Chapter 1408: Damn the Tai Emperor

Emperor Langxuan held the Dao fruit aloft, examining it repeatedly. His heart filled with immense joy. Looking back at Qin Mu, he no longer seemed so detestable; in fact, he appeared somewhat endearing.

"Shepherd Celestial Venerable, work hard under my command!" He couldn't help but chuckle, "I love seeing you, a treacherous minister and jester, forced to curry favor with me!"

Qin Mu kindly reminded him, "Emperor, this Dao fruit contains the divine consciousness of a prehistoric expert. Be careful not to be possessed. If you truly manage to extract the Great Dao of eternal life from this Dao fruit, then serving as your powerful minister or jester would be no big deal." He then burst into laughter.

Langxuan also laughed heartily, saying, "Even though that prehistoric entity has some consciousness hidden in the Dao fruit, as long as it doesn't reside in the ultimate void of our universe, I can control him however I wish. If he can't reach the ultimate void, he's just a soft persimmon."

Seeing his joy, Qin Mu seized the opportunity, "Emperor, look, I helped you repair the Jade Pool, restoring it to its magnificent ancient splendor. I also helped you come here to subdue the Dao fruit, bringing you closer to the ultimate realm. So, regarding your Jade Pool, would it be possible..."

"No," Langxuan said indifferently, putting away the Dao fruit and losing the smile on his face.

Qin Mu quickly added, "What I meant was, given such significant contributions, could Your Majesty permit my divine beings to come and comprehend the Great Dao of the Jade Platform?"

"It'll cost you." Emperor Langxuan said straightforwardly, "Calling me 'Your Majesty' won't help. You blackmailed two-tenths of my Primordial Essence Liquid from me; just thinking about it makes me ache. If you want your people to enter the Jade Platform for comprehension, you'll have to pay."

Qin Mu indignantly asked, "No consideration at all?"

Emperor Langxuan smiled, nodded, and held up two fingers, "If you want your people to come and comprehend the Jade Platform, return two-tenths of the Primordial Essence Liquid to me."

Qin Mu gritted his teeth and held up one finger.

Emperor Langxuan considered it, then smiled, "You just called me 'Your Majesty,' and it sounded pleasant. Very well, you can keep the other tenth."

Qin Mu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Let alone one-tenth of the Primordial Essence Liquid, he would have given it even if Langxuan had demanded two-tenths. Primordial Essence Liquid was a replenishable resource, and though incredibly precious, in his view, it was far less important than cultivating talent for Yankang. Talent was paramount.

"I wonder if Xu Shenghua and Lan Yuantian have finished mapping the Four Heavenly Gates. I must have them come here, not only to comprehend the Jade Pool and cultivate their Dao hearts but also to map out the entire Jade Pool and Jade Platform!" He mused, "Once the Dao realm and Celestial Palace system are unified, I won't have to concern myself with Langxuan's moods anymore."

The two left the fragment of the Great Overarching Heaven. Qin Mu immediately bid farewell and departed. Emperor Langxuan was eager to refine the Dao fruit, so he didn't try to stop him.

"If Emperor Langxuan refines the Dao fruit and gains the knowledge of the previous cosmic epoch contained within it, he might become the most powerful among the Ten Celestial Venerables. However..." As Qin Mu left the Jade Pool, he glanced back, a faint smile playing on his lips. "The Dao fruit isn't that easy to refine. And even if it is refined, what then? Doesn't one still have to cultivate step by step? If he simply takes someone else's Dao fruit and claims it as his own, he won't be much different from Emperor Tai."

A profound calmness settled in his heart, exuding composure. Langxuan's increase in strength was a good thing. Among the Ten Celestial Venerables, Celestial Venerable Hao, Concubine Qiang, and Celestial Venerable Xiao were originally the most likely to contend for ultimate victory. Now, with Emperor Langxuan added to the mix, the already murky waters of the Ten Celestial Venerables would become even more turbid.

"If Heaven Duke dies and Celestial Venerable Hong reaps the greatest benefits, then Celestial Venerable Hong might also need to be included." Qin Mu looked up at the Ancestral Court's sky. Surely Heaven Duke was watching the Ancestral Court now? However, Heaven Duke did not come to see him.

He averted his gaze and thought silently, "I've cast Celestial Venerable Hong's Dao heart into the Nine Prisons. If Celestial Venerable Hong breaks through my Nine Prisons Locked Heart, then even with his lingering personal desires, he will align more closely with the Heart of Heaven and the Heavenly Dao, maintaining a portion of the Heavenly Dao's essence. Even if Heaven Duke dies, we will still be kindred spirits. But if Celestial Venerable Hong fails to break through the Nine Prisons Locked Heart..."

