Chapter 1286: Thieving Ship

Qin Mu quickly stepped forward, examining the ruptured root. He saw nothing unusual about it.

"Who have I offended? As soon as I return, I run into this, not only being shot with so many arrows but now someone wants to take my life..."

He couldn't help but shake his head. Times were tough, and people's hearts had changed for the worse.

The Grand Initial Egg rolled around the section of root, examining it. "That person has indeed vanished. How strange, truly strange!" it said.

Qin Mu slung the divine bow onto his back and was about to leave when his heart stirred. He saw a little girl with two braided pigtails skipping over. She came to the tree root pierced by the divine bow, looked it over, and shook her head with an air of old age, her two braids swinging like rattles.

"Oh, you, you..."

The little girl with pigtails shook her head and sighed, "As soon as you came back, you stirred up all this trouble. Now what should we do?"

Qin Mu eyed the girl suspiciously and tentatively asked, "Grand Change?"

The Grand Initial Egg also recognized the girl and chuckled, "Old Dao brother, why have you taken on this form?"

"Just to make it easier to meet people."

The little girl, Grand Change, said, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you shot through the root, angered that person, and also opened a passage for him. That person will be able to crawl out of the tree root tonight. When he emerges, he'll retrieve his divine weapon and shoot you dead!"

She couldn't help but shake her head and sigh, "He's been trying to crawl out since the universe began, crawling for billions of years, and only managed to get one arm out. But you, you go and clear the passage for him as soon as you arrive. He'll be able to come up tonight!"

Feeling a bit guilty, Qin Mu tentatively asked, "Is this old fellow a being from the previous universe? He sent his bow over first, and now he wants to squeeze from the past into the present?"

The braided-pigtail girl nodded with a serious expression.

"How does he squeeze out of the tree?"

Puzzled, Qin Mu asked for guidance, "I understand mass-energy equivalence, but why does he have to squeeze into this universe specifically through the roots of the Great Blackwood?"

"Because when the previous universe was destroyed, only this tree was immortal."

The little girl, Grand Change, sighed and said, "The matter composing this tree is unchanging, whether it's in this universe, the previous one, or the one before that. So, it left behind a passage, allowing beings from past universes to crawl here through this tree."

Qin Mu understood a little better.

This situation was similar to Heavenly Venerable Ling's unchanging matter divine ability, both involving traversal through the unchanging nature of matter.

"Then why did this tree die?" Qin Mu caught sight of Founding Ancestor and others rushing over and continued to ask.

"I cut it down."

The little girl said casually, "After cutting it down, I also set it on fire."

Qin Mu and the Grand Initial Egg inside it felt their hair stand on end.

The little girl, Grand Change, said, "Grand Initial Dao friend, back then you were still ignorant, without consciousness, and the Creators hadn't even been born. I realized that as long as this World Tree existed, there would be an endless stream of calamities, so I cut it down and set it on fire. I just didn't expect this World Tree still wouldn't die completely."

Qin Mu glanced at the Grand Initial Egg, imagining the Grand Initial Egg was also looking at him at that moment.

"This time, Heavenly Venerable Mu shot an arrow, which instead caused the root of the disaster to appear prematurely."

The little girl, Grand Change, stroked her braids, pondering, "Tonight, this powerful being from the past era will crawl out, reclaim his divine bow, and shoot Heavenly Venerable Mu dead."

Qin Mu's face turned pale. He suddenly laughed heartily, "Doesn't Grand Change Dao brother have that magical water? Can't we just get a bucket of it and seal up the tree root?"

"Do you think that water just appears out of thin air?"

The little girl, Grand Change, rolled her eyes at him and said, "There's only a small bucket of that water per day, and today's is already used up. There's none left."

Qin Mu's face fell.

The little girl, Grand Change, turned to leave and said, "Tonight, you stay here with the bow, waiting for that prehistoric being to descend. When the ground begins to shake violently, that's when he's trying to descend. Wait for the shaking to start, count to several tens, then draw the bow, nock an arrow, and shoot an arrow at that spot. If he doesn't emerge by dawn, he won't be able to come out at all."

