Chapter 1486: Can the Tree Be Cut?

Granny Si watched as layer after layer of dreams contracted, and one by one, the tiny Qin Mu figures within the dreams successively vanished. Immediately, Qin Mu opened his eyes, and her heart swelled with joy.

As Qin Mu's final layer of dream was about to disperse, Master Ma and Battle Sovereign Buddha woke up at the opportune moment. They each stepped out of his dream.

Once the dreams completely disappeared, Qin Mu's primordial spirit stood behind him. He bowed to the two, expressing his gratitude.

Battle Sovereign Buddha quickly returned the bow, pointing to himself and saying, "Brother." He then pointed to Qin Mu, adding, "Brother. Why thank me?"

Qin Mu chuckled. Seeing that both of them were exhausted, he immediately invited them to rest. Granny Si stepped forward and returned the divine bow to him, asking, "Mu'er, is the danger resolved?"

Qin Mu nodded and smiled. "The nine Celestial Venerables of the Celestial Heavens, righteous and noble, acted courageously. They killed the Prime Saint of the Miluo Palace, finally resolving my crisis."

Granny Si sighed in relief and praised, "Those nine Celestial Venerables are indeed righteous and noble. You must thank them properly in the future."

Qin Mu quickly said, "I'll try my best to ensure they die without pain."

"Then I am relieved," Granny Si let out a breath.

Qin Mu was greatly invigorated, feeling like he had pushed aside the clouds to see the sun. He also let out a long sigh of relief and chuckled, "Senior Brother and Shu Jun are truly efficient in their work. I was worried they would just leave after throwing the Perfumed Palace into Jade Capital City and activating the seal. If the nine Celestial Venerables hadn't entered the Perfumed Palace and instead directly confronted the Prime Saint of Miluo Palace, I would have been in trouble."

He said joyfully, "I didn't expect them to do so well; the nine Celestial Venerables smoothly entered the Perfumed Palace and eliminated the Prime Saint! Have Senior Brother and Shu Jun returned yet?"

Granny Si shook her head. "Not yet. Ancestor Court Jade Capital is quite far from here; they are probably on their way back. The commotion they caused in Ancestor Court Jade Capital City was considerable; they blasted a huge hole in the heavens! It was truly terrifying!"

Qin Mu paced back and forth, chuckling, "I wonder if the nine Celestial Venerables discovered anything good after entering Jade Capital City, the mysteries of that Jade Capital City..."

Granny Si glared at him, "You were just recovering from an ambush, and now you want to run off already? You're like a roe deer, utterly clueless about death! What you don't know is, after Jade Capital City opened, another major event occurred. Yan'er said your sacred land sprouted. You'd better go take a look."

Qin Mu immediately put aside the matters concerning Wei Suifeng and Shu Jun. He asked in surprise, "The sacred land sprouted? What does that mean?"

"I don't know either. I've been guarding this place, so I don't know how the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains sprouted."

As they spoke, they walked towards the center of the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains.

They hadn't walked far when they saw a young Grand Emperor repairing the cracked Great Black Mountain.

The young Grand Emperor put down his bucket, pointed to the center of the Great Black Mountain sacred land, and said to Qin Mu, "I've been waiting for you there for a long time. Please go quickly."

Qin Mu was puzzled and wanted to ask, but the young Grand Emperor went back to his work.

The two continued to the center of the Great Black Mountain. From afar, they saw a tender green sapling towering high. The sapling was hundreds of thousands of feet tall, yet only had five or six leaves. One of the leaves supported a palace, which was precisely the sacred temple where Qin Mu guarded this sacred land!

Qin Mu and Granny Si looked stunned. They quickly sped up to get closer. The closer they got, the larger the sapling appeared. Its branches and leaves reached as high as the clouds, and all around it, lightning crackled, striking the leaves.

But even the heavenly lightning of Ancestor Court seemed insignificant before this sapling. It was as tiny as needles and couldn't harm the sapling in the slightest.

Qin Mu arrived at the base of the tree. He saw Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua sitting beneath it, meditating. Blind and Mute were carefully examining a large axe. Others were bustling about, mapping the Dao markings on the branches and leaves of this peculiar sapling, trying to unravel its mysteries.

Emperor Ming stood not far away, intently staring at a burly man beneath the tree. The burly man, however, kept his eyes downcast, paying him no attention.

Qin Mu stepped forward and tentatively said, "Dao Brother Grand Emperor."

Grand Emperor stood up and said, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, this land is yours, and the tree that grew from this land is also yours. Therefore, I've been waiting for you to come and ask if this tree should be cut down."

Qin Mu hesitated and tentatively asked, "This sapling is..."

"This tree is the World Tree," Grand Emperor said. "From the destruction of one universe after another, this divine tree has remained immortal and indestructible. It has endured cataclysms of cosmic destruction; countless beings, even enlightened saints, could not escape death, yet this tree alone survived."

Grand Emperor continued, "I once cut it down and burned it, but I didn't expect it to still be immortal. This is already your territory, and I am merely a guest lodging here. To cut down your tree, I must ask for your opinion."

"The World Tree?"

Qin Mu's heart pounded wildly. He looked up at the incredibly large sapling and murmured, "This is the divine object capable of surviving the great destruction of the universe?"

His eyes gleamed brightly. He had always regretted not being able to see such a divine tree with his own eyes, and he had always dreamed of seeing this great tree in person.

Unfortunately, this great tree had been cut down by Grand Emperor and then set on fire, leaving only blackened roots. Yet, he never expected that this tree would come back to life!

