Chapter 304: The Old Man in the Painting
At the entrance to the Abyss, Banguo Cuo arrived with a group of great shamans and shaman kings. Of the hundreds of Man Di Kingdom divine ability practitioners who had set out, fewer than a hundred remained; the rest had died in the eerie and unpredictable Nether Valley Forest.
Even though countless waves of great shamans from the Loulan Golden Palace had explored this place before, this large-scale expedition still resulted in heavy casualties.
For Banguo Cuo, the number of deaths was irrelevant, as long as it wasn't his own life. These soldiers, great shamans, and even the shaman kings were all expendable from the start. His purpose in bringing them was to have them protect him, using their corpses to pave a path to the center of the Nether Valley.
As an old monster who had lived for ten thousand years, he could easily ignore the lives of anyone else. The only person he truly cherished was himself.
"Finally, I've made it here."
Banguo Cuo stood at the edge of the Abyss, looking down with a somewhat obsessed gaze. Sixteen years ago, the Nether Valley first came to his attention. Back then, the celestial ship incident—when visitors from beyond the heavens crashed their treasure ship into the Nether Valley—drew the interest of three major powers.
The Loulan Golden Palace, the Demon Sect, and the Great Thunderclap Temple all focused their attention here. At that time, the Demon Sect had no leader, and the Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Temple, knowing some secrets, chose not to explore this place deeply.
Back then, Banguo Cuo was already old and frail. Valuing his own life, he didn't come in person but hid in the Golden Palace, waiting for his reincarnated holy child. However, the broken sword that the shaman king of the Loulan Golden Palace brought back from the Nether Valley made him realize that this celestial ship was no ordinary matter.
Now that he had successfully reincarnated, he could finally come here. Coupled with the fact that the Khan of Lian Di was preparing to wage war against the Yankang Kingdom, he could borrow the Khan's military forces to enter this place.
"Gongmu, can you feel it?"
Banguo Cuo said softly, "This place is filled with the power of souls. The fragmented souls' power has nurtured these bizarre lifeforms. This is the best cultivation ground for us great shamans."
Beside him, the great shamans and shaman kings felt a tremor in their own souls. The aura here made their spirits and primordial spirits leap with joy.
This place was brimming with the power of spirits and souls, the spiritual energy and soul force so abundant that it even surpassed that of the Loulan Golden Palace!
Along the way, they had witnessed the peculiarity of the Nether Valley's lifeforms. To the soldiers of the Man Di Kingdom, these creatures were like nightmares, but to the great shamans, they were walking tonic pills—though somewhat dangerous ones.
Great shamans, after all, cultivated by using the souls of other living beings!
Gongmu, the shaman king, greedily breathed in the aura rising from the Abyss, where the spiritual energy and soul force were even stronger. He exclaimed in admiration, "If our Golden Palace could establish a foothold here, it would greatly strengthen our great shamans' power, making cultivation twice as effective with half the effort! The spiritual energy and soul force here are immensely beneficial for enhancing the primordial spirit!"
The Loulan Golden Palace had always excelled in matters of the soul and primordial spirit, with deep expertise in these areas. Even other sacred grounds, like the Great Thunderclap Temple, were slightly inferior in their mastery of the primordial spirit.
However, their cultivation methods were eerie, using the souls of living beings, which drew much criticism. If they could occupy this place and cultivate using its spiritual energy and soul force, the Loulan Golden Palace would surely grow and develop to a level previously unimaginable!
This grassland sacred ground's rise would inevitably allow it to challenge the Central Plains, overwhelming the sacred grounds of the Central Lands!
"The most important thing in the Nether Valley isn't this, but that celestial ship."
Banguo Cuo's gaze was somewhat infatuated as he whispered, "What attracts me isn't how to use this place's spiritual energy and soul force for cultivation, but how to break through—to cross the boundary between man and god. This ship should have what I seek. It came from beyond the heavens..."
He didn't say more. Leaping down, the other great shamans, shaman kings, and the remaining Man Di Kingdom soldiers followed, guarding him on all sides.
