Chapter 309: The Great Lord Is Wise
In the bridge, two figures rose and fell in rapid succession. Qin Mu and Banguo Cuo were still trying to kill each other, locked in a life-or-death struggle.
Both of them had the same thought: since they couldn’t find the entrance to the real world for now, they might as well eliminate their obstacle first. By getting rid of the other, they could then focus entirely on controlling the treasure ship to search for an exit.
Otherwise, having such a formidable enemy watching them, ready to stab them in the back at any moment, would be a constant headache. And who knew when they might capsize in a ditch?
Banguo Cuo, after all, was a reincarnated being whose cultivation advanced at an astonishing speed. Qin Mu didn’t want to keep him around—the longer the delay, the more likely Banguo Cuo’s cultivation would surpass his own. So he had to eliminate him early.
Banguo Cuo, however, realized how terrifying this new Human Sovereign, Qin Mu, was. His growth potential was astonishing, and he was cunning and treacherous, hard to outmaneuver. In fact, he often outwitted others instead. The longer things dragged on, the more dangerous it became, so he too needed to kill Qin Mu as soon as possible.
Both had already expended a great deal of their cultivation base and possessed the strength to kill the other. Now, fighting for their lives, their vitality drained even more rapidly. Before long, they were covered in wounds, gasping for breath.
*Bang!*
With their final clash, they both fell flat on their backs, completely out of energy and strength. Qin Mu crawled laboriously, trying to grab a sword to stab him to death. The bridge was littered with his flying swords, but with his energy depleted, he couldn’t summon a single one. He could only inch forward, crawling slowly.
He finally reached a flying sword, grabbed its hilt, and a smile spread across his face. Then the smile froze. “Si Yunxiang, I’m going to spank your butt until it’s split into three parts and keep you in bed for half a month!”
He had indeed grabbed the hilt, but his flying swords were all forged from refined Xuan Gold Essence, each weighing three hundred jin. Now, he had no strength to lift it, not even to drag it!
The reason for this weight was, of course, Si Yunxiang’s doing!
On the other side, Banguo Cuo was struggling to gather a sliver of magical power, trying to command a locust to kill Qin Mu. But his energy was intermittent, and the locust couldn’t fly. It crawled slowly toward Qin Mu, barely faster than an ant.
Qin Mu, meanwhile, turned around and pushed himself forward, crawling toward Banguo Cuo. He fumbled in his Taotie pouch and pulled out a handful of highly toxic medicinal herbs, a sinister grin on his face.
Banguo Cuo strained to control the locust, finally getting it to catch up to Qin Mu’s calf. It latched onto his leg and bit down, but with Banguo Cuo’s energy so weak, the locust’s strength was minimal. After a long while, it managed to bite through Qin Mu’s pant leg and then broke the skin.
Qin Mu endured the pain and crawled forward with effort. Panic flickered across Banguo Cuo’s face as he struggled to turn over, using his hands and feet, his chin scraping the ground, desperately trying to get away from Qin Mu.
One chased, the other fled, their pace excruciatingly slow.
They moved for a long time, covering only a couple of zhang, when suddenly Banguo Cuo managed to pull something from his own Taotie pouch. It was a gourd containing witch poison.
Banguo Cuo was overjoyed. This was a poison he had refined in his past life, extremely potent—killing Qin Mu would be a breeze. He stopped crawling, laboriously turned around, and began crawling toward Qin Mu.
Seeing this, Qin Mu quickly turned back. After a while, he managed to reverse direction and crawled forward with all his might. Banguo Cuo had a finished witch poison, while the poison Qin Mu held was still a half-finished product—far less toxic.
“Brat, you’re dead meat!” Banguo Cuo pursued relentlessly, finally catching up to Qin Mu’s legs. He excitedly tried to pull the stopper from the gourd’s mouth, his face turning red from the effort, but he still couldn’t get it open.
Qin Mu thought he was done for, but when he looked back, Banguo Cuo quickly said, “Brat, you’re dead!” hoping to scare him off.
“Little prince, you’ve run out of strength, haven’t you?”
Qin Mu kicked out, stuffing his foot into Banguo Cuo’s mouth, trying to choke him. Banguo Cuo gagged, his eyes rolling back, then steeled himself: “I’ve reincarnated so many times—why should I care about my physical body being humiliated?”
He bit down hard, sinking his teeth into Qin Mu’s sole. Qin Mu winced in pain, pulled his foot back, and sneered. He smeared poison on his foot, then prepared to shove it back into Banguo Cuo’s mouth.
While Qin Mu was applying the poison, Banguo Cuo scrambled over, and the two grappled, each trying to strangle the other, but they had no strength in their hands.
Moreover, as cultivators at the Six Harmonies realm, their breath was astonishingly long. They choked each other for nearly half an hour without managing to kill the other, instead exhausting their last shred of energy.
They both collapsed completely, only their fingers, toes, and eyeballs still moving slowly.
Both were desperately trying to regulate their breathing, hoping to recover a trace of energy to kill the other before they could recover.
Time passed bit by bit. Qin Mu finally regained a little strength, took out some dragon saliva, and applied it to his wounds. Letting the wounds bleed would be too much for even an iron body to bear.
On the other side, Banguo Cuo took out a jade bottle and swallowed some medicine. As a being who had lived for ten thousand years, he had learned many things. He was deeply skilled in medicine and had even developed a famous witch poison that targeted the soul.
Qin Mu glanced at him, a look of wariness in his eyes.
