Chapter 223: Dead End
Qin Mu shook off Yuan Shan and immediately inspected the surroundings. He saw that the treasure ship had been riddled with holes by flying swords, letting wind leak in from all sides.
That Yuan Shan of the Ape Lord Sword Sect was agile in movement, leaping and stabbing with a sword style that was sharp and bizarre. Fortunately, the hull was forged from dark iron and was sturdy enough to withstand the attacks of this sword technique expert.
However, the cabin was also leaking wind, slowing the treasure ship’s speed.
On top of that, the bow had crashed into a massive ice sword, splitting open a large gash. When flying at full speed, wind poured into the hull, making it much slower than in its prime.
“If I could stop, I could fix it in half a day, but these guys won’t give me half a day. Luckily, the Great Ruins aren’t far.”
Just as he thought this, Hu Ling’er’s voice came: “Young master, the bronze beast at the bottom of the ship had its head cut off. Is that a problem?”
Qin Mu paused, then said, “No problem, it’ll just be a bit bumpy when we land.”
“How bumpy?” The little fox poked her head out of the cabin, blinking as she asked.
Qin Mu was puzzled. “Why are you asking?”
“We don’t have any medicinal stones left.”
Hu Ling’er said crisply, “Haven’t you noticed, young master? Our ship is descending. It won’t be long before we land.”
Qin Mu looked and indeed saw that although the treasure ship was still flying forward, it had begun to slowly sink into the sea of clouds.
Qin Mu made a decisive call: “Ling’er, wake up that pig. It’s time for him to earn his keep!”
Dutian Demon King erupted in fury: “Brat, who are you calling a pig? I already did my part!”
Hu Ling’er rolled her eyes at him. “No one’s talking about you. Look at you, all puffed up. The young master means Fatty Long. Long Fatty, wake up, stop sleeping. The ship is about to land, and the young master says it’ll be a bit bumpy!”
Long Qilin slowly stood up, crawled out of the cabin with his belly dragging on the ground, and grumbled in a muffled voice, “A few days ago, you were calling me Long Da…”
“Can this guy even fly anymore?”
Qin Mu was worried. He quickly scanned the remaining New Year’s supplies in the cabin, stuffed them into the Taotie Bag, then grabbed Dutian Demon King and shoved him in.
The opening of the Taotie Bag wasn’t large, barely fitting one leg.
Just as Qin Mu was about to disassemble the demon god’s body, Dutian Demon King roared angrily, “What are you doing? Don’t take me apart! My consciousness is spread across this body right now. If you dismantle it, you’ll scatter my consciousness too… Don’t you know how to use this bag? Light up the Taotie’s mouth with your primal energy…”
Qin Mu’s eyes lit up. Primal energy surged out, illuminating the Taotie pattern on the bag. Suddenly, the bag’s opening expanded, turning into a massive Taotie mouth, six or seven zhang in diameter, swallowing Dutian Demon King in one gulp.
“This is indeed much easier to use.”
Qin Mu was both surprised and delighted. He tied the bag to his waist, jumped onto Long Qilin’s back with Hu Ling’er, and shouted, “Abandon ship, let’s go!”
Long Qilin conjured fire clouds beneath his feet and rose from the ship, which had already descended below the clouds and was beginning to land.
Long Qilin said in a dull voice, “Chief, Sister Ling’er, have you two gotten fatter? You’re much heavier than before.”
“The fat one is you!”
The little fox said angrily, “Look at how fat you’ve gotten! The adults at the young master’s house are very fierce. If you keep getting fatter, you’ll be killed during New Year’s!”
As she spoke, the treasure ship crashed with a boom into a large mountain, shattering into pieces. Three alchemy furnaces exploded, producing three more loud bangs. Fragments of dark iron and bronze flew everywhere with sharp sounds, and the violent shockwave destroyed entire stretches of forest. Above the forest, a rolling mushroom cloud rose, pitch black.
Hu Ling’er was startled and looked at Qin Mu. “Young master, you said earlier that landing would be a bit bumpy?”
“Mm.”
Qin Mu nodded and shouted, “Fatty Long, if you don’t run faster, you’ll be eaten before New Year’s!”
Long Qilin shuddered and immediately sprinted at full speed. The fire clouds beneath his feet churned and grew denser, greatly increasing his speed, but after running just over ten li, he was already panting heavily.
Just then, over a dozen mirrors rose around Long Qilin.
These mirrors rose from the mountain peaks below. Each one was octagonal, and they whistled as they flew to surround them, growing larger in the wind until they were about a zhang in size, positioned a hundred zhang away.
Seeing the danger, Long Qilin sank downward, but at that moment, a mirror also rose from below, blocking the bottom.
As Long Qilin tried to run upward, another mirror hung upside down above.
A sword light flew out from the mountain, striking one mirror with a clang. The mirror reflected the sword light onto another mirror.
Then, mirror after mirror reflected each other, while more sword lights flew from the mountain peaks below, bouncing off the mirrors. The sword lights multiplied, and in an instant, they formed an increasingly dense net!
On the mountain peaks, even more sword lights flew toward the mirrors.
“What a bizarre formation!”
Qin Mu’s hair stood on end. This was a sword formation that used mirrors to set up the array. The mirrors reflected the sword light, making it denser and denser with almost no loss!
“But breaking this sword formation is simple—just destroy those mirrors.”
Qin Mu pointed, and the Shaobao Sword flew toward one of the bright mirrors to strike it down. Suddenly, countless sword lights shot at the Shaobao Sword, producing a rapid series of clanging sounds, knocking it down!
