Chapter 316: O Soul Come Back
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
The treasured ship left the Youdu life forms in the dust, its speed becoming faster and faster. This was something that had never happened before!
On the deck, Pangong Tso and the rest grabbed onto the guardrails in a hurry so that they wouldn't fly off. 'Could it be that Qin Mu that brat used the silver helmet to drive the ship?'
Pangong Tso looked around for him Qin Mu and to his surprise saw him holding onto the guardrails as well. He wasn't wearing the silver helmet so it was obvious that the person controlling the ship wasn't him.
Pangong Tso was slightly stunned. If it wasn't Qin Mu driving the ship, then who was the one doing it?
Could there be another terrifying entity hidden on the ship, or was the ship possessed?
Ever since they had come to this strange ship, weird things had been happening one after another, and until they had yet to explore the whole ship. Thinking back on it, it sure was terrifying to meet such strange incidents time and again.
The treasured ship was speeding through Youdu world, which was a piece of darkness with no heaven or earth. As they sailed through this endless dark, it was truly frightening.
They sailed like this for some time, until the sound of collision rang out and everyone on the ship was almost thrown off. Some of the soldiers and great shamans didn't have a stable footing or grip so they went overboard. Just as they landed in the darkness outside the ship, their flesh suddenly melted away, and they turned into piles of bones that clattered down.
"There's land below!" someone cried out in astonishment.
Qin Mu looked down and saw that the treasured ship had collided with the peak of a mountain, creating a huge hole in it. It was this collision that had swung the soldiers and great shamans out.
The mountain peak was soon left behind as the passengers watched the land below. What was weird about it was that the land wasn't connected, but seemed to consist of islands floating in the darkness.
Booom!
Once two huge pieces of land collided, the situation became intense. The tectonic plates were pushing against each other, and instantly, several thousand volcanoes erupted at the same time. Lava spewed into the sky with black smoke, reaching from nine hundred to a thousand yards, creating a magnificent sight.
Countless bolts of lightning flashed in the thick clouds as they ripped through the sky. The lava that had cooled in the sky came raining down as a terrifying rain of rocks. It had astonishing power, as the rocks came crashing down like meteors with long fiery trails.
The earth trembled and the mountains swayed. With the rain of lava, rocks, and acid, it seemed like the apocalypse had come.
As the treasured ship sailed through the heavy rain, everyone on the ship burst forth with vital qi to prop up shields to block the weird rain and not get smashed to death.
Suddenly, there was a clanking sound, and the lava rain changed into diamonds. Diamonds the size of a fist came raining down from the sky. They were created by lightning strikes and scattered all throughout the ship.
The treasured ship tilted to one side, so all the lava rocks and diamonds were swept off, then went around a huge volcano and sailed into the distance.
On the volcano, lava was flowing like flame dragons from the mouth of the volcano to the bottom. Qin Mu hurriedly took a look and was shocked. In that earth-quaking and mountain-shaking destruction, there were actually millions of people walking up the mountain.
With lowered heads, they walked silently through all the destruction, acting like zombies. Every step they took seemed extremely difficult, but they still continued to walk forward as if there was a fatal force of attraction in front of them.
At the mouth of the volcano, there were already quite a number of people who had reached it, jumping in without any feeling. They were then drowned by the lava rushing into the sky!
Besides this huge volcano, there were thousands of others on this piece of land, which also numbered in thousands.
Exactly how many people were walking with difficulty through this apocalypse and throwing themselves into the volcanoes was probably uncountable!
"They aren't people, they are souls!"
Qin Mu's heart trembled violently. He could see that these were damned souls, and they had no corporeal body. Furthermore, they were not all human souls. Some of them belonged to strange beasts, demons, dragons, phoenixes, and even heavenly devils.
The treasured ship passed by volcanoes after volcanoes with countless of souls walking among them.
As the volcanoes erupted, flaming red lava rushed into the sky, accompanied by deafening rumbles.
With a pale face, Pangong Tso muttered in a trembling voice, "Ye-yellow Springs, Yellow Springs…"
Qin Mu stared blankly, not knowing what this fellow was talking about.
"What Yellow Springs?"
"They are going down the Yellow Springs!" Pangong Tso suddenly roared with all his strength. "This is the world after we die! We are on the horns of Earth Count!"
Qin Mu shuddered when he finally understood Pangong Tso's words. Their ship was currently sailing between the horns of Earth Count. These lands weren't lands, but sections of Earth Count's horns.
The meaning behind Earth Count's Nine Pacts came from the nine bends. They meant that the two horns of Earth Count had nine bends, like a flowing river.
Because of that, the two horns of Earth Count were also sometimes called Nine Bends Yellow Springs, which likened them to two trails of Yellow Springs.
Qin Mu couldn't help feeling his scalp crawl. It did indeed look like this place was called the Yellow Springs. Because of the volcanoes erupting continuously, the lava spread across the sky and lighted the land. Looking from afar, it probably seemed like a yellow or red river.
However, weren't these two horns a little too huge!
Was this even still a god?
