Chapter 907: The Blood Rust Zone
Qin Mu felt somewhat uncomfortable in his heart, reluctant to ask the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu to borrow a ship.
Back when he was besieged by the Heavenly Court and the Four Emperors joined forces to block him, the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu had shown no mercy.
Although Qin Mu could understand Qi Xiayu's situation, knowing that she had a grand scheme and had to endure, it still left a bitter feeling in his heart.
He was not a sage like the Woodcutter.
The Woodcutter Sage could set aside all emotions, acting only from self-interest, making decisions after calmly and rationally analyzing the pros and cons.
The Woodcutter had not taught him that; he could not achieve pure rationality.
The Woodcutter taught the State Preceptor of Yankang, while for Qin Mu and Wei Suifeng, he simply let them grow on their own, without interference.
Qin Mu steadied his mind and said, "In that case, let us set off immediately to see the Crimson Emperor."
"Master does not wish to see you."
Qi Jiuyi said, "When you were at the Upper Cang Divine Sect, I already contacted her. Master said she does not want to see you, but she can lend you the Phoenix Ship for a period of time. However, once you reach the Heavenly Court, she will take it back. The Phoenix Ship should be arriving soon."
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. The Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu was likely also feeling a sense of guilt, wanting to avoid an awkward meeting.
"Young Master, the Phoenix Ship has arrived!" A divine being entered the palace and bowed.
Qi Jiuyi took the lead and walked out. Qin Mu followed him, his heart stirring as he asked, "Brother Qi, is the Crimson Emperor still in the Primordial Realm, not yet returned to the Southern Heaven?"
Qi Jiuyi replied, "She hasn't returned. She said she needs to search for a nemesis, to capture a villain named Li Youran. That Li Youran is an evildoer who commits all kinds of atrocities, and there are still remnants of the Kai Emperor's rebellion to be dealt with. She must stay to search for those remnants..."
At this point, he remembered that Qin Mu had once claimed to be a descendant of the Kai Emperor, and felt a pang of apology. But looking at Qin Mu's expression, he seemed unbothered.
Although he and Qin Mu had fought to the death many times, their bond was forged through battle. He admired Qin Mu greatly, and with the connection through Dragon Qilin, he did not regard Qin Mu as an outsider.
The Phoenix Ship was one of the few treasures capable of crossing the barriers between worlds. Its hull was made of unknown materials, and it had phoenix wings growing from its sides, giving it astonishing speed. Often, when strong figures from the Heavenly Court needed to descend to the lower realms, they would borrow the ship from the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu.
Qin Mu followed Qi Jiuyi onto the ship, where he saw thousands of Southern Heaven celestial soldiers and generals controlling and piloting the vessel.
"This ship is a Throne Seat treasure, unmatched in speed, but it consumes immense divine power to activate, requiring over six thousand soldiers to drive it."
Qi Jiuyi gave the order to head for the Heavenly Court. The six thousand-plus celestial soldiers and generals activated the Phoenix Ship. The vessel soared across the sky, gradually accelerating. On both sides of the hull, a series of magnificent phoenix wings slowly unfurled, shimmering with iridescent light, enveloping the entire ship in radiance.
The phoenix wings were a riot of colors. Once fully spread, they gently flapped, and the Phoenix Ship's speed increased further.
Qi Jiuyi continued, "Although my master's ship is not the only treasure that can traverse world barriers, it is the most comfortable. On board, you need not worry about being disturbed by spatial turbulence."
The Phoenix Ship grew faster and faster, yet it remained extremely stable. When all its phoenix wings began to vibrate, the ship reached its maximum speed and vanished from the Primordial Realm with a resounding hum!
Qin Mu stood at the bow, watching as the Phoenix Ship tore through space. Space appeared as a series of dazzling ribbons of light, and the treasure ship traveled through them at an unimaginable speed.
The Phoenix Ship's speed exceeded his comprehension, showing that the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu indeed possessed extraordinary abilities.
"Indra Buddha has always wanted to cultivate to the Throne Seat realm and even borrowed techniques from Mahabrahma Deva. But the gap between the Throne Seat and the Empyrean is like a chasm—an insurmountable obstacle in both knowledge and foundation."
