Chapter 1836: The Shepherd God

In the Chaos Hall, Qin Mu and Emperor Kai Qin Ye conversed for a long time, until Zhan Ji finally escorted Emperor Kai away.

"Yanhuang, should still be well, right?" Qin Mu murmured.

"Are you well?" was the first thing he had said when he encountered Emperor Kai earlier. For Emperor Kai, it was merely a polite greeting, but for Qin Mu, it meant so much more.

He had been separated from Emperor Kai and the others for sixteen cosmic epochs, a span of trillions of years. He had endured endless trials and witnessed the formation, stability, decay, and emptiness of sixteen universes. The history he had experienced was far grander and more spectacular than Yanhuang's, indeed even more brilliant. He was afraid of forgetting Yanhuang, of forgetting his old friends. After all, he was only three and a half billion years old in the seventeenth epoch, a fleeting moment compared to trillions of years. But that was his homeland.

"Yanhuang must be well."

Qin Mu smiled, his spirits reawakened, and he walked out of the Chaos Hall. "Ling Jun, Heavenly Venerate Ling, and Heavenly Venerate Yue and I have prepared for so long; Yanhuang cannot be unwell!"

He stood before the hall, gazing at Miluo Palace, its doors still tightly shut. "Teacher, the future you foresaw never happened," Qin Mu whispered. "Because when you turned back to the destruction tribulation of the sixteenth epoch, the future ceased to be as you saw it. However, one thing you said was true: if I want to surpass you, I must indeed return to the First Epoch, not to its destruction tribulation, but to its creation tribulation. Seventeen cosmic epochs, yet only sixteen creation tribulations, is truly very strange..."

Previously, Qin Mu lacked the mastery to return to the very beginning of the First Cosmic Epoch. But now, he possessed sufficient skill. Within Miluo Palace, during the First Epoch's destruction tribulation, resounding Dao sounds filled the air. These were the fluctuations of Qin Mu's Chaos Dao, searching for the First Epoch's creation tribulation. The creation tribulation was a grand calamity of cosmic genesis. The First Epoch boasted a long history of eight hundred billion years, and ordinarily, no one in its destruction tribulation could sense such fluctuations. Yet, for Chaos, the waves caused by cosmic creation had always persisted. These fluctuations were deeply imprinted in the universe's background, becoming incredibly subtle, impervious even to destruction.

After a long time, Qin Mu's expression stirred. Rings of chaotic reincarnation rotated, fiercely cutting into past time, into the eight-hundred-billion-year history of the First Epoch! Qin Mu moved within the reincarnation, finally entering the immeasurably long stretch of time of the First Epoch! The grand and epic history of the First Epoch appeared before him. He traveled backward through time within the chaotic reincarnation, witnessing countless moving and tragic events of the past. Qin Mu did not pause or linger; he continued to reverse. Finally, as his strength was almost exhausted, he arrived at the time before the First Epoch was even created. Perhaps the solution to the Great Annihilation of the Seventeenth Epoch could be found here!

After Qin Mu departed from the Seventeenth Epoch, the battle between Yanhuang and Miluo Palace's Dao practitioners and Hall Masters continued. With Young Master Ling Xiao and Young Master Zi Xiao gone from Jade Capital City, and Qin Mu absent from Yanhuang, the war experienced periods of back-and-forth. Jade Capital City even attacked near the Primordial Realm, and Yanhuang's reforms were revitalized by the presence of this formidable enemy.

Hundreds of millions of years later, Dao Ancestor Lan Yu Tian finally comprehended Young Master Tai Shang's Heavenly Portal, breaking it and resolving the Tai Shang artifact. This left the Miluo Palace Hall Masters and Dao practitioners without their main reliance. At this time, Old Man Wu Ya reappeared, entrenched in the Beast Realm behind the Primordial Realm, with the roots of his World Tree piercing through past time, causing prehistoric powerhouses to continuously descend. These prehistoric powerhouses achieved Dao, and more Great Overarching Heavens appeared in the ultimate void, leading to fierce battles between the two sides. Yanhuang faced enemies on two fronts, resulting in a three-way chaotic battle. Yanhuang's reforms finally continued vigorously, and more and more Yanhuang Dao practitioners emerged, overpowering the two major forces.

