Chapter 598: Repaying Kindness
"Mu'er, let me see your eyes."
Granny Si stared at his eyes for a moment. She didn't see Fuluo in this eye. She then used a mirror to check again—still no trace of Fuluo. Only then did she relax, instructing, "You can use this eye, but don't activate any techniques. If danger arises, let your grandmother handle it. Once you meet the Woodcutter Sage, you must cover this eye with the golden willow leaf again."
Qin Mu nodded and put away the golden willow leaf.
This was his first time observing the world with his third eye on his forehead. He looked around curiously. The world seen through this eye was different from what his other two eyes perceived.
Ordinary eyes saw only the exterior of cultivators, but in the sight of his third eye, everything became bizarre.
When he looked at Granny Si, he could not only see her appearance but also clearly see her divine hideaways, and even her primordial spirit.
Most terrifying of all, Qin Mu found that when he looked at Granny Si's primordial spirit, it seemed incredibly appetizing. He felt a gnawing hunger, a strong urge to devour her primordial spirit!
This sensation came from nowhere, leaving him ravenous, with a terrible desire to reach into her body, grab her primordial spirit, and swallow it whole!
The hunger in his stomach was so real that he felt an impulse to consume!
Last time in the ruins of Wuwang City, he had opened his third eye for the first time, but then Tubo appeared and embedded the jade pendant into it. The mute, the blind man, and the others had forged the golden willow leaf to seal the eye, so he hadn't noticed anything unusual.
Now, after opening the third eye, he finally sensed the strangeness.
"Is it a problem with this eye, or with Luofu Heaven?" Qin Mu suppressed the urge to devour Granny Si's primordial spirit and pondered. "It shouldn't be Luofu Heaven. Luofu Heaven is a heavenly realm of the demon race. Even if there's a problem, it would only be demonic energy. Demonic energy wouldn't make me feel hungry. So the issue must be with this eye. Strange—why does opening this eye bring hunger?"
He couldn't figure it out and had to set the matter aside for now. He followed Granny Si as they continued toward the nearest altar.
The Woodcutter Sage and the twenty-four deities had built many tall golden pyramid altars to blood-sacrifice Luofu Heaven, forcing Fuluo to cease hostilities. To prevent the altars from being destroyed by demon gods, the Woodcutter Sage would surely guard them. Before the altars were destroyed, Fuluo and the other demon gods would also hold their positions, avoiding conflict with Taihuang Heaven.
Heading to the altar to find the Woodcutter Sage was the best choice.
Qin Mu looked around. The Luofu Heaven he saw matched the visions Fuluo had shown him, and was even more perilous!
Massive planets moved across Luofu Heaven's sky, their geomagnetic forces interfering with Luofu Heaven's own, causing violent earthquakes of terrifying magnitude. These triggered volcanic eruptions and storms moving at speeds ten or even dozens of times faster than sound!
Hurricanes were like blades, as sharp as the most powerful spirit weapons. Where they passed, even newly risen volcanoes were ground to dust in the fierce winds!
Most terrifying were the oceans. Towering waves moved at an incredibly high speed, surpassing the speed of sound, destroying everything in their path!
Earthquakes, winds, waves, volcanoes—these were the four elements of earth, water, wind, and fire. Their turbulent movements had already made Luofu Heaven uninhabitable for any living being.
The place was so dangerous that even space had become extremely unstable. Broken spatial rifts formed long, narrow cracks in the sky and on the ground, like mirrors with no thickness, reflecting scenes near and far. Some of these spatial rifts were incredibly long, stretching beyond sight, while others were short, only two or three feet. Because they had no thickness, they were hard to spot, so every step required caution.
If someone accidentally passed through a spatial rift, they would likely be neatly sliced in half!
Space was so sharp that one might not realize they were dead until after being cut.
As Qin Mu and Granny Si resisted the oncoming massive waves, they even saw a wave ten thousand feet high split in two by a terrifying spatial rift!
Granny Si summoned a field of stars around her, forming the Great Luo Heavenly Star Force Field. She used the force field to sense dangers around them, and it also protected them from Luofu Heaven's natural disasters.
Granny Si was already a being on the verge of the divine realm. Despite Luofu Heaven's dangers, they weren't enough to threaten her life.
Qin Mu looked around and saw countless wandering souls drifting through this hellish place—the spirits of demons who had died in Luofu Heaven. They made his mouth water.
He quickly suppressed his urge to devour souls, feeling a pang of fear. "What has this eye turned me into...?"
Just then, they saw ahead in the center of a storm, the skeletal remains of a massive demon god lying prostrate on the wasteland. No matter how fierce the storm, it couldn't move the bones an inch.
When they approached, they saw the skeleton, even lying down, was dozens of feet tall. It had wings, now reduced to bone, and four hooves like giant ox hooves, but golden in color.
Not only that, Qin Mu saw floating within the demon god's skeleton various glowing divine hideaways, containing suns, moons, stars, and a stretch of land.