"Hehe, hehe…" Pangong Tso seemed to have suffered a severe setback once and was now a little crazed. He muttered, "This was the truth I had once seen… I can't die, I definitely can't die, whoever that likes to die can die, I must definitely live on…"
The treasured ship finally sailed through the lands and left. Qin Mu turned back to take a look and could finally saw the full appearance of the two horns. Lava spewed out from the lands and connected all of them together. The lands on top were the sky of the lands below.
With such connection, the countless pieces formed nine bends which looked like Nine Bends Yellow Springs from afar.
Countless souls were guided in from god knows how many worlds into these lands, to jump into the Yellow Springs.
And yet they were only the horns of the incomparably humongous Earth Count!
Looking down, Qin Mu didn't know how long the two horns were. They were hidden deep in the darkness, their end unable to be seen. Under the two horns had to be Earth Count's head. Legend said that he had a tiger's head while his horns were those of a bull. Qin Mu, however, could't see the head at all.
He shrunk back and made a decision deep in his heart. The Pact of Earth Count could never be signed carelessly. If he did so and it took effect, he would probably never be able to make a comeback!
He was sad, though. His father had signed the Pact of Earth Count.
Once it was signed, it would be difficult to make it void.
The treasured ship sailed faster and faster, coming to the sky above another piece of land. This was a crumbling world shrouded in darkness. Paper boats with dead souls floated over from the black.
Many of them sailed past the treasured ship and floated towards the land of the nine pacts. The clothes of the souls were all tattered, and they all belonged to Heavenly Devil Horde, the Heavenly Devil Race. However, none of them were the fiendish ones Qin Mu had seen in Great Ruins. Instead, they were all old, sick, and weak.
Countless paper boats floated past, which made it obvious that an extremely large number of people from Heavenly Devil Horde had died. Under normal circumstances, there wouldn't be so many deaths. Even a large scale war wouldn't cause so many people to die at the same time.
"O soul come back—"
In the time and space of the darkness, vibrations could be faintly felt. They were the miserable shouts of a devil god in another world as he chanted in a devil language. Qin Mu looked towards the source of the voice and could faintly see an eight-armed four-headed devil god standing in the pitch black space bawling. With a world between them, he couldn't see or hear him clearly.
'It seems like Dutian Devil King is crying…'
Qin Mu was slightly stunned that the figure that standing in the crumbling world was Dutian Devil King. His power was so great that the crumbling world couldn't confine his figure and voice. With the Dutian world between them, he called for the souls of his people, trying to summon those who had died back.
"O soul come back!
"Go not down to the Land of Darkness.
"Where the nine pacts of Earth Count lie, in the dreadful horns on his forehead.
"He has a great humped back with bloody thumbs, pursuing men swift-footed.
"Three eyes in his tiger's head, while his body is that of a bull.
"O soul.
"Come back! Lest you bring on yourself disaster.
"O soul, come back! And enter the gate of the city.
"Skilled priests call for you there, walking backward to lead you in…"
The treasured ship sailed forth, and Dutian Devil King's voice became softer and softer until Qin Mu could no longer hear what he was crying. The treasured ship left Dutian world which was in the process of dying and because of which there were so many Heavenly Devil Horde's people around.
Qin Mu turned back and saw many paper boats floating into Youdu from Dutian world, and his heart became sorrowful. Maybe this would be the future of the world they were currently in as well.
After some time, they came to another land in the darkness. Specks of divine light lit up the darkness hazily, revealing some life forms of Youdu moving about.
The speed of the treasured ship gradually became slower, and the people in it could finally see what were those divine lights. They were the rays given off by the god statues in every village. Some of them were also given off by ancient ruins.
The ship had traveled to Great Ruins.
Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. When night time came to Great Ruins, the place got connected to Youdu!
There was a part of Great Ruins that was overlapped with Youdu. When night came, there would be life forms from Youdu coming out for activities. At that time, Youdu world was dominant, suppressing the real world. However, when the day came, the real world would overshadow Youdu world.
In the darkness, wherever the rays shone upon was the real world, and each of the rays was the entrance to the real world.
This meant that if they entered any village protected by the god statues or any ruins, they would be able to leave Youdu and return to reality!
The aim of the treasured ship sailing to here had to have been to send them back to the real world.
The speed of the treasured ship became slower and slower, so the passengers could finally see their destination. In front of them was an ancient ruin that was giving off astonishing rays, which forced the darkness back. There was also a majestic palace over there, but it was already dilapidated. Yet the majestic god statues were still giving off rays that lighted up the darkness.
The treasured ship slowly stopped and floated into the sky above the ruins. Below it, there was many strange beasts lying prone as well as some passers-by that were getting along well with the strange beasts while avoiding the invasion of the darkness.
They all raised their heads and looked curiously at this ship that had suddenly appeared above them.
Qin Mu called the two white bats and the dragon qilin to jump from the ship. Pangong Tso also had his retainers to jump off the ship.
One of the shaman kings looked at Qin Mu and said with a flickering gaze, "Grandmaster…"
Pangong Tso shook his head. "We are now in Great Ruins so we shall follow the rules of Great Ruins, don't create additional troubles."
Qin Mu raised his head to look at the ship with a complicated expression. The treasured ship slowly rotated and changed its direction before sailing out of the ruins and into the darkness.
The man in the tree had to have driven the ship back into Youdu to look for his family.