Chapter 1497: Sacrifice

The tall, thin monster was struggling to force his way through. His immense power made it difficult to enter.

The transformation of mass and energy follows certain laws. For an enlightened being like him, who was almost entirely composed of the purest essence of the Great Dao, squeezing into this universe from the previous one required the displacement of an incredibly vast amount of mass and energy.

This was similar to, yet also different from, and far more complex than, spirit energy transfer bridges.

Spirit energy transfer bridges break through the barriers between two worlds, forming a conduit for spirit energy transfer. When a living being crosses, their energy causes a mutual flow of spirit energy, maintaining balance between the two worlds.

However, crossing from a past universe to the current one also requires adherence to mass-energy balance. The greater difficulty is that the old and new universes cannot create a bridge for active mass-energy migration like the spirit energy transfer bridges. Therefore, they had to set up an enormous sacrificial formation in the Ancestral Court, using it as an altar.

The total mass-energy of the universe remains constant. With this constant total, when entities from the past enter the present universe, a portion of the current universe's mass and energy must be transferred to the past universe to maintain the overall balance.

Over the years, countless living beings had been sacrificed, yet every enlightened being from past universes sought to transfer to the current universe before their own universe was destroyed. This led to a situation where everyone wanted to squeeze in, but no one could.

The tall, thin monster was no exception. Half of his body had already crossed over. Now, a portion of the Ancestral Court's matter and energy needed to be sacrificed to the past universe to accelerate his departure from his original, crumbling universe.

Black Mountain trembled violently. Rocks and stones continuously crumbled and detached, floating into the air.

These rocks, like a torrent, drifted towards the tall, thin monster's back, successively vanishing into the enormous eye behind him.

Around Qin Mu, the ground also continuously cracked open. Sections of the earth disintegrated, drifting towards the strange eye.

The eye grew increasingly enormous, standing upright behind the monster. It resembled a world-ending conflagration, its flames illuminating the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, causing the shadows of the mountains to waver.

It was like a colossal furnace, or a gargantuan mouth, greedily devouring everything in the Ancestral Court. It pulverized and melted all things in heaven and earth, transforming them into pure energy and sending them to the crumbling universe behind it, in exchange for the tall, thin monster's vitality!

Qin Mu stopped, raised the Staff of Primordial Beginning, and confronted the tall, thin monster.

The tall, thin monster's vertical eye on his forehead was riddled with arrows, each one forcefully driven into it by Qin Mu's previous attack. However, even with the full power of divine bow and arrows unleashed, it failed to inflict a critical injury.

The monster was gaunt and tall, of an unknown strange race. He raised a hand to grasp the arrows in his vertical eye, attempting to pull them out, while his other hand reached for Qin Mu.

He had only one eye in the center of his brow, which occupied his forehead. Now, with so many arrows piercing it, his vision was impaired.

He had to pull out these arrows first before he could properly deal with Qin Mu.

Qin Mu swung his staff, its power fluctuations far less than before. That was why the monster had reached for Qin Mu. Yet, this seemingly powerless strike dealt him a heavy blow!

His palm was long and slender, each finger many times longer than Qin Mu's entire body. As he grasped, divine abilities converged in his palm. Instantly, extremely sharp threads flew wildly and intertwined throughout his palm.

As soon as Qin Mu lunged into his palm, his physical body was pierced by countless threads, yet he swung his staff to meet the monster's fingers.

Crack!

One of the tall, thin monster's fingers was struck by the staff, breaking backward on the spot, bending at an astonishing angle.

Crack, crack! One after another, his fingers were snapped by Qin Mu, all five digits flipping backward. Qin Mu inverted his grip on the staff, using it as a sword, and fiercely thrust it towards the monster's palm!

At this moment, the countless threads that had pierced Qin Mu's body suddenly pulled in all directions. With a ripping sound, Qin Mu instantly shattered into countless pieces!

His shattered flesh and blood were drawn by the strange eye behind the monster, falling into it.

Suddenly, a strange divine ability fluctuation emerged, like time reversing. Qin Mu's body rapidly reassembled, still holding the staff in the monster's palm, and unleashed a world-shaking blow, using the staff as a sword!

