Chapter 606: The Crimson Bright Mummy
Within the All-Encompassing Starry Battle Array, Qi Jiuyi and Zhe Huali heard Qin Mu's voice ring out as they both coughed up blood. It wasn't that they were so enraged by Qin Mu that they spat blood, but rather that the All-Encompassing Starry Battle Array suddenly shifted, transforming into a brilliant river of stars.
Starlight drew upon starlight, strands of starlight linking together. The star chains were composed of countless complex divine ability runes, and as they activated the killing array, in an instant, both were severely wounded!
From their perspective, the small jade box at the center of the starry river had transformed into a massive square container, perfectly square, suspended in the middle of the starry stream, rising and falling within the sea of stars. The streaks of rainbow light had also become enormous, intertwining with the multitude of stars.
This killing array was something they simply could not withstand or defend against!
"Thirty-five thousand years—is that number real or fake?"
The two coughed up mouthfuls of blood, each using their own methods to desperately resist, gritting their teeth and saying, "Forget it! We'll treat a dead horse as if it were alive!"
Both of their minds operated at full capacity, calculating the trajectories of the stars and starlight, dodging the star chains as their bodies moved with lightning speed. Sure enough, the killing array gradually came to a halt. The surrounding stars returned to their normal size, becoming grains of star sand that slowly rotated.
Qi Jiuyi and Zhe Huali had cold sweat streaming down their foreheads. They exchanged a glance and were about to rush into the center of the killing array to retrieve the small box when they saw that Qin Mu had already arrived at the array's center, standing before the small box.
Qi Jiuyi's heart was filled with urgency. He was about to step forward when suddenly his qi and blood surged, and his heart skipped a beat.
He had been injured just now. A star chain had grazed his shoulder, tearing open a large gash. However, this wound did not heal on its own. Instead, blood continued to flow out, and balls of blood began to float up, drifting toward the mummy on the steel throne.
He quickly looked at Zhe Huali, who was also injured. Like him, Zhe Huali couldn't control his qi and blood; his blood was also flying toward the mummy!
The first drop of blood fell into the mummy's mouth.
Suddenly, the surroundings fell silent—an eerie, unsettling silence.
"Ugh—"
A long, drawn-out roar came from the mummy's mouth, followed by a creaking, grinding sound. The two were horrified and quickly sealed their wounds, but they still felt their vital energy draining away.
"Something's wrong!"
Zhe Huali made a decisive move, immediately retreating and charging out of the hall. Qi Jiuyi hesitated for a moment, glanced at Qin Mu in the array, then gritted his teeth and also withdrew from the temple.
The moment Qi Jiuyi rushed out of the temple, he swung his sleeve, and a parasol tree covered in golden flames sealed the temple door.
Zhe Huali turned back, raised his demon blade high, and slashed down. The blade light split apart, covering the parasol tree.
The two of them flew down the mountain like furious dragons, one after the other, leaving a trail of afterimages.
Qin Mu's hair also stood on end. He quickly grabbed the small box and rushed out of the killing array.
The qi and blood that had flown out of Zhe Huali and Qi Jiuyi had gone straight to the mummy, falling into the mouths of its other two heads. The mummy's two other heads also emitted creaking sounds as all three heads slowly turned to look in his direction.
In the eye sockets of its three heads, the withered eyes were slowly filling with blood, gradually bulging out.
Qin Mu had already burst out of the All-Encompassing Starry Battle Array and reached the temple entrance, only to be met by the parasol tree sweeping down.
"Qi, you bastard!"
Qin Mu tucked the small box under one arm and grabbed his sword orb with the other. As his hand trembled, countless tiny flying swords shot out, transforming into Sword Manifesting Mountains and Rivers, which collided with the parasol tree with a thunderous impact!
Qi Jiuyi had cast this great divine ability in haste, so the parasol tree's power wasn't particularly strong. He only intended to block Qin Mu for a moment. If it had been a complete great divine ability, even Qin Mu would have had to use his Calamity Sword to deal with it.
Qin Mu's Sword Manifesting Mountains and Rivers struck, severing the parasol tree and breaking Qi Jiuyi's divine ability. However, a blade light came straight at his face, shattering his Sword Manifesting Mountains and Rivers.
"Zhe Huali!"
Qin Mu was furious. He dodged the edge of Zhe Huali's attack, turned, and swung his sword. The second form of the Dao Sword, Five Qi and Three Origins Converge into Glory, erupted. The sword light transformed into five qi and three origins, with celestial chariots intersecting, finally breaking Zhe Huali's move.
