Chapter 318: Paying Respect to the Soul
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
The sun had come out, so Qin Mu rose. He pushed Carefree Sword into the sheath he had carved yesterday. Giving a kick to the dragon qilin, he woke it up as well as the two white bats.
The dragon qilin crawled up, his eyes were filled with vigor. "Cult Master, today's ration?"
Qin Mu rummaged through his taotie sack. He didn't have much of the Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills left, but he still gave away the full meal.
The two white bats let go of their purchases and fell to the ground from the roof. The three demon monks also opened their eyes and took out clear water and biscuits from their backpacks. Their biscuits were made from crushed insects.
The monks of Little Thunderclap Monastery were of the demon race so they weren't strictly vegetarian and didn't have as many rules as monks of Great Thunderclap Monastery. These three were bird strange beasts so they still liked eating insects. For the convenience of carrying them around, they had squashed them into biscuits.
Ding Jue split half of the insect biscuit to give it to Qin Mu and he gave it a try. The taste was actually not bad, fragrant and crispy.
The crowd of beasts started to move, and the people in the ruins also began to follow the crowd out, each and every one of them on alert. Only Qin Mu was slightly absent-minded. This place was close to the west borders of Great Ruins, and he really wanted to see where the darkness disappeared.
Since the darkness of Great Ruins flooded in from the west, that place had to be where it originated. If Qin Mu found it, he just might be able to find the source of Great Ruins' calamity.
The beasts walked out of the ruin, and Qin Mu turned back to have a look. He saw that the carriage was also driving over, but he could no longer see the woman with the little red flower or the man with a white cloth wrapped around his head. He only saw two deers covered in plum blossom spots pulling the carriage.
There was a white cloth wrapped around the buck's horns while the ears of the doe were wrapped with a black cloth. There were gold and silver chains and pendants hanging in front of its chest. On its head, there was a little red flower while its two front legs had over a dozen gold, silver, and jade bracelets.
"So they are demons."
Qin Mu blinked. Yesterday, he hadn't managed to see that the married couple were a pair of strange beasts. There was no demonic air about these people's bodies, so he never expected that they would be two deers that had cultivated until they could change their shape into that of a human.
'This kind of technique is pretty extraordinary; it should be an orthodox cultivation technique. Are they guests from West Earth?' Qin Mu thought to himself.
When Qin Mu looked behind the two, he saw that the hundred divine arts practitioners followed silently behind the carriage. A small head with two braids popped out from it and took a look backward. Two fair hands then pulled the head back and closed the window of the carriage.
Qin Mu retracted his gaze. While he sat on the back of the dragon qilin, Carefree Sword was ready to come out of the sheath at any time while the flying swords in his taotie sack were slowly stirring.
The two white bats flew up silently and traversed the herd. In the meantime, the robes of the three demon monks fluttered as they moved a great distance every time their talons touched the ground.
Pangong Tso's gaze flickered as he looked around. In the herd among them, there was no lack of abnormally strong strange beasts. There were also rules among the strange beasts so if they were to attack now and agitate the herd, they would probably still get attacked by everyone.
In time, the herd started to disperse.
At that moment, the two deers pulling the carriage began to sprint, pulling the carriage away at a fast speed. Behind them, the hundred divine arts practitioners also sped up to give chase.
"Nai Kui, stop running (Nai Kui, in the Hmong Language, means Princess Mother)!"
Vital qi flooded out from the carriage, and numerous grasses and trees started to grow frantically, becoming incomparably long and thick. A forest that took up a hectare seemed to come alive.
The ancient trees instantly pulled themselves out from the ground, becoming walking giants. When they lifted and landed their roots on the ground, the ground trembled. Then, the trunks changed into incomparably thick fists that blew every single one of the pursuers away.
The trees in Great Ruins were very huge. Most of them were dozens of yards tall, but there was no lack of those that were as high as mountains as well. With the marvelous divine art of the woman in the carriage, these trees became even more gigantic in stature and gained boundless strength!
The vines in the forest became akin to demons as they coiled around the divine arts practitioners in a snake-like manner, strangling them to death!
Qin Mu's eyelids kept twitching from this sight. This kind of divine art was rarely seen and was slightly similar to Earth Aeon Creation Technique; however, it was even more overbearing!
The earth trembled and the mountains shook as the tree giants wreaked havoc.
However, the divine arts practitioners of the different tribe had good reaction speed, as they executed their own divine arts. Shrieks came out from the huge trees and vines, and white lights that seemed like spirits but were not spirits, as well as souls that were not souls, came flying out from the flora. The tree giants then collapsed, and the green vines withered.
