Qin Mu's mind exploded with countless thoughts, a chaotic jumble, and his ears buzzed.
The revelations from Hermit Qingyou were truly astonishing, and the information contained within was equally shocking!
Lesser Jade Capital, the Heavenly Sage Cult, and the Human Emperor's Palace actually originated from the same source—all created by people from the same era and place. Moreover, these three holy sites were actually fragments from the same place!
He turned to look at the Village Chief, whose expression remained unchanged, his emotions not fluctuating in the slightest, as if Hermit Qingyou's earth-shattering words still couldn't shake his heart.
Or perhaps he had already known the connection between these three holy sites, so it was difficult to shock him.
The old Tathagata and the old Dao Master, however, looked utterly shocked, clearly unaware of the story behind these two great holy sites.
These two holy sites had even more ancient origins, but some of their history had not been recorded.
Hermit Qingyou withdrew his gaze from the Village Chief and looked at Qin Mu, slightly surprised. He smiled and said, "It seems the old Human Emperor didn't tell you the truth. You've never been to the Human Emperor's Palace either. Young Human Emperor, you should make a trip there—it will reveal many secrets."
Qin Mu steadied his mind and said in a deep voice, "Please speak plainly, Immortal Qingyou!"
Hermit Qingyou looked at the Village Chief again, whose expression remained as calm as an ancient well without ripples.
Hermit Qingyou smiled and said, "Since you won't speak, I'll have to take the liberty. Human Emperor, please follow me."
He walked down the mountain, and Qin Mu followed. The Village Chief also silently floated up, following behind the two of them. Xiong Xiyu hesitated for a moment, then held back Xiong Qier and shook her head, saying, "Matters of the Central Lands—we shouldn't get too deeply involved."
Xiong Qier was quite puzzled, but Xiong Xiyu had her own concerns. The matters of the True Heaven Palace in the Western Lands were already enough to give her a headache, and the affairs of the Central Lands were even more terrifying. She keenly sensed that some secrets were better left unknown.
The old Dao Master and the old Tathagata exchanged a glance. The old Dao Master smiled and said, "Free from burdens, we're already immortals of Lesser Jade Capital. Better not to know more secrets lest we disturb our own state of mind."
The old Tathagata glanced at him and said, "The Golden Book Treasure Scroll contains the method to connect to the Divine Bridge. Are you not tempted, Daoist friend?"
"So what?"
The old Dao Master said leisurely, "Where is the person who created the method to connect to the Divine Bridge now?"
The old Tathagata was stunned, then laughed heartily and abandoned any intention of following. "Every generation of Human Emperors has failed. There's no need for us to join in the excitement."
As for the Dragon Qilin, it didn't follow either, but lay beside them sleeping, snoring like thunder.
"You'll get eaten," Xiong Qier whispered in his ear.
The Dragon Qilin immediately lifted its head, looked around alertly, and seeing that Qin Mu wasn't there, said to the little girl, "I'll get up and exercise after a little more sleep."
Xiong Qier believed him.
Qin Mu followed Hermit Qingyou across a long suspension bridge, around several immortal mountains, and arrived at an immortal mountain floating in the air.
Hermit Qingyou led them to the great hall at the mountain's peak. This hall was extremely ancient, appearing dilapidated from years of disrepair. The palace walls were broken, and several pillars no longer supported the roof, as if destroyed by war.
The hall was called the Hall of Green History. The characters on the plaque were somewhat blurred, but you could still see that the person who wrote them had attained an extremely high level in calligraphy and painting. The characters "Hall of Green History" carried a sense of historical weight, with a feeling of vicissitudes rushing toward them.
"During the Kaihuang Era, the Hall of Green History was a famous place."
Hermit Qingyou walked into the hall. Inside, there were no longer any books, only rows of ancient bookshelves. The inner hall was a circular space, very expansive. Qin Mu saw that many bookshelves were placed on the dome-shaped walls, requiring one to walk on the walls to access them.
