Chapter 298: White Bats
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
"Visit Ghost Valley?" Ling Yuxiu hesitated and said, "The great grandma of Si Family said that Ghost Valley is very treacherous and even the experts of Heavenly Saint Cult as well as the great shamans and shaman kings of Rolan's Golden Palace had encountered disastrous casualties when they explored that place. So what can we do there by ourselves?"
Qin Mu didn't change his intentions."That place might be related to my birth, so no matter what, I have to visit it. This is my personal matter and is unrelated to the sacred cult, as it is unrelated to the two of you. I'll be fine going there by myself."
He walked out of the factory and called the dragon qilin over. The dragon qilin, who had been sleeping outside, immediately stood up when he heard Qin Mu. He pulled himself together and asked, "Is it the next day already? Is it time to eat?"
Qin Mu leaped onto his back and said unpleasantly, "It's not the next day! What can you do other than sleep and eat? Let's go to Qingmen Pass!"
The dragon qilin yawned and fire clouds grew under his feet as he began sprinting to the north. "Cult Master, you have gotten fatter again, you're two hundred pounds heavier than before."
Qin Mu was furious and scolded, "Bullshit! Just to refine those swords, I slimmed down these days. Besides, the swords in my sack are at most a hundred pounds or so. You are the one who has clearly gotten fatter!"
Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang ran out to see the dragon qilin already in mid-air and over ten miles into the distance.
Si Yunxiang frowned. "Even if you really want to go, you should prepare for it. The one that herds cows is too reckless, he's underestimating the dangers of Ghost Valley.
Si Yunxiang rubbed her buttocks again. Qin Mu's slap had been hard, and she still felt her buttocks searing with pain. "How would there be a lack of experts in Heavenly Saint Cult? Ever since we were kidnapped by Long Jiaonan, Heavenly King Yu and Heavenly King Shi no longer felt at ease so they are definitely nearby. Don't worry, if he meets any danger, they won't sit by and do nothing. What a pity…"
She fell into a daze and suddenly said, "If the sacred cult master died in Ghost Valley, the saintess would naturally succeed him. What a pity I didn't go along with the cult master, otherwise the sacred cult master would have certainly died in Ghost Valley…"
Ling Yuxiu became alert and sneered, "Little vixen, if you dare to touch the one that herds cows, I'll break your legs!"
Si Yunxiang chuckled. "Little hussy, I've long seen you as a thorn in my side. You've become a hindrance to me by sticking around the cult master with those big breasts of yours, taking away my chance to strike when I wanted to."
The two girls stared each other in the eyes and found the other really annoying. The two of them then turned away, standing with their backs facing each other.
Si Yunxiang's gaze flickered, and Thousand Silks quietly spread out and tunneled into the ground like fine spirit snakes, sneaking towards the direction of Ling Yuxiu.
At this moment, Nine Dragons behind Ling Yuxiu's back also quietly stretched their bodies, and the dragon scales shifted their positions silently. Sharp blades popped out from the dragon claws, and the dragon-shaped spirit weapons secretly flew towards Si Yunxiang.
"I've long found you annoying!"
The two girls burst forth at the same time and ruthlessly executed their moves. Ling Yuxiu's dress was split apart by Thousand Silks as she narrowly avoided becoming minced meat. In the meantime, Si Yunxiang's body fluttered around like a butterfly, avoiding the combined attacks of the nine dragons.
Ling Yuxiu's body flipped continuously, until she slammed her palm on the ground. Terrifying magic power burst forth, and the ground trembled violently as stone pillars broke through the earth, forcing Si Yunxiang to fly into the air.
Ling Yuxiu soared into the air with a few steps and stretched her hand to grab Nine Dragons Weapons. Instantly, lightning and flames gathered on the Nine Dragons Hammer, and she smashed down with it!
"I said I'll break your legs and I'll definitely not eat my words!"
Si Yunxiang chuckled, and Thousand Silks came stabbing at Ling Yuxiu's back. The silver sword threads suddenly expanded and slashed towards Ling Yuxiu's head like incomparably fine snakes. "How are your abilities compared to those of Fozi? Going to break my legs? I'll chop off your head first!"
Numerous disciples of Heavenly Crafts Hall walked out of the factory and raised their heads to take a look. They could saw two women fighting fiercely in the sky, then Si Yunxiang being smashed down, giving all the disciples of Heavenly Crafts Hall a shock. They did not know if they should go and help.
