Chapter 1799: Three Thousand Years Later Qin Mu

In just over three thousand years, Ancestral Court had undergone a massive transformation. Even those who had seen it after its sealing, like Granny Si and the Village Chief, now found it utterly unfamiliar.

After they left, it was clear that another major upheaval had occurred here.

Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City looked exceptionally magnificent. From a distance, the incredibly splendid city sat amidst chaotic clouds, with chaos energy faintly seeping from it, enveloping Jade Capital City in a misty veil.

Inside the city, numerous Dao trees could be seen, tall, majestic, and lush.

There was also the Universe Bell of the Ancestral Court's World Tree, incredibly massive, its creator and activator unknown.

Furthermore, around the World Tree, the Chaotic Long River no longer appeared only at night; it was now visible even during the day, resembling sixteen moats of the World Tree, guarding the Boundless Elder.

Within those sixteen Chaotic Long Rivers, incredibly thick World Tree roots were intertwined, piercing into the rivers and spanning across cosmic epochs, an astonishing sight!

Near the World Tree, Dao trees of various sizes stood. Numerous prehistoric Dao Achievers had picked the Dao fruits from their Dao trees and transplanted them onto the World Tree, making it exceptionally ornate and colorful.

However, the most significant changes were not these, but rather the geographical layout of Ancestral Court's four walls.

The changes in Ancestral Court's geographical features were not immediately striking, yet they were the most profound. Previously, Qin Mu had laid down Ancestral Court's seal, altering its geographical features to form various Dao patterns and chains, thereby creating the seal.

Now, Ancestral Court's mountains and rivers had become regularized, forming various patterns, like engraved textures on the wall of a massive cauldron.

However, in terms of complexity, the four walls of Ancestral Court's massive cauldron were infinitely more complex than those of an ordinary cauldron!

This change indicated that Ancestral Court was increasingly resembling an unimaginably vast treasure!

Zhu Santong, being well-traveled and knowledgeable, was also stunned by the sight. "Seventh Young Master is truly magnificent!" he thought. "What exactly does the old man intend to do?"

Compared to Young Master Chaos, Zhu Santong still had to refer to himself as a junior.

Young Master Chaos of the Mi Luo Palace achieved fame very early. By the time Zhu Santong attained Dao, Young Master Chaos was already renowned throughout the world, but because he ranked seventh in the Mi Luo Palace, he was known as the Seventh Young Master.

Zhu Santong calling him "the old man" was not an exaggeration.

What was even more bizarre was that the sky had become like an ocean—a sea of chaos inverted above Ancestral Court. On this chaotic sea, incredibly massive inverted lotus flowers hung, with three or four lotus leaves floating on the surface.

The chaotic sea was inverted in the sky. From it, incredibly bright streams of light occasionally erupted, dazzlingly bright, yet, as the light streams reached above the lotus flowers, they arced through the air and descended into them.

Inside the lotus flowers were lotus pedestals with holes in their centers, from which streams of chaos energy erupted, complementing the light streams.

This sight left everyone staring blankly.

"Merchant King and Heavenly Venerate You never mentioned the changes in Ancestral Court," Emperor Yi Yue murmured, staring blankly at the scene.

"You can't get a peep out of those two; you can't rely on them," Granny Si said carelessly, also wide-eyed.

Zhu Santong looked up, seeing six layers of lotus petals around the pedestal. These represented the sixth level of the Dao of the Return to the Ruins.

Among the group, his insight and knowledge were the highest, allowing him to discern some clues.

For the Dao of the Return to the Ruins, one cycle of cosmic creation and destruction constitutes one Dao level. The highest achiever of this Dao was Young Master Wuji of the Mi Luo Palace, whose lotus pedestal represented sixteen Dao levels.

Although she was not born in the first cosmic epoch, she had explored the Catastrophe of Destruction and the Catastrophe of Creation of that epoch, thus enabling her to cultivate this level.