Qin Mu's eyelid twitched. "Then, when Heaven Duke dies, Celestial Venerable Hong might not be the one to gain the most! At that point, he might not be able to contend with Ancestral God King! And then, the murky waters of the Ten Celestial Venerables would include Ancestral God King and Celestial Venerable Hong!"

He no longer held any hope for Heaven Duke. Heaven Duke was fated to die. The moment the declaration to conquer Heaven Duke was issued at the Heavenly Alliance meeting, Heaven Duke was doomed. Meeting Heaven Duke before the Heavenly Alliance meeting would have offered room for maneuver, but now it was unnecessary.

He had locked Celestial Venerable Hong's Dao heart in prison as a precaution for the worst-case scenario. He couldn't allow Celestial Venerable Hong, brimming with ambition and desire, to seize all of Heaven Duke's power and privatize the Heavenly Dao! The Heavenly Dao was selfless; Celestial Venerable Hong's privatization of the Heavenly Dao would be the ultimate betrayal of it!

"What did Grand Emperor say about Heaven Duke succeeding, breaking free from the Heavenly Dao's restraints, and being liberated?" He frowned in thought.

Suddenly, a dazzling light flared up ahead. Qin Mu walked closer and saw Concubine Qiang's territory, where another large spirit energy transfer bridge was being built. Daoists from the Heavenly Court's Dao Sect were hastily packing their belongings, rushing to another location. Numerous Heavenly Court battleships soared out from this new spirit energy transfer bridge, fully laden with divine beings and cultivators from Concubine Qiang's dominion, migrating to the Ancestral Court via this bridge. These battleships flew in all directions, searching for suitable settlements.

Qin Mu looked towards the sky. Three spirit energy transfer bridges now connected to the Heavenly Court. Once all the bridges were constructed, the Heavenly Court could be pulled into the Ancestral Court! The Heavenly Court, which originally resided above the Primordial Realm, later flew out of it, and now returned to the Ancestral Court, filled Qin Mu with emotion.

"Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable!" Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat as he suddenly saw a Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable emerge from the spirit energy transfer bridge. The colossal and imposing Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable gazed towards Concubine Qiang's territory from afar, letting out a cold snort.

"This must be Madam Yuanmu's Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable, right?" Qin Mu's eyes flickered. The most prominent sacred lands in the Ancestral Court's front had already been claimed by various Celestial Venerables, leaving few desirable areas for Madam Yuanmu. Was Madam Yuanmu's Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable appearing now to cause trouble and seize territory from other Celestial Venerables?

"Could Madam Yuanmu have set her sights on Emperor Tai's territory?" However, contrary to his expectation, the Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable did not target Concubine Qiang's territory. Instead, it soared into the sky, and the moment it ascended, a Great Void Abyss suddenly appeared, swallowing the Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable!

"Sneaky, that little hussy Yuanmu must be up to something again!" Qin Mu grew excited, opening his vertical eye between his brows to peer into the void, observing the Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable's movements.

Just then, he saw a figure shoot up from Concubine Qiang's territory. It caused no ripples, emitted no aura, and silently slipped into the void, tracking the Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable.

"It's that little hussy Emperor Tai... Pfft! It's that little hussy Concubine Qiang!" Qin Mu grew even more thrilled. Concubine Qiang, as the reincarnation of Emperor Tai, had also detected Madam Yuanmu's movements and was secretly tracking her!

He looked towards Concubine Qiang's territory, which housed the Ancestral Court's God-Slaying Platform. The malevolent aura there was incredibly dense, arguably the heaviest in the entire universe. From a distance, two blood-red, malevolent energies rose into the sky, intertwined, larger than the world's most enormous tornadoes! Those two malevolent energies were blood-red and exceptionally sharp. A mere glance from Qin Mu caused an involuntary shiver.

"How did the God-Slaying Platform's blood-malevolence form? Why is its malevolent aura so intense?" He longed to enter and experience the God-Slaying Platform, but even at the periphery of Concubine Qiang's territory, he felt that this blood-malevolence posed a threat to the Great Dao of heaven and earth. Here, he felt the Dao runes within his body shattering one by one, being sliced in half!

"The Ancestral Court's God-Slaying Platform couldn't possibly be this powerful!" Qin Mu couldn't help but shiver repeatedly. His primordial spirit also sensed an incomparably sharp force invading, like countless extremely keen blades poised to strike at any moment! Even more terrifying, the God-Slaying Platform could sever one's Dao heart!

