Chapter 813: An Old Hand at the Game
"This broken ship is too bizarre!"
Qin Mu, the Dragon Tamer Lord, and the Village Chief had their hair standing on end. They had never heard of such a situation—a living being actually growing together with a great hall. It was utterly appalling, yet it was happening right before their eyes!
It was possible for different species to grow together into a single entity, but those were cases of living things merging with other living things. Now, however, it was a living thing merging with a dead object.
The most terrifying part was that even a being as powerful as the Imperial Corpse of the Northern Emperor had been unable to escape and had become part of this hall!
The Village Chief took the lead and returned to the great hall, speaking in a low voice: "Let's go take a look. Be careful. If there's danger, Mu'er, you immediately activate your teleportation divine ability. Don't worry about us—escape on your own!"
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "My teleportation divine ability is fast enough to take you both with me."
The Village Chief shook his head, knowing he couldn't persuade him.
They returned to the hall. Inside, everything was orderly, just as before, except for the people who had grown together with the hall.
"Feng Qiuyun has escaped."
Qin Mu looked around but didn't spot Feng Qiuyun.
The Village Chief stared at the murals on the hall's walls and shook his head. "She didn't escape either. Look here."
Qin Mu looked at the murals. They depicted the Yulin Army suppressing a rebellion, a scene of gods and demons locked in brutal combat. The Yulin soldiers were all brave and skilled in battle, with extraordinary strength.
In terms of artistic skill, during the Dragon Han Heavenly Court era, the art of painting was just in its infancy. The technique was not refined, far inferior to the painting arts of the Emperor Kai and Yan Kang eras.
The Yulin soldiers in the paintings appeared flat, whereas the Deaf Man could create worlds within his paintings, separate from the outside world.
The art of painting was also a postcelestial great path.
The Heavenly Saint Cult had three hundred and sixty professions and three hundred and sixty halls. After Qin Mu became the cult leader, he added the Hall of Learning. In fact, many of the Heavenly Saint Cult's trades could be considered postcelestial great paths—paths not inherent in the primordial, but forged by postcelestial beings.
However, in this painting, which seemed crude to Qin Mu, there was a phoenix flying with wings spread, vivid and lifelike, completely out of place among the flat Yulin soldiers.
That was Feng Qiuyun. She had fallen victim while trying to flee. It seemed that when she reached the edge of the hall, the spacetime reset had trapped her within the painting.
"Where is the Earth Mother's Kunyuan Sword?"
Qin Mu blinked and scanned the area. Feng Qiuyun had already revealed her true form as a phoenix, and the sword was clutched in her phoenix claws.
This sword, after all, was forged by the Earth Mother Primordial Lord. Its power was immense, radiating a golden light that spun continuously. It was actually resisting the spacetime reset and might even break free from the painting!
Qin Mu tried to see if he could grab the sword, but he couldn't grasp it, so he had to suppress his regret.
Feng Qiuyun's eyes could still move, and she glared at him angrily.
Qin Mu ignored her and approached the imperial coffin. Inside lay the corpse of a Heavenly Emperor from the Northern Emperor's era, now stiffened. It was struggling fiercely, trying to escape assimilation, but it couldn't jump out.
"Mu'er, that imperial corpse still has imperial might. Don't get too close."
The Village Chief's voice came, and Qin Mu also sensed an extraordinarily terrifying imperial might. This corpse was extremely powerful and showed signs of breaking free from assimilation, making him wary.
The three of them patrolled the area. The eight divine dragons had turned to stone again, still guarding the empress's coffin, which had now closed.
Aside from them and the trapped demigods and gods, there was no one else in the hall.
The Crimson Bright Divine Son, the Ancestral Dragon King, the Divine Blade Luo Wushuang, the Autumn Ming Prince, and the others were not here. They had presumably already escaped.
The Village Chief made a quick decision: "Mu'er, Feng Qiuyun and the imperial corpse will break free soon, and they might attack us. This ghost ship is enormous. Let's leave here quickly and explore other areas to see if we can find a way out!"
Qin Mu shook his head and walked toward the empress's coffin, saying, "I want to take another look at the empress and Jue Wuchen."
The Village Chief frowned but then felt a hint of relief. "Mu'er is growing up. He's starting to appreciate beautiful women. The pig I raised is finally learning to eat cabbage! Over the years, the elders have been worried that this kid wouldn't get it, but now he's finally getting it."
Qin Mu cast his spell again to open the empress's coffin.
Inside, the empress and Jue Wuchen lay side by side.
Qin Mu took a deep breath and activated the Overlord Body Three Dan Technique. Behind him, a Gate of Inheritance suddenly materialized!
"Mu'er, what are you doing?" the Village Chief asked warily.
"I'm summoning the souls of the empress and Jue Wuchen to question them!"
Qin Mu immediately began his ritual, speaking in a deep voice: "Village Chief, rest assured. I'm not resurrecting them. I'm just calling their souls over for a conversation. After I'm done, I'll send them back. I won't keep them."
The Village Chief breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. But sending the empress's soul back is fine. Keeping Jue Wuchen's soul wouldn't be a problem..."
Qin Mu was taken aback and glanced at him.
The Village Chief's old face flushed slightly, and he quickly said, "I just think this woman is too pitiful. If you think it's better to send her away, then send her away. I'm old, and you're not often at home. Sometimes I feel quite lonely and could use a companion..."
Qin Mu ignored him. He activated the Soul-Guiding Art, chanting in the demonic tongue of the Netherworld, then switching to the divine tongue of the Celestial Realm. The mix of languages grew more complex, and the power of the divine ability grew stronger.
