Chapter 520: The Human Sovereign Hall Ancestral Rite
"What's all the commotion about with those Human Sovereigns again? So lively?"
In Fengdu City, the King of Hell stood before the Palace of the First Emperor, gazing into the city. He saw houses and palaces collapsing in droves and asked in confusion, "Are they at it again, disciples beating their masters? This time it seems quite brutal..."
A large bird flew in, landing and transforming into a bird-headed, human-bodied Crimson Elegance Deity. He smoothed his feathers and shook his head. "The King of Hell guessed wrong. This time it's not disciples beating masters, but masters conspiring with grandmasters and great-grandmasters to beat the disciple. That Human Sovereign surnamed Su has returned, and then he was ganged up on by his master, grandmaster, and great-grandmaster. He was beaten so miserably he couldn't even die if he wanted to."
The King of Hell asked in surprise, "Did they change the rules?"
"I don't know either. It seems to be about the Overlord Body matter. Sovereign Su brought a rubbing, claiming it was a legend of the Overlord Body from forty thousand years ago. At first, the Second Ancestor and the others listened with smiles on their faces, all pleasant and agreeable, and then they surrounded him and started beating him."
Crimson Elegance Deity paused, then continued, "Then Sovereign Su fought back, and they beat him even harder. They accused him of betraying his masters and ancestors, of plotting against them, and of indulging the Little Human Sovereign in attacking them. I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but Sovereign Su was beaten terribly. None of the other gods and demons dared to step forward to mediate. The Celestial Sage Cult Leader was cheering from the sidelines, shouting 'Well done!' as if he feared the world wouldn't descend into chaos. Should we stop them?"
The King of Hell was silent for a moment, then said, "No need. If you go to stop them, they'll just join forces and beat you instead."
Late at night, the Great Ruins remained extremely lively, with countless monsters and demons roaming about. Star Yak walked through the darkness, the divine light emanating from his body repelling the invasion of dark matter, and entered the location marked on Ling Yuxiu's map.
Suddenly, his mind shook violently. He saw a vast sealed space. Forests stretched across every corner of this enormous cube—above, below, left, and right. And within this sealed space, a colossal ship, many times larger than the Sun Ship or Moon Ship, appeared!
This was the giant vessel built by the Heavenly Artifact Divine Race of the Kai Emperor's Heavenly Court, intended to journey to the Land of No Worries—the Ark of the Other Shore!
But the ship was battered and broken, clearly having endured a bloody battle that had shattered it, rendering it unable to move forward!
Star Yak also sensed the danger of this place. He hesitated for a moment but ultimately stepped inside.
After all, he was the most powerful being in the world today. Though he recognized the danger, he had the confidence to leave at any time!
Before long, he arrived at a small village in the forest. Star Yak's heart stirred. He indeed saw a pattern identical to the one on the jade pendant. "The little princess of the Ling family didn't deceive me!"
Just then, he sensed he wasn't alone here.
The door of a thatched courtyard opened, and inside, a figure sat with his back to him.
"Is this the person I've been seeking?"
Star Yak grew excited. He took out a mirror and, with his back to the figure, looked into it. In the mirror, the figure turned around, revealing a face full of wrinkles, and smiled at him. "Ah ah!"
Star Yak was momentarily stunned. It was an old man, not the person he was looking for. However, this old man also carried a box, and beside the box was a blacksmith's furnace.
"You are very strong."
Star Yak turned around, his expression calm. "You've stirred in me the thrill of a hunter finding rare prey. I can feel the immense battle power within you—extremely formidable! You might be the most terrifying opponent I've encountered in recent years."
"Ah ah!" The old man's face wrinkled like an orange peel, and he laughed happily, gesturing with his hands.
Star Yak couldn't understand and said directly, "I very much want to collect you. Show me your strongest technique. Let me see what you're capable of."
Boom—
The furnace beside the old man ignited, flames soaring over ten miles into the sky. Star Yak immediately felt as if the space itself was about to be scorched. But the most terrifying thing wasn't the furnace; the threat came from within the unremarkable old man's body.
