Chapter 726: Heavenly Peak from Beyond the Sky A Thousand Palm Strikes Return

The gods in Jade Capital City were deeply shaken. They all looked at Qin Mu, asking, "Is he the Hegemon Body the Grand Heavenly Master spoke of? Isn't the Hegemon Body the National Master of Eternal Peace?"

In that brief moment, Qin Mu’s thousand arms coalesced into six. All his divine arts merged instantly, forming six palm forces that met Hu Bugui's "Wind Shakes Pines and Rumbles Valleys."

This was his martial arts divine art, "Myriad Palms Returning from Heavenly Peaks."

Hu Bugui’s "Wind Shakes Pines and Rumbles Valleys" embodied a fist intent like the wind, with his form resembling a pine. A thousand pines formed a forest; when he punched, his divine art erupted, his body like wind rustling through pine trees, while the full power of his attack was like a force capable of shaking valleys.

Qin Mu's martial arts divine art integrated all the physical divine arts from the various combat techniques he had previously learned. His earlier display of a thousand arms and a thousand palms was precisely to merge these move-based divine arts.

The combat techniques of powerful figures like Grandpa Ma, the Butcher, the Blind Man, and successive Human Emperors transformed into unique peaks in his hands. Each fist intent was distinct, and their perfect integration culminated in "Myriad Palms Returning from Heavenly Peaks."

This particular divine art of his was meant to showcase diverse and majestic landscapes of peaks.

Behind him, the Spirit Embryo, Five Elements, Six Directions, and Celestial Being divine treasures emerged. What was strange was that he not only lacked the Seven Stars divine treasure, but beneath these existing divine treasures, reflections of another set of Spirit Embryo, Five Elements, Six Directions, and Celestial Being divine treasures appeared!

The upper ones represented the path of gods, while the lower ones represented the path of devils.

God and devil, reflecting each other, were united within him.

The thirty-six War Gods in Jade Capital City finally understood why Qin Mu, even at the Celestial Being realm, could resist Hu Bugui's grand martial arts divine art.

Hu Bugui was at the Life and Death realm, and he had perfected this realm. Since everyone in the Dou Niu World was confined to the Life and Death realm and couldn't advance further, the martial artists there had developed each realm to its absolute pinnacle of perfection.

Hu Bugui was an outstanding example among them.

It could be said that no one had deeper cultivation than him in the Life and Death realm.

Yet, when Qin Mu fought Hu Bugui, he managed to match him. This showed that Qin Mu, despite being in the Celestial Being realm, was comparable to Hu Bugui in terms of cultivation.

Upon seeing Qin Mu’s divine treasures, the thirty-six War Gods finally understood the reason for his unusually profound cultivation.

Cultivating both divine and devil paths, and possessing two sets of corresponding divine treasures – such an existence was likely unique throughout history.

"He truly is the Hegemon Body; the Grand Heavenly Master did not lie!" Awe filled the hearts of the thirty-six War Gods.

When Saint Woodcutter came to their small mountain village to find the Old Farmer, persuading him to leave his reclusion, he had mentioned the Hegemon Body and a saint who appeared once every five hundred years.

At that time, the villagers were all present and had heard it. They were very curious about Eternal Peace's reforms, as well as the Hegemon Body and the five-hundred-year saint.

However, the very next moment, Saint Woodcutter was beaten by the Old Farmer into a stinking ditch, his bones completely broken. Fortunately, the Old Farmer had struck lightly, leaving him alive, so they hadn't known who was the Hegemon Body and who was the saint.

Just now, hearing Old Ox, they had learned that the Hegemon Body was actually this descendant of the Founding Emperor who came looking for the Woodcutter. Still, they had been somewhat skeptical. But now, seeing Qin Mu instantly break through to cultivate a martial arts primordial spirit, and almost simultaneously on the verge of entering the ranks of those who achieve enlightenment through martial arts, combined with these corresponding divine and demonic divine treasures, they had no choice but to believe.

To be able to, in just ten days, go from a divine arts practitioner who didn't even possess a martial soul, to successively comprehending a martial soul, a martial arts primordial spirit, and now even on the verge of comprehending a grand martial arts divine art and achieving enlightenment through martial arts—how could such a person not be the Hegemon Body?