At this juncture, Wuji reincarnated, achieved Dao a second time, recreated the Great Abyss of Returning to the Ruins, and slaughtered all around her. Few Dao practitioners from the three forces were her match. Just as Young Master Wuji was about to become invincible, Young Master Tai Shang and Tai Yi finally displayed astonishing combat power, fighting Wuji. Young Master Wuji was no longer invincible, but Tai Shang and Tai Yi could not defeat her either.

On the other side, Miluo Palace established itself, began to invade parts of the heavens, selected outstanding divine arts practitioners, taught them divine arts and Dao methods, attempting to root itself in the Seventeenth Epoch. Old Man Wu Ya also rooted himself in the Beast Realm, carving out a territory. The three-way war, coupled with the opposition between Wuji, Tai Shang, and Tai Yi, made the Seventeenth Epoch even more vibrant and complex. Yanhuang attempted to destroy Miluo Palace and Old Man Wu Ya, but just as they were about to succeed, Wu Ya would help Miluo Palace, and Miluo Palace would also help Wu Ya. And Tai Shang and Tai Yi would even help Miluo Palace or Old Man Wu Ya to counter Yanhuang! This drove Lan Yu Tian, Xu Sheng Hua, and others to distraction.

Time is merciless, and matter evolves. Even with Great Overarching Heavens in the ultimate void, it was difficult to stop the void's expansion. The heavens became increasingly vast, and the distance between them grew further. Xuandu became immensely grand, covering the Four Extreme Heavens, encompassing all heavens and myriad worlds, with new stars continuously emerging to fill the vast starry sky. Even a mighty God of Heaven (Tian Gong) could not manage such a vast Xuandu. Miluo Palace and Old Man Wu Ya immediately seized the opportunity, invading Xuandu and occupying territories.

This was the Seventeenth Epoch's first one hundred billion years, and the universe's vastness had already surpassed the First Epoch. As the Miluo Palace Master had seen, such a vast universe made the Seventeenth Epoch as brilliant as the First Epoch, with heroes rising everywhere. No one had the ability to unify the universe; not even the Yanhuang Celestial Court could govern such a vast cosmic starry sky. This was what Old Man Wu Ya most hoped to see; his World Tree's reach was extremely wide, and any territory Yanhuang could not rule would become his. And as time passed, even Old Man Wu Ya found it somewhat challenging to deal with the increasingly vast universe. The vastness of the Seventeenth Epoch universe surpassed the First Epoch, and it was still expanding.

Wars between various forces continued, but the scale and frequency of battles became smaller and smaller, as they discovered a terrifying truth. The universe became wider, and the spiritual energy and power in the heavens and earth became increasingly sparse. Most wars between various forces were no longer ideological conflicts but often wars for sacred lands full of spiritual energy. Gradually, for hundreds of millions of years, no new Dao practitioners emerged in the universe.

In the two-hundred-billionth year, Lan Yu Tian and Xu Sheng Hua sought out Young Master Wuji, Tai Shang, and Tai Yi, discussing the universe's future. They persuaded the three to jointly seek out Old Man Wu Ya, and finally, together with Old Man Wu Ya, they came to Jade Capital City. The giants of the Seventeenth Epoch finally sat down to jointly discuss how to counter the void's expansion.

"Only by abandoning our prejudices and having the Great Overarching Heavens of Dao practitioners imprint themselves in the ultimate void can we halt the void's expansion!" Old Man Wu Ya said. "The ancestral court Dao realm system is also a Dao realm system; Yanhuang Dao practitioners achieve Dao internally, but this can be changed to achieving Dao externally, imprinting their Great Overarching Heavens in the ultimate void. And Young Master Wuji's Dao of Returning to the Ruins can swallow the ultimate void. Combined with the Dao practitioners of Miluo Palace and myself, we can certainly stop this expansion trend."

