Chapter 978: Scared Out of Their Wits (Second Update!)
Qin Mu looked at the celebrating crowd below the altar. The leaders of the various tribes were gathering their respective clansmen, making preparations for mobilization.
"What are they planning to do?" Qin Mu asked curiously.
"They intend to gather the power of all their people to collectively visualize you, enhancing your physical body and divine consciousness."
Lang Wan Divine King said, "Just as they once elevated the Grand Emperor, they will elevate you. Although the number of creators who sacrificed to the Grand Emperor back then was immense, and it's impossible to recreate that grand scene today, a million creators visualizing and offering sacrifices together will still be enough to skyrocket your cultivation and strength. In just a hundred years or so, your cultivation can reach the level of an Imperial Seat powerhouse, or even stronger. Your physical body might even be forged to be indestructible through the sacrifices."
Qin Mu looked at the excited crowd below, then thought of ancient gods like Earth Lord and Heaven Duke. He shook his head and said, "Becoming a god through sacrifice comes with too many restrictions. While it can elevate me, it will also confine me. I think it's better for me to cultivate on my own, continuously improving my own cultivation and strength."
If it had been before, he wouldn't have refused such a large-scale visualization ritual.
But now, Qin Mu suspected that the ancient gods were created through the visualization of the creators.
The ancient gods were bound by their own great paths for their entire lives. Perhaps they weren't limited by their own great paths, but by the thoughts of the creators who brought them into being.
When the creators visualized Earth Lord, their thoughts were that he was the god of death, just and impartial. Thus, Earth Lord became an ancient god condensed from countless such thoughts, finding it difficult to break free from the shackles of the creators.
What bound Earth Lord was Earth Lord himself. And Earth Lord himself was formed from the countless visualized thoughts of the creators.
Of course, this was just his speculation—that the creators created the ancient gods. He didn't know if it was actually true.
The reason Qin Mu had this suspicion was mainly because of Lang Wan Divine King's mount, that colorful phoenix.
He felt that the colorful phoenix was in a situation very similar to the ancient gods, which made him resistant to being visualized by the crowd.
Lang Wan Divine King glanced at him and sent a divine consciousness message to inform the tribal leaders.
Upon hearing this, the leaders of the Xiu Min, Zi Li, Zhu Qiu, and other tribes were all astonished, but since it was the will of the Saint Infant and the Divine King, they had to comply.
Qin Mu watched the crowd disperse and breathed a sigh of relief.
The restrictions on the ancient gods were far too many. They were beings without freedom. The ancient gods themselves were desperately trying to escape these shackles. If he willingly walked into such a trap, wouldn't he be a fool?
"Why did you refuse the creators' sacrifice?"
Shu Jun's large head flew over, complaining, "You missed the chance to become the Grand Emperor!"
Qin Mu laughed and said, "Become the Grand Emperor? My goals are far greater. What is a mere Grand Emperor to me?"
Shu Jun felt a great sense of regret and shook his head, saying, "You don't know how powerful and terrifying the Grand Emperor truly was."
"Even if I wanted to become an existence like the Grand Emperor, the creator race wouldn't allow me to become another Grand Emperor. Shu Jun, the creator race already created one Grand Emperor, which nearly led to their extinction. Why would they create another one?"
Qin Mu smiled and said, "If I became another Grand Emperor, who's to say I wouldn't exterminate all the creators to secure my own rule? I am the Saint Infant of the creator race, not a ruler like the Grand Emperor. Otherwise, what difference would there be between me and him?"
Shu Jun's eyes widened, but this time his eyeballs didn't pop out. He said, "What you say actually makes a lot of sense, but I don't believe you're that kind-hearted. You're too cunning, kid."
Qin Mu smiled faintly and said to Lang Wan Divine King, "Sister, let these creators rest for a while to recover their strength and divine consciousness. Once they've recovered, we'll go to Carefree Haven."
Lang Wan Divine King was surprised. "All the creators are going to Carefree Haven?"
Qin Mu nodded. "All of them."
Lang Wan Divine King frowned slightly. "Isn't that too grand a spectacle?"
She didn't want to say it outright, but Shu Jun couldn't hold back and voiced her true thoughts: "Are you taking all the creators there to pick a fight with your own ancestors? Marching an army to the city gates, it's hard to say if your ancestors won't have other ideas."
Qin Mu laughed heartily and shook his head. "I plan to let the creator race negotiate with Carefree Haven and the Kai Emperor. Without showing the strength of the creator race, even if the Kai Emperor agrees, his ministers might not agree to peaceful coexistence with the creators."
His eyes flickered, and he said leisurely, "When two behemoths speak, they need to have equal power."
He felt a surge of excitement, thinking to himself, "Hopefully, I can scare the Kai Emperor out of his wits!"
