Chapter 1538: Gold Ship's Hobby

The Golden Ship of Salvation sailed out of Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, bathed in bright, warm sunlight. For the past three years or so, they had not seen daylight, and suddenly encountering it, they found the sunlight somewhat dazzling.

"Empress was the most powerful attained being in the history of this universe," Qin Mu thought, "yet this mightiest of attained beings had gone mad!" Standing at the bow of the ship, Qin Mu struggled to accept this fact. Heavenly Venerable Hao and Heavenly Venerable Xiao could temporarily wield the power of an attained being, but they couldn't sustain it. Although powerful, neither of them had fully stabilized their Celestial Court realm. Only Empress had truly established herself in the Celestial Court realm.

It was no exaggeration to call her the foremost attained being in history. After all, if the Master of Miluo Palace spoke the truth, Tai Yi was a stowaway, not a native life form of this universe. Therefore, Empress was undeniably the first in history; even Heavenly Emperor Tai Chu and the Grand Emperor in their prime were slightly inferior to her! But despite all this, Empress had gone mad.

On the Golden Ship of Salvation, the appearances of the two Primordial Taiji Ancient Gods began to restore. Their divine power and cultivation, lost due to aging, also recovered rapidly. Before long, the two ancient gods were back to their original state. They exchanged glances and swam over to Qin Mu.

Before they could speak, Qin Mu smiled and said, "Esteemed Daoist brothers, you've assisted Empress to the point of madness. So, whom do you plan to assist this time?"

The two ancient gods exchanged a look. The Lunar Goddess smiled wryly and said, "Heavenly Venerable Mu is mocking us. We emerged early precisely for our own path to attainment. We assisted Empress because her sisters were similar to us; we believed her path could serve as a valuable reference for our own, so we helped her achieve attainment."

The Solar Ancient God said, "Our research this time yielded significant gains, bringing us a step closer to attainment. We will no longer assist Empress. Since we have a destiny with Heavenly Venerable Mu, perhaps we should assist Heavenly Venerable Mu in attaining his path."

Qin Mu burst into laughter.

The two ancient gods smiled.

As his laughter subsided, Qin Mu slowly shook his head and said, "Esteemed Daoist brothers, Empress was so formidable, yet you assisted her to the point of madness. How could I dare accept your blessings? Let's not make such jokes."

The two ancient gods were slightly taken aback. The Lunar Goddess said with displeasure, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, there are truly only five beings in this world who can be called ancient gods: Tai Yi, Tai Chu, Tai Shi, Tai Su, and us. Other so-called ancient gods have their own flaws and aren't even perfect; how can they be called primordial ancient gods? With our help, your grand endeavor is within reach!"

Qin Mu smiled without truly smiling and said, "However, you are far too conceited. You claim to have helped Empress achieve attainment, yet you never once asked for her opinion. You simply captured her and forcibly merged her with Primordial Mother, disregarding all consequences. As a result, you created this terrifying, demented monster. If I were to employ you, I would constantly have to guard my back, fearing that one day you might unilaterally decide to use me for your experiments." He let out a soft chuckle and said, "You possess the will to attain, but you lack humanity. I cannot afford to use you, nor do I dare. Esteemed Daoist brothers, please leave."

The Solar Ancient God frowned, about to speak, when the Lunar Goddess interjected, "If he doesn't use us, it's his loss, not ours! Daoist Brother Tai Chu already invited us. We'll assist Tai Chu, help him defeat all his opponents, and conquer the world!"

The Solar Ancient God sighed. He said to Qin Mu, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, though we part ways now, rest assured, we will not be your enemies in the future."

Qin Mu smiled and said, "Farewell."

The two ancient gods leaped off the Golden Ship. Suddenly, a golden light flashed on the ship, swirling around and enveloping them. The two ancient gods were startled. "Heavenly Venerable Mu intends to take this opportunity to kill us!" they thought. After the golden light wrapped around them, it began pulling them back onto the ship. The two ancient gods exchanged a look. The Taiji Sand Table, their innate spiritual treasure behind their heads, rotated with a whistle. It forcibly cut through the binding golden light, and they immediately ripped through the air and fled!

Fearing Qin Mu would pursue them, the Taiji Sand Table spun behind them, sending countless grains of sand flying across the sky, transforming into individual stars. From a distance, the myriad twinkling lights behind them were quite beautiful.

Whoosh—

The two Taiji Ancient Gods fled. The star-sand also whizzed away with them, quickly vanishing without a trace. Only the Lunar Goddess's voice echoed from afar: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you saw that we intended to seek refuge with Tai Chu, and so you tried to eliminate us! Such cruelty and lawlessness will surely invite divine retribution!"

"Strange..."

Qin Mu furrowed his brow slightly. It wasn't he who had unleashed the golden light to bind the Taiji Ancient Gods earlier, but the Golden Ship of Salvation itself. The ship had acted on its own, without his command, attempting to keep the two Taiji Ancient Gods on board, which was truly peculiar.

"Could there be something tricky about this ship?"

He spread out his divine consciousness, attempting to imprint his mark on the Golden Ship of Salvation. To his surprise, the imprinting process was extremely smooth. The Golden Ship of Salvation offered no resistance, allowing him to place his mark upon it. Qin Mu grew even more curious. His divine consciousness swept through the ship, and he immediately discovered many hidden compartments and secret places.

"Heavenly Venerable Hao and Heavenly Venerable Xiao might emerge from Jade Capital City at any moment," he thought. "It's better to leave here first and return to the World Tree before making further plans."

He maneuvered the Golden Ship, steering it towards the World Tree. He thought to himself, "Offending the Taiji Ancient Gods for no reason was truly an unexpected misfortune. But then again, with them joining Tai Chu, Tai Chu will inevitably face trouble, and his downfall will only accelerate. These two ancient gods are too selfish and act on their own initiative; they are incompetent."

