Chapter 644: Falling Into the Seal of the Heavenly Duke
"Eyes..."
The few young people on the tower ship couldn't help but shudder, straining to peer into the depths of the radiance, trying to make out the Heavenly Duke's eyes. Yet all they saw was light; they could see nothing else.
Ling Yuxiu murmured, "If it takes two days of sailing just to see the full outline of the Heavenly Duke's eye, then how vast is his true body?"
"It should be comparable to the Earth Lord."
Qin Mu said, "I have seen the Earth Lord's true form. His horns are made of countless destroyed worlds. Just his horns alone are unimaginably vast and boundless. Such innate gods possess abilities and divine powers beyond ordinary comprehension."
Chi Xi added, "If you could see the Heavenly Duke's full form, you would see how many suns are hidden within his body."
The light blazed fiercely. The tower ship sailed within the Heavenly Duke's gaze. Though its speed was immense, the Heavenly Duke's eyes were so colossal that after two days and two nights of travel, Qin Mu and the others finally managed to glimpse the outline of that single eye.
An eye radiating boundless light, completely blocking their view. Before this eye that spanned heaven and earth, the tower ship was like a grain of sand in the vast ocean—utterly insignificant.
Yet still, they could not see the Heavenly Duke's full form.
As Qin Mu gazed at this eye, marveling inwardly, the golden willow leaf stuck to his brow suddenly seemed to be blown by a gust of wind, falling from his forehead.
Startled, he hurriedly reached for the golden willow leaf. At that moment, he suddenly felt something burrow into the vertical eye on his brow.
It was like a beam of light that vanished upon entering his eye.
Qin Mu was alarmed and uncertain. He circulated his primordial spirit to search everywhere but found nothing unusual within his third eye.
"Could I have been mistaken?" he thought to himself, picking up the golden willow leaf and pressing it back to his brow.
But deep within his third eye, amidst layers of seals, a vast, boundless continent floated in the darkness. This continent was his Qin family jade pendant, its mountain ranges forming the character "Qin."
Above the continent, a great Buddha's voice resounded, its Buddhist tones swirling, attempting to convert and suppress the ferocious being sealed within the continent by the Earth Lord.
Just then, a beam of light shone in, illuminating the dark continent. The light then swam restlessly through the air, circling the Qin character seal again and again.
At the center of the Qin character seal lay a gigantic infant, utterly bored, holding its own toe and sucking on it, babbling and playing.
This infant was Qin Fengqing. He pulled his toe from his mouth, glanced at the light circling him, and suddenly bared a mouthful of sharp teeth, his expression turning vicious: "Big guy, what are you looking at? Look again and I'll eat you!"
"Naturally, I am looking at you."
The light condensed into a ball, and an aged voice came from within: "An interesting life form... For the Netherworld to produce a malevolent spirit like you shows that the Earth Lord's control over the Netherworld has weakened considerably."
Qin Fengqing stood up, clapping his hands and jumping, trying to catch the ball of light.
The light ball dodged, saying, "I am the Heavenly Duke of the Mystic Capital, a deity equal to the Earth Lord. You cannot harm me. I came only to take a look at you, this interesting little fellow..."
Qin Fengqing licked his lips excitedly: "As big as that old Earth Lord? How long would it take to finish eating him?" With that, he hopped and skipped, trying to catch the ball of light, jumping higher and higher. But he was soon pressed down by the seal and knocked back.
The voice of the Heavenly Duke came from the light ball: "So you're just an obstinate little brat. No wonder you're sealed. I came only to see you, this interesting little fellow. I'll be going now."
Qin Fengqing kept hopping, persistently trying to catch and eat him. The light ball flew outward. Just then, the pattern of a willow leaf appeared beyond the sky, blocking its retreat. At the same time, the Qin character on the continent erupted with demonic light and demonic energy, sealing the sky!
"Damn! I've fallen into the seal!"