The temple entrance was now free of any divine abilities blocking it.
Qin Mu crouched, bent his legs, and suddenly exerted force, launching his body forward. With a thunderous boom, the air in front of him compressed into a wall, which then exploded.
Qin Mu's body soared into the air, rushing out of the temple's entrance. A smile slowly began to bloom on his face.
But then, his body suddenly froze in midair.
The smile on Qin Mu's face hadn't fully formed before it slowly faded, gradually turning into terror.
He was floating backward, his feet not touching the ground. No matter how hard he tried to activate his divine abilities, it was useless.
Qin Mu straightened his clothes in midair, holding the small box in both hands, and assumed a respectful posture.
Finally, his feet touched the ground. Qin Mu immediately turned around, raised the jade box high above his head with both hands, and said in a deep voice, "Senior, spare my life!"
His hands felt lighter as the small box flew out of them. Qin Mu stealthily looked up and saw the jade box land in front of the three-headed, six-armed mummy.
"Ugh—"
That mummy wasn't really a mummy; it was a being whose qi and blood had been depleted, its essence and blood dried up, causing it to fall into a state between life and death. When Qin Mu and the others arrived, Qi Jiuyi and Zhe Huali were injured, and their blood flew into its mouth, barely igniting a spark of life.
A bone-chilling sound came from its throat, as if it were trying to mobilize its bodily functions. Creaking and grinding sounds also came from inside its body, like the sound of bones colliding.
"Ugh—water... or blood!"
Qin Mu quickly took a waterskin from his glutton sack and respectfully offered it. Ever since his experience in the Western Earth Flame Desert, he always kept some waterskins filled with clean water in his glutton sack.
The mummy raised its hand with great difficulty, moving very slowly.
"Senior, allow me."
Qin Mu stepped forward, eagerly opened the waterskin, and placed it at the mummy's lips. After the mummy finished drinking the entire waterskin, the head on its right side made a hoarse sound: "Water—"
Qin Mu took out another waterskin and brought it to the right head's lips. After it finished drinking, he took out a third and placed it at the left head's lips.
The mummy's left head drank the water with difficulty. Qin Mu stole a glance and was startled to see that the withered flesh of the two heads that had just drunk was slowly swelling, and it seemed that qi and blood were flowing inside their bodies again.
Not only that, but its blood vessels, like parched earth after a long drought, soon had the sound of blood flowing through them.
"This mummy... no, not a mummy. It must be a powerful being from thirty-five thousand years ago! He cultivated some marvelous technique that allowed him to enter a state of suspended animation, preventing this divine mountain from devouring him. This technique is truly extraordinary." Qin Mu thought to himself.
The mummy's face slowly swelled, and gradually, some facial contours could be seen. It was no longer just skin and bones.
However, its physical body must have been too depleted. Drinking water alone couldn't restore it to its original appearance, but it was still possible to vaguely make out that it was a middle-aged man.
"Senior..."
Qin Mu was about to speak when he saw the three-headed, six-armed man lift his eyelids. The dried-up eyes in their sockets slowly expanded, and the pupils and whites gradually became distinct.
"What year is it now?" The man raised a hand, grabbed the small box, placed it on his lap, and said weakly.
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then said, "It is currently the Yan Kang era. As for the exact year, I'm not entirely sure."
"Yan Kang?"
The three-headed, six-armed man tried to stand but couldn't. He panted heavily and said, "Shouldn't it be the Kai Huang era? Has the Kai Huang era also fallen?"
Qin Mu replied honestly, "It fell twenty thousand years ago. Senior, you must have fallen into slumber twenty thousand years ago and awakened to find it's already twenty thousand years later. Why did you come to the demon race's territory? This is the demon race's Luo Fu Heaven. The demon race was nearly destroyed because of this, so they invaded the Tai Huang Heaven. Senior's planet..."
The three-headed, six-armed man panted heavily: "I am a remnant of the Crimson Bright era. I hid for who knows how many tens of thousands of years. Because I wanted to return home, I came from my hiding place, planning to go back to the Crimson Bright ancestral land. On the way, we heard that it was the Kai Huang era, but we encountered enemies and were forced to flee into this place."
"Enemies?" Qin Mu was stunned.
The three-headed, six-armed man said calmly, "The enemies who destroyed my Crimson Bright era. The Kai Huang era has also fallen. It should be the same group of enemies who did it. Heh, I heard that before the Kai Huang era, there was the Shang Huang era..."
