Chapter 1757: Sword Opens the Path of Life and Death

A radiant light flowed in Qin Mu’s hand as the Primeval Divine Axe slowly took shape. This time, he sensed an unprecedented danger.

It was even more perilous than his encounter with the Third and Fourth Young Masters of the Mi Luo Palace.

Elder Wu Ya’s power was unfathomable.

He was also deeply entangled in the long-standing feud between the Mi Luo Palace and Tian Du City, arguably a crucial link in the conflict.

In the desolate lands of the Ultimate Void, Qin Mu had once encountered the Tian Du Creation Grounds. There, he witnessed the Lord of Tian Du, accompanied by many perfected beings from Tian Du City, carving out primal chaos and evolving the primordial universe during the Great Catastrophe of the Sixth Epoch. At that time, the Mi Luo Palace did not interfere; it merely watched silently.

However, later, the Master of the Mi Luo Palace ambushed and killed the Lord of Tian Du, saying, "What you are doing is wrong."

According to Elder Wu Ya, the true story behind the Mi Luo Palace Master's assassination of the Lord of Tian Du was not so simple.

Since then, the conflict between Tian Du City and the Mi Luo Palace has been continuous and has not ceased even to this day.

Qin Mu lowered his head, looking at the radiant light in his hand. With a faint, unreadable smile, he said, "The Master of the Mi Luo Palace is the teacher of all cultivators. From the First Epoch to the Seventeenth, the origin of all Dao arts and divine abilities can be said to be deeply connected with him. How could he possibly listen to you and attack Tian Du?"

As Elder Wu Ya walked towards him, Qin Mu's hair stood on end.

With his back to Elder Wu Ya, Qin Mu felt as if the colossal tree supporting the sky of the Ancestral Court was pressing down on him as the elder approached. The entire universe seemed to transform into the crushing weight of the World Tree, forcing him to desperately wish to escape this oppressive feeling.

To escape this oppression, he had to move forward, but ahead lay the scene of the Great Catastrophe outside the World Tree!

Stepping into it would mean entering prehistory!

He had once mistakenly entered it, which led to the premature emergence of Grand Primeval and caused him to form a grudge with the Grand Primeval Divine Maiden.

For the current Qin Mu, entering the prehistoric Great Catastrophe posed no real danger; the Great Catastrophe could no longer kill him. However, returning once inside would be difficult!

The last time he mistakenly entered prehistory, he had collaborated with Grand Primeval, using the World Tree's roots to sneak back. This time, Elder Wu Ya would not give him that chance.

He closed his eyes, and the radiant light in his hand slowly dimmed, transforming into the starting stance of the Tian Du Creation Chapter, ready to draw his sword at any moment.

The Tian Du Creation Chapter was a sword art that opened up primal chaos, and it was also the deepest Dao realm Qin Mu had comprehended.

The Grand Primordium Finger, the Red Thread Knot, and the Primeval Tree-Felling were all Dao arts and divine abilities he had learned from others and could not be classified as Dao realms.

However, the Tian Du Creation Chapter was a divine ability in the Dao realm that he had comprehended while witnessing the powerful beings of Tian Du create heaven and earth.

His understanding of the Tian Du Creation Chapter was deeper than that of his other divine abilities.

This sword strike was poised and ready, but its target was not Elder Wu Ya, but the Great Catastrophe outside the World Tree.

There was only one way to avoid falling into the catastrophe: the instant before he was forced to leave the World Tree's embrace and step into the Great Catastrophe, he had to directly cleave the Great Catastrophe down the middle!

He didn't need to cleave open the entire Great Catastrophe; he only needed to cut a path and seize an escape route.

As long as he didn't fall into the catastrophe, he wouldn't return to the past.

This was the best strategy he could devise to deal with the current situation.

But this action would leave his back completely exposed to Elder Wu Ya. Even if his movement technique was perfect and flawless, with Elder Wu Ya's power, severely wounding him would be no difficulty at all.

However, Qin Mu had no choice but to do so.

"Why would your teacher listen to me and have to attack Tian Du?"

Elder Wu Ya's steps were slow as he leisurely said, "He cares for all living beings in the world; he is an unimaginably warm-hearted and impossibly pure person. Only with such warmth and a pure Dao heart could he achieve such heights. I didn't beguile him, nor did I pander to him; I merely helped him confirm one of his judgments."

Qin Mu's pressure grew heavier, and his voice became somewhat hoarse as he asked, "What judgment did Master have?"

The Master of the Mi Luo Palace, as described by Elder Wu Ya, reminded him of Lan Yu Tian, who also possessed a pure Dao heart, warmth, and kindness.

Perhaps the Master of the Mi Luo Palace and Lan Yu Tian were the same type of people, which explained why so many geniuses were fiercely loyal to him.

"Tian Du created heaven and earth, evolving a new universe. The innate Dao of the Seventh Epoch universe was actually determined by the perfected beings of Tian Du City. The Great Dao of those perfected beings from Tian Du City became the innate Dao of the Seventh Epoch universe."

Elder Wu Ya continued to walk, reminiscing about the past as he said, "This restricted the development of Dao arts and divine abilities, and also brought about other problems. The perfected beings of Tian Du became ancient gods, and on the innate Dao of the Seventh Epoch, it became difficult for beings with stronger and deeper comprehension than them to emerge. This was an invisible shackles. Furthermore, Tian Du seized the greatest power in the Seventh Epoch universe and began to drastically change the rules of this universe. Tian Du City treated the Seventh Epoch as a testing ground for their ideals."

