Chapter 157: Drugging the Golden Palace
Qin Mu suddenly came to his senses, realizing that this way of thinking was extremely dangerous. This was how the Cripple had lost his leg. Although the Cripple always wore a smile in front of others, behind their back they sighed all day long, always wanting to retrieve their lost leg, yet never daring to.
If he himself fell into the same mad thieving behavior that the Cripple had before becoming crippled, he would likely end up not far from the Cripple's fate.
"Although this feeling is very satisfying, I should do less of it in the future."
Qin Mu warned himself, then turned back to look at the various treasures on the ground. Aside from the sinister artifacts forged by the Loulan Golden Palace, he wanted to take everything else, but he could only carry a limited amount.
"The sword pellet was enshrined here by them; it should be a decent treasure."
Qin Mu picked up the sword pellet. It was very heavy, likely containing many fine swords sealed within.
His primal energy seeped slightly into it, and with a hum, a curved blade flew out from the "sword pellet," slowly rotating half a turn in front of him.
"It's not a sword pellet—it's a blade pellet!"
Qin Mu was surprised. He had seen this kind of blade pellet before among the rebels of the Man Di Kingdom. The rebels had used it to assault Ba Shan's Absolute Wall Heavenly Firmament divine ability, but tens of thousands of curved blades had all embedded themselves in the Absolute Wall Heavenly Firmament and couldn't be retrieved. That was why Tuolimu had been able to slaughter the rebels so easily.
Qin Mu grabbed one of the curved blades. It felt somewhat awkward in his hand, suggesting it required a special technique to wield. However, the quality of this curved blade was far superior to those of the other rebels, and its craftsmanship was not inferior to his butcher knife.
He withdrew his primal energy, and the curved blade returned to the blade pellet with a clink, disappearing.
The number of curved blades inside the blade pellet was enormous—it was definitely a major killing tool.
Qin Mu then picked up the broken sword. He couldn't sense any power from it; it seemed utterly inert and felt light in his hand.
Qin Mu opened his Divine Firmament Eye and Azure Firmament Eye, examining it closely, but still couldn't figure it out. However, since it was so carefully hidden away in the Loulan Golden Palace's treasury, it must be extraordinary, so he put it away as well.
The ancient zither had a section that was scorched. Qin Mu glanced at it—it was the mark of a lightning strike.
"Hmm, something's off. This zither has a killing aura and a demonic aura!"
Qin Mu studied it closely, and the more he looked, the stranger it seemed. The ancient zither carried a blood-killing aura, as if thick blood energy was flowing within it, and the demonic aura was equally dense.
This zither didn't seem like a zither at all, but rather like an incredibly terrifying great demon.
"Could it be that a tree spirit cultivated into a demon and was then made into an ancient zither? A good find—I'll take it too."
Qin Mu slung the ancient zither onto his back, then picked up a hand bone. The moment he grasped it, he felt as if struck by lightning, his body trembling violently, and a thunderous, magnificent voice exploded in his mind.
"Divine language!"
Qin Mu's face changed drastically, and he quickly threw the hand bone away. That voice was divine language; when he held it, it was as if a deity had appeared in his mind. He had just taken this hand bone from the seal on the golden platform and casually tossed it aside, now realizing how right he had been to discard it.
"This hand bone is very strange. Could it be the hand of a god?"
He steadied himself, drew the Shao Bao Sword, used the sword to lift the hand bone, then picked up a cloth bag from the ground and placed the hand bone inside.
"The Thousand Stupa Tower from the Buddhist sect is also a good item, but it's too big."
Qin Mu looked the Thousand Stupa Tower up and down. Each stupa was exquisitely crafted, only about three inches tall, but when a thousand of them were intricately stacked into a tower shape, it became very large—over ten feet high. If he carried it on his back, it would definitely attract attention.
He did pick up the several relics, stuffing them into the cloth bag as well, then found a few jade beads and tossed them in too.
Qin Mu also threw the blade pellet into the bag, and only then did he notice something strange. The blade pellet was very heavy, but once inside the bag, he couldn't feel its weight at all.
