Chapter 815: 不可观测

The Red Emperor, the Grand Brahma Heavenly King Buddha, and the Heavenly Duke remained silent, creating a terribly heavy atmosphere.

The Great Sun Star Lord nervously craned his neck, occasionally glancing at everyone. "It seems I'm learning more and more things," he thought. "In my previous life, I got an arrow through the heart for knowing too much. Now, with all this new information, I wonder if I'll be silenced again?"

"The Empress is Peerless Dust, and Peerless Dust is the Empress. What a clever scheme."

The Old Buddha sighed and said gravely, "Let me sort out the cause and effect of this event. The Empress returned to her homeland, arriving at Guixu. The Longbo Kingdom of Guixu rebelled, and the Empress was attacked. The Feathered Forest Army came to her rescue and investigated the assault. While the Feathered Forest Army suppressed the rebellion, the Empress was attacked a second time, then faked her death to escape. The Feathered Forest Army subsequently traveled through time. Peerless Dust was born, and the Empress inhabited Peerless Dust's body, using it to tempt the Celestial Emperor."

"The Celestial Emperor reincarnated, and Cloud Heavenly Venerable, Vast Heavenly Venerable, and Peerless Dust assassinated him. The two Heavenly Venerables then rushed to the Heavenly Court to seize the Celestial Emperor's body. The Empress, for her part, discarded Peerless Dust's body, burying it with her own true body on the ship the Feathered Forest Army used to travel through time."

"This is the truth as I currently surmise it. Heavenly Duke, Earthly Lord, Red Emperor, Star Lord, do any of you have anything to add?"

Everyone shook their heads.

The Old Buddha calmly continued, "Then the question arises: The Empress must have finalized her plan to assassinate the Celestial Emperor even before she traveled to Guixu. So why did the Longbo Kingdom rebel? And why did it happen so coincidentally right when she returned to Guixu? Even if the Longbo Kingdom had captured the Empress to threaten the Celestial Emperor, it would have been an incredibly foolish move, as the Celestial Emperor could easily destroy them. So, was Longbo one of the Empress's people? That's the first point."

"Second, the Empress herself once came aboard this Feathered Forest Army ghost ship. She came to bury Peerless Dust, interring her own body with Peerless Dust's. How did she manage to leave this ghost ship? And if she didn't come in person, then she must have sent someone else; is that individual still on board?"

"Third, both the Empress's physical body and Peerless Dust's body are here. Without these two bodies, where did the Empress go? And who is the Empress currently residing in the Heavenly Court?"

As he voiced his questions, everyone present frowned deeply.

The Old Buddha had identified the crucial questions, yet no one could provide answers.

The Heavenly Duke turned to the Earthly Lord and said, "It's quite interesting, isn't it, hiding within the glabella of the Yōu Capital God Child? You can see and hear so many things we never knew before."

The Earthly Lord nodded. "But knowing all this," he admitted, "sends a shiver down my spine."

The Old Buddha stood up, stretched, and slowly ascended. "I'm going up to heaven for a nap," he said. "Take care, everyone."

The Red Emperor instantly had a bad feeling. He quickly turned around and saw the large-headed child, Qin Fengqing, holding the Cauldron of Slaughter and looking at them with sinister intent.

The demonic essence within the Cauldron of Slaughter grew increasingly intense. Thin, insubstantial faces materialized within the demonic energy, swirling around the large-headed child.

"Ugly," they called out to Qin Fengqing.

"Old Buddha, come down!"

The Heavenly Duke loudly declared, "If we combine our efforts, we can still subdue this overgrown boy!"

The Grand Brahma Heavenly King Buddha yawned, slowly lay down, and said leisurely, "We can't defeat him. I'll take a nap; you all must look out for yourselves."

Outside, Qin Mu's eyes gleamed. The Village Chief's conclusion mirrored his own: Peerless Dust was indeed the Empress.

As the Celestial Emperor's Empress, she understood his nature intimately—better, perhaps, than he understood himself. This deep knowledge allowed her to orchestrate such an elaborate trap against him.

