Chapter 554: Peak of Life
"Even stranger, when I was performing the Soul-Drawing Art, many demonic words I had never learned suddenly popped into my mind..."
Qin Mu frowned. Those strange messages were still in his mind, a language of extreme antiquity.
Suddenly, his heart stirred. He manifested his True Form of the Star Lord Zhen, human-headed with a serpentine body. The Gate of Heaven's Mandate appeared behind him, and in his hand, a phantom of an ancient scroll materialized.
Qin Mu steadied himself and reached out to open the phantom scroll. As the text fell upon his eyes, he immediately felt the bird-seal and insect-script characters on the scroll rapidly reorganizing. One by one, the most bizarre written symbols became familiar to him, and all sorts of strange characters were etched into his mind!
Qin Mu's expression was dazed. The text on the scroll was the language of the Netherworld, the script of the Netherworld—he didn't recognize it at all!
That fiend Dutian knew a little Netherworld language and had once taught him a phrase, which was "Gate of Heaven's Mandate." At the time, Dutian had tricked him, causing Qin Mu to nearly die in the Netherworld.
As for the text on the scroll, Dutian had never taught him any of it.
Yet now, he understood every character on this ancient scroll without explanation, without study, as if he had learned it long ago!
"This land of ill omen is indeed extremely bizarre. I originally didn't recognize the text on this scroll, but now I can actually read it! The text on the first page seems like a cultivation technique, yet not quite a method of practice. It speaks of strange knowledge regarding the soul, but it doesn't seem like knowledge either... more like a divine ability..."
Qin Mu was astonished. The Netherworld language of this ancient scroll was too strange. This was the first time he had seen such bizarre text that was neither a cultivation technique, nor knowledge, nor a divine ability.
He hesitated for a moment but couldn't resist. He began to recite the text from the first page of the ancient scroll. From his mouth came a modulated, rhythmic tone, obscure and profound, carrying a wondrous cadence.
These words could not be expressed in human language, because human language had no vocabulary for these concepts, nor could it even convey their meaning. Only the Netherworld language could express their significance.
The moment Qin Mu recited the first line of text, he felt his soul tremble. The vital energy within his body underwent a mutation, transforming from vital energy into demonic energy. Meanwhile, a chilling wind began to blow around him, dark clouds gathered gloomily, and the surrounding marsh rippled with splashes.
Qin Mu quickly stopped and looked around. Everything returned to normal.
He continued reciting. The wind and clouds shifted again. The water in the marsh seemed to boil, bubbling and churning. Dark clouds gathered above his head, forming a spinning vortex. Demonic energy surged from all directions, and suddenly a stream of demonic energy descended like a dragon's tail from the center of the vortex.
Qin Mu's mind shook. That demonic energy had already entered his Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury through his brow. The demonic energy, following his voice, merged with his spiritual embryo. Then the spiritual embryo nourished him in return. The demonic energy surged mightily through his Five Luminaries Divine Treasury and Six Harmonies Divine Treasury, even tainting the sun, moon, and stars within his divine treasuries, making them dim and unclear.
As Qin Mu recited the ancient scroll, skeletal figures suddenly rose from the surrounding marsh. More corpses crawled out from beneath the swamp.
Startled, he quickly stopped, closed the scroll, and dispersed his True Form of the Star Lord Zhen, cautiously scanning his surroundings.
The moment his voice ceased, the corpses and skeletons collapsed again.
"Too bizarre. This land of ill omen is too bizarre..."
Qin Mu steadied his mind and decided it was best to leave this land of ill omen as soon as possible.
"Perhaps once I leave this land of ill omen, those Netherworld words in my mind will disappear, and I won't recognize the text on the scroll anymore. Huh, it seems my cultivation has increased a bit..."
He examined his cultivation and was surprised. In this short moment, his cultivation had actually increased significantly!
He had opened up his Six Harmonies Divine Treasury and Seven Stars Divine Treasury, making his cultivation extremely deep, not much weaker than an average Transcendent realm expert. However, this depth also made his cultivation progress seem somewhat slow.