The giants of the Seventeenth Epoch finally joined forces, historically known as the First Miluo Palace Alliance. One after another, Great Overarching Heavens soared into the sky, imprinting themselves in the ultimate void of the universe. The most powerful beings of the Seventeenth Epoch attempted to prevent the arrival of the Great Annihilation; this was their first attempt. However, the evolution of the ultimate void did not stop expanding as they had expected, nor was it crushed into chaos by the Dao practitioners. The void's power continued to advance, and the ultimate void merged with the other thirty-five layers of void. The Great Overarching Heavens of tens of thousands of Dao practitioners could not even crush the ultimate void; their own Great Overarching Heavens were torn apart and expanded outwards with the void!

In the Second Miluo Palace Alliance, Young Master Wuji said, "Cultivating the Dao of Returning to the Ruins can restrain the void. Only in this way can we continuously swallow the expanding void and halt its expansion." She unreservedly taught her Dao of Returning to the Ruins to the world. The Dao practitioners' second attempt began, but when Great Abysses of Returning to the Ruins appeared in the void, attempting to swallow the void, these Abysses themselves continuously evaporated and disintegrated. Seventy billion years later, the second attempt was declared a failure.

In the Third Miluo Palace Alliance, Lan Yu Tian said, "Yanhuang achieves Dao internally, containing the universe within, which can prevent being assimilated by the void." However, by this time, the Seventeenth Epoch had reached its three-hundred-billionth year. The spiritual energy and power in the heavens and earth had become incredibly sparse. Let alone Dao practitioners, even new deities became fewer and fewer, and divine arts practitioners became the most powerful force in the mundane world. No new Dao practitioners emerged.

After the Third Miluo Palace Alliance, a series of wars over sacred lands erupted again, which eventually ended. The end of the sacred land wars was not due to the reason of the major giants, but the vastness of the universe. The expanding universe made initiating wars incredibly difficult. Spiritual energy transfer bridges, once a groundbreaking innovation that led to a qualitative leap in Yanhuang's reforms, became useless. With the breakage of the spiritual energy transfer bridges between the two nearest heavens, traveling to other heavens became a luxury. Connections between the various heavens gradually ceased. Despair permeated all the heavens.

At this moment, the Thief Saint found Lan Yu Tian and Xu Sheng Hua, saying, "After I was rescued, I once stole many strange treasures from Old Man Wu Ya and Miluo Palace, hiding them in the chaotic space of chaos. These treasures might be able to emit spiritual power and energy, delaying the Great Annihilation for a period."

Xu Sheng Hua shook his head, saying, "No matter how many strange treasures, they can only delay it for a very short time."

"What if they are chaotic strange treasures?" the Thief Saint asked. "Chaos told me that he and the Daughter of Chaos once collected strange treasures from the Chaos River during the destruction tribulations of sixteen cosmic epochs, hiding them separately in the chaotic space and the Festering Grounds. Perhaps they will be useful in the future to solve urgent needs."

Upon hearing this, Xu Sheng Hua and Lan Yu Tian's hearts stirred, and they went to the chaotic space and the Festering Grounds, respectively. Even as the most powerful Dao practitioners, it took them hundreds of thousands of years to reach these two places. The strange treasures hidden by Chaos and his daughter became the lifeline of the Seventeenth Epoch universe. When these chaotic strange treasures were retrieved and brought back to the major sacred lands, the spiritual energy in those sacred lands became abundant again, extending the universe's life. But even chaotic strange treasures would have a day when their spiritual energy would be exhausted. This day would come sooner or later.

By the four-hundred-billionth year, most stars in the universe had extinguished and evaporated, leaving only sacred lands emitting spiritual power and energy, sustaining life. On this day, an inexplicable tremor echoed through the universe. Lan Yu Tian sensed this fluctuation and said to Xu Sheng Hua, "The World Tree has collapsed, and Old Man Wu Ya has been torn apart by the void's power; he has dissolved into Dao."

