Chapter 869: Heaven's Son

The moment these gods and devils harbored murderous intent, the first god-devil had already fallen. His eyes, once vibrant, instantly became hollow and vacant, their brilliance vanished. His physical body was intact, but his breathing stopped instantly, as if some terrifying power had drained his spirit in a flash, causing him to die with incredible swiftness. However, the other gods and devils were rushing towards Qin Mu; no one noticed him.

Yet, the next moment, the eyes of the second god-devil dimmed, and his charging figure turned into a falling one. Then, a moment later, the third god-devil, the fourth god-devil, and so on. By the time the first Lord of All Heavens, who had charged to Qin Mu's front, unleashed his divine power, sounds of gods and devils falling to the ground echoed behind him. He turned to look, his gaze vacant.

The Lords of the Northern Heavens were like a series of afterimages he left while leaping through the air; these figures were falling one after another, their palms outstretched, their eyes ghastly white, and their faces bearing expressions of immense horror.

"Little Earth Count..."

The sole surviving god-devil had just uttered these words when suddenly, darkness enveloped him. In the darkness, butterfly-shaped light flames appeared, bursting outwards, dazzlingly beautiful. It was an eye exuding astonishing beauty, yet full of demonic essence. This eye glanced at him, and he lost consciousness.

The last corpse fell.

The other Lords of All Heavens showed expressions of terror, retreating one after another, but it was too late. A Lord of All Heavens suddenly had his soul drained; he clutched his own neck with both hands, his mouth agape with his tongue protruding, and then knelt down, lifeless. Then came the second Lord of All Heavens, and the third. The others fell into great panic, fleeing in all directions. Yet death followed them like a shadow, clinging to them like a maggot to bone, taking their lives one by one.

"Great Black Heaven, save me!" A Lord of All Heavens cried out piercingly in the darkness. The cry abruptly ceased, and he fell from the sky as a corpse, landing lifelessly on the ground.

Great Black Heaven, however, did not open his eyes. He had long anticipated what was happening in the darkness, but the defeat of "Heavenly Venerate Yu" made him resolve to sacrifice these old subordinates and not intervene. Not all Lords of All Heavens harbored murderous intent towards Qin Mu, yet death seemed not to care whether they had murderous intentions towards Qin Mu. This demon king, who controlled death, merely stubbornly harvested souls according to the Little Earth Count pact they had signed. As long as they had signed the Little Earth Count pact and had not, as per their gamble with the Woodcutter Sage, incorporated the Northern Heavens into Yankang, they would all be dealt with by him!

In the pool of blood, Qin Mu's bones were still growing flesh. The youth weakly raised his hand, wanting to save some Lords of All Heavens to become combatants for Yankang, but he was simply too weak. In his battle with "Heavenly Venerate Yu", the peerless techniques unleashed by his opponent had reached the Twenty-Eight Heavens. This was a being who had almost mastered all ancient god grand techniques and whose Dao realm had reached the Twenty-Eight Heavens. He was able to fight his opponent to the death by integrating the achievements of Yankang's reforms into himself and by having far more profound magic power than his opponent. Even so, he was almost utterly destroyed by his opponent. Now, he was powerless to stop his other self.

His elder brother, Qin Fengqing, must be trembling with excitement at this moment, excitedly harvesting the souls of the Lords of the Northern Heavens according to the Little Earth Count pact, storing them in the Slaughtering Cauldron to slowly consume. Qin Fengqing had no concept of rationality. In his mind, besides his mother, everything in the world and all living beings were only categorized as edible or inedible. Even his father, Qin Hanzhen, and younger brother, Qin Mu, fell into the edible category; it was only because his mother did not want him to eat Qin Mu that he reluctantly spared his brother's life.

"If this group of Lords of All Heavens at the Jade Capital realm came to Yankang, to what extent would Yankang's strength improve..." Blood gushed from Qin Mu's mouth, and he was heartbroken.

Finally, the last god-devil fell in the darkness.

Great Black Heaven opened his eyes and looked at Qin Mu with an indifferent expression. "I thought you would spare them," he said, "but I didn't expect you to be so ruthless."

In the pool of blood, Qin Mu felt even more heartbroken, and blood spurted from his mouth like a fountain.

