Chapter 1407: Breaking the Calamity

Qin Mu’s heart immediately clenched. The powerful being from the previous universe had just offered the greatest temptation!

Emperor Xuan's dream was to become the leader of the Ten Celestials, an enlightened being. However, the Dao Fruit of the powerful entity in the coffin offered something even more precious than his dream: to live into the next cosmic epoch!

If Emperor Xuan yielded to him, he could not only become the head of the Ten Celestials and a Heavenly Emperor, imprinting his Great Dao on the ultimate void and entrusting his divine consciousness there, but also survive the universe's destruction, living for another cosmic year!

How immense was this temptation?

Qin Mu genuinely worried that Emperor Xuan would accept this temptation and become a pawn for the powerful being from the previous epoch.

Qin Mu suddenly said, "Emperor, since we are here in the fragments of the Great Luo Heaven from the prehistoric era, why don't we take a look around?"

Emperor Xuan's eyes flickered as he looked at Qin Mu, who returned his gaze.

As if by a mischievous spirit, Emperor Xuan nodded and chuckled, "Indeed. The Great Luo Heaven was a place we always dreamed of visiting. Although this isn't the true Great Luo Heaven, just fragments, it's still good to see it."

The two left the massive coffin and walked side-by-side. Qin Mu meticulously observed the Great Luo Heaven fragments and touched the void with his hand. With a slight press, a palm print appeared in the Great Luo Heaven fragment, slowly vanishing after a moment.

He then activated his vital qi, attempting to imprint several Great Dao runes. They indeed appeared on the Great Luo Heaven, but his imprints soon faded away.

However, when his Great Dao runes were imprinted there, he felt his Dao heart resonate with this part of the Great Luo Heaven, experiencing a sensation of "heaven's will is my will"!

Not only that, he had an even stranger feeling.

With the Great Dao runes imprinted, he felt "my Dao endures, as long as the universe itself"!

"Heaven's will is my will, my Dao endures"—this was the profound wonder of the Great Luo Heaven.

Unfortunately, when he tried to perceive it deeply, he felt his Dao heart become immensely defiled and turbid, making it impossible to sense the mysteries of the Great Luo Heaven. The feeling of "heaven's will is my will, my Dao endures" also quickly vanished as the imprints disappeared.

Qin Mu tried imprinting with his divine consciousness, and it also appeared, but quickly faded.

A profoundly strange feeling arose in his heart: the Great Luo Heaven was like a self-recovering impression pad that could be molded into different forms.

However, this was merely a fragment of the Great Luo Heaven. What did the true Great Luo Heaven look like? Could it also be imprinted this way?

Emperor Xuan was also attempting to explore the mysteries of the Great Luo Heaven, but even with his formidable power, he couldn't permanently imprint his Great Dao there.

His Dao heart was weaker and his Dao realm shallower, yet his power was so immense that his imprints lasted longer than Qin Mu's.

"The Great Luo Heaven of the ultimate void is truly wondrous," Emperor Xuan mused. "I feel that if I imprint my Great Dao here, I will become eternal and indestructible. Even if someone kills me, destroys my body, my divine consciousness, my primordial spirit, or even everything about me, I still won't die."

Emperor Xuan sighed with deep emotion, "The Grand Emperor could remain unyielding even after death, thanks to the function of his divine consciousness in the Great Luo Heaven. Founding Emperor Qin Ye is still remarkable; although the Grand Emperor grasped the Dao, he didn't understand its underlying principles. Only Founding Emperor pioneered the Dao Realm method, which can benefit future generations."

Qin Mu smiled and asked, "Does the Emperor envy the reforms? Envy the Founding Emperor?"

Emperor Xuan shook his head, hesitated, then nodded.

With a rather self-assured expression, he said, "The Founding Emperor did create the Dao Realm, complementing the deficiencies of the Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court system. However, he started from the perspective of the Dao, which doesn't mean the Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court system was wrong."

