Chapter 327: The Afterglow of History
The Yong River had arrived.
Qin Mu surveyed his surroundings. When the village chief had brought him searching for Carefree Village, they had passed near this area. The village where the yin emissaries guided ghosts should not be too far from here. It would take about five or six days to return to the Village of Waning Elders.
It was now the end of the eighth month. The sun was still scorching hot, blazing across the sky. This journey had been quite a rugged one. When Qin Mu had left the capital with Crown Prince Ling Yushu, it had been the spring season, and now it was already the end of summer. After another season passed, it would be time to return to the village for the New Year.
The experiences and encounters along this journey could be called legendary.
They traveled downstream along the river. Suddenly, a gust of watery vapor blew in from the river, and then they saw thick white mist sealing off the great river, obscuring everything around them.
Qin Mu immediately stopped. The others also quickly halted, standing motionless on the river's surface.
Xiong Xiyu's heart tightened, and she whispered, "A demon?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "It doesn't seem like it. It should be one of the strange phenomena of the Great Ruins."
Just then, the Carefree Sword in the wooden scabbard on his back began to ring with a tinkling sound. Qin Mu's heart stirred. The Carefree Sword rarely emitted a sword hum on its own. The last time it had made such a sound was when they encountered his father Qin Hanzhen's treasure ship.
The Carefree Sword vibrated continuously. From within the mist, the clamor of people and horses gradually emerged, as if countless troops were passing through. Xiong Qi'er exclaimed softly, "Look beneath our feet! The water is gone!"
Qin Mu quickly looked down and saw that the Yong River beneath them had vanished without a trace, replaced by dry, yellow earth.
The mist gradually dissipated, growing thinner and thinner. Around them, the vague outlines of many moving figures could be seen.
Qin Mu, Xiong Xiyu, and the others stood frozen, their bodies stiff. They saw that they were surrounded by a Gobi desert, with yellow sand filling the sky. Tens of thousands of cultivators, all dressed in ancient and simple clothing, were leading giant beasts and constructing massive buildings.
These buildings did not resemble houses for humans. The towers were tall and majestic, pagodas soared into the clouds, and palaces were resplendent and magnificent. They looked like dwellings for giants or celestial gods.
On the high altars stood golden, radiant celestial gods. Some had bird heads and human bodies, others had beast heads and human forms, all clad in golden armor, their divine eyes shining with light.
These were living deities. The ground where they stood seemed to be bathed in eternal daylight.
Under their supervision, tens of thousands of cultivators were building a divine palace complex, grand and spectacular in scale.
But wasn't this place the Yong River? How could it be a desert here?
Several flood dragons pulled a jeweled carriage racing across the sky. From afar, a voice shook heaven and earth: "By decree of the Sovereign: The Ministry of Works is to oversee the construction of the Western Palace and open waterways for transport!"
Qin Mu was startled. "Sovereign? The third move of the Sword Diagram that the village chief taught me is called the Sovereign's Calamity! Is there any connection between the 'Sovereign' in the Sovereign's Calamity and this 'Sovereign' who issued the decree?"
A deity with a dragon's head and a human body standing on an altar bowed to receive the decree. His body shook, and he transformed into an azure dragon, soaring through the sky to summon clouds and rain, stirring up wind and waves, drawing in a great flood to irrigate the desert.
At the same time, another deity, holding a bronze plow, transformed into a giant, splitting mountains and digging canals to channel the water.
Yet another deity took out a precious bottle, floating in midair. The bottle tilted downward, and a surge of green poured out, turning the desert into grassland as dense forests grew wildly.
There was also a deity who produced a great cauldron. When the cauldron landed, mountains rose from the ground, the terrain changed drastically, and the great desert became green hills.
Qin Mu and the others stared dumbfounded at this scene. These gods from the Sovereign Era were using boundless power to reshape heaven and earth. What were seas turning into mulberry fields or the vicissitudes of life compared to this?
"This great river should be the Yong River, right?"
Qin Mu was stunned as he watched the deity holding the bronze plow carve out a main channel. The river was very long, flowing eastward.
The shape of this river was somewhat similar to the Yong River, but its course was not exactly the same. It resembled the Yong River, but its water volume was not as great.
Just then, the mist surged again, engulfing everything ahead of them. In a daze, they felt the earth tremble violently. A tremendous sound, like the sky collapsing and the earth splitting, came from within the mist. It was a scene of apocalypse—the sky spinning, the earth overturning, volcanoes, meteors, smoke, thunder, all drowning the once-glorious palaces and burying a civilization.
They heard a rumbling sound behind them. Turning back, they saw a natural chasm slowly rising in the mist, cutting off the continent.
The mist gradually dissipated, as if the rust of time was slowly fading away. The chasm behind them gradually became clear, with waterfalls cascading into the Yong River.
The yellow sand beneath their feet turned back into flowing water, rushing eastward without pause.
Plop, plop.
The two white bats hanging upside down from the Dragon Qilin's chin were startled. Their claws lost their grip, and they fell into the water. The two white bats quickly flew up from the river, clinging to each other and shivering. "The Great Ruins are too eerie! Chief Qin, hurry up and send us back to the Nether Valley!"
Qin Mu was both amused and exasperated. "Brothers Bat, you two are already part of the eerie phenomena of the Great Ruins. Why are you complaining about it being too eerie? You two, in the Nether Valley, can scare countless treasure hunters who dare to enter there."
