Chapter 1270: Reducing Its Name, Destroying Its Form

When Haotian Venerable touched these rays of light, it was as if he had been struck by lightning. His primordial spirit within the Divine Consciousness Great Overarching Heaven trembled incessantly, as the Seven-Souls Grass drew even more energy from him.

This Seven-Souls Grass was a sacred artifact of the Creator. At this moment, it appeared to be almost full, emitting a milky white glow throughout its body, unable to absorb any more.

The Seven-Souls Grass flew out of the Divine Consciousness Great Overarching Heaven, emerged from Haotian Venerable's brow, and swiftly burrowed into the ground, vanishing without a trace.

"Little grass, you're truly useless,"

Qin Mu, now in the form of Earth Count, strode forward, his body emanating vast demonic energy. With a lift of his hand, the Youdu Grand Dao transformed into the Nether River, which then became a long whip. With a loud crack, it struck Haotian Venerable, sending him spinning like a top. He twirled around within the Youdu great array, repeatedly colliding with beams of demonic light.

Within the Divine Consciousness Great Overarching Heaven, black smoke billowed from Haotian Venerable's soul. This whip was a whip for striking the soul and the primordial spirit, and the demonic light was also meant to refine the soul and primordial spirit. Qin Mu was clearly leveraging Youdu's unique environment to refine Haotian Venerable's primordial spirit and soul.

Qin Mu continued to lash out with the whip, striking repeatedly. Haotian Venerable had no means of escape, and the damage to his primordial spirit grew increasingly severe. While his primordial spirit could still endure within the Grand Emperor's Divine Consciousness Great Overarching Heaven, Qin Mu's additional attacks specifically targeting his primordial spirit made him feel it rapidly weakening.

Qin Mu's objective was not to destroy Haotian Venerable's primordial spirit by his own power, nor could he. Even with a dozen more Seven-Souls Grasses, he wouldn't be able to completely drain the energy from Haotian Venerable's primordial spirit.

Qin Mu's goal was to weaken his primordial spirit, allowing the Grand Emperor's Divine Consciousness Great Overarching Heaven to finish him off.

Haotian Venerable felt a profound sense of fear. Qin Mu's intelligence was terrifyingly profound, as he utilized every available power solely to bring about Haotian Venerable's demise.

An even greater crisis was that his cultivation was becoming difficult to suppress.

If this continued, the chaotic energy within him would surely shatter him to pieces and scatter his soul.

He dispersed another Celestial Palace, then another. Within a brief moment, Haotian Venerable directly dispersed ten Celestial Palaces, no longer clinging to that cultivation.

After dispersing these Celestial Palaces, the feeling of being on the verge of exploding eased slightly.

His heart bled, knowing that dispersing these Celestial Palaces meant he didn't know when he could cultivate them back. However, it was precisely by dispersing them that he gained a slight moment of respite.

With a deafening roar, he shattered a massive black pillar and forcefully escaped from the Youdu great array.

Behind him, Qin Mu raised his mountain-sized fist and slammed it into Haotian Venerable's back, knocking him to the ground and sending him tumbling and rolling into the distance.

The Nether River whip swept towards him. Haotian Venerable, caught mid-air, was struck, bleeding from all seven orifices, spinning wildly as blood splattered from his orifices and circled his body repeatedly.

As Qin Mu pulled back the whip and prepared for another strike, his massive head stretched forward. The Earth Count vertical eye on his brow opened, and countless brilliant, butterfly-wing-shaped Dao markings overflowed from it.

A thick, pillar-like beam of demonic light shot straight out, piercing through Haotian Venerable's body, pinning him to the ground, and pushing his body forward for hundreds of miles, smashing through one mountain after another.

The mountains, struck by the demonic light, were directly sliced in half.

Suddenly, Haotian Venerable's form vanished again. He had activated his Innate One Qi to escape from the Primordial Void Youdu to the Primordial Void Land.

"Escape? Can you escape from the palm of my hand?"

Qin Mu, still in the form of Earth Count, sprinted forward, crashing from the Primordial Void Youdu into the Primordial Void Land within a few strides. His body then shifted from Earth Count to Heaven Duke, and he raised his hands high. Suddenly, countless stars appeared in the sky.

The stars grew larger and larger, seemingly drawing closer to the Primordial Void Land. As massive as dippers, they arranged themselves in the sky, forming various Heavenly Dao treasures such as dippers, umbrellas, seals, crystals, fans, ladles, covers, and drivers. They then unleashed a barrage upon Haotian Venerable, who had yet to stop his movement.

