Chapter 1037: Completing the Divine Ability, Ghost Ship Travels Through Time
On the Yong River, six heavenly dragon treasure carriages sped along the river’s surface, pulled by the dragons. Qin Mu sat inside the carriage, took out Ling Zuntian’s hairpin, and activated its power. Instantly, the river surged violently, as if a giant beast was churning beneath the water.
Suddenly, the sky darkened, growing darker and darker, and in the center of the river, it seemed a monster capable of devouring everything lurked.
The six heavenly dragons pulling the treasure carriage trembled with fear as they raced across the dark river. Just then, a tall mast tore through the river’s surface ahead, its sail unfurling, splitting the water into two massive waves!
The six dragons pulled the carriage racing behind the mast, while Dragon Qilin cracked his whip into the air, forcing them to run faster and faster.
The ship beneath the river’s surface was also extremely fast, and more and more of the mast emerged from the water, followed by several other masts breaking the surface, spaced far apart.
The ship speeding through the river’s depths was enormous!
Suddenly, with a thunderous roar, the ancient warship burst from the riverbed, carrying a deluge of water that cascaded like waterfalls from its deck, crashing onto the river’s surface.
Countless streams of black light and black energy, like chains, radiated from the massive ship, interweaving and crisscrossing. From within the ship came roars that pierced the soul!
Crack—
Dragon Qilin snapped his whip, startling the dragons, who charged into the black light and energy surrounding the great ship.
The moment the heavenly dragon treasure carriage entered the ghost ship’s range, the vessel sank back beneath the water. A dazzling light burst forth, and the ship vanished from the Yong River.
The six dragons pulling the carriage quickly stopped, sliding across the wide deck for dozens of miles before finally coming to a halt.
Qin Mu stood up and parted the beaded curtain. Outside was pitch black, with only massive black coffins standing silently around the heavenly dragon treasure carriage.
These coffins were countless in number. The dragons had only just managed to avoid them by weaving and dodging.
“Junior brother, you’re late!”
A voice came from nowhere, though no one was visible. “I have already merged with this ship, becoming an invisible state. If you cannot break Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, you won’t be able to rescue us.”
The six heavenly dragons, Yan’er, and Dragon Qilin quickly looked toward the sound but saw no one, as if an invisible person was hiding there.
Yet when they closed their eyes, they felt people all around them—tens of thousands of them!
Qin Mu stepped down from the carriage, pinched the hairpin, and slashed it through the air. The darkness around him split apart, revealing light. There stood countless towering figures on the ghost ship’s deck!
These gods and demons were immensely powerful—the Feather Forest Army of the ancient era!
They surrounded a middle-aged man, who was Wei Suifeng, the former commander of the Feather Forest Army, the master of the military tally, and now the Cloud Luo Emperor of Cloud Luo Heaven.
The Feather Forest soldiers, finding they could see each other and themselves, burst into cheers.
Wei Suifeng looked at his own hands, then at the soldiers around him, both surprised and delighted. “Junior brother, you can undo Ling Zuntian’s divine ability?”
Qin Mu shook his head. “I’ve only temporarily freed you from the invisible state, but I cannot yet break Ling Zuntian’s divine ability to sever your symbiotic bond with the ghost ship.”
Suddenly, a phoenix cry rang out. A fire phoenix soared from the rear of the ghost ship, carrying a massive stone coffin on its back. It landed on the deck and transformed into a woman, setting the coffin down. This was Feng Qiuyun, the Earth Mother’s maidservant and the chieftain of the Phoenix Clan of the Yuan Realm.
On the Earth Mother’s orders, she had brought the Supreme Emperor’s corpse in the stone coffin to the ghost ship, only to be trapped here. Both she, a master of the Lingxiao realm, and the corpse demon of the Supreme Emperor in the coffin had been assimilated by the ghost ship.
“Pastoral Celestial Venerable!”
Feng Qiuyun looked at Qin Mu, then at the heavenly dragon treasure carriage, and asked urgently, “How many years have passed outside? Where is the Earth Mother?”
“The Earth Mother is dead.”
Qin Mu said, “The Yuan Realm has fallen into the hands of Dawn Celestial Venerable.”
Feng Qiuyun looked as if she had lost her parents, utterly dejected.
Wei Suifeng sighed. “Did you visit all the geographical maps I left you? You can’t break Ling Zuntian’s divine ability now. Among the maps I left you, one marks Ling Zuntian’s former residence, where some of her notes on the Immutable Divine Ability are hidden. I stole them from the Heavenly Court. If you find that place, you might use her notes to crack her Immutable Divine Ability.”
