Chapter 495: Man Proposes, Heaven Disposes
Beneath the cliff, two portals led to two different worlds, and those within each portal harbored their own apprehensions.
This was not their first encounter, nor their first clash. Many years ago, they had fought, back in the era when the reign of the Upper Emperor was about to be buried.
Afterward, they had clashed several more times, though by then it was already the era of the Opening Emperor!
Right here on this very cliff, they had engaged in numerous long-distance confrontations.
Now, both had already left this desolate, lifeless world. What appeared here were merely their projections. Their cultivation levels were too high, their power too great; without a specific opportunity, they could not enter this world in their true forms.
This world no longer held any living beings. Nothing could survive here.
This was the Great Ruin of the Upper Emperor era.
A place even more hostile than the Great Ruin of the Opening Emperor era.
The Great Ruin at least had stone statues transformed from gods, offering protection to a region, allowing living beings to survive. Here, there was only desert. When night fell and darkness encroached, there was nowhere to hide.
As early as thirty or forty thousand years ago, living beings had vanished from here, leaving only deities.
In the early days of the Opening Emperor era, the deities here had departed one after another, moving to other worlds. These two were the last deities to leave.
"The woman from the Bai family, forty thousand years ago, have you also come seeking the one who left the inscription?"
The one-armed divine demon within the stone gate stood tall, the long blade on his back clanging sharply. Its blade intent seemed capable of piercing through time and space, cutting into another world. He sneered, "It seems you too have received news of his emergence and have come to find him. I long suspected something was off with your swordsmanship—it surpassed the Upper Emperor era and even the Opening Emperor era. I never expected you to actually be connected to the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader!"
The woman within the divine light on the cliff wall trembled slightly, immense joy welling up from the depths of her heart. She paid no heed to his hostility. "Has he truly come? Has he, who traverses time, truly appeared here?"
"You cannot stop me!"
The one-armed divine demon within the stone gate was supremely proud, standing firm in the portal. "I want to kill him, and you want to stop me. We have fought for many years, and in the end, it's all a messy account—neither of us can do anything to the other. The reason I kept my severed arm was so that one day I could find him, avenge the loss of my arm, and settle the hatred of having my Dao heart humiliated. If I cannot break his swordsmanship with my blade technique, I will never be able to express my true feelings or advance my blade Dao further! I have waited nearly forty thousand years for this day!"
The woman within the divine light on the cliff wall stepped out of the radiance and appeared on the desert. She was merely a phantom shadow, speaking softly, "You cannot reach this world. Whatever you say is useless."
The one-armed divine demon within the stone gate turned around. His blood-red cape fluttered, covering the entire portal. Suddenly, where the cape parted, a blade light sliced through the barrier between the two worlds!
The blade intent was vast and terrifying. With this single strike, he had actually cut through the barrier separating the two worlds!
The blade light hissed and crackled as it surged from the stone gate. The desert ahead instantly churned into two waves of sand, with a sheer cliff rising between them, towering thousands of feet high and stretching for hundreds of miles!
Just as he was about to set foot into this world, a sudden, invisible force of heaven and earth sent him flying backward.
The young woman walked back into the divine light and vanished into the cliff wall. "With your power, it's very difficult to pass through in your true form. You might as well give up on this idea."
The one-armed divine demon within the stone gate sheathed his blade and turned to leave as well. The stone gate began to slowly collapse. "I will return to this world. A mere world barrier is nothing to me!"
Dragon Qilin carried Qin Mu and the box as they passed through that cloud. Just moments ago, it had been daylight, but the moment they crossed the cloud, the sky turned pitch black. In the darkness, the roar of a waterfall reached them. Qin Mu followed the sound and saw faint lights on the cliff face in the night.
They had returned to the Great Ruin, back to the source of the Yong River.
This was still the natural chasm that split the Great Ruin into east and west. The steep cliff with its immense drop divided the Great Ruin into two halves. It was also the origin of the Yong River. The waterfall cascading down the cliff face had a rather intriguing source for its water.
"The water of the Yong River might flow out from several other worlds. Perhaps one could enter different worlds through the cracks in this cliff. Maybe there are unique stories waiting there too…"
As Qin Mu gazed at the cliff, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. He saw a headless figure standing in a crevice of the cliff!
Xing Han!
A chill ran down his spine. Xing Han was guarding the entrance to the world of the Yellow Sand Desert, waiting for him to walk right into the trap!
The world of the Yellow Sand Desert was a world without any living beings, a completely dead world.
