Chapter 908: The Third Eye Crisis
“Would I deceive you?”
Qin Mu rolled up the geographical map and said, “I have a senior brother who enjoys wandering around, searching for historical mysteries and uncovering historical truths. He left many geographical maps for me; this is one of them.”
Qi Jiuyi ordered the gods on the ship to approach that ruined continent and said, “This senior brother of yours is even more reckless than you. Being able to leap out of the Primordial Realm and come here, and retreat unscathed, shows that his cultivation and strength are not weak. He is no unknown figure. What is his name?”
“Wei Suifeng.”
“Wei Suifeng?”
Qi Jiuyi thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Never heard of him.”
A god under the Crimson Emperor on the ship heard the name Wei Suifeng, his expression shifting slightly. He whispered, “Young master, Wei Suifeng is no unknown figure. He is the Emperor of the Cloud Loft Heavenly Palace.”
Qi Jiuyi was startled and whispered back, “The Emperor of the Cloud Loft Heavenly Palace? This Wei Suifeng is the ruler of the Cloud Loft Heavenly Palace, one of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces? What a position of power! In the Heavenly Court, his status is only slightly inferior to my master’s. How is he a fellow disciple of the rebel Qin Mu?”
That god lowered his voice. “This Cloud Loft Emperor is also a rebel! He defected several thousand years ago. I heard he was seen through by a Heavenly Venerate of the Heavenly Court, captured, suppressed, and made to wish he were dead.”
Qi Jiuyi suddenly understood and laughed. “One takes on the color of one’s company. The entire family of Chief Qin is indeed made up of rebels.”
Qin Mu coughed, reminding him, “Brother Qi, I can hear you.”
Qi Jiuyi pretended not to hear. The Phoenix Ship slowed down more and more. Qin Mu opened the geographical map, found the location marked by Wei Suifeng on the map, matched it to this continent, and located the spot where Wei Suifeng had hidden his treasure.
The Phoenix Ship flew over this continent, slowly descending. Suddenly, the ship violently shook, tossed about by a violent force, tumbling endlessly!
The more than six thousand gods on the ship shouted in unison, mobilizing all their divine power. In an instant, various heavenly palaces emerged on this treasure ship, countless primordial spirits standing within those palaces, unleashing all their power to drive the Phoenix Ship’s might!
The phoenix wings of this treasure ship spun and cut, actually emitting blade light. In an instant, they sliced that strange force into countless pieces, allowing the ship to stabilize!
Just then, a grand sound came from the ruins of the continent below. The sound had a wondrous rhythm, as if countless people were performing a ritual.
Light burst forth from the source of the sound, growing brighter and brighter, so dense it seemed to condense into a physical form, charging toward the just-stabilized Phoenix Ship!
Under the shocked gazes of everyone on the ship, the light condensed into an immensely majestic giant god, like a spiritual entity without a physical body. Flickering light formed various strange patterns on the surface of its body.
Its body was far larger than the Phoenix Ship. Its head rose from the left side of the ship, with rings of light spinning wildly behind its head. It reached out its hand to slap down at the Phoenix Ship!
Qin Mu’s mind roared. He stared blankly at that immensely majestic giant god.
“Heavenly Lord…”
This giant god was almost identical to the white-browed, white-bearded, white-eyed Heavenly Lord, except for the patterns on its skin. Moreover, the real Heavenly Lord did not have such complex rings of light behind his head.
The more than six thousand gods on the ship roared in unison, pushing their power to the limit. However, as the “Heavenly Lord’s” palm came down, everyone’s blood and energy churned, and they spat out blood.
At that moment, a vast and mighty force erupted from within the ship, as if an Emperor Seat powerhouse had arrived in person. Qin Mu turned to look and saw the figure of a nine-headed phoenix appear above the Phoenix Ship.
The Nine Phoenix soared, like light, like lightning. The Phoenix Ship moved at an incredibly terrifying speed, dodging the “Heavenly Lord’s” second attack. The next instant, it passed straight through the “Heavenly Lord’s” forehead and out the back of its head!
That “Heavenly Lord” collapsed with a boom, the light stream falling like flowing water.
The people on the ship, still shaken, scrambled to their feet.
Qin Mu’s eyelids twitched. The Phoenix Ship’s burst of power just now was not driven by the more than six thousand gods on board, but by the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu’s divine power, which had elevated the ship’s might to its peak, shattering that “Heavenly Lord”!