Great Black Heaven turned and walked towards the Great Black Palace, saying, "You may leave. I give you half a day. If you cannot walk out of the Great Black Palace's domain alive, then I will personally kill you. If you escape, I will swallow my pride and do nothing to Yankang."

The Dragon Qilin hurried over, carried Qin Mu, who was still recovering his physical body, onto his back, and ran down the mountain without a word.

Inside the Great Black Palace, Great Black Heaven's many disciples exchanged glances, secretly observing their silent master. Great Black Heaven suffered a great loss this time. It was the two Heavenly Masters, the Woodcutter and Zi Xi, who stirred up trouble, sparking the conflict between the Northern Heavens and Yankang's Hegemon Body. If Great Black Heaven hadn't intervened, the Northern Heavens would likely have been taken away by these Lords of All Heavens, submitting to Yankang to save their lives. And even with Great Black Heaven's intervention, all the Lords of the three hundred and sixteen Northern Heavens still perished! These Lords of All Heavens could be said to be his most elite combat force. Moreover, countless young talents from the various heavens, selected as elite divine arts practitioners, also perished. Great Black Heaven was always one to exact revenge for the smallest grievance; how much more so after suffering such a significant loss this time?

Yet he held back, enduring silently, even making the seemingly absurd and foolish decision to give Qin Mu half a day to leave his territory.

"At the same realm, he defeated the Heavenly Court's strongest weapon. Truly worthy of being the Hegemon Body," he thought. "As long as he survives, the future may not necessarily be so stagnant."

Great Black Heaven was lost in thought, then he suddenly chuckled, "You all think I'm losing face for the Northern Heavens by letting him go, don't you?"

Mo Santong, Xue Taidou, and the others dared not speak.

"As your teacher, I will tell you a secret." Great Black Heaven chuckled, "I was born before the Dragon Han era, and the reason I've lived from the ancient times until now is because I don't care about 'face'."

Mo Santong and the others had strange expressions, and no one responded.

Great Black Heaven stood up, darkness swirling behind him, and chuckled, "Back then, there were far too many beings stronger than me, and far too many who were smarter than me. Yet not many survived. While I, eternally evergreen, am revered as the Demon Ancestor. If I had cared about my 'face' or my 'skin', I would have died long ago."

Mo Santong and the others' eyes darted about. In fact, the behavior of these disciples also bore a strong resemblance to Great Black Heaven's style. For instance, during the days Qin Mu stayed in the Great Black Palace, many of Great Black Heaven's disciples openly declared they wanted to challenge Qin Mu, but secretly, they wished to use Qin Mu to point out the deficiencies in their cultivation. They were not foolish; they knew their actions would expose Great Black Heaven's Dark Demonic Scripture to Qin Mu. Yet they still did so to improve their own strength, a common trait passed down in their lineage.

"The more chaotic this world becomes, the better it is for our demon race," Great Black Heaven said leisurely. "Only through chaos can we demons have a chance to survive. If the Heavenly Court creates a completely solidified future, then that would be the end for our demon race. My request for that being from the Heavenly Court to intervene was actually to see if the Heavenly Court's weapon truly was invincible. Now it seems the Heavenly Court cannot achieve that." He smiled very happily, "I suddenly feel a great weight lifted off my shoulders. For this reason alone, I cannot kill Yankang's Hegemon Body. Moreover, I'm not even sure I could kill him."

Mo Santong and the others were slightly taken aback, not understanding why he valued Qin Mu so highly.

"Little Earth Count, that is this Yankang Hegemon Body." Great Black Heaven finally uttered words that chilled them to the bone, his expression peculiar. "He, like me, was born in Youdu. I was born from Youdu's resentment, demonic nature, and demonic qi, the first demon god. While he is the first viviparous being. Both of us have strange and extraordinary aspects. However, in terms of innate potential, I am slightly inferior to him. What's strange, though, is that he seems unable to control his power; his power seems to have developed its own consciousness..."

Heavenly Court, Library Pavilion.

The Dao Master of the Heavenly Court's Dao Sect cut a piece of beautiful jade from the top floor of the Library Pavilion, watching the jade pillar grow and quickly fill the gap. The old Daoist shook his head and sent the beautiful jade, bearing Heavenly Venerate Yu's imprint, downstairs to the arriving person, saying, "Ancestor God King, what happened to the previous weapon?"