Qin Mu's ability to cultivate the sixth Dao level was most likely due to drawing power from the Great Catastrophe of Destruction.

"However, he still needs methods like those of the Heaven-Opening Crowd to comprehend the mysteries of the Catastrophe of Creation."

"He is not part of the Heaven-Opening Crowd," Zhu Santong thought to himself, "but he most likely possesses similar methods. However, the Heaven-Opening Crowd has become monsters; I wonder if Seventh Young Master can preserve his Dao heart..."

Suddenly, he shook his head vigorously, thinking, "Seventh Young Master is already a monster!"

Qin Fengqing led the way towards the Universe Bell, saying, "Be careful. Those prehistoric powerhouses who crawled out of the past are all formidable, and their divine abilities are powerful. Their Dao techniques are likely things you've never seen before. If you die before even getting into battle, that would bring shame to Yankang."

Heavenly Duke's cultivation was unparalleled among them; he was the only Dao Achiever, and he opened the way with Qin Fengqing.

The group walked down from the cauldron walls. Along the way, they saw traces of a great Dao battle everywhere in Ancestral Court, which secretly shocked them.

Most of these Dao traces were the residual divine abilities left by top Heavenly Venerates and Dao Achievers. Dao chains had transformed into various forms, including mountains, rivers, and trees, as well as divine beasts and artifacts.

There were also broken Dao soldiers, weapons of Dao Achievers, stuck in the ground like mountains.

These fragments of Dao soldiers must have been Dao soldiers of prehistoric Dao Achievers, destroyed in the great battle.

Mute was about to go forward and pick them up, but the Village Chief quickly pulled him back, whispering, "Don't embarrass Mu'er. These are things others discarded. We are Mu'er's elders, not scavengers."

Mute ignored him and picked up some Dao soldier fragments, overjoyed.

Further ahead, there were more broken Dao trees scattered haphazardly on the ground. Mute quickly ran to pick them up again. Blind also couldn't resist going forward. Butcher quickly ran over, saying, "Excellent materials here! Forge me a good knife!"

In the end, even the Village Chief couldn't resist, running over to scavenge and saying, "Mute, that sword..."

After they had scoured this battlefield, everyone had gained something. Even Zhu Santong snatched a few treasures, his heart pounding. "This is much faster than when I robbed those Dao Achievers in my previous life," he thought.

He used to be a bandit among Dao Achievers, skilled at transformation and harming others, robbing many Dao Achievers. Eventually, during the Catastrophe of Destruction, he tried to steal life-saving treasures from other Dao Achievers and was suppressed by Young Master Grand Supreme.

Young Master Grand Supreme, like the master of Mi Luo Palace, rarely took lives, allowing him to live until now.

The group continued forward, passing another battlefield ruin which was also filled with treasures everywhere. They couldn't help but scour it again.

They stopped and went along the way, encountering over a dozen battlefields. Everyone's belongings were already full, unable to continue scavenging, so they had to give up.

Suddenly, a golden ship flew from ahead and stopped before them.

Everyone knew it was Qin Mu who had sent the golden ship to pick them up. They boarded the ship, only to see that it was piled high with various treasures, filling the deck.

In comparison, the treasures they had picked up were truly discarded scraps!

Everyone's faces flushed with shame. Granny Si placed the treasures she had scavenged on the deck, only to see a golden ray from the ship sweep across, collecting her painstakingly gathered treasures and throwing them overboard.

Granny Si's face flushed slightly, and she spat, "Mu'er is becoming more and more wasteful. Really, so extravagant..."

Everyone's faces turned even redder. They wanted to discard the treasures they had picked up but couldn't bear to; these were indeed earth-shattering treasures, but compared to the treasures on the golden ship, they truly were nothing.

The World-Crossing Golden Ship carried them towards the Universe Bell. The closer they got to the Universe Bell, the larger it appeared, making everyone's hearts pound with awe.