Xu Sheng Hua felt a faint sadness emanating from the depths of the universe and shook his head, saying, "Old Man Wu Ya did not dissolve into Dao; rather, his Dao foundation was unstable, and his Great Dao was evaporated by the void, ceasing to exist." For this enemy, they felt only sadness, no resentment. Old Man Wu Ya's existence had extended the universe's life for a long time. Without Old Man Wu Ya, the Great Annihilation would likely have arrived sooner.

After Old Man Wu Ya's death and Dao dissolution, strange tremors emanated from the void. Xu Sheng Hua and Lan Yu Tian saw new universes being born in the void's Festering Grounds, filling them with surprise and uncertainty! Young Master Tai Shang and Tai Yi found them and said, "Those are Tai Yi's physical body, and the Heaven-Opening Beings, and Dao practitioners who were suppressed by Chaos in the past sixteen cosmic epochs. They were sent by Chaos to the Festering Grounds to escape the creation tribulations. Now, the creation tribulations have caught up to them."

Tai Yi said, "My physical body and Tian Du's physical body are also there. Our physical bodies are undergoing creation tribulations. This is Chaos's contingency plan, using this method to extend the life of the Seventeenth Epoch."

Tai Shang said, "I used to not understand why he did these things—why he collected so many chaotic treasures during the destruction tribulations, why he targeted the Heaven-Opening Beings and Tai Yi so much, why he put those prehistoric powerhouses into coffins. Now I finally understand." He was deeply moved, realizing that Chaos had been planning since the destruction tribulation of the First Epoch, nearly two trillion years ago. What moved Tai Shang even more was that this was what Qin Mu had spoken of: the future the Miluo Palace Master had failed to see, the changed future!

Xu Sheng Hua and Lan Yu Tian's minds were agitated. Everything in the void's Festering Grounds could not escape the creation tribulation; it was only a matter of how long it was delayed. Qin Mu made these prehistoric powerhouses, Heaven-Opening Beings, Tai Yi's physical body, and Tian Du's physical body undergo creation tribulations to inject the last spiritual energy into this universe heading for annihilation. However, this final spiritual energy still failed to extend the life of the Seventeenth Epoch for too long.

Five hundred billion years later, the last sun extinguished, and the remaining sacred lands gradually lost their energy. Primordial Realm, Xuandu, Youdu, and Heavenly Yin World no longer existed; one after another, the heavens disintegrated in the void, turning into nothingness. Again, strange tremors echoed through the universe. Young Master Tai Shang and Tai Yi said nothing, only Lan Yu Tian said, "Young Master Wuji, that old adversary, has evaporated in the void. Of the sacred lands in this world, only Jade Capital City and Yanhuang remain."

Yanhuang resided in the ancestral court's Primordial Cauldron, while Jade Capital City was a heavy treasure forged by the Miluo Palace Master and various Young Masters, becoming the last two sacred lands in this universe, capable of sustaining life and allowing it to proliferate. However, even the Dao practitioners of these two great sacred lands felt their own Great Daos gradually turning into void. Sooner or later, their Great Daos would also fragment piece by piece, and they would become mortals, turning into void just like other mortals. After Young Master Wuji evaporated, the ancestral court's Primordial Cauldron and Jade Capital City also began to split and expand, filling everyone with boundless despair. They looked out to see only darkness in the universe. Night fell.

"Has the chaotic space still not bloomed?" Xu Sheng Hua's hair was white; he too had begun to age. Qin Mu's void Festering Grounds had completely disappeared. In the current universe, besides Jade Capital City and the Primordial Cauldron, only the chaotic space remained.

