Chapter 819: Slaying a God
Join forces with Zhe Huali to slay a god?
Qin Mu pondered. He and Xu Shenghua had a deep understanding of each other, both being exceptionally intelligent, able to anticipate the other's next move and keep up with each other's thinking. Thus, even without prior rehearsal, they could cooperate seamlessly and join forces to kill a powerful enemy.
As for Zhe Huali, Qin Mu wasn't worried about his saber techniques or the power of his saber path. His only concern was whether he could keep up with Qin Mu's thinking like Xu Shenghua could.
If he couldn't keep up, their cooperation would be far from perfect.
Dealing with an ordinary god would be one thing, but Lin Xiao was a being of extremely high cultivation. He had voluntarily severed his own cultivation, reducing his cultivation realm to the level of a Revered God.
Although his realm had dropped, his insight and experience far surpassed that of other Revered Gods by an unknown margin. This was also the reason he had managed to escape from the Village Chief's sword.
Moreover, the cultivation he had severed had transformed into that small sun within the lantern, containing terrifying energy that had blasted a huge hole in the Village Chief's sword diagram!
The energy of that small sun remained undiminished to this day, showing just how powerful Lin Xiao was in his prime!
If their cooperation was poor, they would definitely be killed by him!
Suddenly, Qin Mu activated his teleportation divine ability once more. A beam of lamplight shone from behind, evaporating their previous hiding spot.
The lantern flew over, and the little figure inside looked around but found no trace of the two. It chuckled, "Where can you hide? I've already thoroughly explored this entire ghost ship. You have no way out, nowhere to hide!"
The little figure flew out of the lantern, landed on the ridge of a hall, and flapped its wings. The lantern exploded, and the sun inside rolled out, landing beneath its claws.
Its body grew with the wind, and the sun beneath its feet also expanded. Its form quickly grew to a hundred zhang tall, with a chicken's head and a human body, dragon scales on its neck, and colorful wings on its back. It flapped them with a whoosh, raised its head, and crowed.
When the rooster crows, the world turns white!
The small sun beneath its feet also became a hundred-zhang great sun, growing brighter with its cry, radiating ten thousand rays of light. Each golden beam shot out in all directions like flying swords!
Chi chi chi! Hall after hall on the ghost ship was pierced by the great sun's golden light, riddled with holes, and the ground was beaten like a broken sieve!
Lin Xiao flapped his wings and flew, the great sun beneath his feet rolling along with his figure. The golden light swept from top to bottom, leveling one palace after another, which were then ignited by the intense light and burned fiercely.
Lin Xiao swept through, laughing, "Pastoral Celestial Venerable! No need to hide, come out quickly!"
On the other side, light flickered, and the figures of Qin Mu and Zhe Huali appeared in the hall housing the empress dowager's coffin.
"Lin Xiao will find this place soon."
Qin Mu set Zhe Huali down and moved swiftly, searching within the hall. "Zhe Huali, how is your spatial awareness?"
Zhe Huali was momentarily stunned, not understanding the question, but answered honestly, "Although my saber techniques are straightforward, they require a strong sense of space to execute. You and I have fought before; you should know that every landing point of my saber light in the air requires rigorous calculation. Only then can I ensure the technique is executed without the slightest error."
Qin Mu nodded, suddenly stopped, and stomped hard on the ground.
Zhe Huali watched him as his primal energy flew out from beneath his feet, forming runic imprints. As his feet moved, one runic imprint after another was branded onto the ground.
These runic imprints were very complex, involving too many principles for Zhe Huali to fully understand.
Qin Mu moved his feet, walking back and forth, left and right, circling an area of six zhang square again and again. Suddenly, with a crack, a passage appeared on the ground leading straight to the ship's hold.
Zhe Huali was dumbfounded. Qin Mu had already entered the passage and was beckoning to him. He hurriedly followed, lowering his voice, "Qin Cult Leader, how did you know there was a door here?"
"This tower ship should have been designed and built by my senior brother. Its layout is similar to the tower ship of my Celestial Eminence Sect. According to the layout of my Celestial Eminence Sect's tower ship, the passage to the hold should be right here, so I gave it a try."
Qin Mu smiled. "I've built tower ships for the Yan Kingdom, so I'm very familiar with ship layouts."
Zhe Huali was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Qin Cult Leader, is there anything you haven't done?"
They arrived inside the ship's hull and were stunned by the magnificent sight before them.
Dragon bones of giant dragons ran north-south, spanning the interior of the hull. Although the dragons were nothing but bones, they still radiated dazzling golden light, illuminating the interior brilliantly.