Qin Mu's heart felt uneasy. He quickly said, "Dao brother, you..."

"Don't worry, I'll come to help tonight." The little girl quickly vanished without a trace.

Qin Mu gripped the divine bow, composed himself, and felt relieved. "Grand Change is, after all, the oldest ancient god, and has already achieved great transcendence, unlike Grand Initial who is so unreliable. With him here, tonight will surely pass safely."

Founding Ancestor, Mute, and others rushed over. Blind Man asked with concern, "Mu'er, are you hurt? Quickly, let Apothecary examine you!"

Qin Mu gave them a glance and recounted what had just happened, astounding everyone.

Qin Mu looked hopeful and asked, "Who will stand guard here with me tonight?"

Blind Man turned to leave, saying, "We also have important matters. Mute, let's go, we'll continue refining the treasures within the Lapis Lazuli Azure Sky Banner."

Mute followed him, saying, "Exactly. There are too many treasures in the Lapis Lazuli Azure Sky Banner; it will likely take several more years to refine them all completely. Apothecary, don't you still have spirit pills to refine?"

Apothecary hurriedly followed, looking back to say, "Fatty Dragon, Yan'er, come help me start a fire! Yun Jian, what are you little brat joining in for? Your godfather is courting death, do you want to die too?"

The Dragon Qilin hesitated for a moment, then immediately wagged his tail and followed, leaving Qin Mu behind.

Yan'er shoved Heavenly Venerable Yue's lantern into Qin Mu's hand. "Young Master, take care!" she said, and then dashed away.

Qin Mu looked at Founding Ancestor, Yi Shan, Qi Kang, and the other Human Emperors, showing delight. He smiled and said, "Human Emperors take the future of all races as their responsibility, bearing the future of humanity..."

"We are former Human Emperors; we haven't had that responsibility for a long time."

Human Emperor Qi Kang patted his shoulder and said earnestly, "You should take on a disciple and pass the burden to their shoulders, that's what these old folks did back in the day... Come on, let's go, don't disturb Mu'er's peaceful cultivation!"

Founding Ancestor Human Emperor walked last, coming before Qin Mu. He thought for a moment, sighed, shook his head, and then followed the other Human Emperors.

Qin Mu stood there dumbfounded. After a long while, he finally sighed and murmured, "True friendship is seen in times of adversity. Only Grand Initial Dao friend is a true confidant, accompanying me through this."

The Grand Initial Egg struggled fiercely, trying to escape, but Qin Mu's hand held it firmly, preventing it from leaving. It angrily exclaimed, "Qin, you caused this disaster, you should deal with it yourself! Why drag me into it? I haven't even been born yet; I don't have that much power!"

"Only you treat me the best," Qin Mu said sincerely.

Unable to escape, the Grand Initial Egg resigned itself, saying, "I'll stay with you. It'll be good to witness a powerful being from the previous universe."

Qin Mu felt relieved. He scanned his surroundings and chose a high ground.

He went to a broken mountain, sat cross-legged, placed the Grand Initial Egg beside him, and waited quietly.

Seeing this, Grand Initial within the egg knew what Qin Mu was planning: most likely, if he couldn't resist, he would push Grand Initial out to withstand the attack of the powerful being from the previous universe.

"I seem to have made the worst choice. I should have teamed up with Grand Pure to get rid of this little brat. Even if I had emerged early, I wouldn't have to be so terrified and constantly anxious..."

He felt bitter resentment. "Now I'm on a pirate ship, and there's no getting off."

Time passed bit by bit.

Finally, night fell, and darkness descended.

Inside the Great Blackwood's hundred thousand mountains, there was peace. Outside the Great Blackwood, however, the ground shook violently, with sounds of collapse everywhere, presenting a magnificent scene of cosmic destruction!

Qin Mu grew tense. Suddenly, in this valley, the mountains vibrated violently!

He abruptly stood up, immediately unfolded his Divine Treasure domain, his physical body surged, he reached out, grabbed the divine bow, took a deep breath, and drew the bowstring!