They then saw Si Yunxiang becoming invisible and appearing behind Princess Yuxiu, causing her to vomit blood.
"This is not something we can bother with," an incense master said. "With regards to matters of jealousy, no matter which side we help, we won't be able to justify ourselves to the cult master, so let's just treat it as we didn't see anything."
Everyone nodded and left.
The dragon qilin's leg speed wasn't slow, and he reached Qingmen Pass by evening. However, the atmosphere there was oppressive. Commander in Chief Bian Zhenyun of Qingmen Pass was old friends with Qin Mu and immediately came to welcome him. "How did Divine Physician have the time to come here?"
"I plan to visit Ghost Valley," Qin Mu explained. "It's getting dark now so I can't enter Great Ruins, so I want to rest at Qingmen Pass for a night. General, what's the situation here now?"
Bian Zhenyun shook his head with a grave expression. "The situation is grim. These few months, Barbarian Di Empire has been increasing the number of their troops, and more strong practitioners have been appearing in Rolan's Golden Palace. I've heard that the envoys of Barbarian Di Empire have secretly gone back to the prairie, so it looks like Barbarian Di Empire is planning to send their army against Eternal Peace when we are weak.
"In the last few days, I've seen some people on the other side of the border that looked like they'd come from Wolf Store Country. Recently, the mounted scouts of the barbarian tribe have even frequently come out to run about the area between our two borders with arrogant aura. I'm afraid…"
He had a worried expression. "I've already sent people to report to the emperor as fast as possible. If the barbarian tribe attacks, the military power of Qingmen Pass alone won't be enough to defend. Divine Physician Qin, by right, I should be sending experts to escort you to Ghost Valley, but I really can't mobilize anybody."
Qin Mu smiled. "General should attach the most importance to the general situation, there's no need to worry about me. I'm just going to Ghost Valley and not the prairie, so I won't have any conflict with the barbarian tribe."
The sky was already dark, the darkness having invaded the land. Qin Mu looked into the distance and saw the brilliant rays shining into the sky from the enemy encampment a hundred miles away, penetrating through the darkness like daylight.
When it came to the morning, Qin Mu woke up and washed up before eating breakfast and feeding the dragon qilin. Bian Zhenyun sent him out of the pass while saying, "Divine Physician, I won't be able to send you off any farther; otherwise, the enemy will take this chance to mobilize its troops. I can only have my mounted scouts follow you from afar as an escort. Be careful on your journey."
Qin Mu gave his thanks and sat down on the dragon qilin's back, sprinting towards Duck Tongue Zone that was between the two empires.
Behind him, the mounted scouts of Qingmen Pass followed from afar while riding on all kinds of strange beasts and came to Duck Tongue Zone that was in the center of the two lands. The opposite side also had sent out a few more men and horses that were dressed queerly. They rode on the strange beasts that looked like camels with wings. They were most likely the mounted scouts of Barbarian Di Empire.
The two sides discovered each other and made their moves at almost the same time. Sword and knife pellets filled the sky and clanged as they collided.
The mounted scouts of Qingmen Pass suddenly opened up a few bottle gourds, and clouds instantly poured out, covering a radius of over ten miles. A person's gaze then could only see a distance of thirty yards or so.
Both sides instantly lost track of each other and a rare silence fell on the battleground.
Qin Mu opened Green Heaven's Eyes, and his gaze penetrated through the fog to help him determine his path. The dragon qilin went towards the back of Duck Tongue Zone under the cover of the fog.
"The emperor had indeed listened to my suggestion and kept the clouds and lightning to be used as a weapon. Even with so many soldiers stationed in Barbarian Di Empire, it will probably be quite difficult for them to break through Qingmen Pass."
Duck Tongue Zone was very long and stretched for a thousand miles, all the way to Great Ruins. When it came to night time, this was a barrier that separated the two empires.
When entering Great Ruins, the greatest danger was the darkness. Qin Mu was an abandoned person that was born in Great Ruins and naturally knew the things he had to look out for, thus he surveyed the passing scenery for things like ruins and stone statues.
If he couldn't return back to Qingmen Pass before it turned dark, he would have to spend the night in Great Ruins, so he had to find a place to settle down.
Duck Tongue Zone was very quiet. Not even a bird could be seen along the way.
Qin Mu had a grave expression. If not even a bird could be seen, it meant that there was no safe place here. Not even the strange beasts of Great Ruins could live here when it came to night time!
