Chapter 1521: Hongmeng Primordial Energy

In the third chaotic river, Qin Mu felt his World Tree growing again. This World Tree was peculiar because it could draw chaotic energy from the kalpa of destruction to strengthen itself.

Even without reaching the Jade Capital realm, Qin Mu sensed his magic power increasing. Though not rapidly, his cultivation was genuinely improving, which he found strange.

"Is the Jade Capital realm a necessary one?" he wondered, falling into deep thought.

After reaching the Nine Prisons Platform realm, his cultivation path traditionally required him to enter the Jade Capital realm. Only after mastering the Jade Capital realm could he achieve the Empyrean and Imperial Throne realms, and then progress to the Heavenly Court realm.

Unlike the traditional Heavenly Palace cultivation system, his system included three additional Heavenly Gate realms beyond the Four Heavenly Gates realm, as well as the Heavenly River realm and the Nine Prisons Platform realm.

In the traditional Heavenly Palace cultivation system, his current stage would be roughly between the Empyrean and Imperial Throne realms.

However, because he didn't want to cultivate the Jade Capital realm, Qin Mu found it extremely difficult to further advance his cultivation. Now, with his World Tree's influence, his cultivation was still rising, suggesting that other realms might exist beyond the Jade Capital, Empyrean, and Imperial Throne realms.

"Could it be the Five Primordial Stages realm?" he mused, delving into his mind to uncover the reason for his cultivation's rise. "If I could establish the Five Primordial Stages realm through this, it would be an immeasurable contribution!"

His divine consciousness traced the World Tree, investigating the source of his magic power's increase.

Regarding the Five Primordial Stages, although he very much wanted to define them as realms, the five innate grand paths he had cultivated so far were merely understood through contemplation, grasping their mysteries, and developing divine abilities.

Simply comprehending divine abilities and understanding grand paths couldn't be called a realm; it was merely a cultivation method.

To establish them as realms, they would need to be opened up and developed as distinct paths of cultivation, similar to the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure or the Heavenly Palace.

This required setting standards!

The Seven Heavenly Venerates who pioneered the seven divine treasure realms during the early years of the Dragon Han era all established standards for each realm, which is why they were revered as Heavenly Venerates. Heavenly Venerate Yu established the standard for the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure, Heavenly Venerate Hao established the standard for the Five Brightnesses Divine Treasure, and so on.

Similarly, for each Heavenly Palace realm, standards were set to facilitate their widespread transmission.

Qin Mu had opened up five major ore veins in his own divine treasures precisely because he hoped to achieve this.

"The chaotic energy absorbed by the World Tree from the chaotic river is indeed being transformed within the five major ore veins!"

Qin Mu observed closely: as the World Tree absorbed chaotic energy, it first flowed through the Chaotic Ore Vein, which represented the Grand Easiness path, transforming into a wondrous primordial qi, the Grand Primeval Qi.

Next, the Grand Primeval Qi flowed from the Chaotic Ore Vein into the Grand Beginning Ore Vein, transforming from a chaotic state to a primordial state, becoming Grand Beginning Qi.

Then it passed through the Grand Initial Ore Vein, transforming from the primordial state to the initial state, becoming Grand Initial Qi.

The Grand Initial Egg, meanwhile, gained many benefits from this process. Qin Mu felt that the Grand Initial energy within the egg was much stronger than before.

The Grand Initial Qi then passed through the Grand Element Ore Vein, becoming Grand Element Qi, and finally flowed into the Grand Ultimate Ore Vein, transforming into Grand Ultimate Qi.

Qin Mu was intently observing when he suddenly recalled something. He took out the two Qiankun mirrors that Wei Zufeng had given him. These mirrors contained a dao mark belonging to the Master of Miluo Palace, which Wei Zufeng had copied using the Deaf Mute's Qiankun Mirror.

Qin Mu had carefully studied it on his way to Jade Capital City, but he hadn't gained much insight.

Now, as he contemplated the Five Primordial Stages, he suddenly felt that these five unique forms of primordial qi bore some resemblance to the unusual primordial qi contained within the dao mark in the two mirrors.

He carefully compared it with the Master of Miluo Palace's dao mark. The principles contained within the dao mark were extremely profound, but with the Grand Primeval Qi from the Five Primordial Stages as a reference, Qin Mu gradually began to comprehend some of its meaning.

He tried to condense the fundamental grand path runes of the dao mark using his own primordial qi, but he consistently failed.

"The primordial qi contained within this dao mark... it seems like Grand Primeval Qi..."

Qin Mu was stunned. Grand Primeval Qi corresponded to the Grand Easiness Ore Vein!

The Master of Miluo Palace's primordial qi was Grand Primeval Qi, which meant he could potentially be Grand Easiness, the Grand Easiness of the first cosmic era!

"I'm overthinking again."

He shook his head, reasoning that Grand Primeval Qi was just a form of primordial qi, corresponding to the Grand Easiness Ore Vein, but most likely others could also cultivate it, and it probably had little to do with Grand Easiness itself.

"If the Five Primordial Stages could be entered as realms, then this cultivation method would involve cultivating five different forms of primordial qi!"

He immediately acted on the thought, beginning to transform his own primordial qi into Grand Ultimate Qi.

"The Five Primordial Stages realms would be five primordial qi realms. Since the Jade Capital realm isn't very safe, I'll transform my own primordial qi into Grand Ultimate Qi, then progressively transform it into Grand Element Qi, and eventually into Grand Primeval Qi! If I can master these five realms, then achieving the Dao should be incredibly simple!"