He picked up the bag and examined it from all sides. This bag was also one of the treasures sealed on the golden platform. He didn't know what material it was made of or what its function was. One side of the bag was embroidered with a strange beast, its mouth wide open, and the position of the beast's mouth exactly matched the opening of the bag.
He opened the bag and looked inside, seeing several sesame-seed-sized objects—exactly the treasures he had just tossed in.
Qin Mu was startled. He poured out the divine hand bone, relics, blade pellet, and other items. When they slid out of the bag's opening, they were still the same size, unchanged.
"Strange!"
Qin Mu pulled open the bag's opening and stuck his head inside to look. He was shocked to see a space about an acre in size, six or seven zhang high.
He pulled his head back, reached his arm into the bag, but still couldn't touch the bottom.
Qin Mu thought for a moment, put the divine hand bone, relics, and blade pellet back into the bag, then stuffed the ancient zither in as well, followed by the Thousand Stupa Tower.
He then picked up the gleaming golden lower half of the body and shoved it into the bag.
After that, the young man stood up, picking up items from the ground one by one and stuffing them into the bag. If something was too big to fit, he left it behind.
Before long, the bag bulged slightly, and he could gradually feel some weight, though it wasn't heavy.
Qin Mu bent down, picking up everything he had thrown out, and found a few alchemy furnaces. One of them was a sealed furnace, larger than the one at the Grand Academy and even more valuable.
Only the sinister artifacts forged from human bones by the witch cult remained in this treasury. Qin Mu let out a breath, tied the bag to his waist, and covered it with his clothes.
"It's been a while. I need to go find Yu Xiu and the others and leave as soon as possible."
The young man's heart pounded wildly. He steadied himself, thought carefully for a moment, and instead of putting on the human skin, he took out his butcher knife and trimmed his hair, cutting it into the style of a witch cult disciple.
Qin Mu put on Danbaluo's clothes and activated the Creation Divine Art from the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture. His skin color immediately began to change subtly, emitting a faint golden glow. At a glance, he looked like a witch practitioner from the Loulan Golden Palace who had achieved some minor success in cultivation.
Qin Mu unfolded the geographical map of the Loulan Golden Palace, studied it for a moment, then put it away.
His primal energy activated the talisman treasure, which rose into the air as runes lit up one by one, shining on the seals of the treasury door.
"Twelve, nine, six, ten, seven, six, seven, one..."
Qin Mu recited numbers aloud, and with each number, the talisman treasure flipped in the air, shining one of its fourteen faces onto the seal.
When entering this treasury, the tortoise-shell guard had used the talisman treasure to unlock the seal. The talisman treasure's transformations were extremely complex—it had fourteen faces, each with different runes, making it very difficult to memorize the sequence of changes.
But remembering the order of these runes was not troublesome for Qin Mu.
He recorded the fourteen faces of the talisman treasure as fourteen numbers, then reversed the sequence of numbers used when entering to unlock the seal from the inside.
Before him, cubic blocks emerged one by one, retreating in succession. Qin Mu walked out, finally leaving the treasury smoothly.
Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief, drew the Shao Bao Sword, and chopped the talisman treasure to pieces. Then, following the geographical map's directions, he headed toward the Loulan Golden Palace's storehouse.
Although the Loulan Golden Palace was currently under siege at its gate, there were still great witches on duty in the storehouse. Qin Mu handed over a prescription. The great witch read it aloud: "Two liang of snakeberry, one jin and six liang of heavenly bamboo seeds, four liang of oleander... So many ingredients—are you preparing a great elixir?"
Qin Mu nodded, grinning innocently, "I got hurt earlier and need to replenish myself."
"Went to fight that guy blocking the mountain gate? I heard about it—a lot of people died. Good thing that fellow was killed; it's not too shameful. Now, back when the Martial Khan blocked the gate, that was truly shameful."
The great witch prepared the ingredients. Qin Mu handed over Danbaluo's money pouch and said, "Do you have fresh purple fruits from the crimson pearl grass? Give me four purple fruits."