Calamity Sword, Third Form: Facing Calamity!

The wooden staff, though blunt, surprisingly pierced through the tall, thin monster's palm, embedding itself and Qin Mu's body into his arm!

The Facing Calamity Sword was a technique used to sever celestial palaces and level divine treasures. It was a sword Qin Mu used to cut himself, and also to cut others. He had not used his sword arts and sword path for a long time.

Because ever since he comprehended more profound divine abilities, the power of his sword arts and sword path could not keep up with the power of his divine abilities. Moreover, the enemies he faced were far more powerful than before, and his sword arts and sword path had gradually fallen behind his cultivation progress, making it difficult to injure his opponents.

But now, with the Staff of Primordial Beginning in hand, it was like an unyielding weapon, elevating the power of his Facing Calamity move to an unimaginable level compared to ordinary times!

The tall, thin monster's face showed surprise, and he uttered an incomprehensible question, as if commenting on Qin Mu's divine ability.

By this time, he had pulled out the arrows from his vertical eye. He raised his other hand, his fingers moving with extreme dexterity, tapping repeatedly on his injured arm.

Beneath the skin of that arm, a sword light, like a rolling torrent, swept through destructively, severing his hand bones and arm bones, and snapping his major tendons!

Under his skin, major tendons pierced through, exposed, and broken bones jutted through flesh, a horrifying sight.

Even more terrifying, the sword intent preceded the strike. Before the wooden staff even reached his upper arm, the sword intent had already arrived, making his entire arm feel an incredibly sharp sword light, and his arm lost all strength!

However, the five fingers of his other arm successively tapped his injured arm. Each tap landed with pinpoint accuracy on Qin Mu, who was traversing inside his arm. The power of each strike was so immense that it directly pulverized Qin Mu!

Yet, Qin Mu seemed to possess an immortal and indestructible body. Each time he was killed, he would immediately revive and recover inside the monster's arm.

The tall, thin monster spoke another incomprehensible phrase, then suddenly raised his hand and struck, severing his own arm. Qin Mu flew out from the severed limb, his sword light aimed directly at the monster's brow!

The tall, thin monster smiled, repeating the incomprehensible phrase, as a beam of light shot out from his vertical eye.

This strike instantly shattered Qin Mu. His physical body, his primordial spirit, and even his divine treasure domain all turned to dust!

The power of this strike was extremely peculiar. It directly fixed all the matter composing Qin Mu's physical body, primordial spirit, and divine treasure domain in place, rendering Qin Mu's Immutability of Matter divine ability completely ineffective!

He had clearly recognized Qin Mu's divine ability. The Immutability of Matter divine ability, created by Heavenly Venerate Ling, was most powerful in its ability to revert the flow of matter, creating the illusion of time reversal.

However, for an enlightened being like the tall, thin monster, while this divine ability was profound and unfathomable, he still possessed a means to counter it.

He only needed to fix all the matter composing Qin Mu, preventing it from reverting, and the ability would be broken.

For anyone else, such immense magical power would likely be unattainable, but for him, it was not that difficult.

The tall, thin monster looked at his severed arm, a look of admiration on his face. He spoke another phrase, which seemed to be a commendation for a cultivator as insignificant as Qin Mu being able to injure him to such an extent with such meager strength.

He continued to channel his magical power. The earth around the cracked Black Mountain revived, and Black Mountain itself continuously fissured, howling as it flowed into the strange eye behind him.

Suddenly, a killing formation hidden beneath the ground roared to life!

The tall, thin monster showed surprise. The power of this killing formation seemed negligible to him, yet the fact that it had been hidden right under his nose without him noticing was quite remarkable.

But what surprised him more was that there was not just one killing formation.

When the first killing formation was activated, it was like igniting a string of firecrackers. Around Black Mountain, for thousands of miles, one killing formation after another was triggered!

The power of a single killing formation was insufficient to harm him, but when hundreds of them erupted simultaneously, the combined power was utterly terrifying!

