Chapter 565: The Qin Mu in the Mirror
Qin Mu emerged from the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge with the little dragon Jiang Miao, looking around and revealing a look of surprise.
The Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge in the Great Ruins was situated right in the middle of the Great Ruins. Two broad stone roads, each thirty-six zhang wide, passed by on either side of this altar. Gathered around the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge were numerous ancient temples, shrines, and divine palaces, forming a city two to three times larger than Inlaid Dragon City. People came and went, creating a lively atmosphere.
These temples and ancient sites had all been transported from the Great Ruins and were used to resist the darkness of the Great Ruins. There were also countless stone statues enshrined within these temples and ancient sites, with incense burning continuously.
Many villagers from the Great Ruins had also been settled in the city, no longer living the desperate lives they once had. Some had become merchants connecting the Central Lands with the Western Lands.
There were also some schools here, establishing elementary and advanced academies that taught cultivation techniques and divine abilities, though there were no sacred grounds like the Four Great Academies or the Imperial Academy.
Besides these, there were massive clusters of ruins outside the city, likely used to provide shelter for the exotic beasts of the nearby Great Ruins from the darkness. It was quite thoughtful.
In this new city, old and new buildings were arranged in a pleasing, complementary manner. Qin Mu only took a cursory look, but he could already sense that the people who built this city possessed considerable humanistic cultivation and architectural talent, with a high level of appreciation for beauty.
"Old trees sprout new branches, and the new branches set off the ancient charm. It's really not bad. Or maybe it's just that after seeing too many crooked buildings and the sun in the Imperial Heaven, coming back to the Great Ruins feels familiar..."
The box came clattering out of the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge behind him. Qin Mu shook his head. The box was always clinging to him. Dragon Qilin and Fox Ling'er had been taken by the Black Tiger God to the battlefield for training, so the box stubbornly followed him instead.
"Chief, I sense the dragon's call again."
Jiang Miao looked around and suddenly said, "Follow me!"
He transformed into a small dragon and dashed out of the city. Qin Mu followed with the box, heading deeper into the Great Ruins.
Although the Yan Kang National Teacher had already built two main roads connecting the Western Lands, the Great Ruins, and Yan Kang, the vast Great Ruins still contained endless, untrodden places, mysterious and unfathomable.
Qin Mu followed Jiang Miao deeper into the Great Ruins, crossing countless mountains and rivers, passing through patches of ancient ruins. When night fell, he had Jiang Miao lie on the box, while Qin Mu himself walked into the darkness, the box following closely.
The Great Ruins in the darkness were completely different from during the day. Walking in the darkness, Qin Mu could see the Imperial Heaven that had turned into darkness, along with countless demonic beings.
Besides the Imperial Heaven, he also saw unpredictable demonic monsters. They drifted along with him, sometimes jumping into trees, sometimes hiding behind rocks, quietly observing him but not daring to approach.
"These demonic monsters aren't from the Imperial Heaven! The dark realm of the Great Ruins is more than just the Imperial Heaven!"
Qin Mu was surprised. He had originally thought the demonic monsters in the darkness of the Great Ruins might be from the Imperial Heaven's demon race, thinking he had uncovered a secret. But now it seemed these monsters had nothing to do with the Imperial Heaven!
Because, when people from the Imperial Heaven looked at the Great Ruins in the darkness, they saw blurry shadows. Back then, when Sang Hua saw Qin Mu, he was a dark boy, his body made of darkness, and when the time came, he would scatter like black sand.
And in the darkness of the Great Ruins, Qin Mu saw people from the Imperial Heaven the same way. They were separated by two worlds, unable to touch each other or communicate.
But these demonic monsters in the darkness of the Great Ruins were different. They were genuinely present in the dark Great Ruins!
"There are so many secrets in the Great Ruins..."
Qin Mu sighed. Jiang Miao pointed the way, and they continued forward.
Two days later, they arrived at the northwestern part of the Great Ruins. The sun rose as usual. Qin Mu looked around and said with a smile, "This isn't far from the Ark of the Other Shore. I once came here riding the Moon Boat. Look, these are the footprints left by the Moon Boat."
The footprints of the Moon Boat had turned into small lakes, with strange fish swimming around in them.
"The dragon's call is nearby!"
Jiang Miao looked around, suddenly soared into the air, searched for a moment, and headed west.
Qin Mu quickly caught up. They arrived at a canyon, and suddenly everything fell silent. No sound could be heard. Qin Mu frowned, surveyed the surroundings, and grabbed Jiang Miao, who was about to follow the dragon's call into the canyon. "Wait a moment."
Jiang Miao didn't understand.
Qin Mu looked around, his gaze falling on the footprints of the Moon Boat. "This is where the Ark of the Other Shore was sealed, very close to the seal. The Ark of the Other Shore was a divine ship built by the Heavenly Artifact Divine Clan for migration. They planned to use this ship to carry the beings and gods of the Kai Huang era into the Land of No Worries, but it was shattered right here. The dragon's call appearing nearby might be a problem. There shouldn't be a complete absence of exotic beasts here..."
When he had ridden the Moon Boat through this area, he had also entered the folded space seal of the Ark of the Other Shore from nearby.
The Moon Boat's footprints disappeared here, leaving a few small lakes in front of the canyon.