Suddenly, another golden light flashed on the ship. Qin Mu quickly looked over, only to see several primordial giant beasts appear on the Golden Ship! These primordial giant beasts had no idea what was happening. One beast still had a large tree hanging from its mouth, staring at Qin Mu with a bewildered expression. It had evidently been captured by the Golden Ship while eating. Qin Mu frowned. Suddenly, another golden light flashed, and several more giant beasts were collected onto the ship.

"What's wrong with this ship?" Qin Mu was dumbfounded. In the blink of an eye, more than a hundred giant beasts, large and small, appeared on the Golden Ship. All of them stared at Qin Mu at the bow with terrified expressions. Before long, there were thousands of giant beasts on the Golden Ship. As the ship flew, it continuously cast down golden lights. Golden beams could be seen snatching up all sorts of giant beasts, birds, fish, and insects from Ancestral Court's majestic mountains, great rivers, and lakes, stuffing them onto the ship!

Qin Mu suddenly realized, both amused and exasperated: "The Golden Ship of Salvation—it has the name 'Salvation'! I fear this ship intends to carry all living beings onto it! No wonder the Taiji Ancient Gods mistakenly thought I wanted to kill them. The Golden Ship must have considered them beings to be 'saved,' which is why it tried to keep them aboard. This ship's nature is quite similar to Xing An's box..."

He sent out a wave of his divine consciousness, informing the ship that it wasn't the end of the world yet. This universe was still young, the great catastrophe of destruction had not arrived, and there was no need to collect these beings onto the ship. The Golden Ship of Salvation became more restrained. It flew through the air, with golden lights dancing around it, but it no longer captured the creatures of Ancestral Court below.

Qin Mu's vital qi surged out, enveloping the giant beast that still had a tree in its mouth and dared not eat, intending to send it back to land. Unexpectedly, just as he sent the beast off the ship, a golden light surged out and enveloped the beast, pulling it back. Qin Mu diligently channeled his vital qi, but he still couldn't send the beast away. He said helplessly, "The great catastrophe of destruction is still untold billions of years away; there's truly no need to collect living beings onto the ship now." The golden light relaxed slightly. Qin Mu hurriedly channeled his vital qi, sending the giant beast off the ship. Suddenly, the golden light swirled again, and once more enveloped the giant beast, pulling it back onto the ship.

Qin Mu laughed in exasperation. He then saw the golden light gently stroke the giant beast's head, as if comforting it. The giant beast, with the tree still in its mouth, didn't dare to move. Qin Mu was torn between laughter and tears. He thought to himself, "Fine, I'll release these giant beasts once we return to the World Tree."

The Golden Ship of Salvation gradually picked up speed, moving faster and faster. Standing at the bow, Qin Mu felt high-spirited. He thought to himself, "Only seven Heavenly Venerables remain. The situation is improving..." He then frowned. Although only seven Heavenly Venerables remained, they were no longer endlessly scheming against each other as before. The current seven Heavenly Venerables were split into two factions: Heavenly Venerable Hao's faction, and Heavenly Venerable Xiao's independent faction.

Furthermore, both Heavenly Venerable Hao and Heavenly Venerable Xiao had resolved the challenges of the Celestial Court realm. And they had received guidance from the Miluo Palace's Fourth and Third Young Masters. They had likely gained immense benefits within Miluo Palace! Once they emerged from Miluo Palace, it would likely be the final showdown for power! This showdown would determine which of them, Heavenly Venerable Hao or Heavenly Venerable Xiao, would truly rule this world! Regardless of whether Heavenly Venerable Hao or Heavenly Venerable Xiao emerged victorious, it would bode ill for Eternal Peace and Carefree Village!

A heavy feeling settled in his heart as he looked back at Jade Capital City. "Jade Capital and Miluo — I must cultivate these two realms!" he thought. "However, some of the Seventy-Two Treasure Halls have fallen into the hands of the various Heavenly Venerables, which makes things difficult..."

He closed his eyes, carefully recalling the scenes he had witnessed in the Sixteen Universes: the Master of Miluo Palace forging Jade Capital City and using the divine city to pass through the great catastrophe of destruction. He felt like an eyewitness, personally participating in the process of forging the divine city and imprinting the Great Dao. He also felt as if he had experienced countless great catastrophes of destruction, standing within the city, watching thousands of palaces and tens of thousands of halls erupt with various dao lights, resisting the calamity. He quietly meditated and comprehended, unaware of how much time had passed. The Golden Ship of Salvation gently came to a halt, having arrived beneath the World Tree.

Qin Mu looked up. The Ancestral Court World Tree had grown even taller and more magnificent than before. Its crown enveloped the hundred thousand black mountains. The deities of Eternal Peace had somehow found a sun and made it revolve around the World Tree, providing light to the hundred thousand great mountains.

"It seems nothing went wrong in the few years I was away," he murmured. Qin Mu sighed in relief and jumped off the ship. The people in Sacred Mountain had long noticed the ship and crowded around it, touching the Golden Ship. Qin Mu was eager to see Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian, and hurriedly said, "Don't get too close; this ship has a strange personality." With that, he hurried away.

Blind Man stroked the Golden Ship and laughed, "This ship has a temper?" Before he finished speaking, a golden light flashed down, binding him tightly. The next moment, Blind Man found himself on the ship. Blind Man let out a cry of surprise. He looked around, only to see that everyone who had been standing below the ship had been pulled onto it by the ship! Everyone exclaimed repeatedly, wanting to leave the ship. However, no matter how extraordinary their divine powers were, they could not escape from the ship.