The forty-nine types of Heavenly Dao treasures continuously rained down, shaking the earth. Mushroom clouds rose one after another, each separated by hundreds of miles, creating a truly spectacular sight.

In the Celestial Court's grand camp, the divine beings of the Heavenly Eye Divine Race looked on, their expressions changing drastically. They urgently reported to the lords of each city, shouting, "Something terrible has happened! Heavenly Venerable Mu is chasing and attacking Haotian Venerable! He's been fighting him from Youdu all the way to the Primordial Void Land, spanning thousands of miles!"

The top experts guarding the divine cities were all from the Celestial Court, including Heavenly Masters, Heavenly Kings, and the Four Emperors. Upon hearing the report, they scoffed, "Nonsense! Heavenly Venerable Mu is but a child, merely relying on his status to swindle and deceive. How could he possibly have the strength to kill Haotian Venerable? A single sneeze from Haotian Venerable would finish him off!"

"It's true!"

The Celestial Court generals in the array ascended the city walls or floated high in the sky to observe. When they saw Qin Mu relentlessly pursuing Haotian Venerable from afar, they exchanged bewildered glances, their faces turning ashen.

The scene indeed showed Qin Mu in pursuit of Haotian Venerable.

The disparity in cultivation between Qin Mu and Haotian Venerable was immense, far more than a thousand miles. Yet, at this moment, Haotian Venerable was utterly defenseless under Qin Mu's relentless pursuit, reduced to nothing but desperate flight, unable even to escape.

The Celestial Court generals were terrified and at a loss.

Witnessing Haotian Venerable being brutally beaten by Qin Mu meant certain death for those who saw it. Haotian Venerable had lost face in front of the Celestial Court's grand camp, which was likely more unbearable for him than death itself. It was easy to imagine the fate awaiting anyone who knew this secret.

"Seal off the news!"

The Celestial Court generals simultaneously harbored the same thought: they absolutely had to seal off the news, preventing it from spreading throughout the entire army. Haotian Venerable was the face of the Celestial Court. While the humiliation to his Dao heart was a minor concern, the morale of the Celestial Court was a far greater matter.

If the various armies developed fear of Qin Mu, or if Haotian Venerable, in order to save face, decided to eliminate those armies, it would be a tremendous blow to the Celestial Court.

"This matter must be reported to Heavenly Venerable Huo and Heavenly Venerable Xu!"

As soon as this second thought emerged in their minds, they immediately set off to inform Heavenly Venerable Huo and Heavenly Venerable Xu. However, both Heavenly Venerables were severely wounded and were currently healing in seclusion, not receiving visitors.

The generals waited for a moment, but receiving no summons from Heavenly Venerable Huo or Heavenly Venerable Xu, they became as anxious as ants on a hot pan, pacing back and forth.

"We should go rescue Haotian Venerable first!"

Suddenly, the White Emperor of the Western Heavens exclaimed, "If we let Heavenly Venerable Mu continue, Haotian Venerable will surely be doomed!"

The Green Emperor of the Eastern Heavens glanced at him and said, "Excellent idea, Fellow Daoist White Emperor. You should hurry and rescue Haotian Venerable; we'll follow shortly."

The White Emperor hesitated, pondering, "This fellow belongs to Heavenly Venerable Xiao's lineage. Why is he so eager for me to rescue Haotian Venerable? Ah, that's right! If I go rescue Haotian Venerable, knowing he was beaten so badly by Heavenly Venerable Mu, I'll surely be doomed!"

He said no more. The other Heavenly Kings and Heavenly Masters also exchanged glances, each lost in thought.

After a moment, Second Heavenly Master Meng Yungui coughed lightly and said, "Let each of us dispatch a major general to pursue Heavenly Venerable Mu. As for anything else, we know nothing."

They exchanged glances and nodded silently.

Just then, a Heavenly Eye Divine General rushed in to report, "Disaster! Heavenly Venerable Haotian has been struck by Heavenly Venerable Mu and sent flying into the city!"

The Heavenly Masters, Heavenly Kings, and the Green and White Emperors gasped in shock, their hearts turning cold. Haotian Venerable's reputation, they feared, was utterly ruined.

"What are we to do?" Meng Yungui murmured, feeling a profound sense of powerlessness in his heart.