Suddenly, a dazzling divine light burst from the old man's dantian, like a small sun exploding within it, radiating unparalleled energy!
Star Yak grew excited. Then he saw a divine bridge spanning the sky behind the old man. On that bridge, the old man's primordial spirit, bird-headed and human-bodied, radiated incomparable heat. It leaped up, crossed the bridge, and entered the Heavenly Court on the other side.
Boom!
The old man's power erupted again. The scorching heat warped space. Suddenly, the box opened on its own, and countless silver pellets flew out. They flowed like water, attaching themselves to the old man's body, instantly transforming him into a silver-armored general. The silver light in his hands coalesced into two massive hammers, which he swung down at Star Yak!
As the hammer fell, Star Yak felt as if he had become a piece of stubborn iron on an anvil, about to be forged into whatever shape the old man desired!
"So strong! Far stronger than the divine dantians of those powerful beings I've collected before!"
Star Yak was ecstatic. He raised his hand, and ripples of water swirled around him. Behind him, the phantom of a vast ocean appeared, waves roaring. He met the blow head-on, only to be blasted out of the small village.
The old man strode forward, his two hammers rising and falling in wide, sweeping arcs as he furiously attacked. The two clashed through the mountains and forests, fighting without pause. Star Yak laughed loudly. "What a body! What a dantian! I must make you one of my treasures! Solitary yin cannot give birth; solitary yang cannot grow. You walk the path of pure yang—fierce and domineering, but unsustainable! Your ferocity puts too much strain on your body, making it unable to bear the burden, which is why you look so aged. Unless you refine your physical body into a divine realm, you can withstand the divine might of your dantian furnace. If you continue fighting, you will inevitably exceed your body's limits, and you will surely lose!"
Just then, the old man faltered. He suddenly withdrew his hammers, and the silver armor on his body flowed down to his feet, transforming into a silver horse. The old man slapped the horse and fled.
Star Yak immediately gave chase. Suddenly, the ground beneath him vanished. They had entered the space where the Ark of the Other Shore lay, surrounded by massive fragments of the broken ship.
Seeing the silver horse beneath the old man gradually slow down, Star Yak realized that the man's dantian was too powerful, endangering his physical body, making it hard for him to persist. So he pressed on.
After a moment, cold sweat broke out on Star Yak's forehead. He had lost sight of the old man and found himself trapped in this dangerous place. In the air around him, countless seals and restrictions were everywhere, making every step difficult.
Suddenly, the old man reappeared, sitting at the bow of a small silver boat. He had somehow acquired a bamboo hat and placed it on his head.
Star Yak steadied himself, his eyelids twitching. He wanted to charge forward but was blocked by a seal rune floating in the air.
The old man grinned, revealing a mouth with no tongue. He raised his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture, then the silver boat drifted away.
Star Yak flew into a rage. Suddenly, he felt that the old man's smile was familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
"That smile... I've definitely seen it before. Definitely..."
He calmed himself, pushing the image of the old man's grin out of his mind, and focused on finding a way out. Just as he was about to break the first rune seal, Qin Mu's smile suddenly flashed in his mind, overlapping with the mute old man's grin. His mind was thrown into chaos, and he was blasted away by the rune seal.
Qin Mu's smile and the mute old man's smile were almost perfectly aligned, the only difference being that Qin Mu's smile was simple and honest, while the mute old man's carried a hint of cunning!
"I..."
A mouthful of divine blood surged into Star Yak's throat, but he forced it back down. "I'm not angry. I'm not angry. I won't let him ruin my Dao heart. I... Ugh—"
He couldn't hold it in. He spat out a mouthful of divine blood, his face ashen, and let out a furious roar. "Divine Doctor Qin, I will never let you off!"
Qin Mu followed the guiding light all the way out of the Great Ruins. He walked from the ruins to the southern border of Yancheng. The area was infested with snakes and insects, sparsely populated. The further he followed the light, the more desolate it became.
Finally, at sunrise, the guiding light coalesced into a small door atop a mountain peak, appearing before him.
