Chapter 566: Ten Mile Star Sand Tribulation Array
As soon as Qin Mu carried the box and Jiang Miao into the canyon, they suddenly saw light flowing within the enormous runic imprints on the cliffs on both sides. The next moment, the yellow sand in the entire canyon flew up, as if a sandstorm had been stirred up!
"Don't breathe!" Qin Mu shouted. "Seal every pore on your body!"
Jiang Miao immediately understood and quickly held his breath, sealing all the pores on his body.
The yellow sand in this canyon was not ordinary sand, but spirit weapons. Each grain of sand could expand at any moment, turning into a boulder covering dozens of acres!
If one inhaled many grains of sand into their nasal cavity, throat, and lungs while breathing, and those grains expanded to dozens of acres in size, the consequences could be imagined. Or if a few grains entered through the pores of the skin and expanded, it would likely be equally disastrous.
The moment the raging sand arrived, Qin Mu immediately channeled his primordial energy into his sword orb. The sword orb instantly expanded with a clang, and a stream of flying swords flowed like water, forming a perfectly round metal sphere that enclosed him within it.
Even the most exquisite sword techniques would struggle to withstand the blowing sand, unable to guarantee blocking every grain. Therefore, he chose to have the sword orb protect him in its most perfect circular form.
In Li City, he had already refined his flying swords to the point where they flowed like water, able to take any form he desired, just like the mute's sword orb. Reaching this level of artifact refinement was already considered a divine level of crafting.
Just as Qin Mu hid inside the sword orb, the raging sand arrived. In an instant, the round sphere was pelted by countless flying sands, leaving dense, tiny pits all over it!
The materials Si Yunxiang had given him for sword refinement were all top-grade. Earlier, Qin Mu had complained that the swords were too heavy to wield easily, but now he was somewhat grateful that Si Yunxiang had given him the best materials, preventing the orb from shattering on the first impact.
Even so, the sword orb was knocked flying, bouncing and crashing through the canyon at a terrifying speed!
Qin Mu and Jiang Miao inside the sword orb were jolted violently, nearly vomiting blood. Although they could avoid the flying sand attacks inside the orb, the vibrations from the sand striking the orb almost shattered them!
Qin Mu immediately did his utmost to activate the sword orb, pushing its water-like properties to the extreme.
The sword orb would repair itself by flowing and reshaping as soon as pits appeared. However, Qin Mu's primordial energy was often shattered by the flying sand, making it difficult to drive the sword orb, so the pits on its surface grew more and more numerous.
"This killing array is even more terrifying than I imagined!" Qin Mu felt despair.
Just as they stepped into the canyon, Xing Han followed closely and reached out to grab the sword orb. Suddenly, the raging sand flew toward him. Xing Han's expression changed slightly, and his fingers vibrated as his divine abilities erupted, repelling the flying sand.
"These sands are off—they're spirit weapons, not ordinary flying sand! My body is that of a true god; what do I have to fear from mere flying sand?"
He quickly saw through the trick, confident that he had already entered the divine realm, and charged into the canyon, chasing after the sword orb containing Qin Mu.
His strength was greater than before, but even so, advancing through this canyon was extremely difficult and arduous.
The yellow sand flew up, swirling wildly, attacking from all directions. Xing Han's hands moved swiftly as various divine abilities erupted, blocking the flying sand. Even when some sand got through and struck him, it only caused a dull ache on his body without injuring him.
Suddenly, he felt his feet growing heavier—some sand had gotten into his shoes. Xing Han stopped, lifting his foot to shake the sand out, but more and more grains accumulated on his body. These sands seemed alive, flowing toward him.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he desperately tried to shake the sand off.
In the canyon, loud bangs echoed continuously. Qin Mu's sword orb was smashed around like a meteor, bouncing back and forth. The orb was pitted and dented, as if it might shatter at any moment.
Soon, Xing Han's legs were buried in the yellow sand, and he couldn't break free. Qin Mu's sword orb was also flattened, clearly on the verge of failing.
