Chapter 246: Illusion Yet Reality
Qin Mu looked at the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in the hands of the Heavenly King statue. The blade was real, not made of stone.
When they first arrived at this Heavenly King temple, Qin Mu had already carefully examined the surroundings. He distinctly remembered that the Heavenly King statue had no blade in its hands, let alone such a massive Green Dragon Crescent Blade.
Even more astonishing was that there were traces of blood on the blade.
Just as Qin Mu reached out to touch it and check if it was real blood, Blind’s bamboo staff extended over, lifting his wrist and pushing it aside. The old man said with a smile, "Mu’er, don’t be so curious. It could get you killed."
Qin Mu shuddered, suddenly recalling his experience walking through the darkness with the Village Chief. A single drop of demon blood had withered all the plants and trees within a hundred zhang radius.
If the blood on the Green Dragon Crescent Blade was real, then the bizarre events of last night were also real. That meant this Heavenly King statue had truly gone to behead an East Sea Dragon King, and this drop of blood was indeed the Dragon King’s blood.
"A divine blade is sentient. Don’t provoke it lightly," Blind said softly, as if reading his thoughts.
Qin Mu laughed. "I’m not like Cripple, who would try to haul even a Heavenly King’s divine blade home just because he feels like it. I just want to collect the Dragon King’s blood from the blade. This is Dragon King blood from a divine dragon—it might be useful for alchemy."
Blind praised him. "Still, Mu’er is thrifty and knows how to make a living."
Qin Mu took out a jade bottle and carefully collected the drop of Dragon King blood from the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, then tightened the stopper.
In the courtyard of the Heavenly King temple, a massive stone dragon head had smashed a large crater into the ground. There was still blood on the dragon head, bright red.
Qin Mu fetched a box, used his Yuan Qi threads to form sword Qi, and carefully controlled the sword Qi to scrape off the blood and place it in the box.
He walked to the neck of the dragon head and saw that the cut was clean and smooth, as if made by an incredibly sharp blade. Just from the cut surface, he could imagine how domineering, swift, and sharp that strike must have been!
Even though the dragon head was a stone statue, the wound’s cross-section still radiated an overwhelming sword intent and sword realm.
"If I sat here and studied the cut surface of the dragon head, I could comprehend an extremely domineering blade technique, no less impressive than Butcher’s pig-slaying knife art. Unfortunately, there’s no time. We need to move on."
Qin Mu felt regret. If he could comprehend the blade technique within, the sword intent and sword realm contained the divine realm—just the sheer momentum could scare off a large number of people.
Horse Uncle urged, "Mu’er, let’s go!"
Qin Mu quickly caught up and called for the Dragon Qilin, intending to ride it. But the Dragon Qilin had been ridden like a horse by the Heavenly King statue all night, fighting and killing, and now felt sore and weak all over. As soon as Qin Mu climbed on, it started squealing like a pig being slaughtered.
Qin Mu quickly jumped off. The Dragon Qilin said, "I must have been possessed. Last night, a stone statue rode me all night. Blind Elder, you can tell fortunes and exorcise spirits, right?"
Blind shook his head. "I’m not specialized in that line of work. I only occasionally tell fortunes and exorcise. I can’t exorcise the spirit that’s possessed you. Don’t worry—rest for a night, and you’ll be fine."
The Dragon Qilin was skeptical.
They traveled north for several thousand li, and the terrain suddenly became lower. The further north they went, the lower the land. Qin Mu looked back and saw that they had descended from several mountain ranges, which puzzled him.
Granny Si said, "This looks like a basin. The basin is surrounded by large mountains, and above the basin is a plain. We’ve walked from the plain into the basin. This basin is quite large."
Everyone looked around. The basin was filled with towering mountains, dense forests, and crisscrossing ravines and natural moats. The geography was very different from other parts of the Great Ruins.
This basin was extremely vast. Sometimes, as Qin Mu and the others passed by a mountain foothill, they could see branches of red coral scattered about, as charming as rubies.
Granny Si picked a coral branch, intending to make a hairpin. Suddenly, a strange beast jumped out from a mountain hollow. It looked like a giant lobster, but it was over a zhang long, with seven or eight legs, and it waved its pincers at them.
"Lunch is sorted!" Blind exclaimed joyfully.
At noon, Qin Mu roasted the strange beast. The aroma was mouthwatering, and the golden, oily roe made everyone’s fingers twitch. Even Horse Uncle, who had long broken his vegetarian fast, ate to his heart’s content, leaving only a pile of shells on the ground.
Qin Mu wondered, "How did such a strange beast end up here? There’s no water around?"
As he spoke, the distant sound of mooing cattle came from the forest. A few fish monsters, drawn by the smell, emerged from the woods. These fish monsters had fish bodies, six to seven zhang long, but under their bodies grew six thick legs. Their cries sounded like cattle, very loud.
Qin Mu looked into the distance and saw the fish monsters running swiftly toward them. Their legs seemed to have evolved from fins, covered in huge, hard scales. When sunlight hit the scales, they reflected light in all directions like mirrors.
"We’ve eaten our fill, so there’s no need for unnecessary killing," Horse Uncle said, releasing his aura to scare the fish monsters away.