Besides the dragon bones, there were also the ribs of Kun Peng. Rows of Kun ribs, each about ten zhang thick, were inserted into the dragon bones. Various beast runes appeared on the Kun bones—bird patterns, fish patterns, water patterns, cloud patterns, mountain patterns, and so on. These runes lit up one after another, extremely eye-catching in the golden light of the dragon bones.
On the ceiling, presumably the underside of the deck, were inlaid phoenix feathers. The seven-colored phoenix feathers resembled colorful auspicious clouds in the sky.
"What a fine ship!" they both exclaimed in admiration.
Qin Mu stopped, took out his sword ball, and looked around with flickering eyes. "Having a child—that's something I haven't done. The National Teacher showed me a book about having children, and the men and women in it were so embarrassing."
He tilted his head, recalling the images in the book, and still blushed slightly.
Zhe Huali and the demon saber both widened their eyes, showing expressions of mixed amusement and exasperation.
Qin Mu gently flicked his fingertip, and a silver thread flew out from the sword ball, measuring the internal space of the ghost ship, the lengths and circumferences of the dragon and Kun bones. He quickly gathered the data he needed.
Outside the passage, light approached. Lin Xiao, riding the hundred-zhang great sun, flew to the sky above this hall. The great sun's sword light wantonly destroyed the hall.
Soon, the hall would collapse, revealing the passage.
Qin Mu grabbed the sword ball, closed his eyes to concentrate, and after a moment, suddenly opened his eyes and clenched his fist tightly. The sword ball transformed into a fine sword!
He stepped into the air, sword in hand, and sprinted within the ship's hull. His figure was like a startled swan, his sword like a swimming dragon. He executed various sword techniques, like a literati using a sword as a brush, splashing ink on the dragon and Kun bones, using the ship's walls as paper, inscribing words and indulging his feelings!
Soon, he flew to the ceiling, his body parallel to it, swinging his sword like the wind, scattering runic imprints in the gaps between the phoenix feathers and colored clouds.
Whoosh—
Qin Mu fell from midair, stopping abruptly three zhang above the ground. He flicked his wrist and wrote on the ground with his sword.
A continuous chi chi chi sound filled the air. The internal space of this ghost ship was enormous, spanning a hundred li. Qin Mu flew close to the ground, his sword light like rain, quickly inscribing a string of runes from south to north.
His figure suddenly stopped, hovering in midair.
Zhe Huali looked around. A thick dragon bone was clearly imprinted with various runes from south to north, and the ceiling also had a pattern of runes running north-south.
Two other bones were also branded with runes.
However, the internal space of the ship was too vast. The area where Qin Mu had inscribed runes only occupied a small part, with much more left untouched.
"What is the Cult Leader's intention?" Zhe Huali was greatly puzzled.
Qin Mu's chest heaved violently, clearly having expended a great deal of energy. Suddenly, the sword in his hand shrank back into a sword ball.
The sword ball suddenly exploded!
Countless sword lights filled the internal space of the ship, darting about wildly. The runes Qin Mu had just inscribed also lit up brightly, their radiance dazzling, as if the flying swords had activated the power within the runes!
The light of countless runes shone on the flying sword lights, reflected by the flying swords. Instantly, heaven and earth, left and right walls, countless runes emerged, growing more numerous and complex!
Zhe Huali was dumbfounded, but saw all the sword lights suddenly disappear, transforming into a rapidly spinning sword ball that stopped at Qin Mu's brow.
Within the ship's space, countless runes were still flying everywhere!
Qin Mu formed sword fingers with both hands, index and middle fingers together, thumbs pressing on the ring and little fingers.
His right sword finger stood upright at his brow, his left sword finger turned up, supporting his right wrist. Both hands slowly descended.
At the same time, the shadows of countless arms appeared behind him, as if he had a thousand arms, each forming different sword seals, slowly retracting and merging with his own arms.
Finally, the shadows of the thousand arms disappeared.
"Stop!"
Qin Mu shouted softly. The darting runes within the vast space of the ship's hull embedded themselves one after another into the walls, ceiling, and floor. These runes went from bright to dim, revealing seventy-two different paintings, each one distinct!
Qin Mu panted heavily, fell from the air, and knelt on one knee, his primal energy severely depleted.
"Cult Leader Qin, you broke down your own sword path and inscribed it into the internal space of the ship?"
Zhe Huali looked at the seventy-two murals that were gradually fading, and said solemnly, "No, it's not just sword path divine abilities. There are also martial path divine abilities, formation divine abilities, saber path divine abilities... Hmm, and magnetic divine abilities! I've seen magnetic divine abilities at the Earth Mother's place! You also used painting path divine abilities, creating seventy-two paintings, a total of seventy-two divine abilities, forming a linked killing formation! You've learned so many different things!"
