Chapter 236: Carefree Village
Lingjing Daoist’s face changed dramatically, and he repeatedly retreated. Both the Heavenly Demon of All Heavens and Dragon Qilin were forced back by Qin Mu’s aura, unable to steady themselves even a thousand zhang away from him.
Beneath Qin Mu’s feet, the face of the Moon Guardian was completely crushed into the Moon Ship by his stomps. The old man had been clinging to life, but now he was utterly merged with the Moon Ship, becoming part of it, his body destroyed and his spirit extinguished. The old Moon Guardian was dead.
Lingjing Daoist was shaken. The fate of the old Moon Guardian did not concern him—the man was a madman anyway. What he focused on was that Qin Mu’s flesh and blood were regrowing, breaking through the constraints of the Realm of the Dead!
Entering the Realm of the Dead, even someone like him would be reduced to bones, with not a shred of flesh remaining. When Qin Mu entered the Realm of the Dead with him, he too was only a skeleton, as was Dragon Qilin. Only the Heavenly Demon of All Heavens, who was not made of flesh and blood, remained unchanged.
But now, Qin Mu not only had his flesh and blood restored, but his form was also growing larger, like a living celestial god, with divine light swirling around him and an unmatched aura!
He had now replaced the last Moon Guardian of the Moon Herders, becoming the new Moon Guardian. The power he controlled was too great, breaking the limits of the Realm of the Dead, so that even its rules could not govern him!
This was nearly impossible.
Lingjing Daoist had visited this Moon Ship many times, examining everything thoroughly. He had touched these giant pillars countless times, but never had he seen such astonishing changes as those Qin Mu had undergone.
He believed that only the peculiar Moon Herders had this ability, and they had to possess a special constitution among them. The human body was a great furnace; ordinary Moon Herders could not contain the terrifying energy of the Moon Ship. Only those with a special constitution among the Moon Herders could possibly accept such immense power.
The Moon Herders should have been extinct, leaving only one old man on this ship, but he too was trapped in the Moon Ship, his life hanging by a thread.
Qin Mu had mastered the Moon Ship and its power. Did that mean he was a Moon Herder, and one with a special constitution at that?
Yet Qin Mu was not a Moon Herder. Grasping the giant pillar was extremely dangerous for others, including Moon Herders, but he did it safely. His body seemed naturally able to withstand this power and adapt to the transformation of his flesh and soul.
“Such great power!”
Qin Mu was both surprised and delighted. The power within him had reached an unimaginable level. Compared to this force, his previous strength was like a single drop of water in a vast ocean—utterly insignificant!
He felt as if he could raise his hand to reshape heaven and earth, altering the rules of the world and controlling them!
Qin Mu was adorned with rings of moonlight, circles of lunar radiance flowing like water from his head down to his feet, then vanishing into the Moon Ship. His feet had already begun to sink into the Moon Ship, merging with it.
This was the backlash of the Moon Ship.
Qin Mu had seen this backlash before in the Sun Guardian of the Sun Ship. The Sun Guardian was the Sun Herder Yan Jingjing. When the sun of the Sun Ship went out, Yan Jingjing controlled the Sun Ship, gaining its immense power but also suffering its backlash, burning her own life force. The longer she manipulated the Sun Ship, the faster she died.
Now, the waning moon above the Moon Ship was also extinguished, devoid of any light. Qin Mu controlled the Moon Ship, borrowing its power at the cost of his own life!
He had to act quickly, using the Moon Ship’s power and speed to delve deep into the darkness, find Carefree Village, and find Village Chief and the others. Otherwise, the deeper he sank, the greater the cost to escape would become, possibly to an unbearable degree!
“Senior Brother Lingjing, thank you for your help along the way.”
Qin Mu looked down at Lingjing Daoist from on high, his voice rumbling like thunder: “Now, I must take advantage of the night to find Village Chief and the others. Farewell!”
Lingjing Daoist suppressed the shock in his heart, flew up from the Moon Ship, and hovered in midair. The Daoist was now a skeleton, his Daoist robe tattered. He made a gesture of respect and said, “Sect Leader, please!”
Boom—
The massive Moon Ship took a step, its hull supported by a three-legged toad formed from towering mountains. With one step, it covered over ten li. In just a few steps, it passed through the Fengdu Gate, dragging the black waning moon in the sky with chains, heading out of the Realm of the Dead.
In Fengdu, many powerful beings flew over, but they could only see the distant silhouette of the Moon Ship. These Fengdu experts watched from afar but did not pursue. The Moon Ship had entered Fengdu long ago, but the King of Fengdu had not accepted the Moon Guardian on board, leaving the ship to stay on the wilderness outside the city. Now that the Moon Ship was leaving, the King of Fengdu clearly had no intention of interfering.
A strange being with a bird’s head and a human body flapped its wings and flew over, calling to Lingjing Daoist, “Lingjing Daoist, the King summons you.”
Lingjing Daoist quickly followed him into Fengdu, heading toward the Hall of Yama.
Meanwhile, Qin Mu, radiant with light like a celestial god forged from moonlight, controlled the ship as it left the Realm of the Dead. The colossal Moon Ship crossed the misty sea and entered the dark Great Ruins.
