Chapter 1800: Return to the Ruins and Drastic Changes

The Chaos Palace led everyone away from the World Tree. Old Man Wuya did not pursue them with his forces, and surprisingly, both sides ceased hostilities.

"Old Man Wuya doesn't dare to pursue."

Qin Mu returned to the golden ship, pushing aside the mountains of treasures, and led everyone into the ship's golden hall. He invited them to sit and said, "Last time, when the Mi Luo Palace attacked, we also joined the fray and injured him. After he repelled the Mi Luo Palace, I took advantage of his weakened state. At that moment, Old Man Wuya is most docile; he won't fight back no matter how you hit him. You are... Luo Santong!"

He looked at Luo Santong, immediately tracing his soul back to his previous life, recognizing the old acquaintance. He smiled and said, "Daoist Zhu's cultivation is still weak, similar to the former Yin Tianzi. How did you manage to get here?"

His Path of Reincarnation had become increasingly profound and unfathomable; he could identify Zhu Santong's origin with just a glance.

Qin Fengqing said, "He insisted on coming. I couldn't dissuade him, so I had to let him."

Luo Santong felt a flicker of annoyance inwardly. "When did you try to dissuade me? If you had even mildly tried, I... I probably still wouldn't have been able to resist coming over."

Grandma Si retrieved vast collections of scriptures from her divine treasure, handing them to Qin Mu. She said, "There have been many achievements from the reforms over the years. I've brought you the useful parts. Take a look yourself."

Qin Mu took the scriptures and let out a hearty laugh. "Since you're here, it's fine. As long as you're not turned into chaos, there's still hope. However, everyone in the Ancestral Court has the power to turn him into chaos..."

He tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then smiled. "Where is there not yellow earth to bury people? Dying anywhere is the same."

Luo Santong's face darkened. "These brothers say the exact same things; no wonder they're blood brothers..."

Qin Mu's body shimmered, and numerous small Qin Mus emerged, spreading throughout the golden hall's corners. They rapidly flipped through the scriptures Grandma Si had brought. He said, "We haven't been idle in the Ancestral Court for three thousand years. Emperor Yu and Brother Xu have been organizing divine arts and techniques. First, they've been compiling the various divine arts practiced by prehistoric powerhouses, and second, they've been recording the divine arts we've created during this time. Once Bai Gui and Dao Ancestor achieve enlightenment, they will return and transmit these Dao techniques and divine arts to Yankang."

Jiang Baigui was also close to achieving enlightenment, but his path was one forged by the Woodcutter Sage, making it extremely difficult.

"You've just arrived from Yankang. For now, don't rush into battle; first, study the Dao techniques and divine arts here."

Qin Mu's thoughts stirred, and several more golden halls appeared on the ship. He said, "Don't worry about a lack of battles; there will be many in the future."

Grandma Si, Qin Fengqing, and others followed Xu Shenghua toward another golden hall. There, they saw Emperor Kai Qin Ye, Jiang Baigui, and Tai Shi placing their spoils from the battlefield onto the golden ship.

These were the treasures they had harvested after defeating their opponents in the recent great battle, numbering in the hundreds, each an extraordinary masterpiece.

The deck was already piled high, so Tai Shi selected a few useless items and casually tossed them off the ship.

Mute, the Village Chief, and others couldn't help but feel embarrassed. They quietly stuffed the fragments of treasures that had peeked out of their gluttonous bags back in, thinking, "As expected, we've brought shame upon Mu'er."

"Why didn't Jade Capital City join the fray when we attacked the World Tree earlier?" Grandma Si asked Xu Shenghua.

"The enlightened ones and palace masters of Jade Capital City were eager for us to fight Old Man Wuya, hoping for a mutually destructive battle."

Xu Shenghua explained, "If the enlightened ones from Mi Luo Palace wish to descend, they need more blood sacrifice energy; otherwise, it won't be enough to support the descent of enlightened ones and palace masters. However, Old Man Wuya is adept at stealing blood sacrifice energy. In the past, he stole most of the blood sacrifice energy accumulated over six billion years. If we fight Old Man Wuya, the casualties will be predominantly Heaven Venerable-level powerhouses, and even enlightened ones. Mi Luo Palace can then seize the opportunity to accumulate blood sacrifice energy, allowing more enlightened ones and palace masters to descend."

He spoke with a worried expression, "Over these years, Mi Luo Palace has accumulated a great deal of blood sacrifice energy, with twelve palace masters having descended, and the number of enlightened ones reaching a hundred. If not for Cult Master Qin guarding this place, they would have long since flattened us."