The bell didn't look like a treasure, but rather a divine ability. One could see the various Daoistic structures on its surface and inner wall—large Dao chains, small Dao patterns, intricate runes—all clearly visible.

Furthermore, on the bell's surface, one could see the myriad Dao of the primordial universe. All sorts of incredible Grand Daos flowed on the bell's surface—suns, moons, stars, rivers of stars, constellations, and the great heavens—all clearly visible.

Near the bell's apex were the Five Tai transformations: Grand Ultimate, Grand Purity, Grand Beginning, Grand Prime, and Grand Change. The closer one got to the bell's apex, the closer one was to the Catastrophe of Creation.

Everyone's hair stood on end as they stared blankly at the point where the Catastrophe of Creation erupted from the Universe Bell.

That was an unimaginable catastrophe. Although it was the creation of a brand new universe, bringing endless vitality, its power seemed capable of destroying all past decay!

Especially Zhu Santong, whose legs trembled, unable to move.

Although Heavenly Duke, Qin Fengqing, and the others had heard of the Catastrophe of Creation, they had never witnessed it. They only felt its power, and it made their hair stand on end.

However, he had seen it!

He had been suppressed by Young Master Grand Supreme in the Obelisk Forest and thrown into the Void Slop Heap during those years. He had experienced several Great Catastrophes of Creation. Each time, he felt certain he would die, and each time, he was scared out of his wits!

The Catastrophe of Creation from this Universe Bell stirred his memories again.

At the apex of that Universe Bell stood a magnificent and massive Chaos Hall, suppressing the Ancestral Court of the Seventeenth Epoch. Rolling chaos energy surged from the hall, transforming into a giant hand.

From that hand, the Catastrophe of Creation erupted, forming the magnificent spectacle of the Universe Bell. It blasted through the sixteen Chaotic Long Rivers encircling the World Tree, carving a path for Emperor Kai and others to attack the World Tree.

Within the sixteen Chaotic Long Rivers, countless incredibly thick World Tree roots intertwined, piercing into the great bell to restrict its power.

That was the Boundless Elder using his true form to contend with Qin Mu!

Countless powerhouses from sixteen cosmic epochs climbed onto the tree roots, surged into the Great Bell, and fought a bloody battle with Emperor Kai, Qin Ye, and others, fighting until the sky grew dim and the earth turned dark!

*Dong—*

The heaven-shattering, earth-creating bell tolls continued, mighty and vast, impacting the Great Black Mountain. Below the Great Black Mountain, the black mountain formed by the roots of the previous generation's World Tree lifted in the bell's sound, cracked, shattered, and turned to dust!

On the golden ship, everyone was astonished, but saw that the golden ship did not directly enter the Great Bell, but flew towards the Chaos Hall at its apex.

They looked into the distance, seeing the gates of the Chaos Hall wide open. Chaos was vast and boundless inside, and at the center of the hall, a World Tree could be vaguely seen.

And within the chaotic mist, Qin Mu's figure was indistinct, presiding over the area.

The giant hand extending from the chaos energy was his own palm!

After the bell tolls ceased, the myriad Daos in front of the great bell suddenly rotated rapidly and contracted. Emperor Kai and the others immediately retreated.

The great bell suppressing the sixteen Chaotic Long Rivers contracted layer by layer. The Boundless Elder's controlled World Tree roots also began to contract. The prehistoric powerhouses on the tree roots quickly fled along them, daring not to linger.

Soon, Emperor Kai and the others reached the first Chaotic Long River, leaped, and landed in front of the Chaos Hall. The great bell had already contracted into its Five Tai state.

Immediately, a clear bell chime resounded. The Five Tai state disappeared, transforming into a Chaos Bell just over a person's height, held in Qin Mu's palm.

Qin Mu stood up, hung the great bell under the eaves of the Chaos Hall, waved his sleeve to disperse the chaos energy, and smiled, "Granny, you've finally arrived."