After a moment, Qin Mu suddenly stopped. "Strange!"
He paced around the empress's coffin, muttering to himself: "No soul. How is that possible? There can't be no soul! Even if the soul of the Celestial Venerable Mu had been scattered for a million years, I could still gather his shattered spirit. This woman must have a soul..."
"Mu'er, what's wrong?" the Village Chief asked.
"Jue Wuchen has no soul."
Qin Mu was puzzled and said, "I just used the Soul-Guiding Art to gather her soul. No matter where her soul scattered across the universe and spacetime, it couldn't escape my divine ability's detection. But when I cast the spell, I couldn't sense her soul at all—not even a single soul particle! This body of hers is just an empty shell!"
"Do you mean..."
The Village Chief's expression turned strange: "Jue Wuchen might still be alive? She just abandoned this body and is living in the world under a different face?"
"No, even if she changes her body or her face, she can't change her soul. My Soul-Guiding Art pulls at the soul. Even if she changes her appearance, her soul would still be summoned by my divine ability. Even if I couldn't summon it, I could sense where her soul is."
Qin Mu's expression grew even stranger, and he suddenly declared decisively: "This woman, Jue Wuchen, was artificially created!"
The Village Chief was startled and exclaimed, "A beauty like that could be artificially created?"
Qin Mu stopped pacing and looked at the stunningly beautiful woman in the coffin. "It's not impossible to create a perfect beauty. That would require an extremely high level of mastery in the Art of Creation. But the Art of Creation cannot create a brand-new soul. So, Jue Wuchen has no soul."
The Village Chief looked at the woman in the coffin. Suddenly, a weight lifted from his heart. Earlier, this woman had affected his Dao heart, but now, when he looked at her again, he was no longer influenced.
"Mu'er, are you saying someone created this beauty to lure the Heavenly Emperor into descending and reincarnating, and then eliminate him?"
The Village Chief said, "But how could the Heavenly Emperor, as powerful as he was, fail to see that this beauty had no soul inside her?"
Qin Mu thought for a moment and said, "That would require someone to leave their primordial spirit and enter Jue Wuchen's body, becoming Jue Wuchen."
The Village Chief considered this and said, "And this person would need to know the Heavenly Emperor extremely well, cater to his tastes, avoid arousing his suspicion, and make sure the Heavenly Emperor never suspected him. So, the person hiding inside Jue Wuchen must have been someone close to the Heavenly Emperor."
The two exchanged a glance.
The Village Chief suddenly said, "Mu'er, try summoning the empress's soul. I have an idea."
Qin Mu immediately understood what he was thinking but didn't say it aloud. Instead, he followed his advice and activated the Soul-Guiding Art again, attempting to summon the empress's soul.
"If my guess is correct, summoning the empress's soul will be dangerous. I'll protect you!"
The Village Chief drew his sword, closed his eyes, and erupted with aura. The sword in his hand grew brighter and brighter, like a startled dragon ready to soar into the sky!
He pushed his sword path to its absolute limit!
Qin Mu's mouth uttered the divine tongue of the Netherworld, and the Gate of Inheritance behind him opened, exuding a dense demonic aura.
After a moment, he finally sensed the empress's soul!
It was a complete soul!
The empress's soul had no damage at all. All three souls were intact, incredibly powerful, giving Qin Mu the feeling of a majestic deity standing high above the nine heavens!
The moment Qin Mu sensed the empress, she sensed him as well. Her phoenix eyes opened, and she looked at him across infinite, boundless space.
Suddenly, Qin Mu's vision went dark, as if he had fallen into an unfathomable abyss. His soul twisted, as if it were about to leave his body and fall forever!
Clang—
The Village Chief's sword flew up, its light piercing the void. The brilliant sword light severed the connection between Qin Mu and the empress in an instant. After the sword light fell, the Village Chief's body trembled, and blood gushed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Qin Mu's vision brightened with the sword light, and his primordial spirit immediately returned to his body. He was drenched in sweat, his hands and feet trembling.
"She's alive! The empress is alive!"
He gasped for air like a drowning person breaking the surface, his voice hoarse: "The empress isn't dead!"
The Village Chief's hand, still gripping the divine sword, continued to tremble. The sword hummed and buzzed, and then, with a crack, it exploded into countless pieces!
The Village Chief opened his hand, and the sword hilt turned to dust, slipping through his fingers.
"An old hand at the game, an old hand at the game!"
The Village Chief spat out a mouthful of blood, his aura wilting. His body went limp, and he sat down, laughing bitterly: "This empress is truly an old hand at the game! Mu'er, when you left the village, I told you the world was treacherous. Now do you see?"
Qin Mu immediately began treating his injuries, saying solemnly, "Mu'er understands."
The Dragon Tamer Lord was completely baffled, still not catching on. He quickly asked, "Wasn't the empress dead? How is she still alive? And how is she an old hand at the game?"
Qin Mu and the Village Chief didn't answer.
Inside the Qin Continent, the Heavenly Duke, the Earth Lord, the Crimson Emperor, and the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha were all stunned, unable to speak for a long time.
The big-headed child Qin Fengqing suddenly pounced like a cat, smashing the Lava Earth Lord to pieces and snatching the Life-Slaughter Cauldron before running off.
The pieces of lava automatically reassembled, restoring the Earth Lord's body, but he didn't chase after the cauldron. Instead, he stood there in a daze.
"An old hand at the game."
He sighed and said, "Truly an old hand at the game. So the empress was Jue Wuchen all along!"