"Those are very expensive. Where would I get fresh ones? Do you want dried ones?"
"Dried ones are fine."
The great witch fetched the dried purple fruits. Qin Mu took them, pinched one, and popped it into his mouth. Seeing how naive he seemed, the great witch quietly took a few extra coins from the money pouch, feeling a secret thrill.
Qin Mu's expression changed, and he shouted, "You overcharged me!"
The great witch's face darkened, and she snapped, "No, I didn't! You're slandering me!"
Qin Mu tugged at the money pouch and said, "I know exactly how much money is in my pouch. You took extra—I can tell just by weighing it. I'm going to tell the Witch King!"
The great witch hurriedly grabbed for the money pouch. As they struggled, a jade bottle in Qin Mu's hand accidentally fell into the storehouse and shattered with a crack.
"Don't tell the Witch..."
Before the great witch could finish her sentence, she suddenly collapsed stiffly. A fragrant aroma spread through the storehouse, and several great witches who had come running at the commotion fell to the ground with thuds before they could even get close.
Qin Mu tossed the money pouch into the storehouse, letting it land on the great witch. Then, carefully rummaging through the bag at his waist, he pulled out a furnace—the sealed furnace he had found in the treasury.
"This time, I've added ten times the amount of Losing Fragrance Incense. I refuse to believe I can't drug the entire Golden Palace!"
He placed the ingredients into the furnace, his primal energy erupting as he spun rapidly around it, his hand techniques shifting in a dazzling array of changes. After a while, the Losing Fragrance Incense in the furnace was ready. Qin Mu's primal energy still blazed like fierce flames, but instead of cooling it with Black Tortoise primal energy as before, he let it burn hotter.
After a moment, Qin Mu stopped, opened the furnace lid, and pink smoke billowed out, spreading everywhere. Even though the crimson pearl purple fruit in his mouth could neutralize the Losing Fragrance Incense's effects, he still felt his limbs seeming to fade away.
He quickly held his breath. The smoke continued to pour out of the furnace. Qin Mu's primal energy transformed into Azure Dragon primal energy, and he used the wind-summoning and rain-summoning techniques from the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture to blow the smoke away.
Soon, the wind carried the Losing Fragrance Incense across the entire mountain.
He immediately rushed into a golden palace, grabbed his bundle, strapped on his twin blades, slung his iron hammer over his back, left the sword case behind, and sped toward the mountain gate.
His primal energy shifted to Black Tortoise primal energy, forming a mass of water vapor that condensed into a water sphere in his hand.
Qin Mu tossed the remaining three crimson pearl purple fruits into the water sphere. As he sprinted, he held the water sphere with one hand while the other hand moved like a blur, his fingers dancing in rapid gestures, striking the water sphere to activate the medicinal power of the fruits.
The three purple fruits absorbed the water, quickly swelling as their potency was released.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, streaks of golden light shot into the sky, fleeing in panic. It must have been the few Witch Kings guarding the sacred hall, seeing all the disciples on the mountain seemingly "dead from poison," and fleeing the Loulan Golden Palace in terror.
"Dead, they're all dead!" a booming voice cried out in fear and panic, rapidly fading into the distance.
Qin Mu pushed his speed to the limit, racing toward the base of the Golden Mountain. He saw the Green Ox, Fox Ling'er, and Ling Yuxiu all lying on the ground. Ling Yuxiu was covered in wounds, bloodstained.
He quickly placed a crimson pearl purple fruit into each of their mouths. The three—the person, the ox, and the fox—slowly regained consciousness, though their limbs were still numb, and their souls and spirit embryos felt tingly, unsure of what had happened.
"The Losing Fragrance Incense can scare off the Witch Kings, but it won't knock them out."
Qin Mu spoke rapidly. "There are probably a few beings in the Loulan Golden Palace who rank alongside Ba Shan as a Sacrificial Priest. Once they get word, they'll surely come. We need to leave immediately!"