Chapter 1491: Hongmeng Heaven Not Yet Opened, This Tree Is Planted by Me

Everyone hastily gathered around, only to see that while Qin Mu had become a dried corpse, his third eye on his forehead remained undried, its eyeball still rolling.

“It's fine, it's fine! Everyone, disperse!” The blind man waved his hand, dismissing the crowd. “Nothing to see here, he's not going to die.”

“It’s a pity the deaf man isn’t here,” Granny Si lamented. “Otherwise, if he painted a picture, it would be renowned for all time.”

Qin Mu’s third eye on his forehead cast a resentful gaze at her, causing Granny Si to quickly depart.

The World Tree continued to devour and absorb the energy within him, leaving him with not a shred of cultivation. Furthermore, all the Dao runes, Dao patterns, and Dao chains he had cultivated were completely absorbed, with not even a trace remaining!

His magic power was stored within the Myriad Heavens and various Celestial Palaces of his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure. Yet, in mere moments, all his heavens were obliterated, and even the Ancestral Court was continuously shrinking!

Even his Celestial Palaces were constantly collapsing, transforming into pure, un-attributed energy that the World Tree consumed!

Even more terrifying, roots coiled around his primordial spirit, stripping away its power!

Qin Mu's primordial spirit also rapidly withered, eventually losing all its energy and shrinking into a tiny soul and spirit embryo, standing forlornly under the tree, appearing utterly helpless.

In a brief moment, the Ancestral Court had shrunk to its absolute limit, leaving only four mineral veins and a fragment of the Grand Change eggshell.

Soon after, the four mineral veins vanished one by one, their divine stones stripped of all power by the World Tree and reduced to dust!

With the four mineral veins gone, only the Grand Beginning, Grand Prime, Grand Ultimate, and Grand Change eggshells remained, along with a complete Grand Initial Egg.

Crack—

The Grand Prime eggshell suddenly shattered, then was pulverized by the World Tree’s power, transforming into incredibly pure Grand Prime Dao that the tree absorbed! Even the Grand Prime Origin Liquid was completely drained by the World Tree!

A startled shriek came from the Grand Initial Egg suspended in the air. The large egg whistled away, attempting to flee. However, Qin Mu's divine treasure had shrunk considerably, now only encompassing the area covered by the World Tree. No matter how it struggled, it could not escape!

Crack, crack went the two Grand Beginning eggs, shattering on their own.

Then, the two Grand Ultimate eggshells were destroyed.

Only the Grand Change eggshell remained exceptionally sturdy, having not been ground away by the World Tree.

Whoosh—

The Grand Initial Egg flew over, trembling as it hid within the Grand Change eggshell. As roots extended, the Grand Initial Egg rolled, bracing against the shell and shrinking itself, trying to conceal the divine egg beneath it.

Crunching sounds echoed, as if something were gnawing at the eggshell. Fine cracks even began to appear on the surface of the Grand Change eggshell.

Before long, the cracks multiplied and became intricate. The Grand Initial Egg inwardly sensed trouble. Then, the Grand Change eggshell exploded, its fragments annihilated by the World Tree’s power and transformed into Grand Change Dao, which the tree absorbed!

The Grand Initial Ancient God within the egg nearly fainted as he watched the World Tree's roots coil toward him, threatening to crush his eggshell and even absorb the primordial liquid inside. Absorbing the Grand Initial Origin Liquid would have been tolerable, but what if this peculiar tree absorbed him entirely? Wouldn't he perish before even being born?

Just then, a beam of light pierced down from the sky, and the Grand Initial Egg immediately soared up, hurtling towards the luminescence.

Behind it, roots writhed like tentacles, reaching out to grasp him. Just as they were about to seize it, the Grand Initial Egg narrowly escaped, flying out through the beam of light.

Upon bursting out of the light, he realized that the illumination originated from Qin Mu’s third eye on his forehead. This eye had opened, allowing the light to stream forth, offering him a chance at escape. Otherwise, had the World Tree’s roots ensnared him, he would surely have been completely absorbed!

The Grand Initial Egg, having narrowly escaped, finally breathed a sigh of relief. It saw Qin Mu lying on the ground like a dried corpse. It quickly landed beside him, only to find Qin Mu’s body stiff and immobile, while the eyeball of his third eye on his forehead was still wildly rolling.

The Grand Initial Egg hovered beside him, its initial fright subsiding. “You always like to mess around carelessly, and now you’ve created a huge mess, haven’t you?” it said. “This tree is supposed to absorb the power of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. Without that, it had no choice but to absorb you…”

As it spoke, the World Tree in Qin Mu’s Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure, having nothing left to devour, finally ceased its absorption.

Within his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure, only Qin Mu’s spirit embryo, soul, and the World Tree remained; everything else had ceased to exist!

Fortunately, most of the treasures Qin Mu had collected were stored in his third eye on his forehead, not within his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure. These treasures were thus preserved and not devoured by the World Tree.

Suddenly, the World Tree also drew Qin Mu’s spirit embryo and primordial spirit into itself.

It was at this moment that something miraculous occurred.

Qin Mu felt himself become one with the tree; his primordial spirit seemed to completely fuse with the World Tree, allowing him to perceive its branches, leaves, and roots.

The branches were like his arms, the leaves like his palms, and the roots like his sensory nerves, enabling him to clearly perceive everything external.