This guy had actually removed his own head, leaving his headless body to stand guard there. His head and eyes were presumably still flying around in the sky of the Yellow Sand Desert, searching for Qin Mu and the others!
Dragon Qilin also noticed this. He silently descended, and the box emitted a faint glow, pushing back the darkness to protect them.
Finally, Dragon Qilin landed. The box crept down from the dragon's back and lay flat on the ground.
Dragon Qilin did his best to shrink his size, then climbed onto the box. Qin Mu also stood on the box. The large box began to move, quietly approaching the river.
The river here was the source of the Yong River. It wasn't very wide, and the water flow wasn't large, so it couldn't really be called a river yet.
The box entered the water. Its legs gently paddled, drifting silently downstream.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. Xing Han had placed his head in that other world, which also meant he had lost the ability to monitor this side. It would be difficult for him to find them. The farther they went, the slimmer the chance of discovery.
Just then, there was a sudden *dong* sound as the box hit a submerged rock. The noise wasn't loud, but in the dead of night, it was extremely jarring.
They hadn't gone far from the waterfall, and they were still close to where Xing Han was.
Qin Mu looked back. Seeing that the headless Xing Han in the cliff crevice remained motionless, an idea struck him. He chuckled, "I've been too cautious. I forgot that Xing Han's head isn't here. He has no ears or eyes. Even if we walked right past him in broad daylight, he wouldn't see or hear us."
Dragon Qilin also sighed in relief and laughed, "The waterfall is so loud here, there's no need to worry about him hearing us… Cult Leader?"
Qin Mu's expression suddenly changed drastically, his face filled with shock. In the cliff crevice, Xing Han's headless body turned around. His neck was very long, and on either side of it was an ear.
His entire body was like a divine physique, radiating divine light, making him quite conspicuous in the darkness.
Xing Han had cut off his ears and grafted them onto his neck!
Now, those two ears fluttered in the wind, growing larger than the ears of a Loulan Golden Elephant!
Qin Mu made a snap decision, using the telepathic communication of the Heavenly Feather Clan: "Run! Don't take the water route! Get to shore!"
The box was slower in the water but faster on land. In the darkness, they had to rely on the box to fend off the darkness, so the box's speed was their speed.
The box was silent in the water, but on land, it would make footsteps. However, since Xing Han had already heard the noise, escaping onto land was the best option.
In the cliff crevice, the headless body suddenly whooshed into the air, charging straight toward where Qin Mu and the others were!
At the same time, an eyeball was flying rapidly out of the crevice. The moment it emerged, it stopped in midair. Divine light blazed from the eye, illuminating the surroundings to first determine its location.
After the divine eye confirmed its position, a beam of light shot down from above, sweeping across the ground over an area of about a hundred acres as it flew forward!
"Damn it…"
Qin Mu's heart turned cold. The box could ward off the darkness, but it wasn't fast. It was even slower in the water, and they still hadn't made it to shore. But they absolutely couldn't abandon the box!
*Dong!*
The headless Xing Han landed on the water, not far from them. He tilted his neck, his ears on full alert, standing motionless on the water. Those ears had grown even larger.
Suddenly, a beam of light from the sky shone down on the headless Xing Han. Then the light moved forward, sweeping across, and with a *shua*, it illuminated Qin Mu and Dragon Qilin, who were nervously perched on the box.
Qin Mu forced a smile. The box beneath him also stopped moving, frozen in place. Qin Mu said with a faint smile, "Senior Brother Xing Han, what if I help you get rid of the hidden ailment in your physical body? Would you let me go?"
On Xing Han's neck, the two ears suddenly fluttered and flew up. The eye in the air also flew forward on its own.
"Your shamelessness truly surprises me. You still have the nerve to bring that up."
Xing Han's voice came through. A head flew out from the darkness behind him and landed on his neck.
As the head began to speak, the two ears also flew over and attached themselves to his ear holes.
Another eye flew over, but instead of entering his eye socket, it joined the first eye, hovering to the left and right above Qin Mu, monitoring his every move.
Xing Han looked up and said coldly, "Now I can answer you. No. Great Physician Qin is far too cunning. The moment I let my guard down, you even stole my box. I'm afraid that if I let you treat my illness, you'll end up stealing my life too! A man this cunning can only make me feel at ease when he's a corpse."
On the river, a fog rolled in. The area was very humid, and fog was common.