An unknown number of years after Young Master Wuji's death, Heavenly Venerate Ling and Heavenly Venerate Yue returned. "Mass-energy invariance cannot change the void; my cultivation is also turning into void," Heavenly Venerate Ling said. "I can use my divine art to sustain Jade Capital City and the Primordial Cauldron, but I am not sure how long it will last." Heavenly Venerate Ling's arrival delayed the void's evolution for a long time, but it was ultimately futile. Six hundred billion years later, her divine art failed, and the Primordial Cauldron and Jade Capital City began to disintegrate, their Great Daos gradually turning into void. And the chaotic space still had not bloomed. After Heavenly Venerate Ling's divine art failed, the mass-energy invariance divine art became completely useless, having lost all its power.

At this moment, chaotic energy surged in the void, and a vast, rolling Chaos River flowed in, injecting the last energy into this universe. Qin Lingjun, accompanied by Zhan Ji, arrived at the fragmented Primordial Cauldron, treading on the Chaos River. She said, "My father told me that sacrificing the past sixteen universes can temporarily delay the Great Annihilation."

Young Master Tai Shang sighed; the Daughter of Chaos had indeed come. He understood another thing: why Chaos insisted on letting the pregnant Ling Yuxiu cross the sixteen Chaos Rivers. Qin Lingjun was born during the destruction tribulation, drawing strength from sixteen destruction tribulations. She was one year old for each year, growing up in the destruction tribulation; only she could pull in sixteen Chaos Rivers to inject the last energy into the Seventeenth Epoch. However, the sixteen cosmic epochs would likely be destroyed in the process. He understood another thing: why the Miluo Palace Master insisted they return to their respective universes and not try to go to the Seventeenth Epoch. That was because the Miluo Palace Master had probably also seen this future! Their return to their respective universes would delay the annihilation.

But... Tai Shang suddenly shivered, "But if Teacher saw this, doesn't it mean the future never changed? All the efforts of the Seventeenth Epoch, all the efforts of Chaos, were already seen by Teacher? The future never changed!" He despaired, returned to Jade Capital City, and died in nirvana. He finally died of a broken Dao heart, just like the Miluo Palace Master, but no one mocked him for imitating his teacher anymore.

Tai Shang's funeral was simple. Lan Yu Tian and Xu Sheng Hua also attended. Tai Yi cried uncontrollably; his rival for two lifetimes had also died in despair. Lan Yu Tian looked around; Jade Capital City was filled with white-haired old people; all their former adversaries had also grown old.

"Are you my mother?" Qin Lingjun found the old and withered Ling Yuxiu lying on her sickbed and asked. Ling Yuxiu embraced her, weeping. Her life was also nearing its end, and she finally saw her flesh and blood in her last moments.

"I will protect mother until father returns," Qin Lingjun said with great confidence. "Sixteen Chaos Rivers can sustain the Seventeenth Epoch for a very long time." The voidification of the sixteenth Epoch's Chaos River came faster than she expected. This universe, due to the invasion of stowaways, had little energy to begin with.

A million years later, the sixteenth cosmic epoch was like a painting spread out in the void, with its people and objects vividly visible. People in the two great sacred lands looked up and could see this painting. A few years later, the sixteenth cosmic epoch gradually dimmed, and the people and objects in the painting disappeared without a trace. The Chaos River of the fifteenth Epoch lasted a bit longer, but eventually, that picture also gradually disappeared. Tai Yi saw Young Master Wuzong in the picture of the thirteenth Epoch. Wuzong also turned into nothingness with the extension of the void.

When the Great Annihilation invaded the tenth Epoch, Heavenly Venerate Yue looked up and saw Young Master Zi Xiao and his wife. The two embraced in the picture within the void, their faces filled with smiles; they seemed very happy. Vaguely, Heavenly Venerate Yue seemed to hear that beautiful guqin melody again, containing emotions she did not possess. As one Chaos River after another turned into void, Qin Lingjun also gradually weakened. The disappearance of each Chaos River caused her to progressively lose strength. "Father will return. He said that the chaotic space will explode like fireworks; that will be the brightest light in the void," she weakly told Ling Yuxiu.

