885 80,000 Miles of Wilderness (1/2)
Yan Qiling's heart turned cold. She had forgotten about Celestial Emperor's blessing at the back of her head and carelessly spoke her true feelings.
Although the second soul of Celestial Emperor was rushing back to the celestial heavens to merge with its souls and wouldn't have time to monitor her, nothing was certain. If her true feelings were heard by the ancient Celestial Emperor, she would be in trouble.
Qin Mu retracted his finger. Previously, he had spent a lot of effort removing Celestial Venerable Yu's blessings of the ancient gods. He invited many experts to Eternal Peace's capital city and finally broke the blessings. Hence, Celestial Emperor's blessing wasn't something unfamiliar to him.
Also, the Guardian Pavilion possessed runes of the Great Dao of Celestial Emperor, which deepened his knowledge of Celestial Emperor's blessing.
He didn't remove Celestial Emperor's blessing from Yan Qiling. Rather, he corrupted it, which prevented Celestial Emperor from eavesdropping on their conversation.
This was similar to how Woodcutter broke Mother Earth's blessing for Qin Mu at Eternal Peace's capital city.
”Thank you.”
Yan Qiling revealed a smile. ”At times, you are gentle, but at other times, you are detestable.”
Qin Mu smiled faintly and took her words as a compliment.
Yan Qiling continued, ”I realized my master is heartless. I believe that my relationship with him isn't important to him. That is why I spoke for you at Heavenly Yin World. Helping you is also helping myself.”
Qin Mu took a moment of silence before saying, ”In that case, your master's wife…”
Yan Qiling shuddered. After some time, she said, ”The temporary imperial residence of my master's wife is right ahead.”
Yan'er retracted her wings and landed. As soon as they landed, Yan Qiling leaped off and said, ”Celestial Venerable Mu, would you like to go in with me?”
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment before nodding, leaving the dragon qilin and Yan'er behind.
As this was Eternal Peace's only chance, he had to be involved in order to prevent any missteps.
The two walked towards the new Mother Earth's temporary imperial residence, which should have been built recently. It was guarded by many half-gods. Presumably, they had been recruited by the new Mother Earth.
The effects of the unsealing of the Primordial Realm had been severe.
The real Mother Earth didn't dare to reveal herself. She had been withered down to one remaining earth soul, and her body, the Primordial Tree, had been taken by the Heaven Alliance to develop the new Mother Earth.
Since Mother Earth was without her body, her influence over the half-gods wasn't as strong as the new Mother Earth. Although she still had her loyal supporters, in terms of momentum, she was incomparable to the new Mother Earth.
The half-gods, upon seeing Yan Qiling and Qin Mu, looked surprised but kept silent.
Upon reaching Mother Earth's imperial residence, Yan Qiling kneeled in front of her and said, ”My master's wife.”
Although the new Mother Earth looked exactly the same as Mother Earth, she lacked her overbearing aggressiveness. Instead, she was gentle. ”Quick, stand up. Why are you greeting me in such a grand manner? Your master may have such rules, but I don't.”
She was surprised to see Qin Mu. ”Celestial Venerable Mu? Why are you two together? The last I heard, you said you were defeated by him and planned to seek revenge.”
Qin Mu bowed and said, ”Qin Mu greets Mother Earth.”
The new Mother Earth laughed. ”You are Celestial Venerable Mu. There is no need to stand on ceremony. You made a fool of my husband by giving his blessing to a wild black boar. He was furious and cursed you for a long time.”
She was unable to contain her laughter. When she realized that Yan Qiling was still kneeling, she said, ”Yanzi, quickly stand up. Celestial Venerable Mu is here. Seeing this, he might think that I'm mistreating you.”
Yan Qiling lowered her head, both hands holding out the mirror Celestial Emperor gave her. ”Master has returned back to the celestial heavens. This gift is from him.”
”He has gone back?”
The new Mother Earth accepted the mirror. ”Has Celestial Venerable Mu helped him reconstruct his souls? It looks like they have reconciled. This is good…”
Her gaze fell upon the mirror, and she was unable to pull away.
Yan Qiling collapsed to the ground crying. ”Master wanted me to give you this mirror. I knew the consequences, but I did it anyway. My master's wife, please put me to death…”
The new Mother Earth raised her head, her eyes flustered, and her face drained of color.
”This isn't your fault, Yanzi. This isn't your fault…”
She gently stroked Yan Qiling's head, her hands turning into green smoke. ”This isn't your fault. You had no choice.”
She then turned to Qin Mu and smiled. ”Celestial Venerable Mu, please take good care of her…”
Her body dissolved into green smoke and was sucked into the mirror.
The mirror then fell onto the ground, spun twice, and stopped at Qin Mu's feet.
Qin Mu picked up the mirror. Within it was a lush Primordial Tree.
This Primordial Tree was the new Mother Earth's underlying body, and also Mother Earth's true body.
During the final years of the High Emperor Era, the Heaven Alliance eliminated Mother Earth and brought the Primordial Tree to the celestial heavens. Celestial Emperor used the Primordial Tree to cultivate another living being. That living being was the new Mother Earth. He then took her as his wife.
As Celestial Emperor was able to create her, he could also destroy her.
Now, the new Mother Earth was destroyed, and the Primordial Tree was returned.
”Don't worry.”
Qin Mu muttered, ”Don't worry. I can't promise you anything, but I promise to take care of her to the best of my abilities.”
Yan Qiling remained on the ground crying while Qin Mu tried to lift her up. ”I have matters to attend to. Do you want to come with me?”
Yan Qiling didn't get up, so Qin Mu headed outside. He was in a hurry and had no time to waste.