Seeing the fog, Qin Mu's mind stirred. He chuckled, "Senior Brother Xing Han is too cautious. You're not really a bad person; you're just too obsessed with immortality. You probably haven't been to Yankang recently, have you? I've already completed the Divine Bridge and established a mathematical model for the Divine Bridge space. As long as one cultivates, they can complete the Divine Bridge. Now, this is common knowledge in Yankang. Only you don't know about it, still thinking of using other people's bodies and primordial spirits to extend your own life."
Xing Han was about to strike and kill him, but he paused at these words. He sneered, "You're lying! If you really had such a technique, why would you publicize it instead of keeping it to yourself? You're the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader. You would naturally teach this technique to your cult members first to strengthen your Heavenly Demon Cult! Besides, the Great Venerable has been by my side for six or seven days. Why has he never mentioned this to me?"
Qin Mu laughed heartily. "The Great Venerable still wants to use your hand to get rid of me and let you and Wei Wu God destroy each other. Why would he tell you this? Besides, keeping it to yourself… You underestimate the magnanimity of this Celestial Saint Cult Leader."
He continued, "If you seek immortality, you can abandon the things in the box and the bodies of others. You only need to learn my three techniques: the Magpie Bridge Art, the Mysterious Attraction Art, and the Divine Crossing Art. Once the Divine Bridge is complete, you can cross it into the Heavenly Palace and become an immortal, undying deity. To be honest, someone has already beaten you to it. The Yankang National Master has already become a deity."
The fog grew thicker, swallowing them up.
Xing Han's two eyes in the air drew closer, still fixed on him. Even with the fog, he could see Qin Mu clearly.
Xing Han's voice came through the fog, sighing. "You have such a breadth of mind. It's truly remarkable. I underestimated you. However, if you think I only take others' bodies for immortality, you've also underestimated me. My goal is to become a true god, a genuine deity. So, I will still kill, and I will still take others' bodies. Your mathematical model for the Divine Bridge space is very useful to me. Thank you. But since you've already spread it…"
A sharp glint flashed in Qin Mu's eyes. Suddenly, his body sank, and his Yuan Qi erupted, transforming into countless runic patterns that wrapped around him, Dragon Qilin, and the box!
"Then what use is keeping you alive?"
Xing Han's two eyes blazed with light, shredding the runes around Qin Mu. But Qin Mu just smiled. He drew his blades with both hands and swung them wildly in a chaotic flurry. With each slash, the shattered runes in the air lit up again.
Blade light coiled around him, front and back. Even Xing Han couldn't help but admire him. He chuckled, "Your skills aren't bad. You're no worse than I was back then."
His physical body charged in, ready to strike and kill Qin Mu. But suddenly, the world spun around him. His face changed drastically. "A trap!"
*Shua!*
The two eyes vanished. His physical body relied on his eyes to see. Now that his eyes had been teleported away by Qin Mu, the scene before him instantly became a rapidly spinning, tumbling world!
"Ugh—"
Xing Han opened his mouth and vomited. He forcibly activated his primordial spirit to stabilize the disorienting vision. He felt as if his own body was spinning, but it was just an illusion caused by his eyes spinning!
"Back then? Xing Han, back then you weren't even fit to polish my shoes!" Qin Mu laughed heartily as more runes lit up around him.
Hearing his voice, Xing Han immediately charged toward him. The moment he moved, he knew something was wrong. The next second, with a thunderous *boom*, he shot dozens of miles away, crashing into a cliff face!
His two divine eyes were connected to his vision. Now that the eyes were spinning rapidly, his sense of space was completely gone. He couldn't tell direction!
Qin Mu's Yuan Qi erupted. Runes appeared again as he activated his teleportation divine ability, vanishing with the box and Dragon Qilin!
"I can teleport Xing Han's eyes dozens of miles away, but with Dragon Qilin and the box, I can only teleport a maximum of four miles. Beyond four miles, as long as I don't make a sound and sneak to the riverbed, I can slip away quietly…"
As Qin Mu teleported, he was making precise calculations. Suddenly, with a deafening *boom*, his teleportation divine ability failed. He, the box, and Dragon Qilin slammed violently into a suddenly appearing mountain of skulls, sending countless bones flying everywhere!
The impact stunned him, leaving him at a loss.
A skeleton flailed past him, shouting innocently, "Who's so blind?"
— I really don't want to write chapters over four thousand words, truly. Zhuzhu has raised his knife several times, wanting to split this chapter into two or three thousand-word chapters, but he can't bear to cut it. Sigh, Zhuzhu has put down the knife. Who says I'm not generous? Seeing this, can you put down your butcher's knife? Come on, put down the knife and click to vote!