Banguo Cuo, after all, was a being who had lived for ten thousand years, knowing countless secrets. Other sacred grounds, like the Great Thunderclap Temple and the Dao Sect, relied on their scriptures to record history, which could be biased. He, however, relied on his memory to record history, having experienced a great many things.
Moreover, although his lifespan wasn't as long as the histories of the Great Thunderclap Temple and the Dao Sect, Banguo Cuo had once been a high-ranking member of both the Dao Sect and the Great Thunderclap Temple. He had even visited the Lesser Jade Capital and seen the secrets recorded there.
"This ship might come from that mysterious place—the only place in the world where one can become a god. No matter what, I must obtain this ship to go there!" he thought to himself.
Mid-air, they were once again attacked by all sorts of bizarre creatures from the Abyss. The soldiers, great shamans, and shaman kings each took action, doing their utmost to protect Banguo Cuo. After leaving behind more than a dozen corpses, they finally reached the bottom of the Abyss.
On the treasure ship, Qin Mu watched the demonic energy that was continuously retreating, a hint of hesitation in his heart.
There was definitely a terrifying existence within that demonic energy, perhaps a creature from the Nether Realm. Its strength was immense, even surpassing that of the two white bats. The fact that it retreated just because of a single sentence from Qin Mu in the Nether Realm language seemed somewhat suspicious.
After the demonic energy retreated, the piercing screams that had filled the area suddenly vanished, and the surroundings became utterly silent. The bizarre creatures that had surged from the Nether Realm world were also nowhere to be seen.
The silence only made things seem more eerie.
"That terrifying existence that exhausted those two eminent monks must have already come aboard this ship!"
Qin Mu frowned. Now, the ship was eerily quiet.
"Fatty Long, Yu Chun, Yu Qiu, let's go in and take a look. If we encounter danger, we'll retreat immediately!" Qin Mu said in a deep voice, taking the lead and walking forward.
Fu Yuchun and Fu Yuqiu quickly stepped forward, flapping their wings and flying silently, upside down, ahead of Qin Mu. Long Qilin followed behind Qin Mu, on high alert.
They advanced along the left side of the treasure ship. When they reached the center of the ship, they encountered the honeycomb seal. The seal was still tightly intact, with only faint cracks allowing a trace of demonic energy to seep out.
Suddenly, the building beside them creaked, and a door groaned open, revealing a faint light from within.
The two white bats quickly dodged, hanging upside down on either side of the door, peering inside.
This room was one of the cabins in the building on the ship's deck. It was seven zhang long and seven zhang wide, with a folding screen and a jade table. The candle on the jade table was still lit, and a bronze crane held an incense burner in its beak, from which wisps of smoke curled upward.
There was no one in the room, but the lit candle and burning incense suggested someone had been here just moments ago.
"It's safe here!" Fu Yuchun said.
Qin Mu opened his Qingxiao Heavenly Eye and scanned the area, finding nothing unusual. He then used his Danxiao Heavenly Eye to sweep again, still seeing nothing amiss.
They entered the room and looked around. Fu Yuqiu said, "Strange, this door has never been opened before. Why is it open today..."
"Never been opened before?" Qin Mu was taken aback.
The two white bats nodded. "The doors on this ship can't be opened. No matter how much force we use, they won't budge. It's very strange."
There weren't many things in this room. The folding screen was embroidered with green mountains and clear waters, with a small boat in the middle of the river and an old man sitting at the bow, fishing. One of the white bats approached the jade table, trying to pick up a candle holder for light, but couldn't lift it, so he gave up.
Qin Mu surveyed the room, feeling as though something was watching them, but he couldn't pinpoint the source of the gaze. He grew inwardly alert.
His gaze swept around, but the feeling of being watched persisted. Qin Mu suddenly turned his head, but still saw nothing.
His primordial energy surged out, forming a mirror that reflected the surroundings. Suddenly, he saw the old man fishing in the painting on the screen quietly turn his head, sneaking a peek at them.
