Chapter 896: The Third Part of the Sword of Calamity, The Calamity Response Part

Pingsun Yan was reluctant to part, but could only see Qin Mu off.

"He said this is his root; he truly is a tree... When will my phoenix nest attract a phoenix?" The girl yearned for the future.

Qin Mu arrived at the former Imperial Advisor Jiang Baigui's residence. The Imperial Advisor's wife was teaching Jiang Yunjian how to cultivate divine arts and spells. They also had a five-year-old daughter named Jiang Qingzhou.

"Sister-in-law, rest assured, my junior brother will not be imprisoned for too long."

Qin Mu instructed Jiang Yunjian on how to cultivate, passing on the cultivation methods for the Celestial Venerable Yu's Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure and Star River Divine Treasure. He then said to the Imperial Advisor's wife, "Rest assured, he will return. For these next few years, I will have people send money for your living expenses; you don't need to worry about making a living. Just focus on educating your nephew and niece well."

The Imperial Advisor's wife thanked him, though she found it a bit strange and asked, "Why are there only two divine treasures? What about the subsequent ones?"

Qin Mu chuckled, "We'll only know once someone develops them. I hope it will be a subversion of my own divine treasures. It would be remarkable if Yunjian could open these two divine treasures within a few years. Let him practice these for now. When I return next year, I'll find him a rather foolish teacher."

The Imperial Advisor's wife didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "A foolish teacher? I wonder who the Cult Master is referring to..."

Qin Mu arrived outside the capital city. A new city was already under construction there, intended to provide living space for the populace. It was a city spanning a thousand *li*, still very simple, designed merely for dwelling.

Additionally, divine practitioners were clearing farmland and developing water systems and transportation. This task couldn't be rushed, yet it was the most urgent.

Qin Mu found the elders from Disabled Elderly Village. Apothecary led many scholars in working the fields, using creation techniques to plant food and alleviate the immediate crisis. Mute and others were rebuilding the supervisory factory, and Village Chief and the rest each had their own tasks.

Apothecary examined Qin Mu's body and smiled, "There's nothing seriously wrong. Eat and drink as you please, and go wherever you wish."

Qin Mu said, "I told them there was nothing seriously wrong, but Village Chief and the others are always worried."

Apothecary watched him leave. Village Chief said, "Apothecary, I haven't hidden anything from you about the Overlord Body, so you shouldn't hide anything from me either. What exactly is Mu'er's condition?"

Apothecary hesitated, then shook his head. "Not very good. His indestructible divine consciousness is very strong, but not strong enough to be eternally indestructible. He's like a candle flickering in the wind, liable to extinguish at any moment..."

Village Chief was stunned.

Apothecary continued, "I also sense a surge of vitality developing within him, as if something new is being born—a power different from creation techniques. There is hope, but it's still in its nascent stage. Whether it can truly break out of its cocoon, I do not know."

Village Chief was silent for a long time before saying, "I suddenly wish the Overlord Body truly existed..."

Qin Mu then found Yan Qiling. Yan Qiling said, "I still need to return to the Celestial Heavens, to His Majesty's side. I won't be staying in the lower realm."

Qin Mu replied, "Your mistress asked me to look after you before she passed away..."

"Take care of yourself!"

Yan Qiling gave a faint smile and said, "Although the Celestial Emperor doesn't wish for your death, don't forget that many others do. Even though the Primordial Realm has fallen under the Celestial Emperor's control, he cannot fully command the Celestial Heaven's armies occupying it. The Celestial Alliance giants won't allow the Celestial Emperor to simply devour the Primordial Realm; they've certainly planted countless informants, spies, and forces. You currently have no soul, so if they destroy your consciousness, you will truly die. You are a treasure to the Celestial Emperor, but not to them."

She had clearly heard many rumors and knew some insider information. "Divine beings and devils in the Primordial Realm are already planning to deal with you. You must be careful. I'm leaving now!"

Qin Mu waved goodbye.

Zhe Huali approached, casting a deep glance at Qin Mu. "Cult Master Qin, is there still hope for Yankang now?"

"As someone who has entered the Dao through the blade, you shouldn't ask such a question."

Qin Mu added, "By asking that, you betray your demonic blade."

Zhe Huali chuckled, "I'm just worried about you. If you don't die, then I believe Yankang can still be saved, and there's still hope. If you die, I will leave this place and never return."

Qin Mu burst into laughter. "Rest assured, you will be bound to this land forever!"

Zhe Huali laughed heartily and departed.

Qin Mu also left the capital, sitting atop the Dragon Qilin's head while Yan'er fed spirit pills to the creature. As dusk fell, Qin Mu took out a relic belonging to Ling Yushu under the cover of night and performed the Soul-Guiding spell to gather Ling Yushu's shattered soul.