Qin Mu nodded, activated his Overlord Body Three Dan Technique, and tried his best to recover his primal energy. His voice was a little hoarse: "The formation is now set. My primal energy is completely exhausted, so I can only rely on you. Zhe Huali, do you have the confidence to integrate into my seventy-two paintings and kill that chicken-dragon?"
Zhe Huali took a long, deep breath and said calmly, "The battle to slay a god, to kill Lin Xiao—the Cult Leader has already completed ninety percent of it. All that's left is for me to raise my saber and cut off his head. If I cannot bring his head to you, what face do I have to compete with Xu Shenghua? To compete with you?"
Qin Mu revealed a smile.
Just then, a rumbling sound came continuously from the passage. Lin Xiao's voice reached their ears, laughing, "I've been on this ship for so long without finding a way inside, but I didn't expect Pastoral Celestial Venerable to discover it. Impressive, Pastoral Celestial Venerable! To be honest, when I heard you tell that Sword God that you were Pastoral Celestial Venerable, I was shocked too. I never imagined I would catch such a big fish here!"
He was extremely excited.
Intense light radiated as Lin Xiao flapped his wings and flew, a great sun rolling beneath his feet. He roared into the internal space of the ship's hull, and the scorching light shot out in all directions as sword lights.
Suddenly, those golden sword lights paused in midair, the golden swords formed from light freezing in place.
The bird-headed, human-bodied, crested Lin Xiao spread his wings, slowly landed on the great sun, his bird claws tightly gripping the sun beneath his feet, and excitedly looked at the two.
Hum hum hum.
The great sun vibrated, and more golden swords suddenly appeared ahead, locking onto Qin Mu and Zhe Huali.
"The Heavenly Emperor and the gods enfeoffed the Nine Celestial Venerables: Yu, Hao, Ling, Yue, Huo, You, Yun, Mu, and Qin. Each of the Nine Celestial Venerables has extraordinary achievements."
Lin Xiao stared at Qin Mu, ignoring Zhe Huali. "The reputation of the Nine Celestial Venerables is too great. Hao Celestial Venerable is already Hao Heavenly Emperor, ruling the Dragon Soar Heavenly Court. Yun Celestial Venerable is also called Yun Heavenly Emperor, ruling the Xiao Han Heavenly Court. The other Celestial Venerables are also extraordinary. But Pastoral Celestial Venerable and Qin Celestial Venerable are elusive, appearing only occasionally. I never thought I would be able to kill Pastoral Celestial Venerable from a later era on this ghost ship! Hehehe!"
Zhe Huali looked somewhat confused.
Qin Mu said calmly, "I don't know what you're so pleased about. Lin Xiao, do you know that chicken-dragons are just a dish on the dining table in the future?"
"Nonsense!"
The dragon scales on Lin Xiao's neck burst open, and feathers emerged from beneath the scales. His body rapidly expanded, and he chuckled, "Chicken-dragons are the descendants of golden roosters and divine dragons, of noble blood, high and mighty, in charge of the great sun's operation. You humans are the dishes on the table!"
"Move!"
Qin Mu roared, and instantly the entire internal space of the ship became extremely bright. The power of the seventy-two formation diagrams erupted in an instant!
One of the formation diagrams was a magnetic divine ability. In an instant, it made Lin Xiao's body incredibly heavy, as if one Sumeru Mountain after another was pressing down on him, crushing him and the great sun to the ground with a bang!
Other formation diagrams erupted, and various terrifying great divine abilities from heaven and earth, from all directions, bombarded the suppressed Lin Xiao!
The space within the ship's hull was almost torn apart by these abnormally powerful divine abilities. After the divine abilities flew past, the space was twisted, folded into countless shapes, making it impossible to move an inch!
Zhe Huali drew his demon saber, surged his cultivation, and entered the path with his saber, reaching his peak in an instant!
At that moment, the light of a formation diagram shone upon him—a teleportation formation diagram.
Zhe Huali felt as if he had traveled into a world within a painting, tossed up and down with the painting, flying through the violently shaking space.
Now he finally understood why Qin Mu had asked him about his spatial awareness. At this moment, the teleportation divine ability had completely disoriented him!
Zhe Huali suppressed his urge to vomit, frantically activated the demon saber, and frantically raised his cultivation.
Shua—
His figure appeared to the left of the battered bird-headed divine being. Zhe Huali roared, bellowed, took a step forward, raised his saber, and brought it down, pouring all his strength into the blade!
A flicker of surprise still lingered in Lin Xiao's eyes, and then his head flew up, divine blood gushing out.
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