Chapter 237: Restricted Area
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
Qin Mu stood on the majestic Moon Ship with his hands stretched out to hold the pillars. He was like a giant getting punished as he looked at the world that had appeared in front of him.
Behind him, the broken moon floated in the sky while meteors fell down from time to time. As they crashed around the Moon Ship, the incomparably black darkness was lighted up.
Behind the light, the devils were in a disorder. They were bustling with activity and making a commotion.
In front of the ship, however, was a pure land that had never been invaded by the darkness. It was cut off from the rest of the world, tranquil, mysterious, and filled with the unknown.
It was hard to imagine that there was such a serene place in Great Ruins.
In front of Qin Mu were a vast forest and an endless mountain range. However, at a place farther away, the ground was suddenly cut off as if it was emptied out by someone. With the sea and clouds separating them, there was a city that stood tall and upright in mid-air. It was like the place where immortals lived.
The sky was filled with golden clouds and light, while below palaces towered into the cloudy heaven. Floating high up in the clouds was an unbroken chain of mountain peaks which revealed their bright golden peaks.
In the depths of the clouds, majestic god statues stood like an emperor protecting his territories.
A huge machinery floated three thousand yards away from the sky, operating quietly. Countless formations were imprinted into the mysterious iron and gold structure, forming an incomparably complicated large-scale machine. Energy produced by it materialized into trails of flowing light which connected the city and the sky.
However…
Everything was already destroyed.
Qin Mu was stunned. In front of him was a ruined Carefree Village. The one dazzling sky city was now a ruin. The palaces that towered into the clouds were riddled with holes and the unbroken chain of peaks that was floating in the sky had been smashed and shattered. Broken rocks of all shapes and sizes floated in the sea of clouds while majestic god statues stood slanted, missing limbs here and there.
In the middle of the sun in the sky was a huge black dot which had already swallow more than half of the sun. Only the golden halo around it remained, looking like a golden hoop.
The city above the clouds had been destroyed, and the great machinery that stood upright in the sky was broken as well. Its shattered components floated quietly around.
Only a couple huge pieces of machinery remained operating, maintaining the barrier of Carefree Village.
Not far from the Moon Ship, there was a horizontally inscribed board stabbed diagonally into the forest. On that toppled overly large inscribed stele, two words were written. They said 'xiao Pal"
The horizontally inscribed board was broken.
A pang of sorrow suddenly surged through Qin Mu, and it grew frantically until it filled his whole heart.
There was no Carefree Village in this world anymore.
There was no place to be carefree anymore.
This giant who was standing on the Moon Ship and holding the pillars seemed to be bearing the punishment of heaven as he lowered his head.
He knelt down, and tears dripped droplet by droplet onto the solid floor.
The home that he longed for had already been destroyed, and nothing remained of it anymore.
He had looked for such a long time, fantasized about his home in his dreams, his family, neighbors, and friends, but all of them had suddenly been shattered with the appearance of this world in front of him. It was like a drawing done on the sand, vanishing with the gust of a wind.
There was no longer any home, any mother waiting for her son, any stern father… All of the things he had fantasized about were no longer there…
He awoke from his dream. He was still the orphan adopted by the numerous old, weak, sick, and elderly people.
His hometown was gone.
Dutian Devil King raised his head and looked out the window to see the giant kneeling among the pillars. The giant that was shrouded in the hazy moonlight had his face facing downwards so only the shaking of his shoulders could be seen.
At this moment, Dutian Devil King could well imagine the youth's pain.
When his Dutian World was annihilated, he had felt the same sorrow. He was inconsolable and couldn't suppress his emotions. While he was bawling, he blamed the world, and with his overflowing anger, he had fought with the messengers of death from Youdu, trying to save the lives of his clansmen!
He was struck down countless times, and his body was broken along with his soul. Then, he had finally submitted, submitted himself to fate.
In Qin Mu, he saw himself the past, the him when he was young, the him that was about to be struck down and submit to fate.
When life is weak and one's direction is lost, becoming a lunatic is simple.
When playing in the mud, it's hard to know the luminosity of a pearl. How many trials and how many hardships, how much obliteration would one be willing to suffer to temporarily return back to fear?
Where is home?
Where is my home?
Qin Mu gradually raised his head up with a cold gaze. His eyes were like the bright luster given off by the moon. When he closed his eyes, that light vanished, but when he reopened them, they were like two bright moons.
As he stood on the Moon Ship, his emotions rose and fell as myriads of thoughts went through his mind. He was unable to calm down for a long time.
"I didn't come here to find Carefree Village, but to search for Village Chief, granny, and the rest. They are my kin and Disabled Elderly Village is my hometown, it's the Carefree Village of my heart!"
Qin Mu composed himself and looked around. Suddenly, he saw a couple of stone statues placed at the border of the barrier.
Even existences of the god realm would find it hard to travel through the darkness of Great Ruins unless they were carrying god statues. However, god statues were extremely dense and even existences of cult master level would find it hard to carry them. They would be unable to travel far with them.
The stone statues at the edge should have been transported here using great magical power to force the darkness back.
After entering Carefree Village, these stone statues were no longer useful and was thus left behind.
Qin Mu's heart stirred. Village Chief could have brought Apothecary to walk in the darkness and deal with all kinds of strange peculiarities, while Mute should have a method of his own to deal with the darkness.
