Chapter 1620: Golden Lotus on the Golden Ship

"You two are the ghosts doing the haunting!"

Qin Mu boarded the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds. His thoughts stirred as he observed that, from the outside, the golden ship appeared many times smaller, like a tiny golden boat. However, once on board, its internal space was still extremely vast.

"Brother, there really are ghosts on the ship," Qin Fengqing said, hesitating. "I saw Great Ancestor Grandpa."

Qin Mu was startled, then remembered Emperor Kai, and fell silent.

"I really saw him!" Qin Fengqing, seeing Qin Mu's disbelief, quickly added, "You've been busy these past few days, and everyone else has been occupied too, so I found the little fatty to help me. We searched the ship for a long time, and we really saw him!"

The "little fatty" he referred to was Grand Initial. Compared to a giant like Qin Fengqing, Grand Initial was indeed a chubby little fatty. Of course, this "little fatty" was extremely powerful. There weren't many beings who could contend with the Grand Ultimate Ancient God, and he was definitely one of them.

Qin Mu's heart stirred. The golden ship slowly accelerated, entering the void.

"Where did you encounter him?" he asked.

Grand Initial said, "In one of the grand halls. We saw a figure that looked like him, but when we tried to approach, we couldn't get close. Instead, we passed right through him."

Qin Mu's expression darkened. He murmured, "It must be his imprint. The power of Young Master Si's strike completely obliterated him; not even soul black sand would remain..."

"Brother, do you want to go see?" Qin Fengqing showed a glimmer of hope. Although he always called Qin Mu "bad brother," he secretly believed this bad brother was omnipotent. He earnestly hoped Qin Mu could find Emperor Kai, thinking perhaps the bad brother would have a way to bring him back.

Qin Mu thought for a moment and, as if by some divine impulse, nodded. Rational thought told him that Emperor Kai could not possibly have survived Young Master Si's attack, but he inexplicably preferred to believe in a miracle.

Qin Fengqing and Grand Initial led the way. Qin Mu followed them to the complex of palaces on the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds. These palaces were built by the master of the Mi Luo Palace. Each palace was equivalent to a myriad heaven, with vast internal space. Strangely, the number of palaces was not fixed. The number of palaces increased with the number of people boarding the ship. Even if everyone in the entire universe boarded this ship, it would have enough space to accommodate them! Even stranger, if you entered a palace and then exited, you would find another new palace. Even if you searched continuously, you would always discover palaces on the ship that you had never visited! This was the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds refined by the master of the Mi Luo Palace!

Although the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds was so wondrous, containing immeasurable space, it could not protect anyone from the great catastrophe of the universe's destruction.

Qin Mu followed them into a palace. Qin Fengqing quickly spun around, saying, "He's not here!" He flung open the palace door and rushed out, then opened another palace door, swiftly moving about. "Not here either!"

Door after door of the palaces was opened, revealing more golden halls appearing on the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds. Gradually, Qin Fengqing had checked hundreds of halls, while new ones continually emerged. Qin Mu could only watch him bustling about. In the distance, the palaces they had checked were slowly disappearing, and many new ones were appearing out of thin air. Qin Fengqing continued his search, persistent and undeterred.

Qin Mu followed him. After an unknown amount of time, Qin Fengqing also grew a little tired. He opened his three eyes in confusion and murmured, "Which hall was he in? We definitely saw him..." He opened another grand hall. A faint sigh emanated from within. Qin Mu's spirits lifted, and he quickly walked in, only to see Qin Fengqing emerge with a disappointed look, shaking his head. "It's not him..."

Puzzled, Qin Mu looked into the hall. He saw a figure walking towards him. The two met head-on, but the figure passed right through him. Qin Mu was slightly taken aback. He looked at the figure; it was an imprint left by the master of the Mi Luo Palace. His face was filled with sorrow as he walked out of the palace.

Qin Mu turned back and suddenly saw countless beings within the grand hall: cities, fortifications, and various buildings. They lived and thrived there, enjoying a harmonious existence. Suddenly, everyone instantly turned into skeletons. Then, all the cities, fortifications, and various buildings instantly transformed into chaotic qi. The skeletons also collapsed and shattered, turning into wisps of chaotic qi. Qin Mu was stunned. A moment ago, there had been a world in the hall; now there was nothing.