One of the divine arts practitioners waved his hand, and a mountain trembled and rumbled. Countless rocks rolled down in all directions, and the mountain transformed into a giant which swung its huge fist to smash the carriage!
The doe in front of the carriage lifted both of her hooves, and the gold and silver bracelets on them flew out to bind the fist of the mountain giant, crushing it. The other fist of the mountain giant then came bombarding over, and the doe grunted.
She stomped her feet, and countless green grasses grew frantically. They were like swords, stabbing into the gaps between the mountain rocks of the mountain giant. They planted their roots inside its body and sprouted, causing it to instantly break down into pieces and crumble.
The two deers immediately put in a burst of speed to get the carriage away from there.
"What divine art is this?"
Qin Mu was astonished to no end. These people seemed to be borrowing the power of heaven and earth to strengthen the power of nature, transforming it into divine arts. This kind of action was different from what Eternal Peace Empire did as well as the countries surrounding it.
"It's the divine arts of West Earth's True Heaven Palace," the dragon qilin said in a low, muffled voice. "I had gone to West Earth with Patriarch once, and True Heaven Palace is the sacred ground there. The divine arts over there are different from those in Middle Earth. They believe that all things have spirit and soul, even the grass, wood, rocks. In those people's eyes, all of these have their own spirits and divine treasures. Therefore, their path is of everyone and everything having spirit and soul. Patriarch said that they aren't bad at all."
"All things have spirit, all things have soul?"
Qin Mu exclaimed in admiration. The divine arts of West Earth had taken a different path from everyone and were indeed worthy of being learned. For the young patriarch to praise them being not bad meant that True Heaven Palace was indeed worthy to be called a sacred ground.
Using divine arts to create a mountain giant was simply astonishing. A mountain just coming to life and becoming a giant to battle was simply world-shaking. This contained unimaginable attainments in regards to its force of destruction which widened Qin Mu's horizons.
'It's force of destruction is just too huge!' Great Cult Master Qin became excited. 'I wonder if there are not yet demolished houses in West Earth. I'm afraid they wouldn't even have a single mountain, right? If I could learn this, it would be pretty good to tear down mountains to make roads!'
"Attack!"
Suddenly, Pangong Tso gave an order, and everyone under him sprung into action at once. Knife pellets filled the sky, and countless sword lights came raining down on Qin Mu. At the same time, the three shaman kings also moved and cast shaman spells to bring the two white bats down from the sky.
Qin Mu laughed loudly and raised his clothing up to vanish. In the next instant, he appeared beside the great shamans and soldiers of Barbarian Di Empire. Once his Carefree Sword flew out, countless sword lights burst forth from his taotie sack and shot off in all directions.
Swoosh!
Eight thousand swords filled the ground and floated in an area of three hundred yards. Blood continuously dripped off from the blades of the swords, when only two great shamans of Seven Stars Realm had escaped unscathed. They withstood the countless sword lights and didn't get pierced through the heart; however, they had been frightened.
'Teleportation clothing?'
Pangong Tso was astonished. Qin Mu had made his move way too fast. By relying on the teleportation to come right next to them, he instantly unleashed his fatal move.
With a raise of his finger, Carefree Sword flew up and countless sword lights swirled around it, slashing down towards one of the great shamans on Seven Stars Realm!
Golden wings appeared behind the great shaman's back and flapped repeatedly. Countless golden feather swords flew out and clashed with the attack. Qin Mu was suddenly overwhelmed and blown backward. As he did so, his clothing covered his body, and he vanished.
The next instant, Qin Mu appeared behind that same great shaman, and his five fingers opened up, making Carefree Sword and the rest of the eight thousand swords whizz over.
At this moment, Pangong Tso's body turned and he also vanished.
The dragon qilin and the three demon monks came sprinting over, and the two great shamans on Seven Stars Realm rose into the sky. They were being chased by the three demon monks who shook their bodies to transform into three golden-winged dapengs that pounced toward them.
The dragon qilin opened his mouth to roar, and a pillar of fire shot towards Pangong Tso.
He didn't dare to take it head on, and his figure flashed, vanishing and appearing at the side of the three shaman kings.
The three shaman kings were beating the two white bats furiously, but the two white bats could truly take a beating. Even as they were getting beat up by a shaman king on Life and Death Realm and two on Celestial Being Realm, they could still jump around. They truly had a thick skin.
