Chapter 283: Transformations of the World
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
Qin Mu picked this Solomon's Seal and flipped him over to examine him. The other Solomon's seals popped their heads out from under the leaves, sands, and crevices. When they saw a giant picking up their comrade, they couldn't help crying out in alarm before hiding even deeper without any spirit of loyalty.
Qin Mu examined the little human in detail and saw that the legs of this Solomon's Seal were formed by numerous entwining roots. Around his waist was a skirt weaved from grass and on his face was a root-like beard.
His hand was holding onto a spear made from a bamboo branch. The tip of the spear was snow bright and was a special kind of metal. Qin Mu couldn't help being astonished and pinched the delicate spear which was like a needle, examining the metal on the spearhead in detail.
He couldn't see what metal it was formed from, but what was strange was that there were traces of imprinted runes on it. From the outfits of these Solomon's seals, it was impossible for them to be proficient in things like runes and spells.
So where had the metal on the spear come from?
The Solomon's seal seemed to wake up, for it began to shiver. Suddenly, a green sprout popped out from his head. He was really nervous, so the sprout grew very fast.
Qin Mu smiled. "Stop playing dead. I won't eat you, I just have some questions to ask you."
The Solomon's seal mustered his courage and opened his eyes. However, when he saw Qin Mu's smile and his shiny teeth, he couldn't help crying out in alarm and fainting again.
Fierce shouts came from the island as some hundred Solomon's seals came rushing out aggressively. It was evident that they were the rescue troop, but when they saw Qin Mu pinching their comrade, these Solomon's seals immediately turned in the other direction and ran away.
Qin Mu was startled and shook his head. "There's really no spirit of loyalty…"
He flicked the leaf on the Solomon's seal's head, and the little human woke up once again. Qin Mu let go of him and lifted him up with his vital qi, making him float in front of the three of them. "Stop playing dead, do it again and you will really die. Let me ask you, why are there so many Solomon's seals on this island?"
That Solomon's seal shivered and said, "I don't know, you will have to ask the ancestor!"
Qin Mu frowned and asked, "Where did your spearheads come from?"
"I don't know, you will have to ask the ancestor."
Helpless, Qin Mu placed the little human down and said, "Bring us to meet your ancestor."
When this Solomon's seal landed on the ground, he started walking into the island. A small head then popped out from the grass nearby and scolded him angrily, "Betrayer!"
Qin Mu stretched his hand out and grabbed that Solomon's seal out from the grass as well. "You will lead the way as well, bring us to see your ancestor."
This Solomon's seal immediately complied and hung his head down in shame to become a betrayer, walking into the island with the other betrayer by his side. That Solomon's seal next to him instantly lifted his head up high as if it was glorious for him to have been the first to surrender.
"There are too many Solomon's seals on this island."
Si Yunxiang was astonished. When they came to the center of the island, they noticed houses hanging on the trees, and they were all very delicate, not much bigger than a bird's nests. They were weaved by vines which were made into the shapes of houses to hang under the branches. From afar, they looked like green apples.
The group walked over, and the doors of these houses in the trees opened. Numerous Solomon's seals sneaked glances at them.
It was like a strange world on the tree.
On the ground, there were numerous houses constructed from small rocks by the Solomon's seals. A city was created, but it was only six ares big.
The two Solomon's seals walked into the lifeless city, and the soldiers that were guarding the city just stared at the three giants in a daze. They were speechless from astonishment and didn't even retaliate.
"There are probably tens of thousands of Solomon's seal here!" Si Yunxiang couldn't leave her state of shock, and she whispered, "Cult Master, if you captured all these Solomon's seals, your wealth would rival that of an empire if you sold them!"
Qin Mu stopped outside the city and didn't enter. He shook his head. "Why should I do that?"
Si Yunxiang was bewildered. "The weak are prey to the strong, isn't that the rule of Great Ruins?"
"Saintess, the predatory behavior of Great Ruins is slightly different from what you imagine," Qin Mu explained. "Even though the strange beasts of Great Ruins hunt and feed on the weak, they wouldn't do any unnecessary killing once they are full. This is a predatory behavior, not the killing of everything that's weaker than me. These Solomon's seals are also lifeforms with intelligence and have founded their own civilization and nation. Since we have come into their territory, we will have to interact as civilized people with civilized people. How could we just eradicate their country and eliminate their people the moment we come here?"
Si Yunxiang looked pensive.
Not long later, numerous Solomon's seals surrounded a carriage which came driving out from a dazzling mansion in the city. On the carriage was an old woman with white hair. She stood up shakily and greeted them, "It has been a while since we have seen outsiders, so we small people are a little flustered, I'm here to pay my respects to you."
"Elder is polite." Qin Mu returned the greeting respectfully. "This foolish brother and sisters have passed by your land and alarmed your people, we seek your forgiveness."
Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang saw that this Solomon's seal old woman was also only a feet tall. She was pitifully small yet Qin Mu still showed his etiquette and didn't dare to neglect her. This made them unable to restrain their smiles.
Soon, the two girls also greeted the woman according to the etiquette.
The Solomon's seal old woman said, "My humble home is too small and will be hard to accommodate the bodies of three giants so I can't invite the three of you to come in, pardon me. The three of you are just passing by?"
Qin Mu smiled. "The three of us were passing by and planned to rest our legs, but because we saw your distinguished country being so unusual, we came to disturb. May I ask elder, why are there so many Solomon's seals here?"
The old woman smiled. "It should be because of the water and land. When I woke up, I was beside a spring and I suddenly had intelligence. From then, we started flourishing and that resulted in more and more small people."