"If Cloud Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Alliance was involved, then what about Ling Heavenly Venerable?"

Qin Mu stared blankly, lost in thought. Peerless Dust was uncommonly beautiful; creating such a body would require a transcendent understanding of the art of creation.

During the Dragon Han era, perhaps only Ling Heavenly Venerable possessed such profoundly mysterious creation arts.

Furthermore, the Feathered Forest Army's time-traveling incident occurred when they encountered Ling Heavenly Venerable performing a ritual on their way back to the Heavenly Court. This ritual was what transformed their vessel into a ghost ship capable of traversing time.

This was also why the Feathered Forest Army failed to transport the Empress's body back to the Heavenly Court, and all evidence on the ship vanished completely.

Ling Heavenly Venerable's appearance on the Heavenly River at that precise moment was far too coincidental, prompting Qin Mu to consider many possibilities.

"Perhaps Ling Heavenly Venerable taught her divine abilities to Cloud Heavenly Venerable, given that Cloud Heavenly Venerable was the leader of the Heavenly Alliance at the time..."

He tried to reassure himself: "Perhaps things aren't as bad as I'm imagining..."

The Village Chief's injuries had somewhat improved. He struggled to his feet and said, "When you summoned the souls, the Empress sensed you. She likely detected you and will probably be able to find you. It's not safe to stay here for long..."

He frowned deeply again. They were trapped on the ghost ship, with no way to leave.

"Don't worry, Village Chief, the Empress won't find us here."

Qin Mu took out some spiritual herbs and, on the spot, refined them into elixirs to heal the Village Chief's primordial spirit. He smiled and said, "The Empress's divine powers may be immense, but the Feathered Forest ghost ship travels through time. By the time the Empress locates this place, the ship will have already moved on to who knows what era."

The Village Chief paused, then relaxed. "This ship is so mysterious, unpredictable, and dangerous," he mused. "How can we possibly leave?"

"You don't need to worry, Village Chief."

Qin Mu finished refining the elixir, gave it to him, and helped him absorb its potency. He said, "The Feathered Forest ghost ship isn't unbreakable. This ship is likely caught within a strange divine ability—a power that Ling Heavenly Venerable and I co-created when I was Celestial Venerable Mu, though it was only in its nascent form back then. I'll need to find more clues to figure out how to unravel her divine ability."

The Village Chief chuckled. "Of everyone in our village, you're the most knowledgeable and talented; our efforts in teaching you weren't in vain. Since you co-created this divine ability with that... Ling Heavenly Venerable, then it shouldn't be too difficult... Wait a moment, what did you just say? Celestial Venerable Mu? What is Celestial Venerable Mu?"

Qin Mu smiled faintly and briefly recounted his experience of traveling back to the ancient Dragon Han era with the Founding Emperor.

The Village Chief's mind reeled, his eyes glazed over, and it took him a long time to regain his composure.

Suddenly, the old man reached out to draw his sword, only to remember that his divine sword was already shattered.

Qin Mu asked curiously, "What are you doing, Village Chief?"

"Kill the Dragon Herder Lord!"

The Village Chief said with a murderous aura, "This matter is of grave importance, and now that the Dragon Herder Lord knows, we must naturally kill the dragon to silence him!"

The Dragon Herder Lord's face turned ashen.

Qin Mu chuckled. "The Dragon Herder Lord has also rendered great service. How can we kill him just because he knows a small secret of mine? Rest assured, Village Chief, he has already sworn the pact of the Greater and Lesser Earthly Lords; he wouldn't dare betray us."

The Dragon Herder Lord quickly nodded in agreement.

The Village Chief reluctantly gave up. "Are you confident you can break this strange divine ability?" he asked.

Qin Mu stretched, then walked outwards, saying, "Someone has broken Ling Heavenly Venerable's divine ability before. It was the Four Emperors!"

The Village Chief realized, falling into step beside him. "That's right," he said, "the Four Emperors once came to this ship. On the deck, there are their seals, which sealed those black coffins. This proves that the Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger—the Four Emperors—were here, and they managed to break this divine ability and leave!"