Qi Xiayu was not on the ship, but in the Primordial Realm, an unknown distance away. The reason her power could activate the Phoenix Ship’s might was that she had sensed the danger the ship faced and had thus activated the Phoenix Ship from the Primordial Realm.
This was the true terror of the Crimson Emperor.
Qin Mu had met Qi Xiayu a few times before. Back then, Qi Xiayu had pursued him and Emperor Sakra Buddha King. She was in the Buddha Realm, and a single tune from her zither had chased them across layers of time and space, a breathtakingly brilliant feat.
In the Primordial Realm, Qin Mu had also seen Qi Xiayu duel with the scholar Zixi on the zither. When the two Earth Mother Primordial Sovereigns fought fiercely, Qi Xiayu did not participate but directly extricated herself and left.
There were several more encounters later. Qi Xiayu had also personally faced Qin Mu and Qin Fengqing during the Primordial Realm catastrophe, repeatedly driving them back.
This woman did not give the impression of being too powerful; it seemed the way of music was her true specialty.
However, after entering the Peach Grove, Qin Mu learned that Qi Xiayu was a disciple of the Moon Venerable. The Moon Venerable had astonishing mastery over the art of space. Her Ten Thousand Li Peach Grove folded countless spaces and connected to who knows how many heavens!
Qi Xiayu had learned the art of space from her, which was why she could transmit her power over such a distance to activate the Phoenix Ship and help them through the crisis.
“Emperor Sakra would find it incredibly difficult to catch up to her,” Qin Mu thought to himself.
The Phoenix Ship stabilized. The phantom of the nine-headed phoenix above the ship slowly faded.
Qi Jiuyi’s face was pale. Suddenly, he shouted harshly, “Turn back! Leave this place!”
Qin Mu quickly said, “Wait!”
Qi Jiuyi glared at him fiercely and roared, “Turn back!”
Qin Mu reached out, grabbed the Dragon Qilin, and leaped out of the Phoenix Ship. Qi Jiuyi hurriedly said, “Wait! Chief Qin, this place is so dangerous, and you still insist on charging in? Just now, the Heavenly Lord attacked us, clearly not wanting us to explore this place! If not for my master activating the Phoenix Ship, we would all be dead!”
Qin Mu put down the Dragon Qilin and laughed. “That wasn’t the Heavenly Lord just now. It was a peculiar spiritual entity from these ruins, somewhat similar to a spiritual fetus. That spiritual entity was shattered by the Crimson Emperor. In my opinion, it won’t recover for a while. Going in now is actually less dangerous. Since we’ve already come this far, let’s go in and take a look.”
“If you want to die, no one will accompany you!”
Qi Jiuyi snorted coldly and said to the Dragon Qilin, “Second Brother, come on board. Don’t mess around with him!”
The Dragon Qilin hesitated for a moment and whispered, “Chief, that Heavenly Lord spiritual fetus really won’t recover?”
Qin Mu nodded.
The Dragon Qilin breathed a sigh of relief and laughed. “Third Brother, you stay on the ship. I’ll go with the Chief for a while.”
Qi Jiuyi’s face turned ashen. He leaped down from the Phoenix Ship, turned back, and said, “A few of you with the highest cultivation, come down with me. The rest stay on the ship and wait, ready to support us at any time!”
Qin Mu shook his head. “Sister Yan’er is a being at the Lingxiao Realm. Having her by our side is enough; no need to trouble others.”
Qi Jiuyi’s face darkened. He ignored Qin Mu and said to the nine gods who had come down, “Once we’re in the ruins, even if I’m in danger, you are not to save me. You are only to protect my Second Brother. No matter what, he must not be harmed! Understand?”
The nine gods acknowledged, praising, “The young master is righteous and noble!”
Qi Jiuyi gritted his teeth and thought to himself, “Righteous and noble? I’m afraid that if Second Brother dies, I’ll have to be buried with him!”
Qin Mu laughed heartily. “Brother Qi is truly noble. In that case, let’s go down.”
Yan’er landed on his shoulder. The others followed behind him, while the nine gods dispersed around the Dragon Qilin, on high alert.
Qin Mu descended from the sky. Before he even landed, he opened the geographical map again to compare. The location marked on the map was slightly to the right of the center of this continent.
They were not far from this marked spot.
“Don’t fly over!”
Qi Jiuyi quickly came to his side and said coldly, “We don’t know if there are other dangers here. Keeping your feet on the ground is better than being a target in the air. It’s easier to dodge and exert force.”