The aged voice came from the light ball: "The Earth Lord invested heavily to seal him, even using his own horn. That willow leaf, when pressed against the eye, activates the power of the Earth Lord's horn! I am merely a strand of my avatar; I cannot break through!"
As he spoke, the great Buddha in midair blazed with light, connecting the golden willow leaf to the Earth Lord's horn.
The Heavenly Duke's avatar was immediately pressed down, falling onto the Qin character seal of the continent. Upon landing, it transformed into an old man in a white robe, with white brows, white beard, and white hair. His white hair fluttered, and his white brows drifted before him. He looked up at Qin Fengqing and muttered, "And the seal of the Great Brahma Heaven... Yes, it was the Great Brahma Heaven that connected the golden willow leaf to the Earth Lord's horn, giving the leaf the power to activate the Earth Lord's seal, trapping me here..."
Qin Fengqing was ecstatic and immediately pounced on the white-robed old man.
On the tower ship, Qin Mu suddenly felt his brow swelling and aching. He quickly covered his brow.
"What's wrong?" the First Ancestor Human Sovereign asked with concern.
"My brow suddenly hurts."
Qin Mu felt the pain growing more intense. His hand trembled violently from the vibration. The First Ancestor Human Sovereign quickly said, "Put your hand down and let me see!"
Qin Mu lowered his hand. The First Ancestor Human Sovereign immediately saw something rolling around beneath the golden willow leaf stuck to his forehead, occasionally bulging the leaf upward, and it was constantly moving.
"Seal of Heaven and Earth, Invert the Cosmos!"
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign roared, pressing a seal lightly onto Qin Mu's brow. The seal technique penetrated directly into Qin Mu's third eye, its force surging through and transforming into a massive palm that overturned heaven and earth, descending from above to strike down the Heavenly Duke's avatar, which was trying to break the seal.
As this seal technique landed, heaven was no longer heaven, earth was no longer earth. The Qin character continent flipped and turned. The Heavenly Duke's avatar grunted and was pinned beneath it.
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign withdrew his hand and asked with concern, "How do you feel now?"
Qin Mu said in surprise, "It doesn't hurt anymore! It really doesn't hurt!"
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign smiled faintly: "Such is the wonder of the Seal of Heaven and Earth technique. Practice it diligently and don't let my teachings go to waste."
Qin Mu acknowledged and went to cultivate his primordial spirit with Ling Yuxiu. The First Ancestor Human Sovereign sighed, his expression desolate.
Inside the third eye, Qin Fengqing ran over excitedly, grabbed the Heavenly Duke's avatar by the legs, and began slamming him around wildly, dazing the white-robed old man. Then he straightened him out and bit down with a crunch.
"Huh? No taste?"
Qin Fengqing was suspicious. The part he had bitten off was just a ball of light, completely tasteless. So he tossed the white-robed old man aside, losing all interest in him.
The white-robed old man got up, rubbing his waist, feeling sore all over. He was just a ball of light; the bite would soon heal!
"How about we play hide-and-seek?"
Qin Fengqing suddenly became excited again, clapping his hands and running toward him on his short little legs, speaking in a childish voice: "You hide, I seek! When I catch you, I'll tear off your arms and legs! You can grow them back, so we can play for a long time!"
"The Heavenly Duke's light will obscure the light trail left by the tower ship. That way, we don't have to worry about the Heavenly Court detecting us."
Chi Xi looked back and breathed a sigh of relief. "Now the pursuers shouldn't be able to track us."
Ban Gongcuo was skeptical: "Are there really pursuers?"
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign nodded: "This time, it's a great opportunity to find the remnants of the Red Ming Divine Dynasty. The Heavenly Court certainly won't let it pass. We were already being watched when we left the Luofu Heaven. Your cultivation is weaker, so you didn't sense it, but I felt a pair of eyes staring at us. It wasn't until we entered the Heavenly Duke's Mystic Capital that we shook off that gaze."
