Chapter 494: Remnants of the Upper Emperor
Qin Mu had made his decision. He arrived at a spot a hundred li away, with the box and Dragon Qilin closely following him.
A distance of a hundred li was far enough. Even if the trap was extremely powerful, it would be difficult to threaten them from that far away.
Qin Mu grabbed a handful of yellow sand and gently blew on it. The sand flew out of his palm and, upon landing, transformed into a tiny figure three inches tall.
This "sand dune giant" opened its mouth and let out a fierce roar, looking quite menacing. The sand beneath it swirled, and the small, hill-like giant charged murderously toward the cliff a hundred li away.
Dragon Qilin watched with great anticipation. After a moment, the big fatty's excitement waned slightly, but he still stared intently into the distance. However, nothing happened at the cliff.
Qin Mu leaped onto his head, stood tall to look into the distance, and watched the "sand dune giant." The tiny sand giant had just climbed over a dune and was struggling to make its way toward the cliff.
Dragon Qilin yawned, perked up, and asked, "Chief, is it almost there?"
Qin Mu calculated. "About another half hour."
Dragon Qilin lay down, muttering, "I'll take a nap first. Wake me when it's time."
Half an hour later, Qin Mu kicked the massive creature awake. Dragon Qilin scrambled to his feet, excited. "Is it time?"
"About another half incense stick!"
Qin Mu chuckled. "Let's get up in the air first. If something goes wrong, we can escape easily!"
The box stretched its legs and climbed onto Dragon Qilin's back. Dragon Qilin quickly stepped onto fiery clouds and soared into the sky. From afar, a hundred li away, they could faintly see a tiny figure roaring as it rushed toward the stone tablet. Even with Dragon Qilin's sharp eyesight, it was hard to make out clearly.
Qin Mu, however, could see it perfectly. The little sand dune giant roared for a long time before finally reaching the stone tablet, full of momentum.
Then, the little sand dune giant began digging in the sand, roaring and digging at the same time.
Qin Mu was speechless. Dragon Qilin opened his mouth to say something but then closed it, waiting quietly. He thought to himself, "If I'm stupid enough to bring this up, I probably won't get dinner tomorrow."
After a moment, the little sand dune giant dug a small pit, and the text under the stone tablet was finally revealed. Before Qin Mu could see what it said, suddenly, countless grains of yellow sand in the pit churned, shooting up like rainbows, engulfing the tiny sand giant!
Not only was the tiny sand giant swallowed, but the surrounding area for dozens of li also turned into a terrifying killing field. The yellow sand boiled, forming a giant, earth-yellow cauldron that slammed down over the desert. From within the earth-yellow sphere came the sound of blades clashing!
Dragon Qilin's fur and scales stood on end, bristling straight up. Qin Mu's hair stood on end too!
This trap was even more terrifying than he had imagined. Fortunately, he had been cautious and suggested triggering it from a hundred li away.
Inside the earth-yellow cauldron, countless blade lights flew up, down, left, and right, slashing, cutting, and cleaving. The variations filled nearly the entire space for dozens of li!
"This blade technique..."
Qin Mu was stunned. Suddenly, a bad feeling crept over him. He had seen this blade technique before!
But not in Yankang. It was last night, three or four thousand years ago, from that youth named Luo Wushuang of the Heavenly Court's Lingxiu Army!
The blade technique Luo Wushuang had used bore a striking resemblance to the blade lights in the sand field!
"Is the one-armed youth still alive? The Great Venerable said he wouldn't live long and told me not to worry..."
Qin Mu laughed, but his smile gradually stiffened. Soon, his face turned ashen.
The divine ability trap Luo Wushuang had set here was incredibly powerful—so powerful it was almost unbelievable. Even Star Hyena might not have such immense magical power.
This meant Luo Wushuang had not only survived but was thriving. He seemed very strong, likely having already become a god!