Not only that, Qin Mu and the Blind Man had jointly laid countless layers of killing formations here. Some were hidden in extremely subtle places: within the ground shattered by the tall, thin monster, concealed in the soil, and within the rocks of Black Mountain.

Those pieces of earth and rock were pulled into the strange eye behind him, and now, they unexpectedly detonated inside the eye!

Outside the Hundred Thousand Black Mountains, the Blind Man, Granny Si, and others were relocating, moving away from the Black Mountain Holy Land. At this moment, the Blind Man turned his head. In the darkness, in the direction of the Great Black Mountain, boundless malevolent energy surged skyward. Countless killing formations operated within the malevolent energy, a dazzling sight.

The Great Dao of heaven and earth was drawn by these formations, transforming into Killing Dao Tribulation Formations, their power shaking heaven and earth!

“This is my strongest skill,” the Blind Man murmured. “The path of formations: when heaven kills, when earth kills, when man kills—the Three Absolute Tribulation Formations of Heaven, Earth, and Man. With my life's cultivation and Mu'er's magical power, all I can do is this...”

His eyes shone brightly, filled with hope. He murmured, “Mu'er, with your magical power, can you mobilize the Great Dao of heaven and earth to slay that prehistoric existence?”

No sooner had he spoken than the killing formations suddenly collapsed and disintegrated, the Three Absolute Tribulation Formations of Heaven, Earth, and Man crumbling, swept away by an immense power!

The Blind Man's eyes dimmed. Granny Si's voice came, “Blind Man, stop looking. Let's go!”

The Blind Man turned around and silently followed her.

Granny Si remained silent. The Blind Man was silent for a moment, then said, “This battle isn't without a chance of victory. Mu'er and I also laid another trump card: an altar...”

Granny Si suddenly said, “What about the Cripple? Where has that damned Cripple gone?”

She looked around. In the darkness, figures flickered, but there was no sign of the Cripple.

Just as she was about to search, the Blind Man suddenly took her arm and shook his head, saying, “No need to look for him. You know that the Cripple cares for Mu'er the most. Even though Mu'er sent him away, he secretly returned long ago. He wouldn't stand by and watch Mu'er die...”

Granny Si flared up in anger and snapped, “So you'll just watch him die? Why didn't you stop him?”

The Blind Man calmly said, “If it could save Mu'er, I would gladly die too.”

Granny Si's chest heaved violently, and she said nothing more.

Within the Great Black Mountain, amidst the cracked peaks, the strange eye was ragged and severely damaged by the Three Absolute Killing Formations of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Within that eye, the tall, thin monster was furious, his hair flying, and his body covered in wounds.

The moment he was trapped by the killing formations, Qin Mu, who had been shattered into countless particles, finally broke free from his confinement. His Immutability of Matter divine ability activated, allowing him to restore himself to his original state, still gripping the wooden staff tightly.

At this moment, a massive altar appeared beneath Qin Mu's feet. The tall, thin monster gazed at this enormous altar, his eyes cold.

The altar had already activated, opening a passage to another space!

The sky shattered, and an incredibly powerful aura emanated. One by one, colossal heads emerged from a rift in the sky, and a tremendously resonant voice boomed, “What humble existence dares to summon the most powerful and majestic ruler of the Beast Realm?”

An immense dragon head coiled down from the sky, hovering above the altar. Its eyes, like suns, leisurely said, “The most ancient Divine King Long Xiao of the Primordial Era has descended. Insignificant life form, offer your sacrifice... Heavenly Venerate Mu!”

Long Xiao's colossal body was still within the Beast Realm. As his heads emerged above the altar, one head looked at Qin Mu in surprise, while the other heads turned to the strange eye and the tall, thin monster within it!

“Damn you, Heavenly Venerate Mu!”

Long Xiao's nine heads struggled to retract, pulling back into the Beast Realm. All nine heads roared repeatedly, “Every time you seek me out, it's for trouble...”

Qin Mu said coldly, “Long Xiao, you promised me three things. This is the first! Will the ruler of the Beast Realm go back on his word?”