Chi Xi said, "The one tracking us should be the Great Sun Star Lord."
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign was surprised: "Him? Although I don't know much about this Great Sun Star Lord, I've heard that the Great Sun Star Lord of the Outer Heavenly Court is extremely fast and commands many gods and demons. If he's tracking us, it might be hard to shake him off."
Chi Xi activated the star chart again, saying, "If we avoid the suns along the way, we should be able to shake off this Star Lord."
Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu's primordial spirits danced together in the void. Qin Mu's primordial spirit asked curiously, "I've met the Yang Star Lord. His strength wasn't that great. My family's Tu (Tu) grandfather killed him with one slash. What kind of being is this Great Sun Star Lord?"
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign patiently explained: "The Great Sun Star Lord is different from the Yang Star Lord. The Yang Star Lord was just a minor pawn, an ordinary deity of the Kai Huang Heavenly Court back then, a god of the Mu Ri tribe. He later betrayed them and became a lackey of the Outer Heavenly Court. The Great Sun Star Lord, however, is said to be a god born from the sun itself, immensely powerful. In the world, there are Golden Crow Spirit Bodies, Fire Dragon Spirit Bodies, and Fire Crow Spirit Bodies, all cultivated according to the Great Sun Star Lord's form. When they become gods and reveal their battle form, with their primordial spirit fused with their body, they take on the Great Sun Star Lord's form. The Yang Star Lord's form should also be that of the Great Sun Star Lord."
The two withdrew their primordial spirits, each returning to their bodies. Qin Mu's heart trembled, and he blurted out, "Like the Zhen Star Lord, an ancestral god?"
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign said, "You know the Zhen Star Lord? The Zhen Star Lord is one or two levels lower than the Great Sun Star Lord. She doesn't count as an ancestral god; she's not as ancient or powerful as the Great Sun Star Lord. The Great Sun Star Lord is a heavyweight of the Outer Heavenly Court, while the Zhen Star Lord is only a local heavyweight."
Qin Mu and the others nodded, only half-understanding.
After the tower ship left the Heavenly Duke's eye, beams of light raced along the light trail left by the ship, charging into the Mystic Capital. But there, the trail left by the tower ship vanished.
"These escapees are cunning."
The light halted, transforming into a deity with bird wings and a human body, a bird's head with three eyes and three feet. On its forehead was a vertical eye containing endless firelight, as if a sun were hidden within. Its feet were covered in dragon scales, and its wings were black phoenix wings, draped over its body like a long black robe that hung to its feet.
This deity was enormous, but compared to the Heavenly Duke, it was insignificant. It looked up at the Heavenly Duke's eye and called out loudly, "Heavenly Duke above, may I ask if a ship has passed this way?"
The Heavenly Duke in the Mystic Capital was very busy, monitoring the movements of stars in various worlds. After a long while, a cluster of starlight emerged, forming a figure of light with an indistinct face. Its voice rumbled like thunder: "I monitor the stars and constellations of all heavens. I have seen nothing. There are Heavenly Court heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals on many stars in my Mystic Capital. Go ask them."
The Great Sun Star Lord apologized, saying, "Forgive me for disturbing the Heavenly Duke." With that, he flapped his wings and flew away.
The figure of light also dispersed.
Not long after, stars on the Heavenly Duke's body suddenly blazed with light. Tens of thousands of gods and demons flew out from these suns. The many suns seemed to be connected into lines by the divine light radiating from the flying gods, searching everywhere for the tower ship's whereabouts.
"Caw, caw, caw—"
It was a sky-darkening swarm of Fire Crow divine beings, with crow heads and human bodies, bearing fiery red crow wings, carrying quivers of arrows on their backs, and grasping large vermillion gourds in their hands. Their three bird claws held large bows. They were extremely fast.
—Qin Fengqing: Catch me and throw me a monthly ticket!