Yet, in this brief moment, he felt his cultivation had increased considerably. This rate of progress was terrifying!
"Something's wrong, something's wrong... There's something off here. There must be something strange about this ancient scroll..."
Qin Mu examined carefully and finally discovered where the anomaly lay.
He found a closed gate within his body!
A gate corresponding to the Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury!
Another Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury!
"This seems a bit off. Isn't it said that a person only has one Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury? How can there be another Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury? It's not like I'm two people... But then again, no one ever told me a person couldn't have two Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasuries. Hmm, this must be the effect of the Overlord Body..."
Qin Mu attributed this second Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury to the Overlord Body and found it perfectly reasonable, not paying it much mind.
He surged his cultivation to assault this gate. The gate opened a crack, and streams of pure demonic energy surged out, merging with his vital energy. From within the gate came strange demonic sounds that repelled his cultivation.
He immediately stopped.
"This Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury is a demonic divine treasury, not a divine one! When I opened my Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury, I heard mysterious divine language. Now, demonic language comes, repelling my cultivation and preventing me from opening the demonic Spiritual Embryo Divine Treasury... I should go ask the Village Chief. He knows the Overlord Body best and can surely resolve my doubts!"
Qin Mu set this matter aside for now and looked around. The Regional Governor named Wei Liao had pointed him in the right direction. He only needed to head east to leave this land of ill omen, but the vastness of this great marsh exceeded his expectations.
He chose a direction and walked forward. After a long time, he had traveled a thousand miles but still hadn't left the marsh.
Along the way, he saw many lakes in the marsh, large and small, numbering in the hundreds, filled with water. These lakes were traces left by ancient battles.
Qin Mu arrived at the edge of a lake and felt waves of terrifying tremors coming from within.
"These lakes are the remnants of divine abilities from battles between gods and demons."
Qin Mu was cautious and didn't approach. The power of ancient gods' and demons' divine abilities still remained, hidden at the bottom of the lake. Such abilities should be very unstable, and rashly stepping into the lake could lead to terrible consequences.
Just then, he saw a strange sight. Radiant light rose from the lake, and within the light came a tinkling sound, like the gentle collision of treasures, very pleasant to the ear.
Qin Mu stopped to watch. The light grew denser, and he could vaguely see rotating lotus petals within the glow. A large lotus throne slowly rose from the lake water, but it seemed damaged, with petals falling off. However, the lotus throne seemed to have a strange gravitational pull, keeping the petals revolving around it.
Within the lotus throne, several weapons clashed against each other like writhing dragons.
Qin Mu turned and continued along the lake shore.
Then, from the lake came the sound of silver-bell laughter. He looked toward the sound and saw some smooth-skinned girls draped in light gauze, playing in the water. Some jumped into the lake, others sat on the surface, laughing and frolicking.
Qin Mu's eyes lit up. He took out his brush, ink, and paper, ground the ink, and began to paint. After a moment, he had painted a picture—also a lake, with girls bathing in it, and a lotus throne.
Qin Mu leaped up and jumped into the painting. Inside the painting, he played and frolicked with the girls, having a wonderful time.
The painting stood by the lake. In it, the young man was in high spirits, sitting on the lotus throne. The girls leaned lazily against the throne beside him. He had his arms around them, and he had also collected those extraordinary weapons. Truly, this was the peak of life!
The light on the lake surface shimmered, then suddenly everything vanished. Something huge seemed to be swimming underwater in the lake, rapidly approaching, causing ripples like small islands on the water's surface.
Splash.
The lake surface split open, and a large eyeball leaped out. It was surrounded by demonic flames and was probably the eye of a demon god.
This demonic eye must have gained sentience over the ages, or perhaps it was possessed by some remnant soul. It was quite strange, having grown legs and arms—four legs, four arms—and two pairs of small wings behind the eye. It circled the painting, looking left and right, extremely envious of Qin Mu inside.