Qin Mu could be said to be their backbone. Over these three thousand years, countless fierce battles have occurred, and if not for Qin Mu turning the tide, they would have long since been buried in the Ancestral Court.

Over the years, everyone's progress was evident, but Qin Mu's advancement was even more rapid.

Grand Easiness suppressed the Heaven Opening multitude and has been unseen for three thousand years. Qin Mu was the only one left who could stand alone in the Ancestral Court, facing the divine art attacks of Mi Luo Palace's Third and Fourth Young Masters while also holding back Old Man Wuya. The pressure was immense.

In just these three thousand years, Qin Mu forcefully elevated his lotus platform to the sixth-grade Dao, and the World Tree bore two Dao fruits and three Dao flowers, all from the Five Grand Paths.

"Recently, our pressure has significantly lessened, but there's a hidden concern."

Xu Shenghua continued, "No new enlightened ones have descended upon the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City for nearly eight hundred years, which makes one worry that Jade Capital City is preparing for a major move."

Standing before the golden hall, he gazed towards the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City and said, "Over these eight hundred years, there have been no fewer than a hundred large-scale battles between the three factions, and countless smaller skirmishes. Old Man Wuya seized about forty percent of the blood sacrifice energy, Tai Shi dispersed about fifteen percent, and the remaining forty-five percent must have been taken by the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City. After eight hundred years of accumulating energy, Jade Capital City's reserves are now extremely formidable."

Everyone's hearts jolted in surprise.

Zhu Santong stammered, "Are Mi Luo Palace's Young Masters preparing to descend?"

Xu Shenghua shook his head and pushed open the golden hall's door. He said, "Tai Shi, National Master Jiang, and I have calculated that if Cult Master Qin were converted into blood sacrifice energy, the energy seized by Jade Capital City over these eight hundred years would be enough to sacrifice for roughly one and a half Cult Master Qins. However, Young Master Zixiao and Young Master Lingxiao are each worth no less than ten Cult Master Qins. Therefore, the Young Masters cannot descend."

Everyone gasped in astonishment.

Qin Mu could contend with Old Man Wuya, and his Cosmic Primordial Bell, which crossed sixteen chaotic rivers, possessed unheard-of divine power. Yet, it still amounted to one-tenth of a Mi Luo Palace Young Master's combat strength!

If the two Young Masters of Mi Luo Palace were to descend, how terrifying would that be?

However, they had overestimated the Mi Luo Palace Young Masters' combat strength and underestimated Old Man Wuya's power.

Qin Mu relied on the Return to Ruin Lotus and the World Tree, which were rooted in the chaotic rivers, borrowing the power of sixteen cosmic epochs' destruction tribulations. This was how he could contend with Old Man Wuya.

With borrowed power, he was not weaker than Young Master Zixiao or Young Master Lingxiao.

As for Old Man Wuya, it was because Qin Mu had sealed the Ancestral Court, even sealing the thirty-six layers of void. This meant that anyone wishing to achieve enlightenment in the Ancestral Court and imprint the ultimate void had only one path: cultivating the Ancestral Court's Dao realm system.

In the current Ancestral Court, none of Old Man Wuya's strong subordinates could achieve enlightenment through the traditional Dao realm Dao tree system, preventing Old Man Wuya's strength from ever returning to its peak.

If Old Man Wuya were at his peak, he would undoubtedly be the most powerful existence, capable of standing on equal footing with the Master of Mi Luo Palace. Of course, the difference from the current Old Man Wuya was that he could resist a few more moves before being killed by the Master of Mi Luo Palace, which would still be a remarkable achievement.

Xu Shenghua invited them into the golden hall and said, "Furthermore, there have been unusual movements from the Return to Ruin recently. It's becoming increasingly unstable, erupting sporadically, which is quite peculiar. That's why Cult Master Qin planted his Return to Ruin Lotus on the Chaos Sea to temporarily suppress it."

The sight of the Return to Ruin Lotus and its leaves, which they had seen upon first entering the Ancestral Court, stirred their thoughts.

The Return to Ruin appeared to have vanished, but it had actually transformed into the Ancestral Court's firmament. Qin Mu, using his self-created magic and divine arts, had brought forth the Chaos Sea from within the Return to Ruin and planted his Return to Ruin Lotus upon it, indeed suppressing something.

"Mu'er has suffered," Grandma Si sighed.

The golden hall was filled with scriptures compiled by Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian. Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian were the founders of the Ancestral Court's Dao realm system. Their talent and comprehension were supreme, praised by Grand Easiness as divine beings and ultimate sages. They organized the prehistoric Dao techniques and divine arts, transforming them into the Dao techniques and divine arts of the Ancestral Court's Dao realm system.