However, they hadn't considered that the reason Qin Mu could comprehend a martial soul so quickly was precisely because of his strong foundation.

His foundation was simply too good.

In his youth, Qin Mu failed to awaken his Spirit Embryo, and the elders of Disabled Elderly Village found him to be an utterly ordinary person, unable to cultivate. Yet, the Village Chief's single statement that he was a Hegemon Body invigorated all the elders. Various spirit herbs and spiritual beast blood were piled upon Qin Mu, and the elders of Disabled Elderly Village trained him with extraordinary intensity.

Qin Mu, in turn, deeply believed himself to be the Hegemon Body, became full of confidence, and diligently practiced.

At that time, he was just one step away from awakening his martial soul.

More crucially, he cultivated the "Hegemon Body Three Elixir Technique," which the Village Chief personally taught him. This cultivation method, widely considered a common guiding technique by others, was practiced by Qin Mu to a level that no one else could reach.

Moreover, this was not an ordinary guiding technique; it was a cultivation method passed down by the Founding Emperor, originally a unique secret art of the Qin family. Even the Grand Creation Heavenly Devil Scripture of the Heavenly Saint Cult was merely a branch of this technique.

With such an excellent foundation, coupled with Qin Mu's knowledge of various combat techniques and divine arts from different schools, the accumulated efforts of successive Human Emperors passed down to him, and his fusion of three Emperor's Throne cultivation methods, he already surpassed Hu Bugui, who had diligently cultivated martial arts, in terms of profound background.

The spirit of the Eternal Peace reforms allowed him to integrate it into the martial arts spirit, giving his martial arts a higher purpose than mere combat. This deep accumulation, leading to sudden realization, was why he could comprehend the true essence of martial arts in such a short time.

This was not due to him being the Hegemon Body, as the War Gods and Old Ox speculated. The true reasons were unknown even to Qin Mu, let alone others, so they could only attribute it to him being the Hegemon Body.

Qin Mu's six palm forces met "Wind Shakes Pines and Rumbles Valleys," and the power of two distinct martial arts divine arts instantly erupted. However, due to time constraints, Qin Mu hadn't been able to fully comprehend his grand martial arts divine art to perfection, resulting in a slight disadvantage in power.

Nevertheless, with his six arms, he compensated for the insufficient power of one divine art by overlapping the power of three grand divine arts.

As their grand martial arts divine arts collided, the ground beneath them instantly crumbled and shattered. Even though this was the Dou Niu Palace, incredibly sturdy, these two martial arts masters still unleashed an astonishing upheaval.

A blinding light erupted from the singularity of their clash, growing ever brighter, rapidly expanding, and engulfing its surroundings. Then, violent currents of air swept across the ground in all directions, the raging hurricane billowing the robes of the distant War Gods.

At the center of the light, two torrents of vital blood soared skyward. Within the crimson glow, an ethereal vision of two mighty martial gods colliding appeared, their muscular forms ferocious and imposing.

Finally, the hurricane receded, the light dispersed, and the vital blood phenomenon faded.

Qin Mu and Hu Bugui each coughed up blood, their auras weakened.

Both men plopped to the ground, panting heavily, their exhales still carrying traces of blood foam.

Hu Bugui looked at Qin Mu, and Qin Mu looked back at Hu Bugui. The smiles on their faces grew wider and wider. Suddenly, their large hands met with a heavy thud, grasping firmly, and loud laughter erupted!

Old Ox and the thirty-six War Gods all breathed a sigh of relief. They had worried that neither of these two would yield to the other, leading to another fight. Instead, they were open-minded individuals, showing only mutual admiration among peers, devoid of jealousy.

"Brother Hu, staying in the Dou Niu World doesn't hold much future for you."

Qin Mu, full of enthusiasm, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, dismissed his three heads and six arms, and re-affixed the willow leaf to his brow to seal his third eye. He smiled and said, "There are many people in the outside world who are no less talented than you or I. Moreover, Eternal Peace's reforms are in full swing and sorely need geniuses like you. Don't you want to cross the Divine Bridge and ascend to the Celestial Palace in one go? I think you should meet my close friend, Xu Shenghua!"