The sword wobbled and fell into the forest below.
“His cultivation is much higher than mine. Probably a Six Harmonies or Seven Stars realm cultivator.”
Qin Mu’s heart sank. He took out the scabbard, intending to retrieve the Shaobao Sword, but the space Long Qilin could maneuver was shrinking rapidly. Suddenly, Long Qilin shook his head, opened his mouth, and roared. The roar was like ten thousand thunderclaps exploding simultaneously, and the mirrors in the air shattered with a crashing sound!
The dense sword net, having lost its support, vanished instantly.
A surprised voice came from the mountain peak below: “What a formidable beast! Its skill is truly impressive!”
Hearing the word “beast,” Long Qilin grew angry. He opened his mouth and spat a ball of flame at the mountain peak below. A sword light shot off to the side from the peak, the man merging with his sword to dodge Long Qilin’s attack.
The mountain peak exploded with a boom, and rolling fire clouds surged and spread, striking the sword light and separating the man from his sword. He crashed into the forest, tumbling and rolling.
But the man was still alive. He leaped into the air, a bright mirror floating before him. Mirror light shone, and a pillar of sword light swept toward them.
Long Qilin sprinted away, leaving the sword light behind.
However, the sword light was still faster than the dragon qilin. It caught up to them from behind. Long Qilin’s body shook, growing larger and larger, revealing his true form as a colossal beast over forty zhang long. He swung his massive tail backward, smashing the sword light to pieces.
“What a huge beast!” the swordsman exclaimed in shock.
Long Qilin was furious. He turned his head, opened his mouth, and a pillar of blazing fire shot out. Sensing danger, the swordsman immediately flew upward into the clouds to dodge. The pillar of light was dazzling and intensely hot, slicing through the clouds with a whoosh.
A scream came from midair, and it was unclear whether the swordsman lived or died. Then, sunlight poured down through the thick clouds.
“Fatty Long is amazing!” Hu Ling’er praised.
Qin Mu looked at the split clouds, his face full of worry.
Among those chasing them, the highest cultivations were Long Jiaonan and the icy-faced woman from the Liqing Palace, both Seven Stars realm experts. Next were the monk, the scholar, and others, whose realms were between Six Harmonies and Seven Stars.
These people were just the vanguard, their role being to probe—to test whether Qin Mu had any experts by his side.
After all, Qin Mu was the demon sect leader of the Demon Sect. He would surely have protectors or other powerful beings with him.
Now, Long Qilin had been exposed.
The power of Long Qilin’s attack was already beyond what Long Jiaonan and the others could handle, which meant that stronger beings would have to step in.
Qin Mu had been maintaining a state of flight, never stopping to fight Long Jiaonan and the others. His goal was to keep the hidden experts guessing whether he had powerful companions. If they couldn’t guess, they would have to keep sending Long Jiaonan and the others to probe, giving him the chance to enter the Great Ruins.
That would have been the safest course.
Now that Long Qilin had acted, that opportunity was gone.
The experts of the Demon Sect had been sent out for disaster relief, and he had no protectors with him.
“The Great Ruins are less than a thousand li away. Run!”
Qin Mu exhaled a turbid breath and said in a low voice, “The closer we get to the Great Ruins, the safer we’ll be.”
Long Qilin’s size was enormous, and his speed was much greater than before. Although he was still potbellied and panting heavily, he moved like a fleeting shadow.
Before long, this colossal creature had covered over a hundred li beneath the clouds without encountering any pursuit. Suddenly, Qin Mu said, “Stop. Land in the mountains below.”
Long Qilin stopped, shrank his body, and descended into the mountains, landing in a snow-covered valley. The snow here was over a zhang deep, and the surrounding peaks were white and desolate, with no villages or inns in sight.
Qin Mu’s body blazed with flames, melting the heavy snow in the valley, revealing countless bones scattered on the ground.
This should have been an ancient battlefield, where a bloody massacre had once occurred. He had just used his Qingxiao Heavenly Eye to look around and saw immense resentment here, so he decided to stop.
“Right here, I’ll meet the ones chasing this demon sect leader. Let’s see how much stronger they are than me!”
Qin Mu’s heart hardened. His primal energy burst forth, and countless bones flew up, piling together with a clatter. In just a few moments, they formed four bone altars.
He took out the four demon god statues hidden in the Taotie Bag and placed them on the four bone altars. Then, he took out the Hongshan Sect talisman treasure and began to perform the ritual on the altar.
The Hongshan Sect’s Ghost-Summoning and Deity-Commanding Talisman Incantation!
These four statues were Dutian’s demon god statues. Dutian Demon King had asked him to carve five demon god statues to ambush the demon gods who refused to obey his commands. However, Qin Mu had only summoned one, leaving the other four unused.
“Brat, if you summon my true body, I can help you kill them all!” Dutian Demon King’s vicious voice came from the Taotie Bag.
Qin Mu ignored him. Obscure demonic words flowed from his mouth. The talisman treasure turned, and the runes on the first demon god statue lit up one after another. Gradually, Qin Mu established a connection with a demon god from another world, using himself as a bridge to communicate with the demon god of Dutian.
“Indeed, demonic arts. Hiding here to summon demons.”
An old voice came: “You people always say you’re not a demon sect, but what you’re doing now is no different from demons.”
An old Daoist walked over, holding only a horsetail whisk in his hand and carrying only a single sword on his back.
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