He turned around and saw the imprint of the Mi Luo Palace master standing outside the hall, gazing up in a daze. Qin Mu walked up beside him and looked up, but couldn't see what the imprint was looking at. Qin Mu tilted his head and saw two streaks of tears flash at the corners of the Mi Luo Palace master's eyes. His tears were also imprinted in this space, becoming eternal.

Qin Mu was stunned but didn't stay there. He continued searching with Qin Fengqing and Grand Initial. The Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds sailed towards the Southern Heaven according to his will. The golden ship would take one to two months to reach the Southern Heaven, traversing the void.

Qin Fengqing and Grand Initial were still searching the ship. Almost every grand hall on the ship was unique, making it incredibly difficult for him to find the specific palace where they had encountered Emperor Kai. They encountered more imprints of the Mi Luo Palace master. This most powerful being in history had left many imprints on the ship. Whenever his emotions surged or dimmed, his figure would be imprinted on the ship.

As Qin Mu and the others explored more and more palaces, they gradually encountered more imprints of the Mi Luo Palace master. These imprints were either sad, melancholic, invigorated, or despondent. The more places they explored, the more Qin Mu gradually realized that the Mi Luo Palace master's imprints generally appeared in places where beings from the first universe had died.

"This means that when the cataclysm of the first universe's destruction erupted, some palaces were actually uninhabited. The number of inhabited palaces was limited." He suddenly stopped, feeling he had vaguely grasped something.

Qin Fengqing was still searching ahead. Qin Mu tilted his head in thought. "Palaces with inhabitants and those without might appear according to a certain pattern. If there's a pattern, then it means the number of palaces the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds can manifest is fixed. This is because the number of beings in the first universe is also fixed." His mind raced faster. "If the number of palaces is fixed, then it means we can search all the golden halls!"

He suddenly activated his divine sense, visualizing the paths he had taken and the palaces he had explored. He spread out these palaces to find their mathematical patterns.

Qin Fengqing stopped and looked back.

Qin Mu slowly caught up to them and suddenly asked, "Brother, do you know Heavenly Venerate You's cultivation method?"

Qin Fengqing looked confused.

"It's Heavenly Venerate You's method of creating billions of avatars." Qin Mu said, "Your mastery of the Youdu path should be comparable to his. If he can do it, you most likely can too."

Qin Fengqing's eyes lit up. He suddenly swayed, and another Qin Fengqing walked out of his body. The two Qin Fengqings looked at each other. Their cultivation was precisely split in half. Each of them swayed, and another Qin Fengqing split from them. Qin Fengqing continued to split, quickly reaching tens of thousands!

This was Heavenly Venerate You's cultivation method. Heavenly Venerate You's strongest primordial spirit was cultivated this way: with billions of avatars, each containing a primordial spirit, making the primordial spirit naturally powerful. But this method had a weakness: the physical body remained weak. Because the Youdu path repelled living flesh, this cultivation method made it difficult to cultivate the physical body to its peak. Therefore, Heavenly Venerate You's achievements in physical cultivation were not high.

Countless Qin Fengqings ran around, entering one palace after another. However, even more palaces appeared out of thin air. Those Qin Fengqings, as they ran, swayed and split into more versions of themselves. Qin Mu's eyes flickered. The palaces he visualized grew in number, and their underlying patterns gradually became clear.

Grand Initial watched, dumbfounded, and suddenly asked, "Has Qin Fengqing learned Heavenly Venerate You's cultivation method?"

Qin Mu shook his head. "He hasn't. Heavenly Venerate You is too reclusive; few can converse with him. The Great Dao of Youdu is also extremely profound and difficult to comprehend, and he's too lazy to teach others."

Grand Initial stammered, "Then how did Qin Fengqing learn it?"

"Brother is after all Earth Count. Moreover, brother and I are, in essence, the same person." Qin Mu said calmly, "He may seem foolish, but he's actually as smart as I am."

Grand Initial thought for a moment and said, "Then why don't you know it?"

Finally, Qin Fengqing finished searching the last palace. No new palaces appeared. He recalled his avatars, showing disappointment. He shook his head and said, "Didn't find Great Ancestor... Fatty, why are your eyes swollen?"

Grand Initial stammered, unable to speak.

Qin Mu exhaled, looking at the palaces he had visualized and analyzing their mathematical patterns. He shook his head. "There's still one grand hall on the ship that hasn't appeared. However, I can pinpoint its location!" He walked forward to an empty space, raised his hand, and gently touched his brow. The vertical eye on his brow opened.