"Gugu!" The demonic eye creature was excited.
Suddenly, the demonic eye shrank to the size of a washbasin, flapped its wings with a fluttering sound, and charged toward Qin Mu's painting. With a pop, it dove into the painting.
The moment the demonic eye entered the painting, its eye split open, revealing a huge mouth. The eye was filled with sharp teeth, and it roared angrily at Qin Mu: "Gugu—"
Qin Mu scrambled in panic, jumped down from the throne, and fled in terror.
The demonic eye creature smugly leaped onto the lotus throne, pulled the girls over, and put its arms around them, feeling it had reached the peak of its monster life.
Qin Mu jumped out of the painting, took his brush, and made a stroke across the painting. The girls and the demonic eye inside were all frozen in place.
"A very interesting monster. Much stronger than me, but just a bit stupid. It doesn't know the dangers of the human heart and came to trick me. It tried to lure me with treasures and women, but I lured it instead, and it walked right into my trap."
Qin Mu took out his seal, breathed on it, and stamped it on the lower right corner of the painting, sealing it. Then he rolled up the scroll and placed it in his Taotie pouch.
"This monster's strength is extraordinary. If I encounter an enemy I can't defeat, I can release it to fight for me."
Qin Mu continued forward, feeling a bit of anticipation: "If I can encounter more ill-omened things in this land of ill omen and collect them, that would be very useful! These ill-omened things are all remarkable treasures. If it were that guy Xing Han, he would love this place. Speaking of which, I haven't seen Xing Han in a long time..."
He finally walked out of the marsh and arrived at the ruins of a city. Collapsed palace buildings were everywhere. This place had been destroyed by war and hadn't been visited by anyone for a long time. Broken bones littered the dilapidated streets. A chilling wind blew, and a tattered skull rolled across the street, making a crisp clattering sound.
Suddenly, the street split open. A long spine, like a dragon, burst through the road. Its ribs acted like legs as it howled and charged toward him!
At the end of the spine was a ferocious head—the head of a demon god, stripped of flesh and blood, covered in bone spikes, bald, and vicious. It opened its gaping maw and lunged!
Qin Mu turned and ran. As he ran, he suddenly came upon a battlefield where countless skeletons were locked in combat. Various tattered spiritual weapons flew about, kicking up sand and stones.
Qin Mu was about to go around when he saw that massive spine leaping into the air, stepping on demonic flames. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and charge into the battlefield.
The moment he entered the battlefield, he knew he was in trouble. Every skeleton fighting here was terrifyingly powerful. Even the weakest was not much weaker than him!
Thump, thump, thump!
The sound of drums came. Two hundred-foot-tall bone giants had pulled out their own thigh bones, shaking their heads excitedly, and were beating war drums with them. The drumbeats were like thunder. The skeletal soldiers on the battlefield went almost berserk, slaughtering wildly.
Qin Mu was caught in a bitter struggle. He stole a glance and saw that the spine, carrying the demon god's skull, was charging straight toward him!
"Wei Liao is here! You fiends and monsters, don't get cocky!"
Qin Mu followed the sound and saw that Seven Kills Star Lord Wei Liao, holding his ceremonial axe, was charging this way with countless corpses. With a thunderous crash, this army of corpses flooded the battlefield, sending countless bone fragments flying everywhere as it passed.
Wei Liao swung his ceremonial axe, smashing the demon god's skull to pieces, and shouted loudly: "Live as a hero among men, die as a ghostly champion! Crush these demon whelps and rule the land of ill omen! We will become the ill omen!"
Qin Mu was dumbfounded. Wei Liao led his forces like a whirlwind, sweeping across the battlefield. After a short while, the ground was covered in bones. The victorious skeletal soldiers grinned excitedly, picking up intact bones from the ground to replace their own broken ones.
Wei Liao strode over and said, "The land of ill omen is extremely dangerous, young friend. We will escort you out!"