The Heavenly Court's God-Slaying Platform was a place for slaying gods, severing the physical bodies and primordial spirits of rebellious deities, but it did not sever their Dao hearts. Luo Wushuang was known as the Heavenly Court's foremost divine blade because of his exceptional blade techniques, which had entered the Dao realm. With only his blade, he entered the Heavenly Court's God-Slaying Platform and ultimately emerged safely, relying on his Blade Dao. However, Qin Mu suspected that if Luo Wushuang had gone to the Ancestral Court's God-Slaying Platform, he might not have even passed the Dao heart test alone. While Luo Wushuang's Dao heart was strong, it had not yet cultivated to the height of the Dao realm's twenty-fourth heaven.

"The power of the God-Slaying Platform is extraordinary! It might not sever my Dao heart, but it could potentially sever my physical body or primordial spirit." Qin Mu averted his gaze, only to find two blood-red blade lights still swirling in his pupils, which he extinguished after a moment.

"This God-Slaying Platform must have been formed by absorbing the malevolent energy from beneath the heavens. Its power is immense; it likely slew extraordinarily powerful beings in the ancient era, absorbing too much blood!" He had originally planned that after reaching the Jade Platform realm, he would pass directly through the God-Slaying Platform. Once he conquered the God-Slaying Platform, he would become a grandmaster of the Nine Prisons Platform realm and could then seek out Jade Capital City. After all, he had already passed the trial of the Prison-Locked Dao Heart and emerged alive from the Nine Prisons Platform.

However, he had underestimated the Ancestral Court's God-Slaying Platform. Places like the Four Heavenly Gates, Jade Platform, and Nine Prisons Platform did not grow on their own, yet the God-Slaying Platform could actually evolve! In the ancient era, leaders of various Creator races must have sent prisoners of war or traitors here to be beheaded by the God-Slaying Platform. The blood fed this platform, making it increasingly powerful, so much so that even though it was the fourth realm in the Celestial Palace cultivation system, its might was probably capable of effortlessly cutting down several Emperor's Throne experts as if they were mere vegetables! The danger of this God-Slaying Platform far exceeded that of the Nine Prisons Platform!

"That motherf***er Emperor Tai! Promising to let me enter the God-Slaying Platform for tempering, he was clearly up to no good, the motherf***er!" Qin Mu cursed loudly.

His current strength allowed him to contend with Emperor's Throne realm beings, but he relied on the profundity of his divine arts. He was proficient in various obscure Dao arts and divine powers, such as the Dao of Primordial Beginning, the Dao of Grand Ultimate, the Dao of Grand Change, the Dao of Grand Purity, and Celestial Venerable Ling's unchanging divine art. His physical body and magical power had not yet reached the level of an Emperor's Throne expert, nor had his primordial spirit. Emperor Tai allowing him to enter the God-Slaying Platform for tempering was clearly a ploy to use its power to kill him!

"That motherf***er Emperor Tai!" Qin Mu cursed again, then suddenly performed a half-move of the Return to the Void Qi Genesis. A Great Void Abyss appeared, and he stepped into it, his figure vanishing.

"Yuanmu, Emperor Tai, I'm eager to see what schemes you're concocting!"

After a long while, Qin Mu's vertical eye between his brows scanned the surroundings, finally tracing Concubine Qiang's whereabouts. Concubine Qiang had tracked Madam Yuanmu's Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable to a black sand desert. Qin Mu looked around, puzzled. "This should be the Grand Ultimate Star Domain, home to the Grand Ultimate ore veins. What is Madam Yuanmu doing here?"

At that moment, he saw the Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable. The Divine Weapon Celestial Venerable was hidden within a Return to the Void divine art, lurking in the void. Qin Mu was perplexed: "It seems that little hussy Yuanmu is also tracking someone..."

Just then, he saw a stunning woman walking through the black sand desert, heading towards the Grand Ultimate ore veins. Jue Wuchen!

"It's Empress Dowager!" Qin Mu, also concealed by the Return to the Void divine art, narrowed his pupils. He had given Jue Wuchen to Concubine Yan. At that time, to trade for the output of the Grand Beginning ore veins, he had traded the Empress Dowager's physical body along with Jue Wuchen to Concubine Yan.

Now, Empress Dowager had taken over Jue Wuchen's body and had come to meet the ancient gods within the Grand Ultimate ore veins!