This small hill had only this door made of light. Qin Mu looked around. The wilderness was barren, with no sign of human life—only desolate mountains.
Dragon Qilin raised his head, looked around, and saw the sun rising. He was overjoyed. "Cult Leader, it's dawn! Breakfast..."
Qin Mu pushed open the door. The solitary portal swung open, and light streamed out from within. He stepped into the light and walked in.
Dragon Qilin quickly rode the box and charged in after him. As their figures disappeared, the light door dimmed and vanished.
After a moment, Qin Mu appeared on a vast, desolate land. Compared to this desolation, the earlier wilderness was nothing.
Before him, collapsed temples lay everywhere. Thick fog shrouded the area, and within the fog stood tombstones, each behind a grave mound. The broken walls, tombstones, and burial mounds struck his heart.
In the distance, only one palace remained relatively intact, standing alone in the mist.
Qin Mu walked forward, looking around. The space here was vast. Countless tombstones in the fog formed the landscape of the Human Sovereign Hall.
He came to the first grave mound and looked at the tombstone. It read: "Tomb of Wei Ming, Western General of the Heavenly Court." Beneath the tombstone lay a bloodstained shield.
Qin Mu went to the second grave mound. The tombstone read: "Tomb of Ding Yunhe, Thousand-Household Commander of the Heavenly Court Tiger Guard Army." Beneath it lay a helmet.
He continued forward. The silence was absolute. Even Dragon Qilin, who had been clamoring for breakfast, dared not speak. He shrank his tail, trembling, then suddenly lifted the box lid, crawled inside, and hid, not daring to show his face.
Qin Mu examined the tombstones one by one. Many graves had no inscriptions, presumably because the one who erected them didn't know the deceased's name.
These graves paved a path leading to the Human Sovereign Hall in the mist.
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Mu finally neared the Human Sovereign Hall. A thatched hut came into view. Inside sat a skeleton, its head drooping. A stone tablet lay fallen before it. Even as a skeleton, one could tell the man had been tall and sturdy, with thick knuckles—likely skilled in seals, palms, and fists.
Qin Mu brushed the dust off the stone tablet and was stunned.
The tablet read: "Human Sovereign Qi Kang. Feeling he accomplished nothing in life, he had no face to erect a monument, no face to be buried, no face to meet his ancestors. He buried himself in this hut, leaving his bones unburied."
Qin Mu opened the box, took out candles, paper money, and offerings, and respectfully lit incense to pay homage to Human Sovereign Qi Kang.
He walked out of the hut and then saw another hut beside it. Inside were several severed hands and feet, along with another fallen stone tablet. On it was only the character "Su," written with a broken sword. The sword was stuck in the tablet, the inscription unfinished.
Qin Mu looked at the severed limbs, the wounds left by sword cuts. His lips trembled. He reverently paid his respects.
"Village Chief..."
He knew that when the Village Chief came here, he had intended to end his life. But because the Human Sovereign Seal hadn't been passed on, he couldn't die yet. So he buried his severed hands and feet here.
He hadn't even dared to write his own name, because at that time, he hadn't yet left a legacy.
Qin Mu came to a third hut. Here, too, was a skeleton, short and stocky—Human Sovereign Yi Shan.
The tombstone also bore a few brief lines.
"Human Sovereign Yi Shan. Defeated by the hand of the Upper Realm. No face to be buried and meet his master. Descendants need not pay respects to me."
Qin Mu went to a fourth hut. Another skeleton, its hand bones holding a flower basket.
"Human Sovereign Lan Po. Accomplished nothing in life. Ashamed before my master's teachings..."
Qin Mu entered each hut to pay his respects, witnessing the twenty-thousand-year history of the Human Sovereign Hall. He had seen these Human Sovereigns in Fengdu, where they fought and cursed their masters, never getting along. But here, in the huts of the Human Sovereign Hall, Qin Mu saw their respect for their masters and their regret over their own failures.
Qin Mu arrived before the Human Sovereign Hall and saw a figure from behind.