The destruction tribulation of the First Epoch universe was also gradually turning into void; it was the last barrier for this universe. But the destruction tribulation of the First Universe could not resist the void's annihilation, and Qin Lingjun became increasingly weak as a result. When the void invaded Miluo Palace, it finally met resistance. A skeleton sat in Miluo Palace, revealing its form. Its Dao tree shone brilliantly, and its Dao fruit radiated immense light, resisting the void's invasion!

"Teacher!" Tai Yi bowed to the skeleton. The surviving Dao practitioners in Jade Capital City also bowed to the skeleton, old tears streaming down their faces. Ultimately, the Miluo Palace Master's skeleton, Dao tree, and Dao fruit did not block the void; he too turned into void. The long eight-hundred-billion-year history of the First Epoch, like a scroll, spread out in the void, slowly fading. In the scroll, the Miluo Palace Master was exceptionally graceful. His gaze seemed to be directed towards the chaotic space, which was still there but had not bloomed. His gaze dimmed, dissipating into the void along with the scroll of the First Epoch. In Jade Capital City, the Hall Masters and Miluo Palace Dao practitioners knelt down. At the moment they bowed, their figures also turned into void. Jade Capital City, like a painting, unfolded beside the Primordial Cauldron, gradually blurring.

"There is still a way to survive," the aged Lan Yu Tian said, his spirit roused. "The ancestral court Dao realm system achieves Dao internally. We can transform ourselves into ancestral court Great Overarching Heavens, allowing all beings to live within our Great Overarching Heavens, sustaining life. This way, we can endure for a very long time!"

"It won't last long; we too will soon turn into void," a Dao practitioner shook his head. "Doing this for mortals..."

"Gods are for humanity," Xu Sheng Hua said with a brilliant smile. "Fellow Daoists, fellow brothers, we are gods! The last gods!"

The Dao practitioners fell silent. After a moment, Great Overarching Heavens of the ancestral court lit up one by one in the dark cosmic void. Without their power, the Primordial Cauldron transformed into an immeasurably vast scroll. Those ancestral court Great Overarching Heavens formed self-contained mini-universes, where life continued. The Yanhuang Dao practitioners used their last strength to protect these pure lands.

"It's dark, don't go out." This was the warning from the Dao practitioners to the beings dwelling in the enclosed mini-universes. In the dark void, these lights flickered on and off, becoming increasingly faint and distant as the void expanded, gradually becoming imperceptible.

Eight hundred billion years later, the Seventeenth Epoch universe plunged into complete darkness. Matter no longer changed, because all matter had been torn apart by the void. The entire universe was infinitely stretched out, with no signs of life remaining. No light, no sound, no color. Only boundless, cold, desolate void.

In this despairing cold desolation, the chaotic space also gradually blurred, seemingly about to dissipate with the void. Without matter, time also disappeared.

Suddenly, in the boundless darkness, light emanated, illuminating the voidified universe. That was the light produced when countless chaotic dreams in the chaotic space exploded, like a final grand crescendo. One after another, chaotic dreams shattered and perished, as dazzling as fireworks. The chaotic space finally exploded.

A figure emerged from the destruction of the chaotic space, walking in the boundless darkness. He looked out to see only nothingness, only darkness. Only darkness. He walked on the void membrane, shouting loudly. "Is anyone there? Is anyone still there? I'm back! Is anyone still there?" There was no longer any light in the void. "Ling Jun, I'm back. Yuxiu, I'm back. Lan Yu Tian, Xu Sheng Hua, I'm back. Qin Ye, I'm back."

He walked for a long time, his calls unanswered. Just as he was about to despair, a point of light appeared in the dark void. It was a Dao practitioner's ancestral court Great Overarching Heaven, solitary and stubbornly existing in the void, flickering on and off. His steps halted, and his withered Dao heart gradually revived. Then, in the dark void, one light after another lit up like lamps in the darkness, point by point, scattered like stars. He smiled.

The End of "Shepherd God Chronicles".

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