Chapter 1401: Contested Territory

"Xushenghua is disreputable?" Qin Mu was taken aback, then chuckled after a moment of recovery. "While Xushenghua's cultivation and power might not match mine, he understands the reforms of Eternal Peace more thoroughly than anyone else. Even I am slightly less knowledgeable than him in that regard. If I recommend him to teach you, he can certainly help you comprehend everything in a short time. He excels at integrating diverse ideas and innovating."

Lang Xuan God Emperor shook his head. "If his cultivation and power don't match yours, then he hasn't fully grasped the Eternal Peace reforms. Heavenly Venerate Mu, I know you've always been cunning and sly. There's no need for such petty schemes between us."

Qin Mu sighed helplessly. "If you don't mind my lack of refinement, I can teach you myself."

Lang Xuan God Emperor's eyes flickered. "You know a Heavenly Venerate's insight is extraordinary. If you dare to distort anything, our deal is off! My Divine Essence Finger is indestructible. I only need to leave a divine ability in the Ancestral Court Jade Pool, and if you dare to trespass, I will kill you on the spot!"

Qin Mu chuckled. "Don't worry. Although many people misunderstand me, I'm a good person at heart."

Lang Xuan chuckled, raising his teacup. Qin Mu also raised his, and both drained their cups. Qin Mu then stood up. "Then let's depart for the Ancestral Court now. God Emperor, we can exchange ideas gradually on the journey."

Lang Xuan God Emperor smiled. "I happen to have a fleet of ark ships heading to the Ancestral Court. We can travel together."

Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. "Have the Ten Heavenly Venerates already begun transporting gods and devils to the Ancestral Court?"

"The situation in the Ancestral Court is excellent now," Lang Xuan God Emperor explained without concealment. "There are no longer void beasts wreaking havoc, nor is there the Grand Emperor who could control the void mother beast. The ancient behemoths on the back of the Ancestral Court are also gone. It's a time of peace, perfect for relocating populations to the Ancestral Court. Currently, apart from Heavenly Venerate Xiao's forces, all other Heavenly Venerates have begun moving populations to the Ancestral Court. Moreover, the Celestial Heavens will eventually relocate there too. Does Heavenly Venerate Mu have no plans?"

Qin Mu was indeed greatly moved.

The Ancestral Court, rich in treasures and divine mountains, was a strategic location crucial for dominating the world! Controlling the Ancestral Court meant controlling everything under heaven!

Although Eternal Peace's current strength was modest, it was bound to grow stronger in the future. Not entering the Ancestral Court would be self-sabotage.

However, the Ancestral Court also harbored immense dangers, even greater than those posed by the Ten Heavenly Venerates! Any living being that died there, regardless of race or cultivation level, would become a sacrifice for the ancient monstrous beings from the previous epoch, accelerating their invasion.

"From the current situation, the Ancestral Court's tranquility won't last long," he mused, his eyes glinting. "Temporary peace is maintainable, but in the future, once the Ten Heavenly Venerates eliminate ancient gods like Heaven Duke and Earth Count, they will inevitably turn on each other, vying for cosmic orthodoxy. At that time, I fear the Ancestral Court will become a bloodbath!"

It was inevitable that the Ten Heavenly Venerates' forces would settle in the Ancestral Court, and equally inevitable that the Celestial Heavens would do the same!

"Given this, Eternal Peace must also establish a presence in the Ancestral Court! Missing one opportunity could mean losing everything; Eternal Peace cannot afford to miss any chance!"

He pondered for a moment. With the Ten Heavenly Venerates currently migrating to the Ancestral Court, the region was undoubtedly in a state of chaos, with various factions scrambling for valuable land and habitable areas suitable for development. Eternal Peace needed to go, and it needed to go soon.

After a brief deliberation, he penned a letter and dispatched it to Eternal Peace, instructing it to be delivered to Ling Yuxiu.

Over a month later, Lang Xuan God Emperor had prepared his ark ships. It was a fleet of several hundred vessels, each resembling a floating landmass. These ships even contained city-like structures, capable of housing hundreds of thousands of people!

Furthermore, each ark ship boasted a complete ecosystem, allowing for cultivation and animal husbandry. They even had artificially created suns and moons that rotated around the ships, simulating day and night cycles!

A single such ship could sustain hundreds of thousands of people drifting in the cosmos for thousands of years, even maintaining ecological balance!