He still held a grudge over the loss of his arm. After becoming a god, he must have revisited this place, found the cliff with Qin Mu's inscription, and left this stone tablet.
If Qin Mu came here, he would surely want to know what was written under the tablet, and then he would fall into the trap!
"I really shouldn't have revealed my name. I should have made one up... But at least there's shared misfortune. Luo Wushuang is too petty. The Great Venerable had a leg cut off by me—twice, on the same leg—and he never said a word."
Luo Wushuang's divine ability didn't last long. Soon, the trap's power dissipated. The yellow sand in the sky was sliced into dust, scattering in the wind.
Qin Mu squinted, a chill running down his spine.
Last night, when he met Luo Wushuang, the youth's blade technique was exquisite but still inferior to his own.
Luo Wushuang's blade technique was a fission technique: one split into two, two into four, four into eight, continuously splitting. At the tenth split, it produced 1,024 blade lights; at the fourteenth split, over 16,000.
However, this technique had a major flaw: Luo Wushuang's magical power was fixed. The more splits, the weaker each blade light became. Too many splits meant insufficient attack power.
Against other experts, he could still dominate, but against someone like Qin Mu, who was a master of both sword and blade techniques, he couldn't gain an advantage.
Thus, even when Qin Mu was nearly out of magical power and covered in wounds, he could still cut off Luo Wushuang's arm.
But this time, Qin Mu saw that Luo Wushuang's blade technique had advanced to a terrifying level.
For dozens of li, yellow sand filled the sky, but the real killing intent was the blade light within the sand.
It seemed that blade lights filled the yellow sand everywhere, still following the fission technique. But in reality, there was only one blade light.
The blade light struck the sand, refracted and rebounded. Because of its incredible speed, it created the illusion of blade lights everywhere. But Luo Wushuang had only struck once!
Qin Mu could imagine it: after becoming a god, Luo Wushuang came here, saw Qin Mu's inscription on the cliff, recognized his sword technique from the handwriting, and set up the stone tablet.
He stood before the tablet, struck his blade into the yellow sand, and hid his blade intent and divine ability within the sand, under the tablet!
Countless years later, Qin Mu arrived, triggered his blade intent and divine ability, and set off the trap!
"His blade technique has reached the Dao realm."
Qin Mu's eyelid twitched. He stepped into the dust, pushing through the choking sand toward the cliff.
Luo Wushuang's blade technique had reached the Dao realm, just like the Yankang National Teacher—a terrifying existence at the Dao realm!
Entering the Dao through the blade, this person's understanding of the blade path was probably no weaker than the Butcher's. Even more frightening was his profound cultivation, likely far surpassing the Butcher's!
Qin Mu was stunned. The cliff ahead was still there, and his inscription was still on it. The cliff was completely undamaged, as if Luo Wushuang's divine ability had deliberately avoided it.
He didn't dwell on it and looked at the stone tablet.
The tablet was also intact, unharmed.
The text under the tablet was revealed. After the two characters "Burial Place," it wasn't the "Here" he had guessed. Instead, it started a new line in very small regular script.
Qin Mu read carefully: "You think this is a trap. You think this blade technique is meant to kill you? Wrong. Standing here, you will be completely unharmed."
"I am waiting for you, Heavenly Saint Cult Leader. I have endured twenty thousand years, the entire Kaihuang Era, without finding any trace of the Heavenly Saint Cult. Not until the end of the Kaihuang Era."
"The remnants of the Kaihuang Era founded the Heavenly Saint Cult. Only then did I realize that the person I was waiting for was not in the past, but in the future!"
"The Heavenly Saint Cult, bearing the word 'Saint' in vain, is actually the demonic path. Heavenly Saint Cult Leader Qin Mu is actually the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader Qin Mu!"
"When you trigger my trap, my divine ability will notify me that you have arrived!"
"I have finally waited for you..."
Qin Mu's face grew solemn. He exhaled a breath of turbid air, leaped onto Dragon Qilin's back, and shouted, "Quick, let's go! We can't stay here!"