He went past a lake which was azure like a sapphire. The surface of the lake was incomparably serene and had no ripple at all.
This was a dead lake and there were no fish or prawn inside.
'There's also no place to avoid the darkness in the lake.'
Qin Mu composed himself and continued forward. Without him noticing, the dragon qilin walked out of Duck Tongue Zone and the mountains in the surroundings gradually became precipitous. A ravine appeared in front of them.
Qin Mu sat on the back of the dragon qilin and saw that the trees in the ravine were growing vertically and horizontally. Some of them were growing on the cliffs, seemingly escaping from the earth's magnetic force. The trees that grew horizontally covered the sky above the ravine.
It seemed like he'd entered a world flipped upside down, where the cliff was the ground.
The thick trees were extremely ancient and some couldn't even be hugged by dozens of people. The roots of these trees intertwined like dragons and phosphorescence of will-o'-the-wisps could be seen under the roots. There were bones of huge beasts there, but Qin Mu couldn't recognize who they belonged to before.
What was peculiar was the corpses and bones were on the cliff and not at the bottom of the ravine.
The falling leaves were also not floating down to the bottom of the ravine but landed on the cliff. This ravine was strangely clean without any fallen leaves or branches in sight.
Thump.
The dragon qilin accidentally bumped into a huge rock floating in the air, and that rock spun to one side but still remained floating in the air.
In the ravine in front, rocks of all sizes floated.
"Cult Master, we should be entering Ghost Valley, right?" the dragon qilin asked in a low voice.
Qin Mu nodded. "We should. There are no other lifeforms here which makes me uneasy…"
Just as he said this, he heard a voice coming from in front of them. "... you always like to eat them raw, but I like them medium done, having been roasted on the fire as oil dripped down, ending up tender inside. There have been some people coming over these few days and they've all tasted great, yet you want to eat them raw. Aren't you too dirty?"
"Medium well is not nice, there's no fresh and tender feeling. It's best to roast them on the fire for a moment until their hairs are burned off. It's the most delicious when they squeal as you eat them…"
"Bullshit, medium is the tastiest… Shhh, silence, someone is here."
…
Qin Mu executed Mars' Fire Marquis True Technique and transformed into the form of Mars Sovereign. The dragon qilin carried him forward, coming to the place from which the voice had come. Qin Mu looked around and was slightly stunned.
The voices had come from here, but he couldn't see anyone that could have been talking. There was only a large fire pit on the cliff with a great shaman from Rolan's Golden Palace being roasted. That great shaman had a profound cultivation and was not yet dead. However, his strength had been exhausted by being roasted, and he opened his eyes weakly to take a look at Qin Mu and the dragon qilin.
Whoosh.
The trees suddenly moved, and two huge, white-furred bats hung down from one tree. With their heads below and feet above, they looked at Qin Mu from right in front of him. The two white-furred bats were extremely strong, with muscles all over their bodies. Their arms were crossed in front of their chests, while their eyes revealed white lights that seemed like white flames flowing in their eyes.
Qin Mu's heart leaped slightly. These two huge bats were variants and very terrifying ones at that. They had no more demon air around their bodies, having replaced it was an aura that was like that of gods or devils. They had to be the descendants of gods or devils!
"They're not humans."One of the huge bats pulled itself back into the crown of the tree. "Killjoys. I thought there were more humans."
The other huge bat also pulled its body back, and Qin Mu hurriedly asked, "Two Dao friends, how do you do!"
The leaves rustled, and the two huge bats hung down again. They still had their arms crossed in front of their chests and said in unison, "How do you do! However, this is not for you, we caught him ourselves! If you have the ability, go and catch your own humans, there's still some in the valley."
Qin Mu immediately smiled. "This little Brother has been a vegetarian since birth."
The two huge bats were immediately put at ease, and Qin Mu said, "This little Brother is from outside. The two Dao friends, is the valley safe to stay at night?"
One of the bats smiled and said, "No wonder you look unfamiliar. The valley is very safe."
Qin Mu sighed in relief and thanked the two bats. They shrunk their bodies and appeared beside the bonfire once more, waiting for the great shaman to be cooked.
"Just now that cow seemed to have the bloodline of Mars, but a pity he wouldn't be delicious. Humans are the best, tasty and juicy," one of the bats said while staring at the fire.
The other bat snickered and said, "So why are you harming him? You clearly know how treacherous the valley is…"