Chapter 1496: Stowaways Arrive

Everyone left one after another. Wei Suifeng hesitated for a moment, then pulled Shujun along, following the others. His combat power was no less than Qin Mu's, but he had expended too much magical power rushing back from Ancestral Court Jade Capital City, and it hadn't fully recovered yet. If he stayed, he would only distract Qin Mu.

"Junior brother, don't raise your realm to the Jade Capital realm!" Wei Suifeng turned back, saying, "Jade Capital is a trap! Cultivating to the Jade Capital realm only boosts the strength of the Miluo Palace Master, accelerating his arrival!"

Prince Youming did not leave with the others. His magical power was extremely formidable; in terms of magical power alone, he surpassed the Son of Hades. Qin Mu glanced at him, shook his head, and said, "Prince, your divine arts are far inferior to mine. Even if your magical power can contend with mine, I only need one move to defeat you." With a slight thought, he unleashed a divine art from the twenty-third heaven of the Dao Realm, "Taiji Evolution, Yin-Yang Flow," asking, "Do you understand this?" Prince Youming scrutinized it, a look of shame on his face. He cupped his hands and turned to leave.

Qin Mu dispelled his divine art and turned to Southern Emperor Zhuque, who had not yet left. "Sister, your physical body hasn't fully recovered, and you don't have much combat power. There's no need for you to stay here. Yan'er, take your mother to the Heavenly Yin Realm and ask the Heavenly Yin Empress to recreate her physical body." Southern Emperor Zhuque hesitated, then said, "Take good care of yourself."

Qin Mu's gaze then fell upon Emperor Ming. He raised a hand and took out another physical body, refined from a branch of the World Tree. "Emperor Ming, please go see Emperor Yanxiu. Emperor Yanxiu will arrange for someone to take you to see Emperor Chi. He is only a consciousness now, and can inhabit this body. After meeting Emperor Chi, you two should also go to the Heavenly Yin Realm; the Heavenly Yin Empress will imbue this body with life for him." Emperor Ming frowned. "In my time, I was the Celestial Emperor of the Chishang Era. In this battle, I should fight alongside you..." Qin Mu shook his head. "I am Celestial Venerable Mu. I told you to leave; are you not going?" Emperor Ming hesitated, then turned and departed.

Mute walked over, planted the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda of Azure Heaven in front of Qin Mu, and then turned to leave. Blind looked at Mute, then at Qin Mu, a hint of hesitation in his eyes. Qin Mu smiled. "Don't worry, Grandpa Blind. I will activate your formations to their utmost, letting that prehistoric entity understand your power!" Blind whispered, "Be careful. If you can't win, then... then..." He lowered his voice even further. "Then run! Lame taught you before: if you can't win, run. There's no shame in it. Even if you run, no one has the right to blame you for not protecting them with your life. You can't always shoulder the burden alone when the sky falls; you didn't cause it to fall. As long as you survive, there's hope..." He had many more instructions for Qin Mu, but Granny Si's voice came from afar, calling him, and Blind had no choice but to quickly follow them.

Qin Mu relaxed, watching the sunset. He planted Tai Yi's staff into the ground, then took out a willow leaf and placed it on his forehead—it was a leaf from Tai Yi's Dao Tree. He sat on the ground, calmly facing the cracked mountain ahead. The afterglow of the setting sun moved from his chest to his chin, then gradually rose, with darkness slowly enveloping his face and obscuring his eyes.

The afterglow shone on the World Tree in the center of the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains. Void Flower bathed in the light, and just then, Lan Yutian arrived, standing beside him. "Before, Tai Yi guarded this place," Void Flower said calmly. "No matter how violent the disturbances in the Great Black Mountains were, people's hearts remained steadfast. Now that Tai Yi is gone, hearts are unsettled, confidence is lost, and only then do we realize Tai Yi was the pillar of strength." Lan Yutian said, "Some people, when they are present, you don't feel their presence or recognize their importance, but only when they are gone do you feel like you've lost your backbone. And my brother is now becoming that backbone." Void Flower softly asked, "He left me because he knows my Dao heart is strong enough, without weaknesses, and most reliable. I won't be tempted by Dao Dew. Lan Yutian, why did you stay?" Lan Yutian smiled, looking towards Qin Mu, where darkness had already enveloped him. "If my brother cannot win this battle, I will inherit his responsibility and become the backbone of this era!" His voice grew softer but remained firm. "I will abandon my own path and force myself to become... Celestial Venerable Yu!" The afterglow passed over them, and darkness swallowed them. Above their heads, stars emerged, shining brightly.

Layer upon layer of void gradually lowered, and Tai Yi's Dao Tree appeared once more, with Dao Dew dripping from its leaves. At the same time, amidst the Hundred Thousand Black Mountains, a cracked Great Black Mountain lit up, divine light surging. Between the two halves of the shattered mountain, a colossal eye formed! Within the eye, a tall, slender figure approached step by step, growing taller and taller, like the rising pupil of the eye!