"A spring?" Astonished, Qin Mu asked, "Can elder lead us there to have a look?"
The Solomon's seal old woman smiled. "Of course."
When she said that, she ordered the other Solomon's seals to drive the carriage out of the city and brought them to the front of a spring. This spring wasn't huge and was only a deep pond that had a radius of twenty yards; however, it was too deep to see its bottom. There was numerous Solomon's seal fetching water from this spring, but no matter how much water they fetched, there was no different in the pond.
Qin Mu picked some spring water and opened Green Heaven's Eyes to have a look. His expression turned grave when he saw a strange power contained within. It was extraordinary.
The Solomon's seals on the island must have consumed the water here all year round and turned into spirits because of that. Furthermore, there was no demon air on their bodies.
'This is not an ordinary spring,' Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang thought to themselves as they had also noticed the peculiarity.
Qin Mu rose and asked, "I saw that your weapons are also slightly unusual, may I ask where you got them from?"
The Solomon's seal old woman said, "These items were all picked up by these children, they were flushed out by the spring."
"Flushed out by the spring?" Qin Mu looked at this deep pond and muttered to himself for a moment before saying, "Elder, we would like to go into the pond to take a look."
"Even though you guys might be giants, you will still have to be careful. The depths of this pond are beyond measurement and many of my children have drowned here."
The Solomon's seal old woman immediately summoned people over and said, "I'll order them to fetch long vines. The three of you will be able to wrap them around your bodies before going down. Once you'll no longer be able to hold your breath, you'll be able to come back up by following the vine."
"There's no need for that."
Qin Mu took in a deep breath and gales rushed towards him from all directions. After an immeasurable amount of air was sucked into his chest, he leaped into the pond. Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang also immediately took in a deep breath and leaped in.
The three of them then executed their techniques. Ling Yuxiu cultivated Nine Dragons Monarch Technique, so she swam like a flood dragon. Si Yunxiang executed Heavenly God Creation Technique and darted around like a fish in water, swimming toward the bottom of the pond.
This place was actually so deep that the bottom couldn't be seen. After diving for some time, their surroundings became dimmer and dimmer yet they still didn't reach the bottom. The pressure of the water was also becoming greater and greater.
Suddenly, light appeared in front of them, and they saw the four walls of the pond gradually becoming wider. There were luminous pearls on them that there the size of wicker baskets and gave off a dim glow.
"They are even bigger than the luminous pearls in the imperial palace!" Ling Yuxiu cried out in astonishment.
As they went farther down, more luminous pearls appeared. After diving several hundred yards down, they finally felt the pressure becoming so heavy that their lungs were going to concave. Their eyes became bloodshot, and their eardrums hummed. If they were to dive down some more, their lives would probably be in danger. But just as Qin Mu wanted to stop the two girls and return back, a huge cauldron caught his eye.
They had finally reached the bottom of the pond.
A huge cauldron sat there, and it was dozens of yards wide. There were weak currents pouring out from its center while the surroundings of the cauldron were empty, without any water. Instead, there was air surrounding the cauldron, and it was bright as day.
Qin Mu swam over there and passed through the water screen. His body instantly fell downwards, and he hurriedly landed on his two feet.
Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang also swam out from the water and landed on the ground, their bodies drenched.
Qin Mu took a glance, and Si Yunxiang immediately hugged her chest, only to see Ling Yuxiu not noticing anything. She immediately nudged her with her shoulder and said in a low voice, "He's looking at you!"
Ling Yuxiu only then came to a realization and hurriedly turned around, using vital qi to shake the water off her body.
Qin Mu retracted his gaze and thought to himself, 'It's not like I haven't seen it before. I already saw it when she slept over at my place last time, but so what if her chest is bigger and fairer than mine, her strength is still inferior to mine."
The three of them dried their clothes and started to look around. This place had to be the bottom of the sea and surrounding them on the outside was the pitch black sea water. They could even see chimneys on the seafloor giving off black smoke and spewing out a trail of lava once in a while. From time to time, the strange creatures in the sea would swim over after being attracted by the bright lights here, revealing their humongous bodies. However, the group didn't know what kind of monster they were.
In front of them, there were marble pillars standing tall and giving off a tranquil glow. When they walked forward some more, they could see pure white fog and a faint huge palace hiding within it.
Below their feet was white jade that was built quite smoothly, but the rubble was scattered everywhere.
There were several pillars surrounding the cauldron which was behind them, so this place should be the ruins of a shrine.
Currents rose from the huge cauldron which wasn't linked with the sea. The Solomon's seals on the island had drunk the water that was pouring out from this cauldron and it had given them intelligence.
"I have seen such a place before." Qin Mu's heart trembled slightly, and he said, "There is Surging River Dragon Palace in Great Ruins, and its layout is quite similar, but it's much smaller compared to this one. That place was were the Surging River Dragon King lived, the place where the dragon king managed Surging River."
"Could this be a dragon palace as well?" Si Yunxiang was slightly excited.
"It's not a dragon palace." Ling Yuxiu shivered and said in a low voice, "I don't feel any air of dragons here. On the contrary, I feel an extremely unpleasant air towards the dragons… There's probably a god here!"
"Even if there's a god, it will be a dead god."
Qin Mu walked forward and waved his sleeves. Rubble flew up and landed to the side, revealing a collapsed stone tablet. The words on the stone tablets were very ancient, and they said 'Bent Mountain God Shrine'.
"Bent Mountain God?" Qin Mu frowned. "Could there be a mountain god at the bottom of the sea?"
Si Yunxiang shook her head. "It's impossible to have a mountain god at the bottom of the sea, unless this place was above the sea level in the past…"