Although he himself had no soul, his cultivation and power remained, as did his insight and knowledge. He quickly gathered Ling Yushu's soul.

Ling Yushu's soul stood amidst sorrowful clouds, staring at him. Qin Mu said, "Your Highness Yushu, the Underworld Emissaries will arrive here shortly to guide you to Youdu. Do not resent Emperor Yanfeng; he also acted for Yankang's sake."

Ling Yushu continued to stare at him, his form ethereal and illusory. "I was always inferior to my younger sister. She possesses the same boldness as Father Emperor, which I lack. The day he summoned me, I knew he intended to sacrifice me to protect Yuxiu. Even though I knew, I was willing."

At that moment, a glimmer of lamplight appeared in the darkness. An elderly Underworld Emissary, steering a paper boat, arrived from Youdu to guide Ling Yushu onto the vessel.

Ling Yushu still stared fixedly at him, unwilling to board the boat.

Qin Mu asked, "Do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

"Stay away from my sister!" Ling Yushu said.

Qin Mu's expression darkened. The elderly Underworld Emissary shone his lamp and took Ling Yushu. Standing on the boat, Ling Yushu called out, "Either marry her now, or stay far away from her! If I find out you're trifling with other women, I'll turn into a ghost and strangle you! Even if I can't strangle you, I'll haunt your dreams every night and scare you to death!"

The elderly Underworld Emissary halted the paper boat and, from somewhere unknown, produced a jade pendant, tossing it to Qin Mu. Qin Mu was slightly taken aback, recognizing it as the very pendant containing the Qin character continent.

"Your elder brother has gone, leaving Youdu with your parents for Carefree Valley. Kaihuang can protect him there."

The elderly Underworld Emissary continued, "He will be safer there. Tukang no longer needs to worry about his safety. Tukang said he has become a competent little Tukang, and he has grown quickly by your side. This jade pendant is Tukang's horn, originally used to suppress him. It's also because of this pendant that you have an intricate connection with Youdu. Tukang said he is gifting it to you."

Qin Mu took the jade pendant and examined it closely. The Qin character continent within the pendant was empty, containing only some mountains and the abyssal iron he had scavenged from the Return to Ruin, along with Lady Yuanmu's crystal coffin.

Heavenly Duke, Tukang, Red Emperor, Grand Solar, Old Buddha, and the others had all disappeared.

Qin Mu was filled with mixed emotions. He took out a silk ribbon, strung the pendant, and hung it around his neck.

"Heavenly Duke and Tukang have both returned. Grand Solar Star Lord has also returned to Youdu. Red Emperor found the Crimson Bright Divine Son and returned to the Suspended World. The Great Brahma of the Buddhist Realm awoke and took Old Buddha with him."

The elderly Underworld Emissary said, "The Slaughter Cauldron belongs to Ugly Tukang. Tukang said he is no longer Ugly, but you are. It is given to you. Perhaps it can help you overcome several difficulties."

He looked at Qin Mu for a long time, then suddenly bowed. "Celestial Venerable Mu, take care!"

Qin Mu returned the bow.

When he straightened up, the elderly Underworld Emissary and the ghost ship had vanished without a trace.

"Do not recklessly use primordial qi; it will damage your consciousness." The elderly Underworld Emissary's voice came from another world.

Qin Mu coughed violently, feeling his divine treasures fluctuate intensely with each cough. His indestructible divine consciousness also struggled to stabilize.

After a moment, his divine treasures calmed down, but he still felt his primordial qi slowly draining away.

Without a soul, the physical body was like a rootless tree. Even his indestructible divine consciousness could not fully restrain the vast primordial qi within him, causing it to gradually dissipate.

The Boundless Calamity Sutra of the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha could temporarily slow this dissipation, but only temporarily.

If Qin Mu had cultivated to the Emperor's Throne realm, he might have been able to cultivate his indestructible divine consciousness to the extreme, like Red Emperor, and exist for a long time without a soul. However, he was far from achieving this.

He could only rely on the Three Primordial Spirits Indestructible Divine Consciousness Scripture and the Boundless Calamity Sutra to stabilize himself and prevent his consciousness from dissipating.

Qin Mu sat atop the Dragon Qilin's large head, closing his eyes to rest. He gradually drifted off to sleep as the Dragon Qilin ambled aimlessly, traveling from night to day and back into night.

Occasionally, Qin Mu would wake up to find Yan'er had prepared delicious meals, making his days quite pleasant.

One day, a crescent moon rose in the sky. A woman beckoned from the moonlight, and the Dragon Qilin ran onto the moon. This moon was a corner of the Celestial Map and contained a Moon Palace.