Qin Mu’s heart stirred. He took out some diagrams and asked, “Which map is it?”
Wei Suifeng stepped forward, picked out one diagram, and said, “This one. But it’s useless now. You’ll be trapped here too, unable to leave the ghost ship. You’ll be assimilated by it…”
Qin Mu smiled. “Though I can’t break Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, I have comprehended part of the Immutable Divine Ability and can control some Immutable Matter.”
Wei Suifeng frowned. “What do you mean?”
Qin Mu put away the diagram. “I want to join forces with you to activate this ship, invoke Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, and use it to travel back to the ancient era!”
Wei Suifeng furrowed his brow deeper. “I also understand part of the Immutable Divine Ability, but only fragments. What I’ve comprehended isn’t more than what you have.”
“Isn’t there this ghost ship?”
Qin Mu’s eyes gleamed. “The ghost ship is also Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, but not the complete Immutable Divine Ability—only a prototype. If you and I can fill in the gaps of this ability, we can turn the ship into Immutable Matter, allowing it to travel through different eras, no longer limited to reincarnation.”
Wei Suifeng’s eyes lit up. He paced back and forth. “That’s possible. This ship has traveled through thirty-six reincarnations, spanning thirty-six eras. Each great reincarnation is a reset of matter. If we complete the missing parts of Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, we might indeed turn it into a complete ability.”
He looked up, his gaze flickering. “So, junior brother, what is your real purpose this time?”
Qin Mu said, “I want to go back to the past.”
Wei Suifeng laughed. “Going back to the past is simple for you. Ling Zuntian has become Immutable Matter at the source of the Yong River. She will turn into mist and take you back. If you return to the Yong River’s source, as long as the mist appears, you might be able to go back to the past.”
He sighed with emotion. “Ling Zuntian is the mist in the river. When the mist comes, it’s Ling Zuntian arriving by your side, though you can’t see her. Each time, she takes you back to the past, lets you witness history, and you become part of that history.”
Qin Mu shook his head. “She always takes me to the eras she wants me to see. This time, I want to choose which eras to visit myself.”
Wei Suifeng looked at him intently. “You want to change history? Junior brother, I advise you not to waste your efforts. When you try to change history, you’ll find that what you do is history itself—a fixed fact, just another figure in the past. I have more insight into this than you.”
Qin Mu smiled. “You stole my opportunity and stayed in the Dragon Han era for thousands of years. You owe me. Will you help me or not?”
“Of course I’ll help you. But…”
Wei Suifeng hesitated. “Completing the ghost ship’s divine ability might mean I can never leave this ship again. Because…”
He smiled bitterly. “I am already part of this ship.”
Qin Mu understood his words. After experiencing a complete great reincarnation on this ship, one would merge with the ghost ship, becoming part of it and entering an invisible state. That was the fate of the Feather Forest Army on board.
Wei Suifeng had been on the ghost ship for a long time, experiencing countless reincarnations. He had merged with the ship.
The ghost ship, combined with Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, had become part of her ability. In other words, everyone on the ghost ship—except for Qin Mu and his companions, who had just arrived—had already become part of Ling Zuntian’s divine ability!
When Ling Zuntian trapped the ghost ship, the divine ability she used was incomplete, making it relatively easy to break.
If Qin Mu and Wei Suifeng completed the ability to its perfect state, then Wei Suifeng and the others would become part of this perfect ability, flowing as Immutable Matter in the Yong River!
Breaking Ling Zuntian’s perfect divine ability would be nearly impossible!
The ancient god Heavenly Emperor’s physical body was still trapped in Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, unable to escape!
Thus, Wei Suifeng was very worried that they might never leave this ghost ship.
“So, senior brother, will you help me?” Qin Mu asked.
Wei Suifeng looked into his eyes. Qin Mu’s gaze was clear and bright.
“Junior brother, are you the Overlord Body?”
“Yes.”
“Did you survive the Yan Kang Calamity?”
“Yes.”
“Did you go to the Heavenly Court and become Pastoral Celestial Venerable?”
“Yes.”
“Did you go to the Tai Xu?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the Imperial Emperor’s corpse?”
“Yes.”
“Did you retrieve Yun Celestial Venerable’s physical body?”
“Yes.”
“Did you meet the Kai Emperor and find the Land of No Worries?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll help you!”
Wei Suifeng laughed heartily and extended his hand. “These are all things I’ve experienced but never accomplished! You’ve done them—your ability surpasses mine! I can’t break Ling Zuntian’s divine ability, but you can!”
Qin Mu extended his hand, and their palms met with a loud slap.
“Brothers united, their strength can break metal!”