Qin Mu praised, “Brother Qi is experienced.”
Qi Jiuyi snorted and said calmly, “I studied under the Crimson Emperor and the Black Emperor, so naturally I am experienced. Unlike you, a wild path. Once we’re in the ruins, you will do everything I say!”
Qin Mu laughed heartily and landed on a very ancient building among the ruins below.
Qi Jiuyi followed closely, landing with him, cautiously looking around, extremely tense.
Suddenly, Yan’er stuffed a spirit pill into his mouth.
Qi Jiuyi was about to spit it out, but the taste was quite good, so he swallowed it.
Yan’er was about to feed him another, but Qi Jiuyi quickly said, “Sister Yan’er, I don’t eat these.”
Yan’er laughed. “I’ve fed your master, Qi Xiayu, too. When she was little, she loved it when I fed her. She would always chirp and follow me around, calling me ‘Sister.’”
“You’ve fed my master?”
Qi Jiuyi’s face darkened. “So, should I call her Sister Yan’er or Auntie?”
Qin Mu looked around. Suddenly, he leaped down from this grand building and landed on the ground.
Qi Jiuyi quickly stopped the Dragon Qilin. “Second Brother, don’t go down yet. Wait until that Qin fellow is dead before we go down… Alright, let’s go down.”
Qin Mu closed his eyes, trying to enter a dream. Then he opened his eyes again, a look of surprise on his face.
He could not activate the Immeasurable Calamity Sutra to form a dream world.
He had originally planned to use countless versions of himself in the dream to explore this world and avoid danger. However, there was an invisible force in the Rust Blood Zone that precisely interrupted the Immeasurable Calamity Sutra, preventing the dream world from taking shape.
Just now, when he tried to enter the dream, a very loud ritual sound surged into his mind. The ritual sound contained power, forming a terrible interference. The Immeasurable Calamity Sutra simply could not form a dream world.
“Then, can I activate divine abilities in the Rust Blood Zone?”
Qin Mu tried to perform a divine ability. The divine ability still had power, but he fell into deep thought. However, when he activated the divine ability, the ritual force still interfered with his thoughts and consciousness.
“The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha’s Immeasurable Calamity Sutra is a study of the mind. This ritual sound also seems to be a study of the mind. However, when I enter the dream, I can hear the ritual sound, but when I wake up, I cannot. This shows that this ritual sound has turned into an invisible force. Is the ritual force permeating the Rust Blood Zone related to the Heavenly Lord that appeared just now?”
He walked forward. Ahead was the place where the light had burst forth to form the “Heavenly Lord.”
Qi Jiuyi followed him and said, “Second Brother, let that Qin fellow walk ahead to explore. If there’s no danger, we’ll follow.”
Qin Mu stopped. He saw that the place where the “Heavenly Lord’s” light had burst forth was a grand altar. Surrounding the altar were enormous skeletons, arranged in three layers inside and three layers outside, in great numbers.
In the center of the altar was a funnel-shaped depression, where faint, ethereal light liquid was coalescing.
Qin Mu approached a skeleton. It was similar to a human skeleton, but many times larger. Embedded in the center of the skeleton’s forehead was a diamond-shaped crystal, emitting a faint light.
He flew up and carefully examined this massive skeleton.
“There are no imprints of runic Dao on the bones. They were not cultivators of divine abilities, nor were they gods or ancient gods. However, their bones have not decayed for millions of years, indicating they were naturally very powerful.”
Qin Mu thought of the Core of the Primeval Tree. The rings of the Core of the Primeval Tree showed that in prehistoric times, the Earth Mother had suffered ten great calamities and had nearly died.
Could those ten great calamities of the Earth Mother be related to these giants?
Qin Mu came to the forehead of the giant skeleton. The diamond-shaped crystal there was about as tall as he was, reflecting his figure.
“This crystal must be useful! It’s worth studying!”
Qin Mu used his divine power to pry the crystal loose. Suddenly, the skeleton collapsed into dust with a crash!
Qi Jiuyi and the others below were startled. Fortunately, the skeleton only crumbled and did not trigger any danger.
Qin Mu stuffed the diamond-shaped crystal into his Taotie pouch and went to another skeleton. This skeleton also had a diamond-shaped crystal embedded in its forehead.
He looked around. All the prehistoric giant skeletons had crystals in their foreheads. “Could these giants have used these crystals as their third eye? What could their third eye do?”