The Celestial Map that once enveloped Yankang had been destroyed by war, leaving only scattered formation diagrams.

Qin Mu and his companions stayed in the Moon Palace for a period. His primordial qi continued to dissipate, and his cultivation gradually declined.

The spirit embryo, combined with the soul, formed the primordial spirit. His spirit embryo had originally stood upon the Celestial River, very close to the Southern Heavenly Gate. Now, without a soul, his magic power was difficult to contain, and his spirit embryo gradually drifted further and further from the Southern Heavenly Gate.

From the perspective of his spirit embryo, the Southern Heavenly Gate became increasingly hazy.

The girl in the Moon Palace said to him, "Stay here. I can take care of you for an entire lifetime."

Qin Mu still chose to leave, smiling, "My fate is uncertain; I cannot hold you back."

The girl stood before the Moon Palace and called out loudly, "I don't care! I've waited for forty thousand years, I don't care—"

"I do care." Qin Mu waved to her and turned to leave.

After descending from the Moon Palace, he fell into a period of despondency. His cultivation dissipated even faster, and his spirit embryo had drifted from the middle of the Celestial River onto the Jianmu tree, continuing to sink downwards.

If it sank further, it would descend into Youdu, plunging into the Divine Treasure of Life and Death.

On this day, Qin Mu suddenly became reinvigorated, shaking off his previous despondency. He diligently cultivated using the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique, but it turned out that not using it was better; activating it made his primordial qi dissipate even faster!

Qin Mu immediately stopped, muttering to himself. The Dragon Qilin and Yan'er listened, realizing Qin Mu was reciting various cultivation secrets and methods, seemingly disorganized, as if he had fallen into a trance.

Two days later, Qin Mu fell into a deep sleep. The Dragon Qilin and Yan'er saw an invisible bubble emerge from his brow, and numerous tiny Qin Mus crawled out of his head, chattering unintelligibly in the bubble world.

Each of these tiny Qin Mus cultivated different techniques: the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique, the Three Primordial Spirits Indestructible Divine Consciousness, the Leakless Creation Profound Sutra, the Ancestral Dragon Grand Profound Art, the Sakra Devanam-Indra King Sutra, the Heaven and Earth Heart Saint Art, the Martial Combat Heaven Art, Youdu Demonic Dao, the Dark Magic Sutra. There were even tiny Qin Mus cultivating the Boundless Calamity Sutra, creating even smaller bubble worlds within the bubble world!

"Fat Dragon, what is he doing?" Yan'er asked.

The Dragon Qilin thought for a moment and said, "The Cult Master is speculating on his chances of survival, searching for a path to life among countless possibilities."

"Fat Dragon knows so much!" Yan'er praised, slipping him a spirit pill, then continued to anxiously observe Qin Mu in the bubble world.

Within the bubble world, the tiny Qin Mus died one after another in various gruesome ways, a truly unbearable sight.

Some, while cultivating, suddenly had their consciousness dissipate and died with their tongues hanging out. Others went berserk, exploding with a bang. Some died in their dreams. Some spontaneously combusted, burning to ashes!

The tiny Qin Mus in the bubble world grew fewer and fewer. After more than ten days, the bubble world was littered with corpses, yet one tiny Qin Mu stubbornly survived. Although his aura was faint, he wore a smile.

Suddenly, the bubble world burst with a soft pop and vanished. Qin Mu opened his eyes, waking from his sleep. He yawned and smiled, "Sister Yan'er, I'm hungry again."

Yan'er quickly prepared food. After Qin Mu ate his fill, he fell into a deep sleep once more.

The dream world transformed into a bubble again, and many tiny Qin Mus emerged from Qin Mu's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. This time, however, these tiny Qin Mus did not search for a way to survive; instead, they gathered together with serious expressions, chattering unintelligibly.

Then, those tiny figures practiced sword arts in the dream world, fighting each other. Sword moves erupted one after another, and many tiny Qin Mus died in their mutual combat.

"Fat Dragon, what is Young Master doing?" Yan'er asked.

The Dragon Qilin also couldn't understand and shook its head. "I don't know either."

Yan'er narrowed her eyes, withheld some food, and didn't feed him spirit pills.

The Dragon Qilin hung its head dejectedly.

Finally, a burst of sword light appeared. The sole surviving tiny Qin Mu actually swung his sword, suddenly cutting open Qin Mu's dream world, slashing from within the dream to outside it!

Qin Mu abruptly awoke from his sleep, rolling over to sit up. The tiny Qin Mu had also vanished.

"Turning over startles the battling ox, pondering delays the responding calamity!"

Qin Mu drew his sword and let out a long cry, then, with a sudden strike, slashed towards his own divine treasures and Celestial Palace!