai Yuqiong's hand. She held the lantern aloft, its light illuminating the three as they sped along, getting closer to the Grand Void. The fluctuations reaching them were no longer too strong, but the truly terrifying aspect was the collapsing and annihilating void. The energy unleashed by the void's annihilation was incredibly fearsome; without the lantern, even Bai Yuqiong would not have been able to endure for long.

Finally, Bai Yuqiong led them, rushing into the Grand Void and descending from high in the sky. "The Grand Void might also collapse," Qin Mu said in a deep voice. "Let's head to the Void Bridge first!"

At that moment, they saw numerous corpsewalkers leaping straight down from beyond the heavens, transforming into blazing streaks of fire in mid-air as they plummeted into the Grand Void. "These corpsewalkers contain a vast amount of divine consciousness from the collapsing void within their bodies," Qin Mu said, startled.

Boom— The sky violently shook, and something the size of a planet fell from the sky of the Grand Void, plummeting with a roar. Qin Mu, with his sharp eyesight, was startled: "The head of the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu! Wait, that person is Celestial Venerable Hao!" He saw Celestial Venerable Hao sprawled across the nose of the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu's head.

Boom, boom, boom— More loud thuds reverberated. Fire Celestial Venerable and Kai Huang, covered in blood, departed, each wounded. Celestial Venerable Xu and Goddess Lang Wo were also mutually wounded and fled. Only Grand Emperor and Consort Qiang were nowhere to be seen. Qin Mu was momentarily stunned, then suddenly grew excited. "Heavenly Master Bai, I have a bold idea!" "Don't even think about it!" Bai Yuqiong flatly refused. Qin Mu seemed not to have heard, continuing excitedly, "Let's pursue Celestial Venerable Hao! Strike him while he's down and take his life!"