Lang Wan Divine King gave him a deep look and immediately used her divine consciousness to notify the leaders of each tribe, telling all their people to rest.
Three to five days later, the creators who had participated in the sacrifice had their divine consciousness restored to its peak. Lang Wan Divine King again notified the tribal leaders, ordering them to organize their clans and set out en masse for Carefree Haven.
When this order was given, the creators of every tribe were incredibly excited, rubbing their fists and buzzing with discussion: "The Saint Infant is truly the Saint Infant! He's going to strike at Carefree Haven!"
"We've long looked down on that traitor Qin! The Saint Infant is a divine being sent from heaven, leading us to flatten the enemy's nest!"
"Don't underestimate the enemy. That big-headed monster baby next door is very formidable."
"The Saint Infant can beat that monster baby until it cries for its mommy and daddy!"
"Of course."
...
Qin Mu and Lang Wan Divine King stood on a high vantage point. As Qin Mu watched the creator race's marching formation—with entire families dragging along their households—he couldn't help but frown deeply. Because the creators cultivated divine consciousness and used visualization to manifest their divine abilities and refine treasures, each person's divine consciousness techniques were different, and each person's mount was also unique.
It was normal for some to visualize dragons, phoenixes, and other mythical beasts as mounts, but there were also many who visualized bizarre and strange mounts. The Zi Li tribe leader's mount being a giant white silkworm was already strange enough, but there were also those riding giant spiders, eight-legged monsters, feathered serpents, giant kun fish, and even a tree!
In addition, there were various flying houses with wings, as well as tower ships, treasure chariots, and some people sitting inside giant eggs!
There were also huge sacred objects flying through the starry sky, carrying a hundred or so creators. Some creators simply sat on a planet, with elders behind them pushing the planet at full speed, then leaping up and jumping into the planet, letting it carry them toward Carefree Haven!
Many younger creators, due to insufficient cultivation, visualized wings for themselves and flew by flapping them.
However, their wings were not uniform either—some were big, some small, some long, some short. Some had many pairs of wings, while others visualized their wings in a riot of colors.
The attributes of the wings were also different—some were thunder-type, some were wind-fire type, and some, with a single flap, would cause torrential rain and widespread flooding.
This wasn't even the most exasperating part for Qin Mu.
What frustrated him the most was that during the march, the creators from various tribes were in complete disarray, dragging along slowly. They didn't look like a force meant to intimidate Carefree Haven, but rather like refugees fleeing a disaster!
Qin Mu's hands trembled with anger. He took a few deep breaths and muttered, "Even if I asked the National Teacher to whip these guys into shape, it would probably take over ten years to make them obey military orders, become uniform, and turn into usable soldiers. With such a ragtag bunch of stragglers, how can I possibly scare a great ruler like the Kai Emperor out of his wits?"
He knew very well the strength of the Kai Emperor's Heavenly Court. Whether in formations or military tactics, the Kai Emperor's Heavenly Court had already formed a powerful civilization. Those battle-hardened gods and demons had a far better grasp of the battlefield than the creators.
In one-on-one combat, the creators were incredibly strong. But in large-scale battlefield conflicts, the strength of the Kai Emperor's Heavenly Court far surpassed that of the creators!
One must know that within the Kai Emperor's Heavenly Court, there were terrifying existences like the Heavenly Master Zi Xi, also known as Yan Yun Xi!
The scholar Zi Xi, that is, Yan Yun Xi, was the highest achiever in formations. She was someone who dared to ambush two Earth Mother Primordial Lords alone and fight against the Martial Combat Heavenly Master Zhuo Cha, an Imperial Seat powerhouse!
Moreover, the teleportation formation and teleportation divine abilities were products of the Kai Emperor's era, representing the highest achievements in mathematical arts of that time!
Lang Wan Divine King said, "Saint Infant, don't worry. You only need to use your divine consciousness to communicate with the creators, and you can smoothly command the march and formation, making them uniform."
Qin Mu shook his head. "Being uniform alone doesn't make an invincible army. The creators need to form various battle formations, the leaders must be proficient in different military tactics, and the combinations of different formations must create various killing formations. The divine weapons in each creator's hands, their divine abilities—all of these must become part of the battle formation. It's too chaotic now..."
He sighed. "Going to Carefree Haven in such a noisy, disorderly manner will only make the Kai Emperor laugh. It won't be a show of force at the city gates, but a display of embarrassment. For now, I can only try to get them to line up in formation along the way. But my divine consciousness isn't strong enough to command all the creators."
Lang Wan Divine King said, "You can use my divine consciousness to contact everyone, deploy troops, and arrange formations."
Qin Mu sighed. "That's the only way."
His divine consciousness connected with Lang Wan Divine King's, and he immediately felt how vast and profound this woman's divine consciousness was—like an endless, boundless ocean!