Qin Mu marveled at the ship's speed, which reflected Qi Xiayu's skill. He also recalled the grievances and grudges between Indra and Qi Xiayu, thinking to himself, "There are many Empyrean-level experts in the world, but very few at the Throne Seat level. This is probably the main reason. Advancing from Empyrean to Throne Seat is as hard as reaching the heavens."
Indra Buddha Li Youran had created the Indra Buddha King Sutra on his own, but compared to Mahabrahma Deva's Infinite Kalpa Sutra, the gap in knowledge and foundation could not be bridged by mere cultivation.
Although Qi Xiayu was inferior to Mahabrahma Deva, Indra Buddha Li Youran was likely far beneath her as well.
The Phoenix Ship traveled through space for an unknown duration before finally giving a gentle lurch, emerging from the depths of space into a vast, starry sky.
Standing at the bow, Qin Mu saw stars shining exceptionally brightly in the sky, connected by dazzling ribbons of light that resembled chains linking the stars together.
This was a true starry sky, not a celestial map.
"Those are the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits Star Douluo, one of the thirty-six Heavenly Spirits. In the center is the Heavenly Spirits City, also known as the Jade Qilin Star Douluo."
Qi Jiuyi said, "If you change your angle, you'll see that the form of the Heavenly Spirits Star Douluo is a Jade Qilin ancient god. The Heavenly Spirits Star Lord among the Zhou Tian Star Douluo True Gods was born in Heavenly Spirits City."
Dragon Qilin grew excited, leaning over the bow to look outward, and said, "Is that the birthplace of the Qilin divine race's ancestors? The Heavenly Spirits Star Lord was born there?"
The Phoenix Ship moved swiftly, soon reaching the front of the Heavenly Spirits Star Douluo. From a distance, the star cluster's chains of stars connected to form the shape of a qilin.
At the center of the intersecting star chains was a jade divine city, vast and imposing.
Qi Jiuyi hesitated for a moment before saying, "There are many types of qilin. The Heavenly Spirits Star Lord is a Jade Qilin, the most noble kind. Additionally, in the Primordial Realm continent, the essences of water, fire, metal, wood, and earth gave birth to the five great Qilin ancient gods. Whether Second Brother is a descendant of the Heavenly Spirits Star Lord is beyond my knowledge."
Dragon Qilin's face darkened.
From birth, he could control qilin sacred fire, clearly belonging to the Fire Qilin lineage of the Primordial Realm, unrelated to the Heavenly Spirits Star Lord's bloodline.
The Phoenix Ship flew into the cluster of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits Star Douluo, where grand divine cities were located within each star: Heavenly Heroes City, Heavenly Mechanism City, Heavenly Leisure City, Heavenly Valor City, Heavenly Might City, and so on.
Each star also had a different form, with the star chains forming various ancient god shapes, ancient and ferocious, indescribably terrifying.
The forms of the stars were also the forms of the ancient gods, suggesting that those ancient god star lords must look the same.
"Those divine cities are troop garrisons."
Qi Jiuyi said, "The celestial soldiers and generals used in this attack on the Primordial Realm mostly came from the various divine cities within the Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends Star Douluo. The main forces of the Heavenly Court, as well as the troops from the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces and Seventy-Two Precious Halls, have not been deployed."
Qin Mu's heart tightened. Just the celestial soldiers and generals from the Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends Star Douluo had already routed the Primordial Realm. The sheer scale of the Heavenly Court's power was unimaginable!
The Phoenix Ship then flew into the Earthly Fiends Star Douluo cluster, passing through it. The starry sky stretched endlessly, a long and boundless journey.
Suddenly, they arrived at a shattered starry region, where broken continents and stars floated in space. The Phoenix Ship sailed through these cosmic ruins.
Qin Mu looked at Qi Jiuyi and asked, "Brother Qi, where is this place? Why is there shattered starry sky here?"
Qi Jiuyi replied, "This is the Blood Rust Zone of the Heavenly Court."
"The Blood Rust Zone?"
"The Blood Rust Zone is a prehistoric relic, existing long before the Dragon Han Heavenly Court. I've heard it predates the rise of civilization."
Qi Jiuyi said, "As for how it came to be, I've only heard a few rumors. One says that during the primordial chaos era, there was a civilization here, later eradicated by the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor and his forces. After that came the era of the ancient gods, so it's called prehistoric."