Unfortunately, all the books here were gone.
"Many of the books here were destroyed in war. The surviving books were moved to other halls for preservation. The immortals who founded Lesser Jade Capital originally intended to demolish the Hall of Green History, but felt it would be meaningful to preserve it, so they left this great hall untouched."
Hermit Qingyou walked onto the wall, moving between rows of empty bookshelves, his palms caressing these ancient shelves.
Qin Mu also followed him onto the wall, slightly startled as geomagnetic force emanated from the wall, attracting his body and allowing them to walk freely on the walls.
"The immortals who founded Lesser Jade Capital were responsible for recording history during the Kaihuang Era."
Hermit Qingyou continued, "Not only did they record the history of the Kaihuang Era, but also the history of the era before Kaihuang. Precisely because they recorded history, witnessing repeated failures throughout time and understanding the dangers, after the Kaihuang Era was destroyed, they brought the Hall of Green History here and created the holy site of Lesser Jade Capital. Lesser Jade Capital is far from the mortal world, not participating in worldly conflicts, simply floating quietly beyond the mortal realm, recording the rise and fall of the world. Does the Human Emperor know where the Hall of Green History originally stood in the Kaihuang Era?"
Qin Mu shook his head.
Hermit Qingyou walked to the dome, upside down, and said, "Then the Human Emperor should know the meaning of the word 'Jade Capital,' right?"
"Jade Capital—the capital where the Heavenly Emperor resides," Qin Mu said.
Hermit Qingyou sighed, "Yes, the capital where the Heavenly Emperor resides. Jade Capital is the Heavenly Court. The name 'Lesser Jade Capital' itself was a commemoration of the capital where the Heavenly Emperor resided. The history recorded in the Hall of Green History was actually for the Heavenly Emperor to see."
Qin Mu's heart trembled violently. He stared blankly at him, murmuring, "Lesser Jade Capital came from Jade Capital?"
"That's correct. Lesser Jade Capital indeed came from Jade Capital!"
Hermit Qingyou turned around to face him and the Village Chief, saying solemnly, "Lesser Jade Capital came from the Jade Capital of the Kaihuang Era! The Human Emperor's Palace also came from there! Holy Descent Mountain also came from there! They are all fragments of Jade Capital! The creators of the three great holy sites—the immortals of Lesser Jade Capital, the first Human Emperor of the Human Emperor's Palace, and the Woodcutter Saint of the Heavenly Sage Cult—all came from the Jade Capital of the Kaihuang Era!"
Light flashed in the Village Chief's eyes. "Since they share the same origin, why can't Lesser Jade Capital offer assistance? Qin Human Emperor is the Cult Master of the Heavenly Sage Cult and the current Human Emperor of the Human Emperor's Palace. Reasonably, your Lesser Jade Capital should provide full support!"
Hermit Qingyou descended from the dome, shaking his head. "Old Human Emperor, your ambitions still burn, and you remain so stubborn, obstinate, and stuck in the old ways. I truly wish I could show you the history recorded in Lesser Jade Capital, let you witness the cruelty of history, and shatter your persistence, your obsessions, your beliefs—watch you collapse to the ground crying helplessly, watch you lose all hope with no spark of life remaining!"
He exhaled a breath of turbid air and said calmly, "I don't need to do that. Because I only need to show you a few stone statues to break you."
He walked out of the Hall of Green History and looked toward an immortal mountain in the distance.
Qin Mu and the Village Chief also left the Hall of Green History. Qin Mu stood behind him, while the Village Chief floated beside him.
In the distance, immortal mountains were wreathed in ethereal clouds, immortal light washing over them like rainbow ribbons, surrounding statues of towering and majestic grandeur. These statues possessed an imposing manner, though it was impossible to tell which master artisan had carved them.
Hermit Qingyou descended from this immortal mountain and walked along the suspension bridge toward that direction.