As for Old Ma, Cripple, Butcher, and Blind, they would have needed the stone statues to be able to move in the darkness. Old Ma, Cripple, and Butcher's body had already recovered, so they could walk a longer distance while carrying a god statue.
No one knew the extent of Deaf's abilities, but not even ghosts and gods dared doubt the greatness of his painting skills. Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was his hardcore admirer who took honor in collecting his paintings.
While what concerned granny, the previous Cult Master Li Tianxing was hidden in her body so she should be able to carry the god statue as well.
These statues here should have been left behind by the villagers.
"In that case, they must have found their way here. Could it be that they entered this place and got trapped, which is why they couldn't return to the village for New Years?"
Qin Mu opened his eyes and looked around. Vigorous energy poured into his eyes, and he executed the Nine Heavens Eye Awakening Skill that Blind had taught him to its maximum. "I'm here. Village Chief, granny, I'm going to bring you guys back for New Years!"
He didn't step into Carefree Village straightaway but first checked it out from outside.
Village Chief and the rest were extremely strong, so if they had really entered Carefree Village, it wouldn't look as serene as it was now. There must be no lack of danger inside, because of which they got trapped.
Even the Moon Ship couldn't guarantee Qin Mu's safety.
His gaze landed on the forest in front of Carefree Village and saw the traces that Village Chief and the rest had left. The divine arts of great practitioners like Village Chief and Mute would cause astonishing damage to the surroundings.
However, this wasn't the case by the forest. Although there were traces of a battle there, the damage wasn't extensive.
Qin Mu's gaze followed the traces and saw a few ruins in the forest. The path that Village Chief and the rest had taken went along them.
The reason why the path was along these ruins was that this was the only path, the only safe way to enter Carefree Village!
Other than this path, every other place was restricted!
Qin Mu looked with Nine Heavens Divine Eyes and saw faint rays of light which were extremely treacherous in the forest. However, he couldn't see what the restrictions were.
These restrictions were extremely dangerous, so the path along the ruins was much safer in comparison.
Qin Mu continued to stare fixedly forward. At this moment, he saw a few strands of fine light bursting forth from a ruin which was about three hundred miles away from him, but not far from the end of the forest.
Qin Mu's vital qi burst forth, and he plucked down the jade pendant from the barrier. Activating Moon Ship, he took a stride forward and entered the barrier.
Hnnn.
A gentle tremor came over him, and he felt like he had crossed into another world. The darkness which shrouded Great Ruins instantly vanished behind him, and when he turned his head to look behind, he could see nothing.
At this moment, he suddenly heard weird laughter. Countless devils that had been hugging the body of Moon Ship leaped off the ship and surged into the forest like a flood.
A devil god that had two heads and five tails rose into the air. She also had eight long legs which had palms instead of feet which she used to scurry through the air while shouting sternly, "Vadhah (Sanskrit, Kill)!"
Dutian Devil King jumped in shock. He totally didn't expect that there were would be so many devil secretly hiding on the ship in the cover of darkness.
The devil god turned her head back and chuckled at Qin Mu who was on the ship. "Fancy finding by sheer luck what one has been searched for far and wide! We had wanted to enter Carefree Village for quite a long time, so we must thank you for leading us here!"
This devil god was none other than that one Qin Mu and Village Chief had met in the living realm of the dead. It was also this devil god who had lured Qin Mu out into the darkness after he had met the Sun Ship in Border Dragon City to kidnap him.
It was evident that this devil god had long ago hidden herself on the Moon Ship to wait for a chance.
She seemed to have known that Qin Mu would definitely return to the living realm of the dead one day and borrow the Moon Ship to return to Carefree Village.
And now, she had finally succeeded.
"My children, take over the last of the pure land! From today onwards, this world shall be ours!" that devil god cried out and brought the omnipresent devils to surge towards the other end of the forest.
Qin Mu was expressionless as he gazed at these heavenly devils.
Suddenly, a cryptic pulse came from the forest and the flesh and bones of the tens of thousands heavenly devils that had surged forward melted away. Only their skin was left, but when the gust of wind blew past, even it turned into ashes and scattered away.
The devil god who had rushed into the sky above the forest instantly rushed out. "Sa Parami!"
A huge whirlpool appeared and sucked her in.
Qin Mu had seen this method before. When fighting against the Village Chief, that devil god had created the space leading to the other shore and pulled Village Chief into it, trying to trap him there. Never had she then expect to fall inside it as well.
Now she had executed this method not to trap anyone, but to avoid the danger in the forest by hiding in the other shore!
Right then, a ball of fire rose from the forest, and a beam shot out from it into the depths of the space.
In the sky, a trail of fresh blood flowed out, and the corpse of that devil god appeared fell down. Once it crashed into the forest, the corpse turned into ashes.
On the Moon Ship, Dutian Devil King was quiet out of fear, his blood running cold. "This goddamn world, can it not be so treacherous?"
The pure white moonlight in Qin Mu's eyes drifted like mist, and a booming voice sounded out as he muttered to himself, "Your deaths have affirmed my guess. This restricted area is not to defend against any invasion of enemies, but to prevent people of Carefree Village from walking out! It was left behind by the existence that destroyed Great Ruins."