Qin Mu took out the peachwood hairpin, opened his palm, and let it spin in his hand. Then he withdrew his hand, leaving the hairpin suspended between them.
Qin Mu activated the incomplete Immutable Divine Ability he had comprehended, unleashing all his power. Instantly, his spiritual embryo divine aperture expanded, enveloping the ghost ship!
Feng Qiuyun’s eyes flickered. She gritted her teeth and lunged at the two of them. At the same time, the stone coffin burst open, and the corpse demon of the Supreme Emperor flew out, its corpse aura overwhelming. Feng Qiuyun and the corpse demon joined forces to attack them.
“I expected you! Feng Qiuyun, you don’t want to become part of the complete Immutable Divine Ability, so you’ll naturally try to stop us.”
Wei Suifeng laughed heartily, spread his five fingers, and slapped backward. Feng Qiuyun screamed as she was frozen in midair, involuntarily reverting to her true form as a fire phoenix, unable to move.
Wei Suifeng’s cape fluttered, then flew up with a whoosh, wrapping around the Supreme Emperor’s corpse demon, rolling it into a big bundle. With a bang, it flew back into the stone coffin.
The stone coffin slammed shut.
Wei Suifeng raised his hand and waved, sending the stone coffin flying out of the ship.
The coffin reached the black energy outside the ship, vanished, and reappeared on the deck the next moment. But a teleportation gate had appeared on the deck, exactly where the coffin materialized.
The coffin entered the gate, was teleported back into the black energy, then reappeared in the gate, appearing and disappearing repeatedly, over and over.
“Junior brother, I could play this game for a hundred years and never get bored.” Wei Suifeng laughed.
Qin Mu said solemnly, “Senior brother, let’s begin!”
Wei Suifeng’s divine ability erupted, and he also unleashed the Immutable Divine Ability he had comprehended. Qin Mu’s vital qi and divine consciousness surged forward, pouring into Ling Zuntian’s peachwood hairpin.
At that moment, the ghost ship’s surroundings blazed with light as it began to travel through time, undergoing reincarnation.
Their divine abilities and the ability within the peachwood hairpin erupted simultaneously, merging with the light. The ghost ship left by Ling Zuntian absorbed their abilities and shook violently. Dragon Qilin, Yan’er, and the six heavenly dragons’ faces changed drastically as they quickly lay flat, gripping the gaps in the deck.
The ship’s tossing grew more intense, and the light outside grew brighter. Suddenly, the ghost ship jolted heavily, as if falling from a great height and crashing onto the river’s surface.
The light faded. Thick fog had gathered on the river, and the ghost ship sailed quietly through the mist, the sound of water lapping against its hull.
“Junior brother, have you visited all the geographical maps I left you?”
Wei Suifeng lay on the deck, panting, and asked Qin Mu beside him.
Qin Mu lay next to him and smiled. “Most of them. Some places were very interesting, others very dangerous.”
“You should visit them all. The places I went to were all quite good.”
Wei Suifeng sat up. The mist was gradually dissipating, and he smiled. “You should leave now.”
Qin Mu also sat up and nodded.
Wei Suifeng grabbed at the air, and a large chicken-dragon flew over, a lantern in its mouth. Wei Suifeng took the lantern from its beak and said, “If you want to return to the ship, extinguish this lantern.”
Qin Mu looked at the chicken-dragon, took the lantern, and hung it on the heavenly dragon treasure carriage. He said solemnly, “Fat Dragon, Yan’er, let’s go!”
Dragon Qilin adjusted the treasure carriage, and it drove out of the ghost ship. Outside, the Heavenly River flowed. Qin Mu looked back and saw the ghost ship vanish into the mist, disappearing without a trace.
“May I ask, sir!”
Just as Qin Mu was about to return to the carriage, a young man, travel-worn, was hurrying across the surface of the Heavenly River. He stopped the carriage, clasped his hands repeatedly, and said with an apologetic smile, “May I ask, sir, how do I get to the Heavenly Court?”
The young man was dressed in ancient-style clothing, with a hint of red on his forehead. He looked very strong, exuding immense power.
Qin Mu studied him, feeling suspicious. He looked more closely at his face and formed an idea.
He glanced around. The surrounding mountains were vast and indistinct. In the distance, a towering primeval tree rose, lush and green, supporting the heavens of the Yuan Realm. He smiled and said, “This is the Yuan Realm. I’ve just arrived here myself and plan to head to the Heavenly Court. If you don’t mind, sir, I can take you there.”
“That would be a great imposition!”
The young man was overjoyed and boarded the carriage, laughing. “My name is Luo Xiao. How should I address you, sir?”
—Well, this chapter is big, really big (in a certain tone~)