He felt boundless power surging within him. All the divine repositories in his body opened—the Spirit Embryo, Five Luminaries, Six Harmonies, Seven Stars, Heavenly Being, Life and Death, and Divine Bridge—all filled with terrifying energy, with even more power flowing in from the Moon Ship.
The Moon Ship contained an incredibly complex array. When his hand touched the giant pillar on the ship, the array activated, flooding his body with immense energy while simultaneously transforming his flesh, soul, and Spirit Embryo, pushing his cultivation level directly beyond the Divine Bridge to an unimaginable realm.
The realm of a celestial god.
It was hard to imagine what level of power a complete Moon Ship would reach!
“Carefree Village, Village Chief, I’m coming!”
The massive Moon Ship moved through the darkness, swift as a fleeting shadow, with mountains whizzing past. The jade pendant around Qin Mu’s neck also grew huge, floating in the night and pointing toward a distant place in the darkness.
Suddenly, with a clang, the pendant detached from his neck and flew into the distance. Qin Mu manipulated the Moon Ship to speed up, following the pendant as it zipped through the dark. The ship’s movement compressed space, with thunderbolts crackling around it, tearing through the darkness in a spectacular display.
Above the Moon Ship, the crumbling moon shed massive boulders that fell through the air, leaving trails of fire as they plunged into the dark Great Ruins. Wherever the Moon Ship went, fire meteors fell, raising clouds of smoke and fire around it, making it highly conspicuous.
The deck of the Moon Ship was covered with countless palaces and halls, the living quarters of the Moon Herders. But unfortunately, a great battle had taken place here, wiping out the Moon Herders. The last one, the Moon Guardian, had been devoured by the Moon Ship when Qin Mu became the new Moon Guardian.
The Heavenly Demon of All Heavens and Dragon Qilin hid in a palace that had not yet collapsed, avoiding Qin Mu’s overwhelming celestial aura. Dragon Qilin was jostled around and soon fell asleep with his eyes half-closed. Only the Heavenly Demon of All Heavens had no sleep at all, looking out from the palace window.
He could see Qin Mu, towering like a mountain, standing amidst the pillars. Qin Mu’s power had materialized; the rings of moonlight that cycled down were solidified power, possessing terrifying might.
“This world is not as lowly as I imagined. Such divine creations require extremely profound Dao techniques and spells, not something an ordinary civilization could produce.”
The Heavenly Demon of All Heavens’ gaze flickered, his mind in turmoil: “Do I really want to invade a world like this? What I fear is not the height of this world’s civilization, but what destroyed it…”
Countless monsters in the darkness of the Great Ruins were stirred by the giant ship and surged toward it. These monsters were huge, but compared to the Moon Ship, they were like ants, slow and insignificant. The Moon Ship simply crushed them, and amidst the thunderous roars, the squelching sounds of crushed bodies could be heard, as countless mysterious beings in the dark were turned into pulp.
Many more monsters climbed onto the Moon Ship, chattering in demonic tongues, trying to board this land-going vessel. But they were immediately struck down by the lightning generated by the ship’s movement, their bodies falling like rain.
“Qiangkenawu (Sanskrit for Moon Ship)!”
A terrifying aura surged in the darkness. A massive shadow grew larger, with wings like clouds, flying from the dark, crossing the layer of lightning around the Moon Ship, and bringing a rolling demonic cloud to invade it.
From the demonic cloud, a huge creature poked out nine heads, spewing demonic fire at Qin Mu, who stood in the center of the pillars. The blazing flames lit up the dark sky. The creature’s body writhed in the cloud, looking like a bird or a flood dragon, as if it were a fusion of two beings.
“Garuda!” the Heavenly Demon of All Heavens exclaimed in shock.
Qin Mu, surrounded by moonlight, blocked the demonic fire. Suddenly, a crescent moon appeared on his forehead, gradually turning into a full moon, as if a door were opening. Soon, a full moon emerged from his brow—not a real moon, but an eye, radiating moonlight.
Swish—
A blindingly bright light flashed across the sky, cutting through the darkness and slicing through the demonic fire. Nine bird heads fell from midair, exactly nine, with necks writhing like flood dragons, spurting blood. The full moon on Qin Mu’s forehead slowly closed, turning back into a crescent, and then the crescent vanished.
The Heavenly Demon of All Heavens shut his mouth and said nothing: “After this kid lets me go, I will never invade this twisted world!”
The Moon Ship continued on, with more monsters surging toward it. Suddenly, a loud roar came from the darkness, and countless monsters retreated, disappearing into the dark.
Qin Mu’s jade pendant flew ahead of the ship, tiny as a speck of dust. Suddenly, with a ding, it seemed to hit an invisible barrier, stopping as if fixed on something that appeared empty.
That barrier rippled like a lake standing upright between heaven and earth, with the pendant at the center. The ripples spread outward, growing larger, and in the center of the ripples, another world slowly revealed a magnificent corner.
Carefree Village.
[Author's note: Zhai Zhu is stuck on the plot. Two chapters will be updated together tonight!]
[Author's note: Zhai Zhu is stuck on the plot. The midday chapter couldn't be finished in time. Two chapters will be updated together tonight!]