With great enthusiasm, he used his own primordial qi to nourish the Grand Ultimate Ore Vein, attempting to integrate it into the qi circulation system of his Overlord Body Three Elixirs technique.

Consort Xiang stood at the stern of the small boat, nervously watching the nine Heavenly Venerates relentlessly pursuing them from behind. Compared to Qin Mu, she was much busier; besides guarding against the Heavenly Venerates' attacks, she also had to deal with the strange entities emerging from the river.

Fortunately, the God-Slaying Profound Blade was incredibly powerful, allowing her to fend off all the strange entities in the river.

However, her cultivation was being consumed at an enormous rate. If this continued, she feared she wouldn't be able to reach the other side of the chaotic river.

"Heavenly Venerate Mu took my God-Slaying Platform. Without it, the God-Slaying Profound Blade cannot unleash its full power."

Consort Xiang's eyes flickered as she glanced at Qin Mu, who was sitting at the bow, eyes closed in concentration, seemingly cultivating or doing something else. She noticed Qin Mu was still holding two mirrors, one against his left cheek and the other against his right.

"This fellow hasn't turned into a woman, yet he's far more vain than I am," Consort Xiang thought.

She mused, "I still need him to activate the Grand Easiness staff to cross the river, so I can't kill him yet. I'll feign compliance for now and let him ferry me across. Once we reach Miluo Palace, I'll tear him to shreds, seize the staff, and reclaim my God-Slaying Platform!"

Just as she thought this, she suddenly heard a thunderous explosion. Qin Mu detonated right in front of her, his entire being transforming into a terrifying mass of energy that expanded outwards!

Consort Xiang was caught off guard, her face splattered with blood. After a moment of stunned silence, she remembered herself and hastily wiped the blood from her face.

At that moment, time seemed to reverse. The violently expanding energy rapidly contracted, gathering back at the bow of the small boat. Even the scattered blood began to flow back, and Qin Mu was sitting there perfectly fine again, as if the terrifying explosion had merely been Consort Xiang's illusion.

The two mirrors still hung on either side of his cheeks, and Qin Mu remained there, eyes closed in concentration.

Consort Xiang shook her head, about to speak, when suddenly Qin Mu's physical body at the bow violently distorted. Before her eyes, heads frantically sprouted from his neck in an instant, quickly transforming him into a massive, multi-headed monster before he swelled up and exploded, dying a violent death!

Consort Xiang's eyes widened, only to see the 'Not Easily Changed' divine ability activate again, restoring Qin Mu to his previous appearance.

Qin Mu then turned into a corporeal Grand Ultimate Diagram, with yin and yang qi swirling, shredding his physical body.

He transformed into a majestic, fierce dragon, coiling at the boat's bow and baring its fangs at Consort Xiang.

Then he became a stone mountain, standing tall.

Consort Xiang composed herself and finally decided to stop watching him, letting him transform however he pleased.

Over a month later, Consort Xiang finally sighted the distant shore and let out a sigh of relief. During this time, Qin Mu had died countless times. In the last few days, Qin Mu had finally stopped dying and his form had stabilized, which Consort Xiang found a little unsettling.

"That should be the abode of the Master of Miluo Palace up ahead, right?" Consort Xiang panted, speaking in a low voice.

"The Master of Miluo Palace presides over the other side of the sixteenth chaotic river, not here," the woman in the Dao fruit replied. "Great Emperor, if you wish to see him, you still need to cross thirteen more rivers."

Consort Xiang felt disheartened. She had very little magic power left and desperately needed to rest and recover some strength, otherwise, she wouldn't be able to cross the next chaotic river at all!

However, the nine Heavenly Venerates were steadily following them, giving her no opportunity to stop and recover her cultivation.

"That brat Heavenly Venerate Mu has been slacking off, just sitting at the bow daily and finding new ways to court death!"

Consort Xiang's anger surged. She thought, "If he doesn't start pulling his weight, I'll just use my divine consciousness to possess him and revert to a man!"

Suddenly, she sensed an unusual change within Qin Mu's body and was taken aback.

This change was remarkably subtle and peculiar. When she looked at Qin Mu, she felt as if he were as vast as the starry sky, with yin and yang evolving within him, giving birth to myriad grand paths and fostering all creation.

It seemed like a fundamental transformation, and she perceived its source to be Qin Mu's primordial qi!

"What trick is this brat pulling now?" Consort Xiang was utterly bewildered.

Different primordial qis had different attributes, and in a divine ability practitioner's context, these were determined by their spiritual body. Different spiritual bodies possessed different primordial qi attributes.

Even after achieving the divine realm and attempting to cultivate other Dao arts and divine abilities, the dominant primordial qi would still retain the attributes of one's spiritual body.

Yet now, Qin Mu gave Consort Xiang the impression that he had altered his own spiritual body attributes, transforming into a different spiritual body, one she had never encountered before.

"This aura... it's like a Grand Ultimate spiritual body... Could this brat be the illegitimate child of the two Grand Ultimate Ancient Gods?"

Consort Xiang blinked, thinking, "But they were only just born, weren't they? And they're siblings..."

Qin Mu opened his eyes and exhaled a murky breath, his heart filled with joy. Over the past month, he had finally begun to grasp the essence of the Five Primordial Stages realms!

He had tentatively figured out a way to transform his own primordial qi into Grand Ultimate Qi!

"Whether I cultivate the Jade Capital realm or not, I won't be weaker than anyone; in fact, I might even be stronger than them!"

At this point, his gaze fell upon Heavenly Venerate Xiao, and his imposing aura immediately diminished a little: "Well, I still can't compare to an existence like Heavenly Venerate Xiao right now..."