Ahead, Qin Mu took a long breath, activating the Hegemon Body Three Elixir Technique he had comprehended recently. Heavens Palaces resonated, emerging from behind his head, layer upon layer, collectively forming a grand Celestial Court! Within this grand Celestial Court, constructed from twenty-three Heavens Palaces, each of Qin Mu's primordial spirits stepped forward. Qin Mu reached out, and a divine bow materialized in his hand! Around him, the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure domain unfolded, and behind him, a World Tree slowly rose, growing taller and taller, enveloping the sky. His main primordial spirit stood beneath the tree, body upright. Qin Mu drew the bowstring. At that moment, his main primordial spirit behind him extended its hand, drawing the divine bow with him, while each of his other primordial spirits in the various Heavens Palaces simultaneously pulled the bowstring! *Whoosh—* The divine bow was instantly drawn to its limit. His furious magical power surged into the bow, and at the same time, the Great Dao of heaven and earth roared, spiritual energy and vital qi rushing in, transforming into a torrent that swept through the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains! Above his head, a massive vortex, a thousand miles in diameter, appeared—a vortex formed by the spiritual energy and vital qi of the Ancestral Court! At the center of the vortex, spiritual energy and vital qi furiously converged, forming a beam of light that boomed towards the divine bow. The power of this divine bow grew stronger and stronger, and the ripples it emanated became more terrifying!

Ahead, the cracked Great Black Mountain split further apart. Within the vertical pupil of the giant eye, the tall, slender monster grew even taller. Its sole eye on its forehead looked down at Qin Mu, seemingly able to see him, revealing a look of mockery. It was still traversing the ruined universe, moving towards the future world, allowing the Calamity of Destruction to twist and tear at it, yet its steps remained steady. Qin Mu's expression did not change; his hands, drawing the divine bow, were perfectly still. The tall, slender monster continued to advance. With each step it took, the black mountains on either side trembled continuously, crumbling. The mountains, petrified World Trees, were incredibly hard, yet now stones were breaking apart and falling down with crumbling sounds! However, before these black stones could hit the ground, they were lifted by an unknown force, floating in the air. Finally, the tall, slender monster's face was the first to emerge from the mountain, revealing the vertical eye on its brow! Despite enduring the strangulation of the Calamity of Destruction, its power remained incredibly formidable! *Buzz—* Qin Mu's arrow shot from the bowstring, appearing the next moment at the tall, slender monster's brow! The monster's look of mockery intensified. As Qin Mu's incredibly powerful arrow arrived at its brow, Dao light flickered in its eye, freezing the arrow in place!

*Clang, clang, clang!* The bowstring vibrated repeatedly as Qin Mu drew and shot, again and again. Beams of arrows flew almost simultaneously towards the tall, slender monster's brow! In an instant, he had drawn the divine bow countless times; the bowstring became scorching hot, and more than half of the Ancestral Court's spiritual energy and vital qi gathered in the sky was consumed in that short span. The thousand-mile-wide spiritual energy vortex instantly became incredibly thin! Qin Mu continued to furiously draw and shoot, the spiritual energy vortex rapidly shrinking. Finally, with Qin Mu's last arrow, the gathered spiritual energy and vital qi were completely exhausted! The moment the spiritual energy and vital qi ran out, Qin Mu discarded the divine bow, grabbed backward, and seized the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda of Azure Heaven, leaping up! As he ascended, his body leaned backward, not rigidly straight, but bending back at an astonishing angle! His hands gripped the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda of Azure Heaven. Within the pagoda's Twenty-Eight Heavens, countless treasures shimmered with light, like stars in the Twenty-Eight Heavens. The rune formations engraved on the treasures activated, their power instantly reaching its peak! Behind Qin Mu, each of his primordial spirits also activated their magical power, Heavens Palaces staggered, and the Great Dao of the Celestial Court roared, further boosting the power of the treasures in the Twenty-Eight Heavens, seemingly even beyond their endurance limits! Qin Mu swung the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda, using its Twenty-Eight Heavens as a hammer, fiercely smashing it towards the arrows! Those arrows were frozen before the tall, slender monster's vertical eye by Dao light; even with so many arrows shot by Qin Mu in an instant, they hadn't broken through its defensive limit. But at this moment, the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda smashed down fiercely! "Get out of here!" Qin Mu roared. As he swung the hammer down, arms sprouted from his armpits, gripping the pagoda's handle, pushing his strength to its utmost! "Go back!" With this strike, the arrows finally broke through the tall, slender monster's single eye defense, piercing into its eye! The power within the arrows fully erupted. The tall, slender monster's head snapped backward, falling back into its own era, about to tumble back into that universe of great destruction! If it was knocked back, even if it could climb out again, it would be severely weakened! A look of joy appeared on Qin Mu's face. "Succeeded?" But at that moment, a hand pierced through the mountain and gripped the crumbling black mountain. Qin Mu's expression changed dramatically. He quickly swung the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda of Azure Heaven towards the tall, massive hand! Simultaneously, another tall, massive hand emerged from the mountain, gripping the other half of the black mountain. The giant monstrous eye between the mountains suddenly became incredibly hot, like raging flames soaring skyward! Just as the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda was about to strike one hand, a gigantic face suddenly burst through the mountain, appearing abruptly before Qin Mu! The face opened its colossal mouth, and with a roar, a surging Dao sound directly blasted Qin Mu, sending him flying backward. The Lapis Lazuli Pagoda couldn't even be swung down! Qin Mu abruptly flipped over in mid-air, thrusting the pagoda towards the ground. With a slight rotation, the Twenty-Eight Heavens emerged, layer upon layer, blocking the terrifying impact of the Dao sound. He reached out and grabbed Tai Yi's staff, looking up to see that one leg of the tall, slender monster had already stepped out of the mountain, half of its body squeezed through!