The two white bats looked at each other. "We two are also eerie phenomena?"
Qin Mu found them both ridiculous and infuriating. These two brothers had no self-awareness. The eerie phenomena of the Nether Valley were terrifying. All kinds of strange creatures made it hard even for celestial beings to claim they could escape unscathed. And these two brothers were the guardians of the Nether Valley, the eeriest of the eerie.
The mist around them had not completely dissipated. Looking into the distance at the chasm, it was hazy and indistinct.
Suddenly, clumps of mist walked toward them. When they reached them, they had turned into gray-white figures. With a *puff*, they passed right through their bodies.
The group quickly turned around. The mist coalesced again, and a voice came from within: "What happened during the Sovereign Era? Why did this magnificent era vanish from heaven and earth? Was that just now an afterglow of history? Imprinting events from history into the river of time, and by chance, replaying that scene from history? This land is truly wondrous. The ancient empire is also astonishing."
"Your Majesty, the Dao Sect and the Great Thunderclap Temple have some records that have been passed down. Your Majesty can issue an edict to have them send these records over."
"Good. Have them sent. I don't want to deal with those monks and Daoists. They always tell me not to reform. Without reform, how can the people's lives be improved? I don't want to see them."
The leading clump of mist walked toward the chasm, its voice coming from within the mist: "I don't want our Kaihuang Kingdom to meet the same fate. We must learn from the lessons of the previous dynasty. What a magnificent empire it was! The gods governed the mortal world, working for the people. So powerful, yet only these ruins remain..."
...
Qin Mu's mind was stirred. He looked toward that wisp of mist. Kaihuang?
In the Qin family genealogy, the first name listed was Kaihuang, the founding ancestor of the Qin clan!
He quickly chased after those human-shaped mists. The mists moved very fast, leaving him far behind in just a few steps. Qin Mu activated the Heaven-Thieving Divine Leg Technique, moving like the wind, but the mists suddenly vanished without a trace.
Qin Mu stood there, dazed and lost.
Kaihuang.
The Kaihuang Kingdom.
It should have been the kingdom before the Great Ruins catastrophe. But what was the connection between the Kaihuang Kingdom and Carefree Village?
Xiong Xiyu and the others caught up. Xiong Xiyu's eyes darted around as she looked about and asked, "Chief Qin, that scene just now?"
"An afterglow of history."
Qin Mu steadied himself and said, "There are many strange occurrences at the source of the Yong River. This place might connect to several worlds. When night falls, many strange things happen. I didn't expect strange things to happen during the day as well. Judging by that afterglow just now, this should have been a temporary palace of the Sovereign. Perhaps we can find relics from that era here."
"An afterglow of history?"
Xiong Xiyu and the others were slightly puzzled. How could something that had already happened leave an afterglow?
But Qin Mu had seen an afterglow of history before. On the treasure ship, he had witnessed the scene of his father Qin Hanzhen being ambushed.
This kind of historical afterglow was usually a time imprint left by powerful individuals. When the afterglow appeared, it was generally triggered by related people, objects, or events, with a strong element of chance.
The afterglow on the treasure ship had been triggered by Qin Mu and the Carefree Sword. What had triggered this one?
"This time, there were two afterglows!"
Qin Mu suddenly realized. Or rather, it was an afterglow within an afterglow!
Kaihuang had come here, triggering the first afterglow, which showed the gods under the Sovereign transforming the desert in ancient times. The second afterglow was the appearance of Kaihuang and his group on the Yong River!
The first afterglow was part of the second afterglow, also recorded by time.
"So, what triggered this afterglow? Could it be the Carefree Sword again?"
Behind Qin Mu, the Carefree Sword had quieted down, no longer humming. The historical afterglow had completely dissipated. There was no mist on the river, the sky was clear, and the sun was bright.
Where had that mist come from, and where had it gone!
"How strange. Why did these things happen here... Wait, the historical afterglow also occurred on my father's treasure ship. And that treasure ship was in the gap between the Netherworld and the real world, with the hive seal blocking the entrance between the Netherworld and the real world. If the conditions are the same, then the historical afterglow happening here must be because this is also an entrance connecting to other worlds!"
Qin Mu pondered. Perhaps the historical afterglow was a reflection on the barriers between worlds, triggered to replay history.
He and the village chief had encountered the yin emissaries near here, entering the Netherworld's realm of the dead from this spot. The second time they came here, they also encountered the yin emissaries and entered the realm of the dead from nearby to borrow the moon boat.
The realm of the dead was nearby, and the Netherworld should also be close.
"The source of the Yong River is more like an important node connecting to other worlds. There might be passages to other worlds here. There must be nodes connecting to other worlds!"
Qin Mu's stirred heart calmed down. Layers of light swirled in his pupils as he activated his Azure Sky Divine Eye, scanning the surroundings. He found nothing unusual.
He looked up at the sky. After staring for a while, he suddenly noticed something strange.
The sky was still blue, but he saw two clouds meet and then pass through each other!
According to his knowledge, when two clouds met and collided, they would merge. But these two clouds, though they passed through each other, seemed not to have touched at all!
This situation was more like the two clouds were in different spaces, seemingly meeting but not actually touching!
In other words, above their heads, there were two skies, two overlapping skies!
"No, maybe there are three!"
Qin Mu leaped up, rapidly ascending into the sky. Suddenly, a gust of wind hit him, making him shiver several times. "Or maybe four overlapping skies, or five..."
— Second update in ten minutes!