Qin Mu's muscles twitched as he involuntarily moved his feet forward under the pressure, getting closer and closer to the Great Catastrophe outside the World Tree. His voice hoarse, he said, "Changing rules is certainly good, but there will surely be failures. Right?"

Just one more step forward, and he would have no choice but to unleash the Tian Du Creation Chapter, enter the Great Catastrophe, and attempt to cleave open a path!

Whether this would succeed was still unknown.

Suddenly, Elder Wu Ya stopped, making Qin Mu extremely uncomfortable.

"You are absolutely right," Elder Wu Ya said. "The perfected beings of Tian Du City made many innovations, but most of them failed. They used the Seventh Epoch as a testing ground, causing many great upheavals, widespread suffering, and conflicts with the ideals of the Mi Luo Palace."

Elder Wu Ya maintained this immense pressure, but he did not increase it to the point where Qin Mu would be forced to launch a desperate, life-or-death strike. He said unhurriedly, "Conflicts of ideals are more terrifying than matters of right and wrong, good and evil. In matters of right and wrong, good and evil, there are rights and wrongs; if you're wrong, you can correct it. But conflicts of ideals are different. Conflicting ideals lead to struggles of life and death. I merely told the Master of the Mi Luo Palace that Tian Du was a group of blasphemers, that their ideals were wrong and could not be corrected."

Qin Mu's eyelids twitched. He wanted to open his eyes but kept them closed, continuing to accumulate power.

The moment he opened his three divine eyes would be when the power he had accumulated for so long would burst forth. However, Elder Wu Ya simply wouldn't give him that chance.

"I still had selfish motives," Elder Wu Ya said.

Elder Wu Ya smiled. "Those people from Tian Du were too reckless. Each of them was lawless and full of ideas. They messed up the Seventh Epoch, even researching my secrets and beginning to take paths that did not involve cultivating the Dao tree."

He sighed and said, "They even wanted to control the World Tree, to control me, and that made me very unhappy. The Mi Luo Palace's path to Dao realm perfection, cultivating the Dao tree, imitating me, also perfected me. And I also protected the perfected beings, allowing them to survive the cataclysms. Wasn't that good? Why change?"

He shook his head. "Tian Du simply had to die."

Qin Mu smiled, his right arm muscles bulging, becoming several times thicker than usual. "Dao Brother, your selfishness is heavier than anyone's. The Third Young Master of the Mi Luo Palace left behind the Jade Capital Trap and the Empyrean Trap for cultivators of the Seventeenth Epoch, and you left them the Dao Tree Trap. Such skill, I admire."

Elder Wu Ya sighed. "For you, a year is a year. For me, an entire cosmic epoch is just one year. At that time, I was only seven years old, so it was normal to have my own ideas. Mi Luo Palace's Seventh Child, are you waiting for the sunrise?"

He smiled. "Waiting for the sunrise, for the cataclysm outside the World Tree to dissipate, so you can escape?"

Qin Mu remained silent.

"You won't be able to wait that long," Elder Wu Ya said.

Elder Wu Ya said leisurely, "The World Tree traverses through cosmic epochs; it is the unchanging substance of this world. There was a blasphemer in Tian Du whose divine ability was 'Immutability,' which was quite marvelous. And I am naturally 'Immutable.' I can make the World Tree forever remain in darkness, with the cataclysm always outside."

Qin Mu's eyelids twitched.

"I can send you into the cataclysm of any cosmic epoch," Elder Wu Ya said.

Elder Wu Ya said, "Seventh Young Master Chaos, you live up to your Daoist title, which is truly unfortunate. The World Tree originally grows by devouring chaos, and every cataclysm is an opportunity for growth. You comprehend your own path from chaos and cultivate your own principles. No matter to what extent you grow, you will be restrained by me. Perfectly restrained."

Qin Mu struggled to maintain a smile, the large tendons in his right arm twitching as he sought an opportunity to strike. "I thought we were friends," he said.

Elder Wu Ya smiled. "We will be friends. Didn't I let you cut my sapling and cultivate it in your divine treasures? When you went back to the past to see me, we were polite to each other, calling each other friends. You even gave me an IOU."

Qin Mu's body tensed, every muscle twitching frantically.

Elder Wu Ya lifted his foot, and the moment it was off the ground, the pressure on Qin Mu suddenly surged!

As Elder Wu Ya brought his foot down forward, that unparalleled pressure forced Qin Mu to unleash all his strength to resist!

"You are not my match, and I don't want to hurt you, nor can you escape my control," Elder Wu Ya said.

The pressure Elder Wu Ya exerted on him reached its peak, causing the black mountain beneath Qin Mu's feet to begin floating and softening. Massive black stones floated in the air, disintegrating amid violent qi fluctuations.

"You cannot cleave open a path!" Elder Wu Ya said. "You will cleave open the first layer of chaos, only to find a second, and then a third! Ahead, fifteen layers of chaos will be waiting for you, and you will be exhausted!"

The power stored in all of Qin Mu's muscles finally reached its limit, and he had no choice but to take a step forward!

As he took this step, he twisted his waist, turned, and made his move!

His Tian Du Creation Chapter did not strike at the Great Catastrophe behind him, but rather at Elder Wu Ya!

This strike was one he had accumulated for a long time, containing almost all of his power!

At the same time, in the short distance between his back and the Great Catastrophe, space suddenly ripped open. A lotus from the Ruins of Return appeared, its roots delving into the chaotic qi of the Great Catastrophe, absorbing its power to amplify the might of his strike!

In this world, the Primeval Tree-Felling was not the only move that could sever the World Tree; his divine ability could also do it!

This strike, he was determined to succeed.