Banguo Cuo was a rare polymath, proficient in many fields. Though he hadn’t reached the pinnacle in any, it was still impressive. If he could integrate all his knowledge into one system, he would undoubtedly achieve a remarkable breakthrough—though that would be very difficult.
As things stood, Banguo Cuo had no hope of merging his learning. Despite his extraordinary intelligence, his edge had been dulled, and he had lost his drive for progress.
Banguo Cuo didn’t attack him either. Having lived through so many lifetimes, he still couldn’t gain the upper hand against Qin Mu.
The first time he met Qin Mu, he had been beaten down and nearly killed. Now, this second encounter had ended in mutual destruction, which was truly disheartening.
He carried the power of his past lives within him, but that power couldn’t be used easily. He had to constantly strengthen his current body and hone his foundation to withstand more of that power. The power of his past lives was too terrifying—any misstep would cause his current body to explode. However, as his body improved, his cultivation would directly reach the peak of what that body could handle, so his cultivation speed still surpassed Qin Mu’s.
But five months had passed since their last parting. Logically, his cultivation should have left Qin Mu far behind, yet here they were, neck and neck.
Neither spoke. They just stared out the porthole.
The Netherworld had no up or down, no four seasons, no earth or sun or moon, and naturally no east, west, south, or north. Every other world had six directions, but not here.
In the desolate Netherworld, the treasure ship drifted aimlessly through the darkness.
The farther it drifted, the harder it would be to return to the real world. In this solitude, they would likely go mad before long!
Outside the ship, flashes of light suddenly appeared in the dark Netherworld—the creatures of the Netherworld, glowing in the darkness to lure prey to come to them.
But strangely, ever since the treasure ship entered the Netherworld, no terrifying Netherworld creatures had approached it.
Qin Mu and Banguo Cuo suddenly realized the key point, and their hearts tightened. “There must be some terrifying presence on this ship that keeps the Netherworld creatures away!”
What was terrifying wasn’t the two of them, but something else on the ship.
Qin Mu recalled the surge of demonic energy when they first boarded. Now he was certain that they weren’t alone on the ship—something else was hidden aboard!
“The human heart is treacherous. This world is so harsh that if you’re not careful, you’ll be devoured without even a bone left.”
He staggered to his feet. Banguo Cuo tensed, immediately assuming a defensive stance, but Qin Mu didn’t attack. Instead, he took off his Taotie pouch, opened it, and stored his flying swords inside.
Banguo Cuo breathed a sigh of relief and also recalled his locusts. “Chief Qin, there are unpredictable dangers on this ship. We should work together to get through this, rather than continue fighting to the death. What do you think?”
Qin Mu narrowed his eyes. “I was thinking the same thing. But if we cooperate, I find it hard to trust you.”
Banguo Cuo’s eyes flickered. “I don’t trust you either. Chief Qin, you are my rival. I underestimated you before, but I won’t make that mistake again. This time, things didn’t go as I expected. We stumbled into the Netherworld, and the ship holds secrets, hiding a terrifying presence. We must set aside our differences and cooperate if we want to leave alive. If we keep fighting, we’ll only die here!”
Qin Mu reluctantly agreed. “Fine. Then we’ll cooperate only on this ship. Once we’re off it, we’re enemies again.”
Banguo Cuo smiled and nodded. “It’s a deal!”
“It’s a deal!”
Qin Mu hesitated, then said, “Should we sign a Tu Bo Pact?”
Banguo Cuo smiled faintly. “No need for such trouble. We’re only cooperating temporarily.”
Qin Mu nodded. “That makes sense.”
Banguo Cuo breathed a silent sigh of relief. “This new Human Sovereign is still young after all—he can’t outmatch me. If I signed a Tu Bo Pact with you, I’d be forced to work with you, and where would I find a chance to get rid of you?”
Both harbored ulterior motives. Banguo Cuo said, “We need to find our subordinates and gather together to have the strength to protect ourselves.”
Qin Mu nodded. “The Great Lord speaks sense. I’ll follow your lead. Oh, Great Lord, about this silver helmet…” He took out the silver helmet with the red tassel, looking troubled.
Banguo Cuo wanted to take it, but he feared that Qin Mu might attack him the moment he put it on. He shook his head. “We’re working together now, so we should trust each other. Keep it for now. Follow me—I’ve already figured out the secret of this ship’s rooms. It uses the method of matching patterns.”
Qin Mu sincerely admired him. “The Great Lord is wise!”
They tidied up and walked out of the cabin door. The ship was empty and silent, with no living thing in sight. Only some green glowing slime was on the deck.
The treasure ship was huge. The white bat, the dragon qilin, the great shaman and witch king that Banguo Cuo had brought, and the soldiers of the Man Di Kingdom should still be trapped in those rooms.
The two took some elixirs, trying their best to recover their cultivation. They walked side by side into the room they had come from. Qin Mu activated the Overlord Body Three-Dan Art to catalyze the medicine’s effects, recovering about twenty to thirty percent of his cultivation. The wounds on his body, thanks to the dragon saliva, had begun to scab over and fall off.
Banguo Cuo’s injuries had also improved somewhat. His medicines were no worse than Qin Mu’s.
Suddenly, Qin Mu saw the old man in the painting flash across the wall again. His heart stirred, and he immediately chased after him.
Banguo Cuo shouted, “That path is wrong!”
But Qin Mu had already opened another door and rushed into the room!
Banguo Cuo gritted his teeth and followed, furious inside. “If I didn’t still need you, I’d have killed you long ago! Brat, once you’re in my hands, I won’t let you die easily!”