Not only that, but he also felt as if his body was composed of Great Daos. Some of these Daos were those he had painstakingly comprehended, such as Creation, Divine Sense, and various Pre-celestial and Post-celestial Great Daos. Others were Daos he had only just begun to touch upon, like Grand Beginning, Grand Prime, Grand Ultimate, and Grand Initial. And some were Daos he had never encountered at all, such as Grand Change! Now, all these Great Daos became incredibly clear, seemingly transforming into his instincts and consciousness, with the profound mysteries they contained becoming his very thoughts.

Within his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure, the World Tree suddenly quivered gently.

Chaos burst open, and in an instant, his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure seemed to undergo a primordial creation!

At the moment the cosmos began to form, there was first boundless, absolute nothingness, resembling the legendary Ultimate Void Daluo Heaven. However, in the very next instant, this primordial creation evolved to the birth of Qi, the Pre-celestial One Qi, which surged forth within his divine treasure!

As the Pre-celestial One Qi emerged, the cosmos, like a thick primordial liquid, transformed into a state of pure energy. Tangible yet formless energy permeated the entire nascent universe.

Energy erupted, and the primeval universe rapidly expanded outward. Space was born, and primordial matter, carried by the surging energy, gushed into countless dimensions. It did not yet condense, thus possessing form and quality but lacking distinct bodies.

Eventually, the primeval universe expanded to a certain extent, and primordial matter became enriched, coalescing to form brilliant stars and swirling galaxies. Yin and Yang separated, rotating in harmony, creating countless Taiji diagrams throughout the cosmos.

The most ancient continent transformed into the Ancestral Court, with the World Tree taking root upon it. Great Daos accumulated there, manifesting as the Four Heavenly Gates, the Jade Pond, and the Jade Terrace. Baleful energy condensed into the God-Slaying Platform, and starlight gathered to form the Heavenly River and the Heavenly Sea.

The Heavenly Sea reflected the boundless starry sky, and Xuan Du appeared. The Heavenly Dao gathered the stars of Xuan Du, casting light upon the concentrated matter within various dimensions, where this matter then formed numerous Heavens.

At this juncture, the Primordial Realm arose, Youdu was established, and the Four Extreme Heavens came into being.

Within the constellations, stars, and asterisms of all heavens, ancient gods were born: Heavenly Duke above, Earth Count below, Earth Mother in the center, and the Four Ancient God Emperors at the cosmos’s four poles.

Beneath Heavenly Duke lay the Heavenly Yin Realm, and beneath Earth Count, the Return to the Ruins.

At some unknown moment, Qin Mu’s primordial spirit detached from the World Tree. He stood beneath it, looking around, and saw that the five Great Daos born during the five stages of the cosmos’s formation had created five mineral veins in the Ancestral Court.

Within these mineral veins, divine stones were being born, embedded deep within. Ethereal light and Dao radiance gathered there, containing the surging power of the Great Dao.

Even the Grand Change mineral vein, which he had longed for day and night, was actually taking shape!

Within the Grand Change mineral vein, where chaos was nebulous, divine stones were indeed forming.

Qin Mu gazed at this scene in a daze, as various insights into the Five Pre-celestial Grand Daos flooded his mind. Some were concepts he had never grasped before, now appearing as if they were innate knowledge he had possessed since birth.

“…That World Tree is fundamentally a monster born from usurping the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Now you finally understand fear, don't you?” The Grand Initial Egg continued to chatter beside Qin Mu. “Fear is useless now! I can’t save you; I’m powerless against that strange tree myself. It even swallowed my Grand Initial Origin Stone… You hold on for a bit, I’ll go find Grand Change. He and I are both egg-born ancient gods; he ought to grant me at least a little respect…”

Just as it was about to hop away, Qin Mu suddenly sat bolt upright, turned his head, and looked at it, saying, “Brother Grand Initial, quickly come into my divine treasure!”

The Grand Initial Egg jumped in fright and swiftly fled. “It’s a corpse possessing! That demonic tree is controlling Celestial Venerable Mu’s body to trick me. How could I fall for that?”

Whoosh—

Just as it leaped, a beam of light shot out from Qin Mu’s third eye on his forehead, shining on the Grand Initial Egg and drawing it toward his brow. The Grand Initial within the egg was both furious and frantic, pounding against the shell with both fists, but it wouldn't crack open. As it drew closer and closer to Qin Mu, it could only press against the inner wall of its shell, kicking wildly, yet it was still inevitably drawn into Qin Mu’s divine treasure.

The Grand Initial Egg landed in a brand new Grand Initial mineral vein, precisely on an altar. The Grand Initial within the egg was momentarily stunned. The round egg spun once on the altar, finding this altar far more complete than the previous one, and this mineral vein equally more complete, its contained Grand Initial Dao remarkably pure and free of impurities. Both astonished and delighted, it momentarily forgot about escaping, settling down comfortably in its new abode.

Suddenly, it saw the World Tree, and the round egg quivered a few times, wanting to escape. But it couldn't bear to leave its new home, so it could only remain secretly on guard.

At that moment, it saw Qin Mu’s primordial spirit sitting under the tree, seemingly in deep contemplation or perhaps cultivation.

“Celestial Venerable Mu is so pitiful,” it thought. “All the Celestial Palaces he painstakingly cultivated are gone…”

Just as it thought this, it saw countless Dao runes intertwining, transforming into bricks and tiles, pillars and beams, stone steps, pavilions, and towers. Various magnificent Dao runes stacked upon one another, constructing buildings, grand halls, and palaces. Soon, a Celestial Palace took shape. In the distance, Celestial Palaces were rapidly being assembled, gradually forming a vast Heavenly Court!

At this moment, Qin Mu’s body was also slowly regaining its color.