This fleet, capable of accommodating 150 million people, was sufficient to support the migration of an entire heaven's population!

Qin Mu couldn't help but marvel at the Heavenly Venerates' financial power. Constructing such a fleet required immeasurable amounts of divine gold and materials; ordinary heavens couldn't possibly afford such an undertaking!

Lang Xuan God Emperor noticed his expression and smiled faintly. "Heavenly Venerate Mu, you are still young and have opportunities ahead of you. There's no need to envy us. By the way, how many people does Eternal Peace plan to send to the Ancestral Court?"

Qin Mu deliberated for a moment. "I've instructed someone to inform Empress Yanxiu to prepare as many people as possible. I'm not sure how many she's managed to ready."

Lang Xuan God Emperor chuckled. "Although Eternal Peace is prosperous and possesses sufficient wealth, its technological expertise in building these ark ships is still lacking. In the world today, the best ships, apart from the rebels' Ark of the Other Shore from Carefree Village, are the Celestial Heavens' grand vessels. There are only two Arks of the Other Shore; their construction exhausted the entire reserves of the Kaihuang Celestial Heavens. However, the Celestial Heavens possesses countless such ark ships!"

Qin Mu knew he was boasting but couldn't refute him, as Eternal Peace couldn't even construct one such grand ship at present.

Just then, a visitor from Eternal Peace arrived in haste, requesting an audience with Qin Mu. A divine official reported, his expression peculiar, "The visitor is a dark-faced man with multiple faces and many arms."

Lang Xuan God Emperor glanced at Qin Mu and smiled. "Invite the Eternal Peace envoy over."

Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly, immediately realizing who the visitor was.

A moment later, the four-faced, eight-armed Heavenly Devil King hurried in, one hand holding a small jade bottle, while his other arms offered salutations to Qin Mu and Lang Xuan God Emperor.

One of his faces spoke, "This humble commoner from Eternal Peace, Dutian, greets Lang Xuan God Emperor!" Another face, however, turned to Qin Mu. "Dutian greets the Cult Master. Cult Master, the Empress has sent me to bring the people of Eternal Peace to accompany you to the Ancestral Court." With four faces, he could look in all directions and converse with different people simultaneously, without any confusion.

Qin Mu chuckled. "Her Majesty is indeed astute to send you. God Emperor, my people have arrived; we can depart now."

Lang Xuan God Emperor sized up the Heavenly Devil King and chuckled. "Is Eternal Peace migrating just one person? And a devil god at that?"

Qin Mu took the jade bottle from Dutian's hand and chuckled. "Eternal Peace lacks such grand ships, so we had no choice but to put the migrating populace into this bottle. We are not as affluent as the God Emperor."

Lang Xuan God Emperor burst into laughter and ascended the ark ship with him.

The Heavenly Devil King stood behind Qin Mu, looking around. After a moment, he couldn't help but remark, "Heavenly Venerate, for this journey to the Ancestral Court, while the Celestial Heavens' ark ships are massive, aren't they inconvenient to maneuver? Such large vessels can't enter the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge."

Lang Xuan God Emperor glanced at him and chuckled. "You have some insight. But you underestimate the Celestial Heavens' financial power. This time, the Celestial Heavens intends to migrate its entire population to the Ancestral Court. If they were to fly there directly, countless gods and devils would collapse from exhaustion along the way. Therefore, the Celestial Heavens' Dao Sect has already gone ahead to the Ancestral Court to design and construct a completely new Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge there. It's a grand bridge."

He couldn't help but sound a little proud as he continued leisurely, "This grand bridge requires eleven large Spirit Energy Transfer Bridges. We eleven Heavenly Venerates each contributed funds to build one. My bridge is nearing completion, located above the Heavenly River outside the South Heaven Gate."

One after another, the massive ark ships slowly set sail, heading towards the area beyond the South Heaven Gate.

Shortly after the fleet departed, countless divine artisans were seen bustling about. Shi Qiluo, from the Zaofu Celestial Palace, was personally overseeing and directing operations.

Above the Heavenly River, an extraordinarily massive altar stood majestically! This pyramid-shaped altar's base astonishingly spanned the entire Heavenly River! Even at its narrowest point in Eternal Peace, where it was called Yongjiang, the Heavenly River was eight hundred *li* wide. Before the Celestial Heavens, its width was even more astounding, reaching ten thousand *li*, with vast, ocean-like azure waves!

