Chapter 966: The Holy Infant's Helplessness
Qin Hanzhen’s heart was heavy. “Yes, Muer has endured too much suffering. When he learned that he was merely the second consciousness of Qin Fengqing, I truly don’t know how he managed to hold on without collapsing.”
Princess Zhen’s eyes were brimming with tears. “When I found out that he had severed his own soul and gouged out his own eyes to preserve Fengqing, I couldn’t stop crying. That child—I don’t know how he survived. Fengqing had a mother, but Muer was an orphan, and he still had to endure such torment…”
Qin Mu was the second consciousness within Qin Fengqing. Qin Fengqing, the Son of the Netherworld, had committed too many evils, was sealed by Lord Tu, and exiled to the mortal realm.
The moment he crossed from the Netherworld to the Great Wasteland of the mortal realm, Qin Mu’s consciousness was born. Thus, from birth, he was an orphan, placed in a basket, with Aunt Ping’er carrying him as they fled, escaping the pursuit of the gods and demons of the Heavenly Court.
He drifted to the Yong River, where Aunt Ping’er also died, and the Village of the Crippled took him in.
From childhood to youth to adulthood, Qin Mu always believed he was a unique life. It wasn’t until he learned that he was merely the second consciousness born in this body, that this body didn’t even belong to him, and that he didn’t even have his own soul.
Later, facing the Yan’an Calamity, he fell into an encirclement, crushed by immense despair. To ensure that the Netherworld Son Qin Fengqing wouldn’t fall into the hands of the Heavenly Court, he resolutely gouged out his third eye, severed his soul, and sent Qin Fengqing to the Netherworld.
He only kept this body that didn’t belong to him, allowing his consciousness to continue surviving, turning him into what others called a cripple, a waste of a Sovereign Body.
Princess Zhen and Qin Hanzhen could hardly imagine how Qin Mu had endured such hardships and survived, nor how he could still maintain such fierce fighting spirit, rushing about everywhere, even finding his way here.
Their love for Qin Mu, besides parental affection, was also filled with guilt and a sense of debt.
“If we tell the Opening Emperor about this, he will never let him come to harm.”
Qin Hanzhen steered the great ship away, comforting her, “The Opening Emperor has wanted to see him for a long time. His strength is unfathomable; he will surely find a way.”
Princess Zhen nodded silently, but whenever she thought of Qin Mu suffering torment at the hands of the Creators, she couldn’t help but weep with sorrow.
“This is pure torture!”
In the territory of the Xiu Min tribe, Qin Mu was dressed in a large red robe by the Creators and seated in the highest position, feeling somewhat uneasy.
When the Creators had changed his clothes earlier, they had also put a large red bellyband on him. Just thinking about it made Qin Mu incredibly uncomfortable.
However, for a toddler less than two years old, wearing a large red bellyband was perfectly natural. After all, children that age ran around naked in bellybands, and Qin Mu had worn one when he was two or three. The Blind Grandpa and Lame Grandpa often used to flick his little birdie, making him cry loudly before they’d stop.
That was in the past, so let’s not dwell on it.
He sat in the highest seat, and this platform was shaped like an altar. It wasn’t particularly large compared to an adult Creator, but to him, it seemed extraordinarily grand.
Qin Mu sat at the very top of the altar, feeling like a sacrificial offering placed on it, and his heart was genuinely panicked.
The Creators of the Xiu Min tribe were too enthusiastic. Not only did they seat him in the highest place, but they also came to observe him. Each person would stop before him for a long time, carefully examining the eye in his brow, then slowly nod and joyfully descend from the altar.
Qin Mu sat there obediently, letting them observe, since Xiu Zhong was still standing behind him, giving him no chance to slip away.
“These Creators who fled to the Other Shore have truly degenerated!” In his mind, Shu Jun, looking through his eyes, surveyed the surroundings with some anguish.
Although the Creators still lived in tribal systems, they were vastly different from his time. The biggest change was in their architecture—extremely ornate and luxurious, with carved beams and painted rafters, intricate and exquisite.
Moreover, the various palaces, towers, and pavilions rose and fell in a well-arranged manner. The Creators even visualized the surrounding mountains and rivers, decorating the geography around the city with colorful landscapes, trees, flowers, and grass, forming ink-wash painting patterns. Seen from above, it was a pattern of a phoenix city, with a phoenix spreading its wings and soaring.
Shu Jun’s eyes trembled with anger, bouncing in their sockets as he incessantly ranted about this being a betrayal of tradition.