"It shattered."

The newcomer was a handsome man, his entire body emanating a blended white light; his pupils were also pure white. He shook his head and said, "This weapon still has deficiencies; Heavenly Lord's Great Dao is not perfect. I controlled this weapon to descend to the lower realm, but it was shattered by the Hegemon Body."

The old Daoist asked in surprise, "The Hegemon Body?"

"Speaking of which, this Hegemon Body is also a Heavenly Venerate." Ancestor God King's expression was peculiar as he said, "During the Jade Pool Grand Ceremony back then, I was congratulating the Heavenly Emperor on his ascension, but he was causing a huge disturbance at the Jade Pool. Later, I saw the sword marks left by his swordplay. This time, I recognized him from his swordplay. I never expected him to be the Dragon Han Hegemon Body from back then, even beating that being half to death..." He no longer mentioned that being, and chuckled, "This time I descended to test the weapon because that old rascal Great Black Heaven invited me to deal with him. But I slipped up and had to remake one. Hahaha!"

He burst into laughter, patting the old Daoist's shoulder. "Why am I telling you all this?" he said. "If you weren't the Dao Master, single-mindedly pursuing the Dao and not concerning yourself with external affairs, just for those few words, I would have silenced you."

The old Daoist lowered his gaze, smiling silently.

Ancestor God King said, "Send this treasure to the divine artifact creation facility, have another weapon created, and sent to my palace. Also, have Heavenly Lord's Great Dao runes not been organized yet?"

The old Daoist shook his head, saying, "Heavenly Lord Xuandu's physical body is too vast; it's difficult to fully map it out. And Heavenly Lord is too powerful; the gods stationed there dare not be presumptuous."

"The old fellow is indeed very strong, very robust, and his body is so sturdy." Ancestor God King strode away, saying leisurely, "However, the time for me to replace him is not far off. I will personally go to Xuandu and organize the remaining Great Dao runes."

The old Daoist watched him leave, only hearing Ancestor God King's voice, filled with joy, entering his ears: "My father god, I will soon replace you, become you, surpass you..."

In the darkness, the Dragon Qilin galloped with Qin Mu. The surroundings were dim, obscuring the path, making it impossible to distinguish north from south. The Dragon Qilin gradually lost his bearings, and panic welled up in his heart. This was pure darkness; if he lost his way, it would be difficult to carry Qin Mu out of this place within the half-day limit.

Qin Mu was still working hard to recover his physical body. He said weakly, "Fatty Dragon, fly up to the zenith. Follow the heavenly map."

The Dragon Qilin understood. Exerting all his strength, he flew upwards at the fastest possible speed. The half-day deadline was drawing closer. The Dragon Qilin sped like the wind and lightning, Qilin fire blazing beneath his feet, his body even crackling with lightning and thunder. His speed increased to its maximum.

Gradually, light appeared in the sky. The Dragon Qilin was overjoyed and approached the light. He saw that the sky had a leak, and the light was spilling through the crack. Through the sky's leak, a giant formation could vaguely be seen. It should have been the moon in the heavenly map, but as the formation operated here, it was twisted and distorted by the damaged area of the heavenly map, causing moonlight to scatter wildly.

Qin Mu saw this moon and suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood, straight and stiff.

The Dragon Qilin's heart trembled: "Cult Master, are you still alive?"

Qin Mu trembled as he raised his hand, pointing at the distorted moon, and stammered weakly, "Ugly, find another place..."

"Cult Master, be content!" The Dragon Qilin carried him towards the remnants of that moon and snapped, "If we don't leave Great Black Palace's territory soon, Great Black Heaven will come out and kill you!"

Qin Mu was still intending to rather die than submit, but the Dragon Qilin had already carried him, charging into the heavenly map and entering the formation that glowed like a bright moon.

"I wonder if there are still Heavenly Court gods in this heavenly map?" The Dragon Qilin cautiously looked around, whispering, "With the celestial phenomena in disarray now, the Heavenly Court gods stationed here should have fled long ago, right?"

"Who's there?" someone suddenly asked from behind the moonlight.