Chapter 723: Swift as a Shooting Star
Qin Mu's blood and qi surged, drifting like a long rainbow as he followed forward. His martial arts spirit was not simply about entering the Dao through martial arts. If it were, he would be no different from any other martial artist in the Bullfighting Realm.
He did not seek to cross the Divine Bridge and soar into the Heavenly Palace directly at the Life and Death Realm. His Divine Bridge was already complete; there was no need for that.
What he sought was the transformation of this world, the advancement of Dao techniques and divine powers. Therefore, his martial arts spirit was not confined to martial arts alone but connected the spirit of the Yenkang Reform—the era's drive for change—with martial arts.
In the Yenkang era, discarding the old and establishing the new was like adding fuel to a blazing fire, a single spark igniting a prairie, spreading with fervor and intensity!
If this spirit were transformed into martial arts, it would surpass the mere pursuit of martial arts by an immeasurable margin!
And now, Qin Mu was using the opportunity of the martial arts spirit to turn the spirit of the Yenkang era into his own martial soul!
He arrived at the second temple. In front of it were a few injured people, likely wounded by the deity guarding the hall.
Qin Mu entered the hall. Inside was a peasant woman. Hu Bugui and the others were still nowhere to be seen.
"How long did I spend comprehending the martial arts spirit?" Qin Mu looked at the ground. There were some bloodstains on the floor of this hall, but they had already dried.
"Disciple of the woodcutter, did it take you ten days to pass the first hall?"
The woman, stout and sturdy, laughed. "My strength is greater than his. So, how long do you plan to take for my trial?"
Qin Mu smiled. "Ten..."
The peasant woman frowned. "Ambitious."
"Nine, eight, seven..."
On the God-Slaying Platform, two streaks of bloody baleful aura intertwined, like two blood-red tornadoes. Hu Bugui had already arrived here. Those who had passed through the Southern Heavenly Gate with him included Wu Shi Yu Ren, but now only two remained by his side.
The God-Slaying Platform had no deity guarding it.
The platform itself was an incredibly difficult barrier. Over the past twenty thousand years, countless martial artists from the Bullfighting Realm had come here and been slain.
In truth, this barrier had its power suppressed; it wasn't as terrifying as the true God-Slaying Platform. The Martial Combat Heavenly Master had controlled its power to match the Life and Death Realm.
Yet this barrier still had the highest mortality rate.
"Are you confident?"
Hu Bugui adjusted his breath and said solemnly, "Junior brothers and sister, if you lack confidence, go back. You still have five hundred years of life left. Living is better than anything."
The woman shook her head. "I have trained my whole life for this day. Brother Hu, before attempting this trial, I already married and had two children. They are doing well. I left behind descendants, fulfilling one wish. Now, I am ready to use my life to fulfill another. This time, if I don't succeed, I will sacrifice myself for righteousness!"
The other man smiled. "I also married and had my own child. My surname, the bloodline of my ancestors, can continue. I have no more worries now. I am prepared to risk everything for the future of our race! The Wuluo Clan needs hope. My descendants must one day stand among the forest of gods!"
"You two... heal your injuries first and restore your blood and qi to their peak. The God-Slaying Platform won't defeat me, but I have no means to protect you."
Hu Bugui sighed and looked back at the Jade Pool behind them. Rows of temples stood in a line, with paths cutting through them—the places they had passed through earlier.
"I wonder how Brother Qin is doing?"
He murmured, "Ten days have passed. He's been practicing martial arts the whole time. His martial arts techniques are clearly rusty. I don't know if he has awakened his martial soul yet and achieved the martial soul merging with the body."
"Achieving martial soul merging with the body is no easy feat,"
the woman said. "When I did it at age eleven, I entered the Ten Thousand Beasts Forest and encountered wild wolves—not just one, but a pack. I fought them for over ten days and nights, battling and resisting until my flesh was nearly torn apart by the wolves. By the end, I couldn't feel pain or even know if I was alive. That's when I suddenly sensed my martial soul and killed the wolf king, escaping death."
The other man added, "I was thirteen during the clan's coming-of-age ritual. Over a hundred of us, thirteen-year-old boys and girls, were sent to the Nether Demon Realm. Only three survived. I was one of them. That year, I awakened my martial soul. Brother Qin's time is too short. He doesn't seem old; he likely can't awaken his martial soul. Let's ascend the platform and face the divine blade's strike."
Hu Bugui nodded.
The woman adjusted her blood and qi to their peak and stepped onto the God-Slaying Platform first, smiling. "You two wait. I'll test the blade first and see if my martial Dao primordial spirit can withstand the divine blade's strike!"
The moment she stood on the platform, two streaks of bloody baleful aura crossed each other, rapidly shrinking into two beams of blood light that spun around her neck. No matter how she blocked or dodged, she couldn't evade them or force them back.
Just then, a temple in front of the Jade Pool suddenly shook violently, sending dust flying!
Hu Bugui, focused on the battle on the platform, sensed the disturbance and turned to look. The back door of that temple burst open, and a streak of blood and qi shot across the sky, drifting straight toward the next temple!
"Could it be Brother Qin?"
Hu Bugui was startled. Before he could turn back to the platform, the back door of the second temple also shattered. The rainbow of blood and qi continued onward, racing toward the third temple!