Brilliant light, like countless glazed crystals, shot out from the divine eye on his brow. It refracted in all directions, as he operated Heavenly Venerate Yue's Void Transference Scripture to its utmost. The crystal-like light emanating from his eyes refracted countless spatial planes. Within those strange spaces were palaces, which were precisely the internal spaces of the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds! Suddenly, Qin Mu's gaze converged and illuminated a palace. The glazed crystals in his eyes slowly rotated, turning from front to back. A strange phenomenon occurred: when the crystals turned to their back, a magnificent hall appeared out of thin air behind them!

The missing golden hall in the Golden Ship of Crossing Worlds had now appeared!

"As long as one understands mathematical principles, all mysteries will cease to be secrets," Grand Initial said earnestly to the dumbfounded Qin Fengqing.

Qin Fengqing stared blankly at the golden hall and murmured, "If you weren't a little fatty, I'd definitely think what you said makes a lot of sense..."

Qin Mu shook his robes, pushed open the grand hall's doors, and stepped inside. Before his eyes, a Dao flower, seemingly composed of countless sword blades, slowly rotated. Qin Mu stood there, neither crying nor smiling, unmoving for a long time.

After the Heavenly Court's Grand Emperor Haotian's enthronement ceremony, it remained lively for a period. Grand Emperor Haotian enfeoffed meritorious officials, with the most eye-catching being the conferment of new Heavenly Venerates. The Ghost Emperor was enfeoffed as Heavenly Venerate Yin, the Great Sage of Reincarnation. The Grand Ultimate Ancient God was enfeoffed as Heavenly Venerate Sun and Heavenly Venerate Moon. East Emperor Azure Dragon was enfeoffed as Heavenly Venerate Azure Dragon. Most unexpectedly, Long Xiao also arrived and was enfeoffed by Heavenly Venerate Haotian as the Tenth Heavenly Venerate, Heavenly Venerate Long Xiao, in charge of the Beast Realm. Other Heavenly Venerates, such as Huo, Xu, Zu, and others, also received various rewards, their statuses becoming even more esteemed.

After the grand events, Heavenly Venerate Haotian ordered the suppression of disobedient forces, preparing to launch military campaigns against the Western Extreme Heaven and Northern Extreme Heaven. The rulers of the myriad heavens and realms returned to their respective domains. The Heavenly Venerates also returned to their territories, recruiting soldiers and buying horses, preparing for the punitive expeditions.

Heavenly Venerate Huo rode in his Heavenly Venerate's imperial carriage, sitting within it with his eyes closed, meditating. The carriage traveled through the starry sky, shining brightly and leaving a long trail of light. He didn't take the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge, but chose to ride his carriage back to the Southern Heaven, for this very reason: "Returning home wealthy without showing it off is like wearing fine clothes at night." A Heavenly Venerate must maintain the proper bearing of a Heavenly Venerate.

The journey was uneventful. When the imperial carriage arrived at the Southern Heaven, its speed gradually slowed. The carriage passed over the various heavens of the Southern Heaven, with the common people below kneeling in worship. Heavenly Venerate Huo inspected his territory along the way. He saw that the Southern Heaven was orderly, but also subtly revealed signs of chaos, which made him frown.

It wasn't the human race rebelling, but demigods, who were burning, killing, and looting everywhere. The human race, on the other hand, remained submissive, offering no resistance at all. Heavenly Venerate Huo apprehended a demigod and questioned him. The demigod stubbornly retorted, "We're out of money! The Southern Heaven is all about farming, silkworm rearing, and cloth weaving. Who knows how to build supervision factories? Who knows how to manufacture civilian spirit weapons? We buy everything from Eternal Peace. Now even we, the masters, have no money left, so we can only rebel!"

Heavenly Venerate Huo released him, waving his hand to let him go, and fell into deep thought. "If we don't plunder Eternal Peace, the Southern Heaven will be difficult to sustain. The Southern Heaven is a small nation with few people, living a pastoral life. How can it compete with Eternal Peace's large-scale manufacturing..." Just as he thought this, a voice suddenly laughed, "Heavenly Venerate Huo is truly a talent! He has trained the human race here so well: gentle, obedient, without any will to resist, nor any power to resist. These people live to sixty before being eaten by demigods? That's too late; the taste isn't good anymore. From now on, let's make it forty years old; forty is just right for taste."