However, what surprised both him and Qin Mu was that the Creators here had also begun to visualize and even cultivate divine abilities!
They saw many children, about the same height as Qin Mu, a few years old, diligently trying to visualize divine abilities, attempting to unleash their power through visualization.
Creator children as young as one or two, or even newborns, could start cultivating because they passed down inheritance and wisdom through divine consciousness. When a Creator baby was born, an elder would personally come and use divine consciousness to impart the wisdom of the Creator race to them.
Thus, even newborn Creator babies could speak, write, and use divine consciousness to cultivate, making them incredibly formidable.
There were also some towering Creators teaching these children about runes and the principles contained within them.
What surprised Qin Mu even more was that the Creators, whom he had imagined as crude beings wielding large bone clubs, had actually started learning to forge divine weapons!
Those Creators skilled in forging used a method of divine consciousness forging to refine and visualize weapons. The weapons forged through thousands of temperings with divine consciousness were almost as good as those made from divine metals and divine stones!
“The Creators have undergone a massive reform and are almost keeping up with this era.”
Qin Mu couldn’t help but admire inwardly, “They are far more advanced and smarter than primitive people like Shu Jun.”
Shu Jun didn’t know his thoughts, or he would have flown into a rage again.
Xiu Zhong said to Qin Mu, “I have informed the other tribes about the appearance of the Holy Infant. The chieftains of Zi Li, Zhu Qiu, Yan Long, Xia Tai, and other tribes will all come, and there will be a grand event. At that time, the chieftains will conduct a small test to verify whether you are the Holy Infant.”
Qin Mu felt uneasy and asked, “A small test? Is it dangerous?”
“Not dangerous, absolutely not dangerous!”
Xiu Zhong heavily patted his chest, the sound louder than a drum, and chuckled, “You are the Holy Infant; how would they dare use a too-dangerous test?”
Qin Mu relaxed.
Xiu Zhong continued, “Also coming this time is the common lord of all our Creator tribes, who will witness this grand event! She is our king, the only Creator Divine King!”
Qin Mu showed an excited expression but inwardly groaned, “Will my parents come to save me? Even if they do, I doubt they have the ability to fight their way through so many Creator chieftains. Even if the Opening Emperor comes personally, I don’t know if he can defeat all these Creator chieftains. And there’s also a Divine King! If I’m exposed…”
After a long while, Qin Mu finally finished meeting all the Creators of the Xiu Min tribe. The tribe wasn’t large, with only a little over a hundred thousand members, young and old, but meeting all of them still took several days.
These Creators didn’t leave but instead gathered around the altar, forming several large circles. The scene was very similar to what Qin Mu had seen in the Blood Rust Zone.
Back then, in the Blood Rust Zone, he had seen many Creator skeletons standing in circles around an altar, with a pool of liquid light in the center forming the shape of the Heavenly Duke.
Now, this scene also gave him some unpleasant associations.
“Will these Creators visualize an ancient god to test me? If they expose me, that’s one thing, but if they beat me to death, I’m done for!”
Just as he thought this, Xiu Zhong behind him stepped forward to the front of the altar and said solemnly, “Fellow tribesmen of Xiu Min! The Holy Infant has descended, and he will lead us Creators to restore the glory of ancient times, sweep the universe, and reorganize the world!”
Over a hundred thousand Creators cheered, the sound shaking the heavens and echoing through the clouds.
“The Holy Infant is a divinely gifted child! In the neighboring Carefree Village, there is a big-headed monster infant, arrogant and domineering, killing our people. But with the Holy Infant’s descent, he can surely wave his hand and destroy that monster infant!”
Xiu Zhong shouted, “Everyone, join me in offering to the Holy Infant, helping him grow, so he can quickly eliminate the monster infant next door!”
The over a hundred thousand Creators roared in agreement. The Taichu Primordial Stones in their brows shone brightly, and rays of light, like colorful clouds, flowed through the air, converging toward Qin Mu at the top of the altar!
Qin Mu’s heart leaped—this was the ritual used to worship the Grand Emperor!
In his mind, Shu Jun’s big head was furious, cursing angrily, “When I was one of the Three Kings back then, no one worshipped me like this! This brat is riding on my glory, being treated as the Holy Infant, and you’re worshipping him like the Grand Emperor! Blind fools, unworthy of being descendants!”