The hideaways were already broken, the land submerged in water.
Qin Mu and Granny Si walked through a hole in the hideaway. The water had already flooded the land within the hideaway, and the sun, moon, and stars in the sky were also shattered and broken.
More peculiarly, on that land were cities and houses, many of them submerged underwater.
"This was once a habitat for the demon race. It looks like it was destroyed a few hundred years ago."
Granny Si was surprised and pondered, "Could it be that after the catastrophe in Luofu Heaven, some demon gods willingly sacrificed their bodies, letting their demon kin live inside their divine hideaways?"
Qin Mu used his third eye to look around. In the distance, above the broken star river, there was a dilapidated demon god palace. In the divine bridge hideaway of this demon god, a flying bridge connected to the palace.
He vaguely saw a soul within the demon god palace, ethereal and lonely, standing there as if in deep sorrow.
He felt an urge to fly over and devour that sorrowful soul, but in his heart, he no longer felt hunger—only respect.
This demon god was nothing but a soul now.
He had let his kin live in his hideaways, saving their lives, but his physical body couldn't withstand the heavenly calamity and died.
His kin might have survived in his hideaways for a long time, but eventually, even his hideaways were broken by the disaster.
"He exhausted his primordial spirit, leaving only his soul. But his kin still died. His soul has been standing here for hundreds of years..."
Qin Mu looked around. His third eye saw many drifting souls—the spirits of the demon subjects who had died in this demon god's hideaway. The underworld's envoys hadn't come here. Qin Mu looked at the demon god's life-and-death hideaway; it had been destroyed by the demon god himself. That was likely why the souls of the demon subjects who died here were trapped.
"Every race has its heroes worthy of song and tears."
Qin Mu closed his third eye. He felt sick, disgusted with himself for wanting to eat those souls.
This was definitely not his thought!
It wasn't his subconscious!
He couldn't have such an evil subconscious!
"Whatever is influencing my mind, you disgust me!"
Qin Mu opened his eyes, turned around, and spoke in a melodious, rhythmic underworld language. Behind him, a Gate of Heaven's Burden slowly rose, its doors wide open. But this time, he didn't use Soul-Pulling Art; he changed his technique.
He wanted to send these demon souls to the underworld.
Within the demon god's hideaway, a chilling wind howled, blowing toward the Gate of Heaven's Burden and into the darkness.
On the other side of the gate, many small boats sailed in to guide the souls. After a while, the wind stopped. A beam of light shone from within the gate, illuminating Qin Mu's face.
"So it's you. You didn't do evil?" The voice of the old underworld envoy came from within the gate, surprised.
Qin Mu waved his hand, closing the Gate of Heaven's Burden, and said, "Grandmother, let's go."
Granny Si nodded lightly, looked at him, and said with relief, "Mu'er has truly grown up."
Just as they were about to leave, a faint voice came from afar: "Thank you..."
Qin Mu heard the voice and turned back. He saw the demon god's soul in the palace beginning to dissolve and scatter. The magnificent demon god palace was collapsing rapidly, and stars were annihilating one by one.
"Mu'er, don't look. He's already vanished into nothing."
Granny Si took his hand and rushed out of the hideaway. "This demon god had an unfulfilled wish, so his soul didn't scatter. Otherwise, it would have turned to ash long ago. Now that his soul is gone, his hideaways will collapse too!"
Just as they exited, a shocking tremor came from behind. With a roar, the hideaways exploded violently, sending shockwaves in all directions!
Granny Si quickly fled with Qin Mu. The blast wave caught up, hurling them high into the air!
Granny Si did her best to spread the Great Luo Heavenly Star Force Field to protect Qin Mu. Just then, a black light shot out from the annihilation, howling as it broke through the force field, moving like a swimming dragon!
"Mu'er helped you by sending your people's souls to the underworld, and you dare to harm him?" Granny Si was furious and was about to strike, but the black light swam around, gently circling behind Qin Mu's head, forming a black halo. In the center of the black halo was a blazing red disk, like a blood-red demon moon.
Qin Mu turned his head but couldn't see the demon moon.
He quickly took out a mirror and looked. The demon moon slowly revolved behind him. Within the black halo were countless demon script characters, constantly shifting and flowing.
Granny Si's anger turned to joy. She smiled, "So you do have a conscience. Mu'er, this is a demon moon formed from the last energy in that demon god's hideaways, a reward for you. It's a good thing—it can boost your demon cultivation."
Qin Mu immediately felt that with the appearance of this demon moon, his demonic energy was rapidly increasing. It seemed that soon he would be able to break through the walls of his Seven Star Hideaway!
"Grandmother, that demon god's soul must have seen that I'm human. Why did he still help me?" Qin Mu asked, puzzled.
Granny Si walked toward the distant altar and said, "You're clearly human, so why did you help those demon souls and send them to the underworld?"
Qin Mu was taken aback.
Granny Si smiled, "You have a pure heart, and he knows how to repay kindness. Even among demons, there are heroes, people worthy of admiration."