"This kid is about to die. I'm not going to die with him—I need to get out of here first! The Human King Creation Art!"
Xing Han growled, and his body suddenly shrank drastically, becoming as small as a speck of dust, finally escaping the fate of being buried by the sand.
His creation art came from Ban Gongcuo, who had also cultivated the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture. However, in terms of mastery of the creation art, Xing Han far surpassed Ban Gongcuo and even Qin Mu, the Demon Sect Leader.
As soon as he shrank, each grain of yellow sand suddenly expanded dramatically. Xing Han's expression froze as he saw countless spherical boulders, each the size of a planet, flying through the air and hurtling toward him!
Large and small were relative. He had shrunk countless times, while the sand grains had expanded countless times, turning into massive planets.
He seemed to have fallen into a vast, chaotic galaxy—but this galaxy was terrifyingly turbulent!
"This is a god-killing array, designed to kill true gods! This transformation is the Star Sand Turning into Constellations, a formation that changes with my own changes!"
Xing Han groaned as he was caught between two planet-sized star sands, nearly spitting out a mouthful of old blood. After the two planet-like star sands struck him, they immediately separated, and two more star sands slammed into him from opposite sides, crushing him between them in a violent collision!
Boom, boom, boom—
A series of impacts rang out. Xing Han's face turned pale, and he finally couldn't help but vomit a mouthful of divine blood. These star sands weren't real stars but spirit weapons covering dozens of acres. Their impact force wasn't as terrifying as imagined, but their collision speed was astonishing. The chain of impacts severely wounded Xing Han!
Xing Han roared, doing his utmost to activate his divine abilities, sending the enormous star sands flying. Suddenly, he shouted explosively, and a vast flood of water spread behind him, forming a long river that lifted him up.
The river serpent danced, weaving swiftly between the planet-like star sands, narrowly avoiding their collisions.
Xing Han breathed a sigh of relief. But at that moment, the star sands suddenly blazed brightly, emitting starlight.
In the air, beams of starlight connected countless star sands, merging tens of thousands of them into a single, eerie eye.
"Damn it..."
As this thought crossed Xing Han's mind, a beam of light shot out from the evil eye formed by countless stars, striking him.
The river beneath him shattered, and he was sent flying backward, spitting blood.
Individual star sands weren't very powerful, but combined, they were terrifying—strong enough to injure him!
In the vast starry sky, countless star sands gathered into floating eyes. Buzz, buzz, buzz—beams of starlight shot back and forth, targeting Xing Han.
These were starlight sword energies, incredibly sharp, and even his true god body couldn't withstand them!
"I've been trapped in this array and can't escape..."
Xing Han felt despair and quickly glanced at Qin Mu. Qin Mu was in a similar situation—his sword orb had been shattered. However, Qin Mu had used the Demon Shadow Illusion Art to turn into a shadow, dodging the star sand impacts and escaping for now.
—As for the box and the little dragon, they should have been stored in his Taotie pouch.
Now, almost all the star sands had transformed into evil eyes. The canyon was filled with floating star sand evil eyes, using starlight sword energies to besiege the two of them.
Xing Han did his best to dodge the beams of starlight sword energy, thinking, "At least this kid will die with me, so it's not a total loss... Wait, I just became a god. Dying with this kid is a huge loss!"
On the other side, Qin Mu suddenly froze, staring up at a star sand evil eye with a dazed expression, as if he had accepted his fate and was waiting for death.
Xing Han, with his powerful cultivation and incredibly strong body, could still hold on. If he could figure out the mathematical changes of the star sand killing array, he might still have a chance to escape.
Just then, he saw Qin Mu's body suddenly return to normal. He raised his hand and formed a seal, creating a massive Great Luo Heavenly Star constellation array behind him, colliding with the starlight sword energy aimed at him.
A strange thing happened. The Great Luo Heavenly Star's constellation array was instantly lit up by the starlight sword energy, and the stars forming the array became incredibly bright. With a hum, a thick beam of light shot out, shattering a star sand evil eye!