Qin Mu was slightly taken aback and looked at him, humbly asking, "Emperor, why do you say that?"

"He achieves enlightenment through the Dao, continuously improving himself with the Dao Realm and Dao heart, ultimately reaching the point of imprinting upon the ultimate void and cultivating the Sword Dao Great Luo Heaven."

Emperor Xuan continued unhurriedly, "Just now, I used my own power to try and imprint the Great Luo Heaven. Although I didn't succeed, I saw the hope of achieving enlightenment. The Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court system emphasizes power; once one cultivates to the Great Heavenly Court realm, one can achieve enlightenment through sheer force!"

With immense pride, he declared loudly, "There's no need to comprehend any 'heaven's will' or sense any 'my Dao endures'! Once I cultivate the Great Heavenly Court, my power will be so formidable that I'll directly imprint myself upon the Great Luo Heaven, whether it likes it or not!"

Qin Mu was dumbfounded. After a moment, he praised, "Emperor, you are truly brilliant."

Emperor Xuan smiled slightly and said, "The Founding Emperor is also brilliant, no weaker than me."

Qin Mu burst into laughter.

Emperor Xuan knew that "no weaker than me" was his catchphrase, which was why he said it.

Qin Mu laughed for a long time, then suddenly stopped, his tone shifting as he calmly asked, "Emperor, when do you plan to kill me for sacrifice?"

Emperor Xuan smiled faintly, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, why would you say such a thing? When did I ever intend to kill you as a sacrifice to please that old monster from the previous cosmic epoch? I am one of the Ten Celestials, and I've also discovered the possibility of achieving enlightenment through power. Why would I kill you for sacrifice?"

"My Dao heart is transparent," Qin Mu said earnestly. "Standing by my side, anyone who harbors even a slight killing intent towards me will have it reflected in my Dao heart."

Qin Mu stated seriously, "Just now, before that coffin, when the prehistoric entity made its proposal, you were already preparing to act against me. Your killing intent was reflected in my Dao heart."

Emperor Xuan asked with curiosity, "The Dao Realm has such a function? That's truly miraculous. Founding Emperor is remarkable."

Qin Mu smiled, "The Founding Emperor possessed a clear sword heart. While his sword heart was strong, he might not have been able to achieve what I did."

Emperor Xuan's heart trembled slightly. "So, you invited me to explore the mysteries of the Great Luo Heaven just now to use this opportunity to make me abandon my killing intent?"

Qin Mu nodded.

Emperor Xuan sighed, "The Dao Realm can achieve such a feat. It seems cultivating only the Heavenly Palace to achieve enlightenment through power is insufficient. To advance further, the Dao Realm's assistance is still needed. Heavenly Venerable Mu, how do you think I would kill you?"

Qin Mu pondered for a moment, then said, "Ordinary methods would find it difficult to kill me completely. Although my power is inferior to yours, I possess many life-saving abilities. Especially the Immutability divine art—when you try to kill me, you'd have to beware of me pulling you into the great strangeness of immutable matter. Therefore, the simplest way for you to eradicate me would be to throw me into the prehistoric era as a sacrifice."

Emperor Xuan clapped his hands in approval, "That is indeed a good method! In the Great Destruction of the prehistoric universe, matter ceases to exist. If I threw you in, you would be ground into a mass of energy, ceasing to be! Even if someone possessed soul-summoning and soul-shaping arts like you, they wouldn't be able to recall your soul's black sand. This is indeed the best way to completely eliminate you. And throwing you into the prehistoric era is quite easy; one end of this Great Luo Heaven fragment is directly within the Great Destruction of the prehistoric universe. I just need to give you a slight push, and you'll fall in."

Qin Mu fell silent.

"But I won't kill you. At least not for now."

Emperor Xuan burst into laughter, turned, and walked towards the coffin resting on the altar. He calmly said, "Your transparent Dao heart still cannot reflect a Celestial Venerable's thoughts, Heavenly Venerable Mu. You think too highly of yourself. I have already comprehended the path of achieving enlightenment through power, so I don't need guidance from the prehistoric entity, nor do I need to kneel or worship him!"