This made it easier for the divine arts practitioners and divine beings of Yankang to understand.

If it had been Qin Mu, he might not have possessed their level of talent, comprehension, and patience.

The golden hall contained an immense number of scriptures, enough to keep Grandma Si and the others engrossed for a long time. Xu Shenghua let them study at their own pace and then walked out of the golden hall to see Qin Mu.

Qin Mu was still diligently studying the achievements of Yankang's reforms over the past three thousand years. He read quickly, absorbing the essence of the changes, striving to ensure he didn't fall behind the times.

Xu Shenghua looked at the Cosmic Primordial Bell hanging before Qin Mu's Chaos Palace. This bell was forged in recent years. They collected and refined the Dao weapons of prehistoric powerhouses, then used Qin Mu's cultivation techniques and divine arts as a prototype to create this bell.

It was Qin Mu's thirty-fifth level Dao realm divine art, containing incredibly complex changes in Dao techniques. It could be said to be the most powerful divine art in the current world, embodying the two major systems of the World Tree and Return to Ruin.

When the Primordial Bell was activated, it was like the terrifying scene of the creation tribulation erupting at the birth of the universe, evolving from the Five Grands to the myriad Dao of heaven and earth. As it evolved to the myriad Dao, Qin Mu also absorbed Jiang Baigui's acquired enlightenment, interweaving the acquired Dao within it, making its power even more dreadful.

In prehistoric cosmic epochs, research into various innate Dao had reached its peak. However, in the evolution of acquired Dao, Yankang was the foremost era among the seventeen cosmic epochs!

Faced with the acquired Dao, prehistoric powerhouses often found themselves helpless.

This was precisely why Qin Mu was so attentive to the achievements of Yankang's reforms brought by Grandma Si and the others.

The Yankang reforms provided him with ample nourishment, granting him the power to contend with Mi Luo Palace and Old Man Wuya.

After a long while, Qin Mu finished reviewing the scriptures brought by Grandma Si and the others. He rose, left the golden hall, and came to Xu Shenghua's side, gazing up at the Chaos Sea in the sky.

The Chaos Sea was again violently turbulent, its raging waves making his Return to Ruin Lotus somewhat unstable.

"A major change must have occurred within the Return to Ruin."

Qin Mu's brow parted, and his third divine eye gazed far into the Chaos Sea. He said in a deep voice, "Since the Heaven Opening multitude borrowed a path through the Return to Ruin, its turbulence has gradually increased, and each time it's more violent than the last. This frightens me a little."

Xu Shenghua asked, "Do you want to visit the Return to Ruin?"

Qin Mu nodded. "I want to know whether the Heaven Opening multitude fought to the death against Young Master Wuji when they borrowed a path through the Return to Ruin, or if they ultimately reached some kind of agreement. Neither the Second Young Master Wuji nor the Heaven Opening multitude are benevolent. If they secretly reached some agreement, then we are in danger."

Logically, Young Master Wuji definitely had the strength to kill several of the Heaven Opening multitude. However, that time, all thirty-five of the Heaven Opening multitude survived, albeit injured, and fought their way out of the Return to Ruin.

If there truly was some agreement between them and Young Master Wuji, then not only would the Ancestral Court be in danger, but even Grand Easiness, who suppressed the Heaven Opening multitude, would also be at risk!

"When will you go?" Xu Shenghua asked.

"Now!"

Without hesitation, Qin Mu's body rose into the air, heading towards the Chaos Sea.

As he drew closer to the Chaos Sea, a beam of blood sacrifice light suddenly shot skyward from Jade Capital City in the Ancestral Court. Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he gazed distantly towards Jade Capital City.

In the chaotic river of the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, a colossal Dao spear slowly emerged from the torrent of blood sacrifice, transforming from ethereal to solid reality!

That Dao spear was Young Master Lingxiao's weapon, now descending through the blood sacrifice!

The Dao spear continuously vibrated amidst the blood sacrifice, causing phantom pillars, like those supporting heaven, to appear throughout Jade Capital City in the Ancestral Court. They seemed capable of propping up the primordial universe, remaining eternally unchanged and unshakable even amidst the tribulation of destruction!

Dong—

Beneath the eaves of Qin Mu's Chaos Palace, the Cosmic Primordial Bell seemed to sense the arrival of a powerful enemy, automatically emitting a clear, resonant chime.

Qin Mu raised an eyebrow, continued to fly upward, entering the Chaos Sea and then the Return to Ruin.