Qin Mu nodded. "At that time, Ling Heavenly Venerable's divine ability must not have been perfect, which is why it caused the unstable state of matter on this ship," he explained. "Every time the ghost ship traverses, its matter reorganizes. Since there are flaws, and since the Four Emperors could find them, then so can I!"

They left the great hall, and the lanterns flew around them, their light illuminating everything in all directions.

From the distant deck, the old dragon's mournful horn call echoed: "Heaven and Earth change easily, but thirty-six constants do not! Thirty-six unchanging constants, what does that mean...?"

Qin Mu frowned slightly.

"Is that old dragon the Longbo clan member, or the Dragon Herder Lord? Or is it the Ancestral Dragon King, who will go mad in the future?"

He felt a sense of unease. If it were the Dragon Herder Lord or the Ancestral Dragon King, wouldn't there then be two of them?

"There must be more clues on the ship!"

He suddenly recalled something and quickly called out to the lantern. "Lin Xiao," he asked, "where are the other Feathered Forest Army soldiers? Why are you the only one on this ship? Where did everyone else go?"

The small, bird-headed, human-bodied figure perched on the lantern's threshold replied, "Has the Lord forgotten? Please follow me."

He flapped his wings, and the lantern floated forward.

Qin Mu quickly followed, his heart pounding with excitement. "I possess the Feathered Forest Army's military token," he thought, "and they recognize the token, not the person. If I can secure the aid of the Dragon Han Heavenly Court's most formidable divine army, I'll eliminate everyone else on this ship, then rally the Feathered Forest Army's strength to break Ling Heavenly Venerable's divine ability!"

This grand, multi-deck ship was enormous. Behind the main hall at the front was the soldiers' training ground, which was vast and flat, large enough to accommodate thousands of gods and devils practicing their formations.

Upon arriving, Qin Mu immediately sensed that something was amiss. He clearly detected hundreds of extraordinarily powerful auras, yet he saw no one!

The Village Chief and the Dragon Herder Lord also frowned; they, too, sensed it—hundreds of god and devil auras, each one terrifyingly potent!

Yet, when they looked around, they saw no gods or devils.

"Lord, please turn around," said the small figure within the lantern.

Qin Mu and the other two complied and turned their backs.

The small figure in the lantern then instructed, "Now, slowly turn back around."

Qin Mu and the other two slowly turned as instructed. In their peripheral vision, they caught sight of towering gods and devils standing on the training ground. However, the moment their eyes met these figures, the fearsome gods and devils instantly dissolved into nothingness!

Qin Mu quickly whipped his head around, vaguely seeing hundreds of majestic and powerful gods and devils standing on the training ground. Yet, in the next instant, these figures collapsed and vanished.

Qin Mu turned his back once more and again sensed the gods and devils. But when he turned his head the next moment, he could still only see the fading, collapsing outlines of those same figures.

"When the mist struck that year," the small figure in the lantern said with a somber expression, "their physical bodies and primordial spirits completely disintegrated, rendering them invisible. The moment they are observed, they collapse and vanish."

The small figure's face grew somber. "No gaze can truly perceive them, nor can they be touched. I was fortunate; I wasn't enveloped by the divine ability in the mist. The old Lord extinguished the sun within the lantern at that time, and I thus managed to escape."

Qin Mu was lost in thought, cold sweat beading on his forehead. His voice was hoarse as he asked, "This ghost ship travels through time and space thirty-six times—thirty-six times for one cycle?"

The small figure in the lantern nodded.

More cold sweat appeared on Qin Mu's forehead. "So, the first traversal will take us back to the moment the mist erupted?"

The small figure in the lantern nodded again.

Qin Mu's voice trembled slightly. "Does that mean we will also be afflicted by that divine ability, becoming like the Feathered Forest Army soldiers, turning into unobservable matter?"

The small figure in the lantern shook his head. "The Lord survived," he said. "And you lived on this ship for a very long time, until your death."