This altar served as the base for the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge. Its sheer size was magnificent and breathtaking, even causing Qin Mu's heart to pound with awe and trepidation!

Eight months had passed since the Celestial Heavens decided to open the Ancestral Court, and in such a short time, the Celestial Heavens' Zaofu Celestial Palace had actually constructed such a magnificent structure!

The Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge had been designed by Qin Mu and Black Tiger God. He knew every single piece of data concerning this bridge with absolute clarity.

Those data points were interconnected; changing one required altering all others and recalculating everything.

The Zaofu Celestial Palace had scaled up the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge by a thousandfold. The data modifications alone were an immense undertaking, yet they managed to calculate and construct it in such a short period. The Celestial Heavens' reserves were truly unfathomable!

Lang Xuan God Emperor's fleet arrived before the grand Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge just as the Eleventh Heavenly Venerate, Shi Qiluo, was activating it. Countless runes on the altar lit up, and the entire pyramid-shaped structure seemed to come alive. Layer after layer of its architecture began to rotate in different directions with clanking sounds!

Innumerable runes on and within the altar activated, a truly breathtaking sight!

Around the altar, gods and devils were also activating divine abilities and Dao arts, channeling water from the Heavenly River to cool the colossal structure.

The altar built by the Zaofu Celestial Palace was so immense that when its runes operated, heat was difficult to dissipate. Therefore, the Heavenly River had to be used for cooling to prevent the painstakingly constructed altar from burning out.

Finally, with a thunderous roar, an incredibly bright, massive pillar of light shot up from the apex of the pyramid-shaped altar, piercing through the void and the starry sky before vanishing.

*Boom*—another violent tremor rippled through the air, as another pillar of light shone from the other end of space. Two colossal, funnel-shaped beams of light formed above the Heavenly River! The two light pillars interlocked and connected, sending forth yet another terrifying tremor. Around the altar, countless divine artisans cheered, their voices shaking the heavens, shouting, "The bridge is open! The bridge is open!"

On the ark ship, the Heavenly Devil King watched, dumbfounded, unable to stop himself from praising the Celestial Heavens' magnificent power. He muttered, "The Celestial Heavens, they're truly ridiculously rich..."

Qin Mu and Lang Xuan God Emperor saluted Shi Qiluo from afar. Immediately, the fleet started moving, sailing into the grand Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge.

Once the fleet exited the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge, Qin Mu realized that the other altar was built within the Ancestral Court, not far from the Primordial Jade Pool.

Ark ships slowed down, heading towards the Jade Pool. Along the way, one ship slowly descended, settling among more than ten divine mountains.

As this ark ship settled among the divine mountains, it was as if a magnificent divine city instantly appeared amidst them. Hundreds of thousands of people emerged from the city within, surveying their new dwelling place.

Before long, another ark ship descended, landing by a great river.

Throughout the journey, ark ships continuously descended, making this migration truly eye-opening.

Qin Mu's eyes flickered. He took out Heavenly Venerate Yue's lantern and handed it to the Heavenly Devil King. Then, he retrieved the jade bottle and gave it to him, simultaneously imparting the geographical details of the Ten Thousand Black Mountains of Great Blackwood with a flick of his divine consciousness. "Go to Dutian and let our people from Eternal Peace come out to stretch their legs," he instructed.

The Heavenly Devil King acknowledged the order and swiftly flew away, carrying the jade bottle and the lantern.

Lang Xuan God Emperor chuckled. "How many people can such a tiny bottle hold?"

Qin Mu smiled without answering.

Two days later, the Heavenly Devil King, dusty from his journey, arrived at the Ten Thousand Black Mountains. After greeting Yan'er, he said, "The Cult Master ordered me to bring the Heaven-in-a-Gourd Bottle to relocate Eternal Peace's population."

Yan'er was startled, exclaiming, "You're migrating Eternal Peace's population with a great heaven? Did you really put billions of people from Eternal Peace inside?"

The Heavenly Devil King hastily shook his head. "How could that be? The Cult Master only gave one month, and the Empress only had time to load in three hundred million people, which means the population from several hundred divine cities."

Yan'er was speechless. "Release the people, but don't release them all at once. Although we have many holy mountains, the Ten Thousand Holy Mountains can't accommodate that many people all at once."

Dutian chuckled. "The others can temporarily live inside the Heaven-in-a-Gourd Bottle. This bottle can easily accommodate tens of billions of people."