The Phoenix Ship sailed past a massive planet. The planet was eerily still, rotating slowly. When its dark side turned to face them, Qin Mu realized it was a skull.
An incredibly enormous skull!
In this Blood Rust Zone, there were many similar giant skulls, drifting alongside remnant stars in the starry sky, dim and lifeless. A careless collision would be disastrous.
The Phoenix Ship slowed down as it entered this area. Qin Mu stood by the railing, looking outward. A huge continent drifted overhead, bearing the ruins of a prehistoric civilization.
Qin Mu looked up and saw magnificent palaces on the continent, with towering pillars passing over the ship's deck, along with majestic divine statues, each with a giant circular wheel behind them.
"That kind of wheel resembles the halo formed behind the head after receiving a blessing from an ancient god."
Qin Mu was surprised. Having halos of various kinds behind the head was likely a tradition from the era of the ancient gods. When he returned to the early Dragon Han era, he had seen many ancient gods and demigods with such halos.
The most striking were the Seven Heavenly Venerables.
The Seven Heavenly Venerables had received blessings from the ancient gods, and the halos behind their heads were the most numerous. In particular, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, blessed by all the ancient gods, had overlapping and extremely complex halos.
Of course, not everyone with halos was a Heavenly Venerable. The ancient gods also blessed their descendants.
In the early Dragon Han era, it wasn't just the ancient gods who could bestow blessings; powerful demigods could too.
After studying the runes of the ancient gods' great paths and their blessings, Qin Mu could also bestow blessings on others. To him, blessings held few secrets.
However, the divine statues in this primordial relic suggested that the tradition of blessings from the ancient gods was not invented by them but was a legacy of the prehistoric civilization.
Qin Mu asked Qi Jiuyi, "Could the prehistoric civilization of the Blood Rust Zone cultivate? How did they cultivate?"
Qi Jiuyi laughed and said, "Chief Qin, I told you, it's just a rumor. A rumor about a prehistoric civilization. Rumors are just rumors, not to be taken seriously. Why are you pursuing it so earnestly?"
Qin Mu grew even more serious and said, "The things of this world fear nothing more than earnestness. Since the Blood Rust Zone existed during the primordial chaos era and once had a civilization, its structure might offer lessons worth exploring. We should stop and study it."
Qi Jiuyi was exasperated: "Chief Qin, this ship is lent to you by my master so you can hurry to the Heavenly Court, not for sightseeing!"
Qin Mu smiled and said, "We'll just take a look; it won't take long. Brother Qi, aren't you curious about prehistoric relics like the Blood Rust Zone?"
"Not curious!" Qi Jiuyi said firmly.
Despite his words, he still ordered the Crimson Emperor's subordinates to slow the Phoenix Ship. His expression grew serious as he said, "Chief Qin, we can take a leisurely tour of the Blood Rust Zone, but we absolutely cannot stay long! This is a prehistoric relic; who knows what dangers lurk here? Every year, many reckless fools die in this place in the Heavenly Court!"
Qin Mu nodded and said with a smile, "Don't worry, I just want to take a look..."
Suddenly, his expression changed. He stared intently at a drifting, broken continent, quickly pulling out a geographical map from his Taotie pouch. He examined the map, then looked up at the approaching continent.
"Brother Qi..."
Qin Mu chuckled awkwardly and said, "Could you park the ship on that continent? Someone left something for me there."
Qi Jiuyi erupted in anger: "You just said you only wanted to take a look, and now you're going back on your word! Surnamed Qin, don't think that just because you're on good terms with my second brother, I'll indulge you! Back then, I was ordered by the Black Emperor to descend and capture you! To be honest, I've been putting up with you for a long time!"
Qin Mu looked at Dragon Qilin. Dragon Qilin coughed and said, "Third Brother, the Chief wants to go there and have a look. Just let him."
Qi Jiuyi barely suppressed his fury but forced it down, saying coldly, "If you die in there, don't blame me! That map of yours... Huh?"
His eyes widened as he stared at the geographical map in Qin Mu's hand, then looked up at the approaching continent, a puzzled expression on his face: "How do you have a geographical map of the Blood Rust Zone? Did one of your senior brothers really leave something for you here?"