Xing Han was stunned. He recognized Qin Mu's seal technique—it was the same one Li Tianxing had used, called the Great Luo Heavenly Star Palm Force!
During the battle at the Heavenly Sage Academy, Li Tianxing had used this divine ability to fight Xing Han, but in the end, Li Tianxing died at Xing Han's hands. It was undeniably a powerful divine ability, but Li Tianxing's cultivation was insufficient, far inferior to Xing Han's.
Yet now, Qin Mu was using this same technique to withstand the starlight sword energy of the star sand evil eyes. It was truly bizarre.
In the distance, Qin Mu activated the Great Luo Heavenly Star Force Field, striking out one Great Luo Heavenly Star Palm Force after another, shattering star sand evil eyes as if walking on flat ground, heading deeper into the canyon.
Xing Han watched helplessly as he disappeared. He tried to use the Great Luo Heavenly Star Palm Force himself, but he had only learned the creation art from the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture, not the complete scripture.
"How is this kid able to break an array that can kill true gods?" he wondered, puzzled.
After a long time, Qin Mu walked out of the ten-mile-long canyon, emerging from the yellow sand. He released Jiang Miao and the box from his Taotie pouch.
Jiang Miao looked back and saw the star sand evil eyes flying around in the canyon, starlight sword energies shooting back and forth. He was horrified, unable to understand how Qin Mu had made it out.
Qin Mu silently surveyed his surroundings. He saw a stream of yellow sand floating in the air like a river, constantly flowing. Walking further, he found the source of the yellow sand was a large cauldron filled with sand.
This ten-mile stretch of yellow sand should have all come from this cauldron.
Behind the cauldron stood a magnificent palace, with vermilion walls and green tiles, carved with dragons and painted with phoenixes, sacred and extraordinary. On the eaves sat ten divine beast sculptures, with a person riding a crane at the very front.
However, chains extended from this hall in all directions, reaching deep into the canyon cliffs.
The chains occasionally rattled heavily.
Jiang Miao grew excited and whispered, "The call of the divine dragon I heard came from here! I can hear it more clearly now."
Qin Mu couldn't hear this sound. He wasn't a dragon; only dragons should be able to hear this call.
"Don't go in yet."
Qin Mu instructed, then walked over to the chains. He examined them closely and gently brushed his hand over them. Immediately, ornate runic imprints emerged from the chains, and tiny sparks floated in the air before dissipating with the wind.
He then went to the cliff and studied the runes on the rock face. These runes were divine script, while the ten-mile yellow sand was a demonic array designed to kill true gods. Strangely, the divine script activated and drove the demonic array, blending divine and demonic elements with exquisite precision.
"Act according to one's nature, follow the natural course—that is the Way. So what if it's divine or demonic? What does it matter to me?"
Qin Mu's expression was calm, like still water. He said, "Jiang Miao, this is the doctrine of the Heavenly Sage Sect. Hold out your hand."
Jiang Miao extended his palm, and Qin Mu used cinnabar to draw a rune on it, almost identical to the divine script on the cliff. "Let's go. We'll enter."
Jiang Miao didn't understand but quickly walked into the hall.
Inside the hall, a divine dragon was bound by numerous chains that pierced through its body, locking it in place.
It was immensely majestic and sacred, exuding dragon aura and dragon might that commanded reverence.
The divine dragon opened its eyes and looked at Qin Mu and Jiang Miao. Suddenly, it spoke, its voice rumbling like thunder: "My kin, you have finally come!"
Jiang Miao quickly said, "Sect Leader, let's rescue this divine dragon senior!"
Qin Mu shook his head, his eyes fixed on the bound dragon. He said softly, "Senior Divine Dragon, there is one thing I don't understand. Why were you locked here by the founding patriarch of my Heavenly Sage Sect?"
—Wrote an extra five hundred words, delayed by twenty-four minutes