As their divine consciousness stirred, Qin Mu felt his vision extend wildly, flying out to who knows how far!
Not only that, but he could also clearly touch every single creator, and the thoughts and consciousness of each creator were vividly reflected in his mind!
Such powerful divine consciousness was truly unfathomable!
With Lang Wan Divine King's help, commanding each creator became much easier. He thought to himself, "This method of deploying troops and arranging formations should be passed on to Yan Kang! The combination of divine consciousness and primordial energy should also be passed on to Yan Kang! That way, forging an invincible army of gods and demons would be a piece of cake!"
Along the way, using Lang Wan Divine King's divine consciousness, he gave orders to every creator, making them change their ranks, adjust their formations, abandon those messy visualized objects, and divide into specific formations, visualizing only one type of object.
As for those creators who refused to obey orders, Qin Mu had the tribal leaders and elders restrain them. If the elders disobeyed, the leaders would punish them. If the leaders disobeyed, Lang Wan Divine King would step in.
This process of marching while training the troops was truly exhausting. Even with Lang Wan Divine King's divine consciousness to command all the creators, it took over a month just to stop them from running around randomly during the march.
Only then did Qin Mu understand why, after losing the command of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Kai Emperor's Heavenly Court had been defeated so quickly.
Changing generals on the battlefield in the face of a powerful enemy was a major taboo in military affairs. The Four Heavenly Kings of the Kai Emperor's Heavenly Court commanded the troops, but when they were unable to participate in the battle for various reasons, the command fell to the Four Heavenly Masters, leading to a collapse like a landslide.
If even training troops was this difficult, how much worse would it be to change generals on the battlefield?
"Having neat ranks is still not enough. The formations I've made these creators set up are just for show. They can scare others, but trying to fool a formation master like Yan Yun Xi is out of the question."
Qin Mu felt uneasy. "I hope she's still in Fengdu and hasn't returned to Carefree Haven."
Carefree Haven, Thirty-Third Heaven.
Ever since the Kai Emperor came to the Other Shore World and turned a sword's length of land into the Thirty-Third Heaven, establishing Carefree Haven, the place had been plagued with disasters.
The Star Creators among the creators had created countless stars, completely surrounding the thirty-three layers of Carefree Haven. Countless stars blocked all paths to Carefree Haven, and from time to time, stars would fall from the sky and crash into Carefree Haven.
Whenever this happened, the Observatory Department in Carefree Haven had to issue early warnings, and divine beings would step in to blow up the stars, ensuring the safety of Carefree Haven.
However, from time to time, creators would also charge out from the piles of stars to attack Carefree Haven, causing great trouble and resulting in many casualties each time.
It wasn't until the Kai Emperor's one hundred and seventh generation descendant, Qin Fengqing, returned from the outside world with his parents that this situation gradually improved. Every invading creator was devoured by Qin Fengqing, and the creator invasions finally stopped.
Now, countless stars and debris outside Carefree Haven locked the place down, with only a few divine beings from Carefree Haven able to sail out on tower ships.
In the Thirty-Third Heaven, reports kept coming in. Yan Yun Xi, dressed in male attire like a scholar, flipped through the reports and laughed, "These creators have actually started learning to set up formations. How interesting. Their formations might fool others, but in front of me, they're nothing but a child's play. Your Majesty, have your injuries fully healed?"
The Kai Emperor frowned and said, "The injuries have healed. Don't worry about me. This time, all the creators of the Other Shore World have mobilized. They probably intend to wipe us out in one fell swoop."
Yan Yun Xi smiled and said, "Why is Your Majesty so worried? With the Divine Child here, the creators can't cause much trouble."
The Kai Emperor sighed and said, "I'm not worried about our safety. I'm worried about Qin Mu. Falling into the hands of the creators, they'll probably kill him to consecrate the battle flag."
Yan Yun Xi frowned and sighed, "He's always so stubborn, always liking to play with fire, believing in great rewards for great risks. He wants to be the Saint Infant of the creators—what nonsense. That Lang Wan Divine King is intelligent and perceptive, with courage and boldness. She'll definitely discover his true identity and use him to deal with Carefree Haven and Your Majesty. Once the creator army arrives at Carefree Haven, they'll probably drag him out, behead him in public, and use his blood to consecrate the flag..."
"Ahead is Carefree Haven!"
In the central army of the creator army, Qin Mu used Lang Wan Divine King's divine consciousness to transmit his voice to everyone, shouting, "That traitor Qin is right there! All of you, perk up! Scare that traitor Qin out of his wits!"
In the void, the divine consciousness of a million creators converged into a single stream, forming an earth-shaking roar: "Scared out of his wits!"
——Second update, a four-thousand-word chapter.