"Gongmu, you shall deal with these two white bats! The other shaman kings, kill those three bald donkeys!" Pangong Tso said sternly. "We have to get rid of them!"
Shaman King Gongmu was a great expert on Life and Death Realm, so he alone was enough to suppress the two white bats. Even though he couldn't beat them to death, he could prevent them from coming to support Qin Mu.
Two shaman kings on Celestial Being Realm and two great shamans on Seven Stars Realm were more than enough to kill three demon monks and the dragon qilin as the four of them had not yet cultivated to Celestial Being Realm!
Just as Pangong Tso said those words, he saw Qin Mu taking out a black jar from his taotie sack, and his scalp couldn't help crawling. He shouted sternly, "Move back quickly!"
He activated the teleportation spell, and his figure immediately vanished. Even though his cultivation had already reached Six Directions Realm, he still couldn't teleport too far away. He could only cover about two thousand yards.
Pangong Tso turned back to look and saw that Qin Mu had already smashed the black jar. Incomparably dense black smoke started to spread in all directions and instantly covered an area of several hundred yards.
Shaman King Gongmu and the other two shaman kings hurriedly rushed away and didn't get caught up by the black smoke. Yet even after escaping with their lives, they couldn't help feeling a lingering fear.
The corner of Pangong Tso's eyes twitched furiously. This was the shaman poison he had refined in his previous lifetime, and it had an extremely intense toxicity. If a soul or primordial spirit was tainted by it, the soul would corrode and the primordial spirit would rot. Even great experts on Life and Death Realm would lose their lives and go to the Yellow Springs in a few breaths' time!
Qin Mu's action of smashing the jar was clearly to drag everyone down and kill them together.
'That's not right! This black smoke isn't like the shaman poison I created!;
Pangong Tso's heart jumped. Even though this black smoke was similar to his shaman poison, he was an expert on shaman poison. He quickly saw through the trick and knew that the black smoke was just smoke and not shaman poison!
It was obvious that the Qin rascal had not been lazing around yesterday night. He had to have created a black jar sneakily and made some black smoke to store inside it.
He had two taotie sacks, so if he had made something in one of them, no one would know what he was making.
"Crap, we were tricked!"
Pangong Tso's expression turned black, and he wanted to fight his way back. However, the two great shamans on Seven Stars Realm had already been gotten rid of by the three demon monks while the two white bats had once again crawled up with vigor.
He wanted to return to fight more, but then he saw Qin Mu taking out another black jar from his taotie sack and couldn't help hesitating.
Qin Mu laughed loudly and said in a clear voice, "Old Brother Pan, farewell?"
Pangong sneered and shook his sleeves. Looking at the three demon monks, he suddenly said loudly, "Monk Ding Ming!"
The three golden-winged dapengs lowered their wings and transformed back into three demon monks when they landed on the ground. They had the bodies of humans with bird talons while wearing the loose buddhist robes. Monk Ding Ming raised his head and said, "Here."
Pangong Tso bowed and paid his respect. Suddenly, an apparition of a devil appeared behind him which stood on a sacrificial altar. That devil also bowed and paid his respect.
Monk Ding Ming gave a cry of astonishment, and his body couldn't help reverting back to its true form, the golden-winged dapeng. Loud snapping sounds came from his body as his three souls and seven spirits split. He then collapsed to the floor, dead!
Qin Mu couldn't help feeling his skin crawl. Monk Ding Ming was a great expert on Seven Stars Realm, yet he had actually died from a pay of respect. This was the divine art that Grandmaster used to kill people after learning their name, the divine art that caused Butcher to not dare to reveal his true name?
'How do I counter this?'
While Qin Mu thought until this point, Pangong Tso, whose face was slightly pale, spoke up again. "Monk Ding Zhi!"
Monk Ding Zhi kept his mouth shut and didn't reply. Pangong Tso bowed to him nonetheless, and the apparition of the devil on the sacrificial altar also bowed. Monk Ding Zhi then gave a loud cry and instantly died an unnatural death.
Blood leaked out from the corner of Pangong Tso's mouth as he sneered. When he looked at Monk Ding Jue, the latter felt his skin crawl, and he spread his wings to fly away.
"Ding Jue!"
Pangong Tso paid his respect, and Ding Jue's souls and spirits dispersed in midair. The corpse of the golden-winged dapeng fell from the sky.
Pangong Tso spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at Qin Mu ruthlessly before turning around. "If you had not used a fake name, it would have been this easy for me to kill you!"
The three shaman kings immediately caught up with him and vanished into the forest.