"Heavenly Venerable Mu, if this tree is kept," Grand Emperor said, "the immortal and indestructible parasites from the previous sixteen universes will climb into this universe. Even I cannot resist them."

Grand Emperor added, "However, even if this tree is cut down, this channel cannot be completely broken. They will still come, but it will delay them for a period. Keeping this tree, however, will make them arrive sooner. Whether to keep or cut this tree, it's entirely up to you, the host."

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, looking up at the World Tree sapling.

The Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heavens and Earth Mother Primordial Lord, both achieved enlightenment through cultivating divine wood. Earth Mother, moreover, used a primordial tree to support the myriad worlds. However, compared to this divine tree before them, Earth Mother was vastly inferior!

This divine tree was almost a naturally indestructible divine object!

A divine object capable of connecting one universe to another!

However, it was precisely because of this divine tree that prehistoric beings climbed along its roots to the next universe, escaping the great destruction and thus parasitizing the new universe.

This, in turn, led to another detrimental consequence: a significant reduction in the lifespan of the new universe!

Grand Emperor seemed to read Qin Mu's thoughts and said beside him, "According to conservation of mass-energy, the total amount of energy and matter in the universe is constant. And enlightened beings are equivalent to accumulating the universe's energy. The more powerful beings there are, the more energy will accumulate. Enlightened beings are the most concentrated forms of energy. The Dao trees of enlightened beings are anchored in the ultimate void, which then becomes the most concentrated place of energy. The more enlightened beings squeeze into this universe, the faster the ultimate void will be destroyed. The great destruction originates precisely from the ultimate void."

Qin Mu composed himself, his gaze still on the divine tree, and murmured, "Can we not unravel the mysteries of the World Tree and find a method that even the great destruction cannot obliterate?"

Grand Emperor said, "If such a method existed, the powerful beings from previous universes would have already found it. They still had to rely on the World Tree to survive, which shows it cannot be found."

Qin Mu pondered.

Suddenly, intense vibrations came from underground. The World Tree sapling actually rumbled as it grew upwards!

In just a few breaths, the World Tree grew another thousands of feet taller. Its trunk became much thicker, and it grew another leaf!

As the underground vibrations ceased, the World Tree's growth stopped again.

Grand Emperor said, "Before you woke up, this tree had vibrated many times, once a day, and always during the daytime. Why did this tree come back to life? Why does it grow during the day? Does Heavenly Venerable Mu know its secret?"

Qin Mu shook his head and sincerely said, "Please enlighten me, Dao Brother."

"Someone is nurturing this tree. The World Tree's revival, its growth, the entire Ancestor Court transforming into a massive altar to devour the deceased beings here — even Lan Yutian obtaining the Perfumed Palace, Wei Suifeng sending the Perfumed Palace back to Jade Capital City, and the reappearance of Ancestor Court Jade Capital City—all might be under that person's control."

Grand Emperor, ever the one to deliver unsettling truths, said calmly, "Perhaps, even your current desire to preserve the World Tree is within that person's grasp."

Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. "You mean, that powerful being from the first cosmic epoch? Has he already arrived in Ancestor Court?"

Grand Emperor shook his head. "I don't know. I may appear omniscient, but in reality, there are many things I don't know. For instance..."

He hesitated for a moment and did not continue on that topic. He said, "Ancestor Court Jade Capital City is also a place I cannot perceive. It is extremely mysterious. I sense an extremely terrifying presence there, obstructing my vision. Heavenly Venerable Mu, after all this, should this tree be kept or not?"

Qin Mu paced back and forth. Occasionally, he stopped to look up at the World Tree sapling. His heart was full of indecision.

Grand Emperor waited quietly.

After a long time, Qin Mu's turbulent mind gradually calmed down, and his footsteps also slowed.

Finally, he stopped, his eyes shining brightly as he looked at Grand Emperor, and smiled. "Dao Brother, your divine powers are vast, almost omniscient. Then I have something to ask you. The powerful beings from prehistoric universes can climb along the World Tree's roots to our universe. So, can we also use the World Tree to enter their prehistoric universes?"

Grand Emperor was stunned.

He had indeed not considered this question.

"You mean..." He looked at Qin Mu's bright eyes, a hint of hesitation in his own.

This was the first time in his life he had felt such hesitation. It was an unprecedented experience!

"What I mean is, since the arrival of prehistoric powerful beings is unavoidable, whether we cut it down or not, they will still descend into our universe. So, why not keep this World Tree and wait for its growth? By then, we can go to their universes first, block those old fellows within their own universes, and even kill them one by one?"

Qin Mu smiled. "Defense can never guarantee that one has no vulnerabilities. However, offense will make the opponent expose their weaknesses! Thus, the dynamics of attack and defense will change!"

Grand Emperor looked at the sapling behind Qin Mu. After a long while, he said, "Alright. When you achieve Dao, I will send you there!"

The smile on Qin Mu's face instantly froze. He stammered, "Dao Brother, this matter still requires careful consideration..."

Grand Emperor reached out and grabbed the large axe. He shook Blind and Mute off the axe head. He turned and departed, quickly vanishing without a trace.

"This matter of cutting down the tree, it's not non-negotiable!" Qin Mu shouted loudly.

However, Grand Emperor was already gone.

Qin Mu angrily said, "Usually, he dawdles, but now he runs off like a whirlwind!"

He turned to look at the World Tree, his eyes shining.

Meanwhile, in Jade Capital City, by the side of the River of Chaos, Wei Suifeng, full of confidence, said to Shu Jun, "Don't worry, Junior Brother will definitely come to save us!"