Here, he had also encountered many demonic monsters and even demon gods, who crazily attacked the Moon Boat, and he had killed countless of them.
But now, returning to this place, he didn't see a single bone.
The canyon in front of the lakes was filled with sand, very fine and broken. There wasn't a single stone in the sand, not even a pebble the size of a fingernail.
And the cliffs on both sides were covered with huge characters. These characters weren't human script; they weren't square but were runes, extremely complex.
Qin Mu didn't enter the canyon. He stood outside, observing the runes on the cliffs. "It's a kind of divine script, used for sealing."
He activated the Myriad Spirits Natural Art, and a small whirlwind appeared on the sand in the canyon, trying to awaken a sand giant.
But the sand flowed for a moment and then returned to stillness.
"Impossible! The Myriad Spirits Natural Art can awaken all things, giving them spirituality. Why can't it awaken the sand and stones here?"
He crouched down, grabbed a handful of yellow sand, and suddenly grunted, struggling to lift his hand.
Jiang Miao was puzzled and also tried to grab a handful of sand, but couldn't lift it. Each grain of this yellow sand was incredibly heavy. A handful of sand weighed almost as much as a mountain!
Qin Mu released his grip, and the fine grains of sand fell one by one, hitting the yellow sand in the canyon with a thunderous roar.
"This isn't yellow sand; it's spirit weapons!"
Qin Mu kept the last grain of sand in his palm. He gently blew a breath of his primordial energy, and the grain of sand flew up, spinning and expanding to an enormous size, covering dozens of acres. It flew through the air, and the sound it made as it spun and cut through the air was deafening!
When the energy in Qin Mu's breath was exhausted, the sand grain shrank and fell back down like a normal grain of sand.
Jiang Miao was startled and looked at the yellow sand in the canyon.
The number of sand grains in this canyon was incalculable, likely in the billions. If each grain were as massive as the one just now, how astonishing would the total weight be?
"The divine script on the cliffs on both sides is a seal, but it's a seal used to activate the power of the yellow sand in this canyon. Walking inside would trigger the seal and activate the formation."
Qin Mu opened his divine eye and looked up at the sky. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and exhaled, and the sky filled with mist, followed by a light drizzle.
The rain fell, but it didn't land in the canyon. It was blocked by an invisible barrier in mid-air, forming cubic grids in the sky.
"The seal here is connected to the seal of the Ark of the Other Shore. It's impossible to enter from above."
He flew into the air, looked into the depths of the canyon, and frowned slightly. The canyon was about ten miles long, but after ten miles, it suddenly disappeared, as if it had been cut off!
"The back of the canyon must be hidden."
Qin Mu was troubled. "If Blind Grandpa were here, he might be able to try to break it. With my strength, trying to break this divine-level sealing kill formation would be very difficult and very dangerous... Jiang Miao, let's go back. This place is impassable."
Jiang Miao looked disappointed, but his strength was far inferior to Qin Mu's. If even Qin Mu said it was impassable, there was nothing he could do.
Suddenly, Qin Mu was startled. In front of the lake before them, space unfolded like a folding fan, extending the sky and the earth, revealing a doorway.
The sky and earth kept flipping open. The sky was fine; if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't notice much. But the earth shook continuously, and patches of land appeared out of nowhere, pushing them farther and farther from the doorway. In an instant, they were a hundred miles away.
Then, Qin Mu saw a familiar figure emerge from that doorway.
The moment this familiar figure appeared, Qin Mu knew something was wrong. He turned to flee with Jiang Miao and the box, but at that moment, the sky and earth folded again, rapidly bringing him back before the familiar figure.
"Great Physician Qin."
The familiar figure spoke in a familiar voice, with surprise and joy. "What a small world, isn't it? You've even brought a dragon and my box... Don't turn around. Face away from me."
Qin Mu felt the killing intent from the person behind him, his smile stiffening. "Senior Brother Xing Han, did you find the source of that jade pendant? I didn't lie to you, did I?"
"You didn't lie to me. I did find many ruins shaped like jade pendants."
Xing Han took out the mirror that Lu Li had given him, held it up behind Qin Mu's back, and said calmly, "You didn't lie, but you deliberately led me here and then had a mute full of bad intentions trap me here for half a year. If I hadn't become a god and made that mute back off, who knows how much longer I would have been trapped! You have the Book of Life and Death from the Wei Wu God, don't you?"
Qin Mu was firmly locked in by his aura, his heart pounding. He said calmly, "The Book of Life and Death was taken by a young man. To my shame, I was no match for him, and he forcefully took it from me."
Xing Han's gaze fell on the mirror. The Qin Mu in the mirror looked as usual. Suddenly, the Qin Mu in the mirror slowly turned his head.
Xing Han's eyelids twitched violently. He saw the young man in the mirror changing. A demonic eye, full of demonic nature and destructive desire, appeared on Qin Mu's forehead. This demonic eye slowly opened, captivating the soul.
Xing Han's hands trembled, and suddenly the mirror shattered.
Xing Han whirled around, but saw Qin Mu still facing away from him, not having turned around. Yet the Qin Mu in the mirror had clearly turned!
His mind was shaken, and his aura fluctuated. Qin Mu seized the opportunity, grabbed the box and the little dragon, and charged into the canyon!