His aura was so powerful that it not only frightened off the fish monsters but also startled the "birds" in the forest. Qin Mu looked up and saw a flock of winged fish flying across the sky, fleeing into the distance.
He opened his Azure Sky Heavenly Eye and saw dark shapes moving on a distant mountaintop. Several large octopuses with eight arms and huge heads retreated into their territory, not daring to provoke them.
One of the large octopuses, startled, sprayed a cloud of black ink that covered an area of a hundred mu, turning the air pitch black.
They continued on their journey and encountered a few fish-men—fish-headed humanoids holding steel forks, hunting.
"Strange Great Ruins," Blind muttered.
Qin Mu had grown up here and had seen these strange creatures all his life. He had always assumed that fish and shrimp should be like this, running around everywhere, so he was only mildly surprised and didn’t think much of it.
But Blind, Granny Si, and the others hadn’t lived here all their lives. They knew the habits of fish and shrimp in the outside world, which was why they found it strange.
Granny Si looked around and murmured, "This place must have been a sea once. The wonders of creation are incredible. The sea disappeared, and the creatures that lived in it had to adapt to life on land, changing their habits. But the change is too drastic..."
Blind also found it unbelievable. Suddenly, the Dragon Qilin said in surprise, "I think I’ve been here before..."
Qin Mu was puzzled and laughed. "You came here with the Patriarch?"
The Dragon Qilin shook its head. "No. I mean, last night, I was ridden here by a god."
They passed by a village. The villagers were survivors of the Great Ruins, all looking at a loss.
Qin Mu went forward to ask. An old man said, "Yesterday, something happened. I don’t know what, but hundreds of li around us, Dragon King temples were destroyed, and many of the dragon gods enshrined in the temples had their heads cut off! We used to go to the Dragon King temples to pray for favorable weather, but now so many temples have been destroyed. Everyone is uneasy..."
Qin Mu’s heart shook. He asked for more details. The old man continued, "Last night, there was a storm. The villagers were all woken up. Outside, it was pitch black. Many people’s houses had water floating above the rooftops, but the water didn’t fall."
Qin Mu was stunned. Water floating above the rooftops?
"The sound of waves was very loud and noisy. There was light coming from the water, and many people even saw dragons!"
The old man said, "It was like a sea hanging in the sky. The sounds of battle came from above. I saw lightning flashing and crackling in the sea until the fourth watch of the night, when it finally stopped. After dawn, the water in the sky disappeared. Only many trees looked like they had been rained on all night, with water on their crowns. Then we found that countless Dragon King and dragon god temples had been destroyed. Some people who lived in the temples said they saw the stone dragon statues in the temples fly out."
Qin Mu’s eyes widened. Stone dragon statues flew out?
"It’s also said that a monk living in the Divine Dragon Valley saw a god king holding a blade, riding a fat, plump monster, burst in. With one slash, he cut off the head of the Divine Dragon King in the valley and carried it away..."
After gathering the information, Qin Mu returned and told Blind, Granny Si, and Horse Uncle everything. They all looked at each other in bewilderment.
This was too strange.
What happened last night was like a dream yet real. In the darkness, a stone statue delivered an edict, a Heavenly King statue took a blade to kill dragons, the Dragon Qilin was ridden like a horse all night, and now the survivors here said that a sea had appeared upside down in the sky and dragon gods and dragon kings had been beheaded.
Connecting these events, it was clear that what happened last night was real.
"Last night, the stone statue that delivered the edict said the Emperor sent the edict from Carefree Village. That’s a huge problem."
Granny Si’s mouth emitted an old voice. "I think—"
"Amitabha!"
Horse Uncle transformed into a great Buddha, suppressing Granny Si’s mind. Meanwhile, Blind also made his move, stabilizing Granny Si. The two of them nervously worked together to suppress the demonic nature within her.
Qin Mu also wiped cold sweat from his forehead and urged, "Hurry, hurry! Let’s get to the Great Thunderclap Monastery as soon as possible, before Patriarch Li jumps out to cause trouble again!"
Everyone pressed forward. Before they had gone far, they saw the Divine Dragon Valley. The valley was filled with countless stone dragon statues surrounding a large lake. At the center of the lake was a statue of a Divine Dragon King.
Now, many of the dragon statues around the lake had collapsed. The fallen statues had all been decapitated with a single slash, their heads rolling on the ground. The Divine Dragon King statue at the center of the lake had also been beheaded, its head missing without a trace.
"Heavens..."
Granny Si slowly woke up. Seeing this scene, she groaned, "This Great Ruins is so mysterious. Are these statues just stone carvings, or are they living deities transformed? I really don’t understand..."
"Amitabha!"
Horse Uncle’s body radiated bright Buddha light. A white-robed monk flew out from his brow, flashed into Granny Si’s brow, and sat down there. His expression was grave. "We can’t delay any longer. I’m having trouble suppressing him! Patriarch Li’s primordial spirit is merging with Granny Si very quickly. His cultivation has already broken through to the Life and Death realm! If we delay any longer, soon they will fully merge, and Patriarch Li will completely take over, becoming the master of this body!"
Blind asked solemnly, "How long can you suppress him?"
Horse Uncle shook his head. "I can still suppress him for now, but I’m afraid that if I use too much force, I’ll damage Granny Si’s soul."
Blind made a decisive decision. "Then hurry up and travel!"