"So fast!"
Hu Bugui's heart pounded. The back door of the third temple exploded as well. He opened the third eye on his forehead, instantly capturing the scene of the door bursting open.
He was from the Three-Eyed God Clan. The third eye was a natural divine eye, incredibly powerful, capable of seeing into the Netherworld and the Heavenly Capital above.
He immediately saw Qin Mu leaping through the shattered doorway.
In midair, Qin Mu crouched slightly, arms spread, one foot planted on the chest of a sturdy farmer, like a hungry eagle pouncing on prey.
Boom!
Qin Mu stomped the sturdy farmer to the ground, sending a violent surge of air in all directions.
"The one he stepped on is Uncle Gu."
Hu Bugui's expression twisted. He thought, "This Uncle Gu doesn't like using fist intent or spirit to fight; he prefers direct combat. When he fought us, he sealed his own cultivation, locking away his Heavenly Palace and Divine Bridge divine treasures. But it seems he's met a tough opponent..."
Just thinking about Uncle Gu made his bones ache. Passing Uncle Gu's trial was the hardest part, and Hu Bugui had won only with great difficulty.
Yet Qin Mu had knocked Uncle Gu out of the temple in a single move, stepping on him as he landed.
"Such speed!"
Hu Bugui and the other man were astonished. Qin Mu moved like a galloping horse, charging through one temple after another, quickly reaching the Jade Pool!
The farmers and peasant women guarding the Jade Pool were stronger, with higher cultivation realms—meaning they had greater talent and had put in more effort. Yet Qin Mu's momentum didn't slow at all. He continued breaking through each temple at a breathtaking pace!
"Has his martial arts reached the divine level?"
Just as this thought crossed their minds, Qin Mu flew out of the shattered back door of the last temple at the Jade Pool. His blood and qi streaked across the sky as his feet landed on the Jade Pool's surface, walking on the waves as he rushed toward the God-Slaying Platform.
The platform towered high above. Though called a platform, it was more like a jade mountain with countless steps.
They could barely make out Qin Mu's figure, only seeing the rainbow of blood and qi streaking across the sky at an astonishing speed toward the summit!
"I can't hold on!"
Suddenly, the woman's voice came from the platform. Hu Bugui and the other man quickly turned to look. The woman turned her head, smiling apologetically. "Brother Hu, Brother Lu, in the next life..."
Blood light flashed at her neck. Her primordial spirit and physical body were both decapitated by the two beams of blood light!
Hu Bugui and Brother Lu's faces darkened. "Sister, go in peace..."
At that moment, a figure rushed past them, stirring up a gale that fluttered their clothes.
It was Qin Mu. Without stopping, he leaped onto the God-Slaying Platform. He pointed, and darkness surged across the platform. The ground revealed the dark Netherworld. The woman's primordial spirit, now headless, was falling into it.
His hands moved swiftly, fingers dancing. Strange, mysterious characters leaped from his fingertips, forming various bizarre Netherworld scripts that swirled around the woman's neck.
These peculiar characters combined into Netherworld runes, obscure and hard to understand, imprinting one after another onto her neck.
At the same time, the head of her primordial spirit flew back, connecting to its headless body.
Her physical body was about to fall onto the platform but didn't. Blood flowed from her neck, about to be absorbed by the two beams of blood light, but it didn't.
In that brief instant, time seemed to freeze.
Qin Mu's neck bulged with flesh, sprouting two more heads. Four more arms grew from his armpits, each casting spells. The woman's head, surrounded by rings of creation runes, flew toward her neck and settled into place.
All the runes suddenly blazed with intense light, erupting so brightly that the two below couldn't see clearly. They could only vaguely make out Qin Mu, now with three heads and six arms, standing there. He raised a hand lightly, and the Netherworld on the platform vanished. The woman's falling figure stopped, then, as if time were reversing, she returned to a standing position.
The light faded. Qin Mu raised his hand and flicked his finger. The woman shot off the platform at an incredible speed!
On the God-Slaying Platform, the two beams of blood light, having lost their target, seemed to grow furious. They spun around Qin Mu's neck with a sharp hiss!
"The God-Slaying Mysterious Blade—I have one myself."
Qin Mu laughed heartily. "That blade couldn't kill me, so what are two streaks of bloody baleful aura suppressed to the Life and Death Realm?"
His neck surged with blood and qi, coiling like a great dragon. The Eight Sounds of the Ancestral Dragon rang out, a continuous dragon's roar that forced the blood light of the God-Slaying Mysterious Blade away.
Qin Mu raised his hand, his fingertips tapping rapidly. With a series of crisp clinks, the two streaks of blood light were pushed back repeatedly.
He strode across the God-Slaying Platform. Only then did the two streaks of blood light abandon him, suddenly expanding into two bloody tornadoes, writhing like blood dragons on the platform.
Hu Bugui was horrified. "Brother Qin, you've mastered your physical techniques and refined your martial soul! How did you do it so fast? It's only been ten days..."
Qin Mu, now on the other side of the platform, smiled sheepishly and humbly said, "To be honest, I'm a Dominator Body. I learn everything quickly. I've been like this since childhood. If I learned too slowly, my parents would say I was disgracing the Dominator Body's reputation. This is already slow..."
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