The moment he turned and left, Qin Mu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

In Qin Mu's Dao heart, Emperor Xuan's killing intent towards him had finally completely vanished!

From inviting Emperor Xuan to explore this fragment of the Great Luo Heaven to asking him when he would be killed, every action and word from Qin Mu had been aimed at thoroughly dispelling Emperor Xuan's murderous intent towards him!

Because, when the entity within the Dao Fruit spoke those words to Emperor Xuan, Emperor Xuan had indeed harbored murderous intent towards Qin Mu!

Extremely strong murderous intent!

At that moment, Emperor Xuan truly wished to kneel before the entity in the Dao Fruit, genuinely wanted to learn its method of becoming a god, truly desired to become the ruler of the current universe, and genuinely longed to live until the next cosmic epoch!

Only just now had Emperor Xuan's killing intent fully disappeared.

"If I hadn't visited the Nine Underworld Platforms, I would likely be dead by now."

Qin Mu smiled faintly and stepped forward to follow Emperor Xuan. Now, his life was no longer in peril.

The two arrived before the massive coffin. It remained open, filled with swirling divine light. Surrounding the Dao tree within the divine light, a galaxy-like cluster of stars seemed to hang, winding around the dried-up Dao tree.

Emperor Xuan bowed respectfully and chuckled, "Senior from the prehistoric era, your proposal just now was excellent. I have thought it through clearly."

A profound and ancient divine consciousness emanated from the Dao Fruit, "Very good. Only those who know the times are heroes. Your universe is too backward, and your Dao arts and divine powers are too low-level. I will impart my ultimate knowledge to you, which will allow you to instantly become the most powerful being in the current world..."

Emperor Xuan straightened up, cutting him off, and chuckled, "Senior, I now offer you two paths. The first path: go back to your universe and die peacefully. The second path: hand over all your insights to me, then go back to your universe and die peacefully. Which path does Senior wish to take?"

"You!"

The voice from the Dao Fruit roared in fury, "Insignificant ant, how dare you be so disrespectful to me? You should know..."

"It seems you've chosen the first path."

Emperor Xuan burst into laughter. From the Heavenly Court behind his head, his primordial spirit suddenly struck, a divine essence finger piercing into the massive coffin. "However, Senior, I still want you to take the second path! You can go back and die, but your Dao Fruit must remain, because I, Emperor Xuan, desire your Dao Fruit!"

Boom—

A terrifying tremor erupted from within the massive coffin. The prehistoric entity's Dao tree swayed its branches, stars shone brightly, and an incredibly fearsome power burst forth from the Dao Fruit, blocking Emperor Xuan's divine essence finger.

Emperor Xuan roared, repeatedly unleashing his primordial spirit's divine essence finger, one after another.

His enlightenment-level divine art had only this one move. If it were anyone else, they would surely try to evade, but the massive coffin was resting on a wooden altar, half submerged in the Ancestral Court and half still in the prehistoric cosmic epoch, facing the cataclysm of the Great Destruction. It simply couldn't dodge!

Emperor Xuan unleashed countless consecutive strikes. Suddenly, the coffin glowed intensely, and an earth-shattering roar emanated from within. The Dao Fruit on the Dao tree was finally struck down by his divine essence finger!

Emperor Xuan burst into laughter, reached out, and seized the Dao Fruit. He then soared into the air, landing on top of the coffin, and with force from his feet, roared, "Go back and die!"

The massive coffin and the wooden altar vibrated, pushed back into the prehistoric cosmic era. With the Dao Fruit gone from within, the altar and coffin immediately turned to dust in the Great Destruction, utterly annihilated!

Emperor Xuan landed, raised the Dao Fruit, and laughed aloud, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, other Heavenly Venerables, the day of your submission to me is drawing near!"

Qin Mu stood by, smiling faintly, "Congratulations, Emperor."