They arrived at the immortal mountain where the statues stood. Qin Mu's eyelids suddenly twitched. He saw a statue of a woodcutter, holding a stone axe in his hand.
The statue was very tall, like a giant.
The woodcutter was carved with exquisite realism, lifelike, not as if carved by hand, but as if a person had petrified.
"This is the saint revered by the Heavenly Sage Cult. The woodcutter who transmitted the teachings under the tree and the scriptures on the stone."
Hermit Qingyou looked up at the woodcutter statue and said, "After transmitting the scriptures and teachings, he lost all hope and came to Lesser Jade Capital, choosing to become this petrified stone, just like the immortals who founded Lesser Jade Capital. Look—where is his gaze directed?"
Qin Mu's heart trembled, and his voice hoarse, he said, "The Great Ruins."
"He's looking toward the Great Ruins. That was once his homeland, but even then it had already become a barren wasteland. He couldn't change anything, couldn't do anything."
Hermit Qingyou's words cut into Qin Mu's heart like a knife. His plain language seemed to transform into the most terrifying divine ability, intending to destroy his will: "Every generation of Cult Masters of your Heavenly Sage Cult has been brilliantly talented, but which Cult Master's achievements surpassed the Woodcutter? He is your saint, yet what of it? Didn't his heart also turn to stone, becoming a stone sculpture in Lesser Jade Capital?"
He came before the second statue, which was of a scholar, his gaze filled with compassion for the world, holding a scroll in his hands. Though the scroll was open, his eyes were not on it.
He too was looking toward the Great Ruins.
"This is one of the immortals who founded Lesser Jade Capital, one of the historians of the Hall of Green History during the Kaihuang Era."
Hermit Qingyou continued walking forward to the third statue: "This is also a historian of the Hall of Green History. And him, and her!"
He passed by statue after statue, then came before a towering statue with an extraordinary martial bearing. Both hands rested on a sword planted in the ground, yet his gaze was distant, still toward the direction of the Great Ruins.
"The homeland turned to ruins—even with heroic passion and turbulent emotions, ambitions inevitably fade."
Hermit Qingyou looked up with a reverent expression and said, "That figure who, in ancient times when the Kaihuang Era was destroyed, fought to save the world and struggled for the survival of humanity—even he couldn't help but lose all hope, his body transforming into stone. Old Human Emperor, one of the bodies of your Human Emperor's Palace's past Human Emperors is missing, isn't it? He's here."
Hermit Qingyou's expression turned sorrowful. "He's here..."
The Village Chief's heart trembled as he looked up at this extraordinary and majestic statue.
The founder of the Human Emperor's Palace, the first Human Emperor, who saved countless sects large and small and left seeds for the civilization of future generations, revered by all races and sects as the Emperor of Humanity, a legendary figure who established the Human Emperor's Palace and this lineage—in the end, his heart had died.
He had turned to stone in Lesser Jade Capital!
The Village Chief felt a thunderous rumbling in his heart—the sensation of all his persistence collapsing.
It was as if he had returned to the day his limbs were severed, when all his persistence and beliefs suddenly collapsed. He had become that helpless old man with severed limbs, wanting to struggle but having no hands to grasp anything, wanting to stand but having no legs, able only to lie prostrate on the ground!
That was then.
After Qin Mu came to the Village of Broken Elders, he slowly emerged from that helplessness and despair.
But now, the divine image within his heart collapsed with a thunderous crash, causing him to relive that feeling of helplessness and despair!
His aged eyes grew misty, wanting to reach out but grasping nothing. His body fell to the ground, wanting to stand but unable to.
Qin Mu lifted this white-haired, helpless elder into his arms.
"Mu'er..."
This former Human Emperor wept, pleading, "Let's return to the Village of Broken Elders. Let's go back and never come out again... Give me the Human Emperor's Seal, give it to me! I can't let you walk my old path. I'll take it to my grave! You can't bear this burden—"