His eyebrows danced with excitement, his spirits soaring: "Xu Shenghua is incredibly formidable, even smarter than me... well, a genius second only to me! He's figured out that all divine treasures are actually one divine treasure, and he intends to refine them all into a single, unified divine treasure. He has already managed to merge the Six Directions and Seven Stars realms into one, allowing divine arts practitioners to skip a realm. Currently, he plans to integrate the Celestial Being divine treasure as well."

Hu Bugui exclaimed, "Are you saying that since martial artists in our Dou Niu World lack the Divine Bridge divine treasure, we should merge the other divine treasures instead?"

Qin Mu nodded, smiling, "Do you think Xu Shenghua is worth meeting?"

Hu Bugui was inexplicably excited and abruptly stood up: "Yes, absolutely! I can't wait to meet him! When do we leave? Let's go now, and meet him!"

Qin Mu delightedly said, "If you meet him, you'll definitely like him too. He's a very charming person!"

Old Ox's eyes widened as he watched the two rather excited youths, thinking to himself, "Are they not planning to continue the challenge? If they just get past my stage, they can enter the Numinous Sky Hall and challenge the Old Master on the Emperor's Throne..."

The thirty-six War Gods of Jade Capital City also exchanged glances, feeling somewhat at a loss.

The purpose of this martial artist grand examination in the Dou Niu World was to find a path for the descendants of the divine race, who lacked the Divine Bridge, to directly ascend to the Celestial Palace and become deities.

Yet, these two young men grew more and more excited as they talked, looking ready to leave at a moment's notice.

However, from what they said, it seemed there was an extraordinary individual in the Eternal Peace Empire outside who might have a solution to this problem. Their desire to go and find this remarkable person named Xu Shenghua was understandable.

Nevertheless, the path to success was right before them. Didn't they want to give it a try?

As long as they defeated Old Ox, broke into the Numinous Sky Hall, and challenged the Martial Heavenly Master—defeating him at the same realm—they might be able to cross the Divine Bridge and directly ascend to the Celestial Palace right now!

Old Ox cleared his throat and said, "Hu Bugui, Qin Mu, aren't you coming up?"

Hu Bugui hesitated, pondering whether to continue the challenge.

Qin Mu whispered, "Martial Heavenly Master's ox, how strong is he?"

Hu Bugui quietly replied, "I've never seen him fight, but I've heard that the Martial Heavenly Master is an Emperor's Throne expert, and this ox always carried him into battle. To be able to carry an Emperor's Throne expert into the thick of battle, his abilities must have reached the Numinous Sky realm. I also heard that if Senior Ox never craved power, he could have almost commanded a Celestial Palace during the Founding Emperor era."

Qin Mu pondered for a moment, then shook his head, "I'm most likely no match for Senior Ox Sanduo. I've encountered experts at the Numinous Sky realm, like Emperor Sakra King Buddha. At the same realm, I couldn't defeat him."

Hu Bugui's eyes flickered, "How about we go meet Xu Shenghua first, research how to unify the divine treasures, and then, once we've achieved that, we can come back and complete the Dou Niu Palace challenge?"

Qin Mu chuckled, "If you manage to unify the divine treasures, you can directly fly to the Celestial Palace. Challenging Dou Niu Palace would then be meaningless."

Hu Bugui scratched his head, embarrassed, "That's true. We lack the profound background to defeat Senior Ox right now, so let's leave the Dou Niu World and find Senior Brother Xu!"

"Alright!"

Old Ox's eyes widened. He glared at the two and roared, "Are you going to fight or not? Come up and fight! At most, I'll go easy on you so you can slip through! Hurry up and come over!"

Hu Bugui said apologetically, "Senior Ox..."

"Call me Ox Sanduo!"

Old Ox huffed in exasperation, "I already said I'd go easy, what more do you want? Come on up and have a good fight! Qin Mu, don't you want to rescue your teacher? Your teacher is still floating in the stinking ditch; if you don't fish him out soon, he'll rot!"