Qin Mu immediately lunged toward the screen. The old man, panicked, dropped his fishing rod and leaped nimbly, running from the screen onto the wall, then scurrying along it into another door.
Qin Mu gave chase, opening the door and rushing in. Suddenly, he heard a loud bang as the door behind him slammed shut. Startled, Qin Mu quickly retreated. The Carefree Sword behind him soared into the air, transforming into the Cloud Sword Technique to guard his body, while he reached back to push open the door behind him. "Brothers Fu! Fatty Long! Hurry in! Brothers Fu..."
Qin Mu turned to look and was stunned. The open door revealed not the room he had come from, but a different room—one that looked like a woman's boudoir!
The room he had entered earlier had vanished without a trace!
The two white bats and Long Qilin also pushed open doors, but saw no sign of Qin Mu. Their faces changed drastically, and they quickly opened other doors, but still couldn't find him.
"This isn't right!"
Long Qilin used his paw to push open a door behind him, peered inside, and exclaimed, "This isn't the room we came from! The rooms on this ship are strange!"
The two white bats closed the door and opened it again, only to find the room had changed into another one. They repeated this several times, and every time they opened a door, the room was different!
"We're doomed!"
Fu Yuchun's face turned ashen, and he trembled, "If we don't find him and the poison takes effect, our White Bat Divine Clan will go extinct!"
"Don't panic."
Long Qilin said, "There must be a finite number of rooms here. It can't be an infinite number. If we can find the same room, we can figure out the pattern. By the way, how skilled are you two in the art of calculation?"
Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat. He immediately walked into the boudoir, closed the door behind him, and looked around. "I came in through this door. How did it turn into a different room when I opened it again? There must be a space-folding technique at work here. Although this ship is large, the rooms in the building can't be infinite. They must be limited. As long as the number of rooms is finite, I can find the pattern."
He calmed himself and surveyed the room. The boudoir had wall lamps, and several pieces of women's embroidery hung on the walls. Below was a table, with an embroidered handkerchief depicting a dragon playing with a phoenix placed to one side.
A writing desk stood at a lower level, with brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone on it. Below was a cushion for sitting. The ink on the paper was still wet: "Dew moistens the delicate yellow, the wind sways the emerald green. The evening beauty of the mortal world is not without intent. The immortal's light makeup, bestowed by heaven, is lovely. Who can compare?"
The writing stopped abruptly here, as if something urgent had interrupted it.
Qin Mu examined the handwriting and silently praised, "The brushwork is no less than mine, though a bit more delicate."
Just then, the old fisherman suddenly emerged from a painting in front of him and winked at him. Qin Mu sneered, dipped his brush, and swiped downward. The old man quickly jumped onto the table, then ran to the wall and escaped through another door.
Qin Mu immediately chased after him with the brush. The old man in the painting entered another room and disappeared, hiding somewhere.
Qin Mu entered this room and looked around. It was a study, filled with ancient books. Qin Mu pulled out a book and tried to open it, but couldn't.
Suddenly, the old man in the painting leaped out from the book and dove into another one.
Qin Mu quickly pulled out that book, and this time he could open it. He flipped through the pages and found it was a genealogy.
"First generation: Kaihuang, named Qin Ye, Lord of the World..."
Qin Mu was startled. "Kaihuang, the one who 'swept the world with a single sword, blood like an ocean'? This Kaihuang also has the surname Qin, same as mine."
The genealogy was thick, recording the lives and marriages of various Qin family members in just a few words. Qin Mu flipped through it quickly, searching for the old man in the painting. When he reached the last page, he saw written: "One hundred and seventh generation: son of Han Zhen, Feng Qing."
The writing ended there.
——Zhaizhu is still in Shanghai. He got off the plane last night, rented a hotel, and then caught a cold. He couldn't go home today. Now his throat is inflamed, and he's staying in the hotel, planning to go home tomorrow. He's been away from home for over ten days, missing his family and children. He feels a bit dizzy. He'll try to write a second chapter tonight, but if he can't, he'll make up for it with extra chapters after he recovers.