He shook his head: "I am from the Crimson Bright divine race of the Crimson Bright era. My name is Chi Xi. I was originally the execution overseer of the Crimson Bright era's Heavenly Court, wielding the power of life and death. Whenever a god or demon committed a crime, they couldn't escape death on the execution platform."
Qin Mu exclaimed, "Then this divine mountain..."
"This mountain is not a mountain; it is the execution platform."
The three-headed, six-armed man, Chi Xi, paused for a moment to catch his breath, then said, "The execution platform beheads gods and demons. Over time, it has absorbed the blood of countless criminal gods and demons, gradually becoming a great evil. Even I have suffered its backlash. I fought with the demon race and was injured myself, then suffered the execution platform's backlash. That's why I had to seal myself and fall into slumber. Help me up."
Qin Mu stepped forward to support him. Chi Xi's hand clamped down on his shoulder near his neck as he staggered to his feet.
Qin Mu endured the pain and said, "Senior, you're hurting me."
Chi Xi seemed not to hear him. He pressed down on Qin Mu's shoulder and neck, walked to the mural, and studied the starry sky depicted on it. He murmured, "Ancestral land, the ancestral land is right here... I'm not dead yet. I can still return to the ancestral land. They must still be waiting for me to bring back news... Do you know? This execution platform is so sinister because it was forged from the execution platform of a heavenly palace divine storage—the execution platform of a Throne Seat powerhouse."
Qin Mu was horrified and muttered, "Throne Seat powerhouse..."
His shoulder ached. Chi Xi's fingernails had already pierced his skin. Qin Mu felt his blood flowing out, his essence and blood being drawn into Chi Xi's body.
Chi Xi's face gradually regained a hint of ruddiness, and his breathing steadied a little. He chuckled and said, "Yes. The small box controls the execution platform. Once this small box is used, heh heh... You almost snatched this box away."
Qin Mu felt a bit dizzy, a sign of excessive blood loss. His eyes flickered as he said, "Senior, I really am in pain. I'm bleeding. The execution platform is starting to absorb my qi and blood."
One of Chi Xi's faces slowly swelled as flesh grew. He laughed and said, "You are indeed bleeding, but it's not the execution platform absorbing your blood. Drinking water just now couldn't replenish my qi and blood. I've been depleted too much. I need human blood more. Cough, cough, cough!"
He suddenly coughed violently.
"What's wrong, Senior?"
Qin Mu asked with concern, "Senior, are you alright? Do you feel a bit dizzy? Or an itch in your throat?"
Chi Xi unconsciously released him, raised four of his arms, and forcefully patted his own head, his body swaying. His other two hands held the small box.
Qin Mu looked worried and said nervously, "Senior, are you dehydrated? I still have some water here. Would you like some, Senior? Oh, I forgot! Some of these waterskins have added ingredients!"
Qin Mu stamped his foot and said, "What do we do now?"
He turned and paced back and forth. Chi Xi reached out to grab him but missed, and then fell to his knees with a thud.
"Some of the waterskins had blood-dissolving powder added to them!"
Qin Mu punched his palm and sighed deeply, "This poison dissolves blood upon contact. I use it to destroy corpses and eliminate evidence. How could I have forgotten that! Senior, are you alright?"
Chi Xi knelt there, motionless, his pupils slowly turning toward him.
Qin Mu avoided his gaze, snatched the small box from Chi Xi's arms, and said, "Senior, with your high cultivation, you must be able to refine this poison, right? In that case, I'll take my leave. Farewell!" With that, he slipped away like a wisp of smoke.
Chi Xi's eyeballs shifted, and divine light shot from his eyes, blasting two large holes through the temple!
—Last night, Zhai Zhu didn't sleep well, so there won't be a third chapter today. Zhai Zhu needs to go to bed early to catch up on sleep. Today's two chapters both exceed 3,500 words, consider it a small compensation. Sorry for making a fool of myself with the show. Apologies. Lonely Wolf King, I saw you. I rarely check WeChat, so I didn't see your message. Sorry. I'll go online tomorrow to sort things out.
Gui Liuliu turns out to be Lonely Wolf King. I always thought you had disappeared. When I opened your post, I burst into tears from laughter. I really thought you were gone. Back then, I read all your posts. I can't remember the specific content, only Lonely Wolf King. I've also seen the name Gui Liuliu many times, but I never realized it was an old acquaintance. I guess I'm getting old.
Enough said. My mind is a bit foggy. It's easy to reveal my true nature and also easy to hurt myself. I need to go catch up on sleep.