Qin Mu had long sealed the Taichu Primordial Stone with his supreme divine consciousness of the Great Luo, so no matter how Shu Jun raged, he couldn’t transmit his consciousness outward.
The visualized divine consciousness of the Creators formed streaks of multicolored light, soon condensing into liquid light, flowing toward Qin Mu’s brow.
Qin Mu felt waves of terrifying energy drilling into his mind, strengthening his divine consciousness and continuously enhancing his physical body at a speed that even he found unbelievable!
“Hold on!”
Suddenly, a heavy divine consciousness turned into a voice, exploding in midair, shaking the divine consciousness of the over a hundred thousand Creators around the altar, breaking their ritual.
Xiu Zhong frowned and looked toward the source. In the sky, magnificent ships, jeweled carriages, colorful phoenixes, flying dragons, castles, and other objects flew in. Towering Creators stood atop them, their bodies radiating brilliant light, and the diamond-shaped vertical eyes in their brows shone even more dazzlingly.
These Creators landed, each waving a hand, and the ships, carriages, flying dragons, and other objects dissipated into divine consciousness.
“Holy Infant, these are the chieftains of the various tribes.”
Xiu Zhong whispered to Qin Mu, then stepped forward to greet the chieftains, saying solemnly, “Several chieftains have traveled a long way, and I failed to welcome you. Please forgive me. But why did you interrupt our ritual to the Holy Infant?”
A white-haired, white-browed, white-robed elderly Creator, leaning on a staff, heavily stamped the staff, his gaze like lightning as he looked at Qin Mu, and said solemnly, “Whether he is the Holy Infant has yet to be determined. Why the haste, Chieftain Xiu Zhong? That villain Qin Ye is full of tricks; be careful that the Holy Infant you found isn’t a fake, deliberately sent by him to deceive us!”
Xiu Zhong replied, “The prophecy says that the Holy Infant will appear in the future with the Primordial Stone. Mu Qing has the Primordial Stone in his brow, so he is naturally the Holy Infant.”
The white-robed elderly Creator leaned forward, his enormous head larger than the altar, carefully examining Qin Mu’s eyes. After a moment, he withdrew.
The other chieftains also leaned in, scrutinizing Qin Mu’s third eye, and nodded in unison, saying, “It is indeed the Primordial Stone.”
Xiu Zhong smiled and said, “Since the Holy Infant’s identity is confirmed, then…”
“Hold on!”
The white-robed Creator shook his head and said, “The prophecy also says that when the Holy Infant descends, besides having the Primordial Stone embedded in his eye, he will also be born holding the Seal of Authority, symbolizing the supreme power of the Creators! If he is the Holy Infant, then he must have had the Seal of Authority in his hand at birth!”
“That’s right.”
The other Creators from various tribes chimed in, “The prophecy says that the Holy Infant, upon birth, will hold the supreme authority of the Creators. He will be born on the altar that bears the supreme power, symbolizing the highest authority! This is a prophecy received by our ancestors from the divine consciousness of our forefathers; it cannot be wrong!”
“That villain surnamed Qin is treacherous and full of tricks. Back then, he said he wanted to borrow a piece of land, but who would have thought this scoundrel had such wild ambitions? The land he borrowed was enormous!”
A Creator chieftain said angrily, gesturing with his hands in a circle, “That villain Qin said he wanted a sword’s breadth of land, but that sword’s breadth turned out to be thirty-three heavens! This scoundrel is cunning. If this suddenly appearing Holy Infant can’t produce the Seal of Authority, then he’s a spy planted among us by that villain Qin!”
In Qin Mu’s vertical eye’s Primordial Stone, Shu Jun’s big head cheered, shouting, “That’s right, this kid is a spy! I’m the Holy Infant you’re looking for!”
Xiu Zhong frowned and looked at Qin Mu on the altar.
Qin Mu had no choice but to take out the Grand Emperor’s Seal, stammering, “Is the Seal of Authority you’re talking about this? And the altar that bears the seal…”
From his vertical eye, a massive altar flew out and crashed to the ground.
“Is this the altar?”
Qin Mu looked helpless, inwardly groaning, “I really don’t want to be your Holy Infant. I want to go home; I just want to return to Carefree Village! But if I say that, you’ll definitely beat me to death…”
——Zhai Zhu, still working hard on writing during the Mid-Autumn Festival, humbly asks for monthly votes. The cold is almost better, but I keep coughing and can’t eat. I often wake up coughing in the middle of the night. Guo Guo and my wife have also been infected by the pig…