Dragon Qilin immediately ran, with the box behind him, sprinting for dear life.
Qin Mu's face darkened.
That wasn't a trap.
Though the display was spectacular, the trap was only meant to let Luo Wushuang sense that his divine ability had been triggered, to know that Heavenly Saint Cult Leader Qin Mu had arrived. That was all!
It was an old monster who had lived for thirty to forty thousand years, still holding a grudge over Qin Mu cutting off his arm. For Qin Mu, it happened last night, but for Luo Wushuang, it was thirty to forty thousand years ago!
Holding a grudge for thirty to forty thousand years, and even setting a trap not to kill Qin Mu but to notify his true body—Luo Wushuang's obsession was terrifying!
He would rather make his trap useless than keep Qin Mu alive, because he wanted to take his revenge personally!
Qin Mu fled far away with the box. By now, it was past noon, and the sun was tilting westward. The sun over this yellow sand desert seemed different from the one in Yankang, and this world seemed different from Yankang too.
He rode Dragon Qilin with the box, racing across the desert. This world seemed endless, with no horizon in sight, no end to reach.
He couldn't even find the crack he had seen when he arrived.
Cold sweat broke out on Qin Mu's forehead. If he couldn't get out of here, even if Luo Wushuang didn't come to kill him, he would eventually die in this strange place!
He might die of thirst, hunger, madness from loneliness, or old age in solitude.
"Don't panic, don't panic. Think carefully..."
He calmed his mind and carefully recalled the path he had taken. The vast desert had erased his tracks, and even if he could find the way back, he absolutely couldn't take that path.
"Star Hyena didn't catch up to us. He must be guarding the crack at the entrance, waiting for me to walk right into his trap."
Qin Mu's eyes flickered. He looked up at the sky and thought to himself, "I once saw, at the source of the Yong River, on that cliff that cuts across the Great Ruins from east to west, that the sky has five layers—the skies of five worlds stacked together! Five layers of sky overlapping means this world has other exits. I can find another way back to the Great Ruins!"
Layers of formation patterns spun in his pupils. He let Dragon Qilin run wild, only watching the sky.
At night, Dragon Qilin dared not move forward and jumped onto the box, while Qin Mu lay on his back, legs crossed, staring at the pitch-black sky. The box climbed over sand dunes and ran into the distance.
When day came again, Qin Mu looked haggard, his eyes bloodshot, but he still stared without daring to relax.
Finally, Qin Mu saw a cloud.
This world was all desert, with no moisture at all. Yet this cloud appeared out of nowhere, first a small patch, then growing larger and larger!
Qin Mu's spirits soared. He leaped up and laughed heartily: "Heaven never seals off all exits; it's people who seal their own paths by giving up hope! I won't give up, so I can live to get out!"
He placed the box on Dragon Qilin's back. Dragon Qilin soared into the sky, charging toward the cloud.
Just as they passed through this world, divine light flickered at the cliff. Within the divine light was another world, colorful and vibrant, with towering plants and multicolored flowers.
Divine light flowed from the cliff like a waterfall, connecting the two worlds.
A girl's phantom stepped on the flowers from the other world, looking at the inscription on the cliff. She whispered, "Two hundred more years until forty thousand. You should be born by now. I'm still waiting for you."
Her face carried a hint of melancholy. She murmured, "I survived, but forty thousand years of time can't make me forget you... I dare not grow old, afraid you won't recognize me..."
Suddenly, the stone tablet beside her began to rise. It clanked as pieces of stone split outward, quickly forming a stone archway.
"Heavenly Demon Cult Leader Qin Mu, I've finally waited for you!" A one-armed figure appeared on the other side of the portal, a long blade slung across his back. His laughter was like weeping.
The girl in the divine light and the figure in the portal met eyes, both startled.
"Remnants of the Upper Emperor!"
"Demons from beyond the realm!"