Chapter 519: Village Chief Returns to the City
"I am twenty-three this year."
Qin Mu said honestly, "I have wasted twenty-three years of my life, and have accomplished nothing so far. Speaking of it, I cannot help but sigh and shed tears."
"For Divine Doctor Qin to have achieved so much at the age of twenty-three is already extraordinary."
Tinh Kien turned around, raised the mirror in his hand, and said with sincere admiration, "At twenty-three, you are not only the Demon Cult Leader, commanding millions of ability users, but you also hold a high position as the Grand Sacrificial Wine of the Heavenly Sage Academy, and you are the Human Sovereign. Moreover, you are the wealthiest man in the world, with a wide circle of friends. How many people in this world can achieve what you have at twenty-three? You alone!"
He raised his mirror to take a look, but did not see Qin Mu in it. He was slightly startled, but then heard Qin Mu's voice coming from afar: "Fat Dragon, Fat Dragon! Tell the new ability users that this is the Great Ruins. When it gets dark, they can't run around recklessly—people die! Get a few loud-voiced ones to shout out and tell the ability users not to leave the city at night!"
Tinh Kien put away his mirror and followed after him. When Qin Mu stopped, he took out his mirror again, turned his back to Qin Mu, and prepared to take a look—but again, Qin Mu's figure was not in the mirror.
Qin Mu's voice came from afar again, saying, "Tu Tu, can you find a few dozen court painters? Senior Brother Tinh Kien gave me a picture, and I need to have hundreds of copies made and distributed to various places."
Tinh Kien raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself, "If the person Lu Ly is looking for is him, then he certainly wouldn't have the jade pendant from the picture copied. Could it be that I am truly overthinking things? But then, why is he avoiding me?"
He followed Qin Mu again, his gaze flickering uncertainly. "If he runs again, I will suppress him with my magical power and hold him in place!"
Just then, the slightly plump young woman from the Lin family tilted her head to examine the picture and said in surprise, "This jade pendant—I think I've seen it before!"
Tinh Kien shuddered, forgetting about taking a picture of Qin Mu, and quickly said, "Princess of the Lin family, have you truly seen it?"
Over the past few months, Lin Tu Tu had been in charge of military intelligence on the northern border. Living on the northern snow plains had made her fair-skinned, and since she was at the age of growing, her face had become a bit longer, her features more delicate—though her figure remained plump.
She had returned to the capital to report on her duties, and Qin Mu had set up the Bridge Between Life and Death. Taking advantage of her free time, she came to Xianglong City, not only to meet her lover but also to enter the Bridge Between Life and Death for training.
"I've seen it once."
Lin Tu Tu had matured a great deal through her experience in the northern military. She still preferred men's clothing, which gave her a heroic air. "I saw it in a ruin in the Great Ruins."
"The Great Ruins!"
Tinh Kien's heart shook violently, and he quickly asked, "Was the person a young man?"
Lin Tu Tu said, "No, it wasn't. There was such writing in the ruins of the Great Ruins. There was also a small swaddle and a small wooden horse in the ruins, as if a child had lived there."
Qin Mu looked at Tinh Kien, who fell silent for a moment, clearly communicating with the strange eye in his Life-Death Divine Treasury.
Qin Mu looked at the mirror in Tinh Kien's hand, curious about it. Earlier, Tinh Kien had been trying to use the mirror to look at him, which was why he had been avoiding it.
"Senior Brother Tinh Kien, you also like carrying a mirror? Could this mirror be some extraordinary treasure?"
Qin Mu's eyes flickered as he reached for the mirror. "Could you lend it to me for a bit? I think I have a pimple on my face, and I want to take a look..."
Slap!
Tinh Kien slapped his hand away, stuffed the mirror back into his Gluttony Pouch, and said calmly, "Don't touch my things. You're poisonous. Princess of the Lin family, where exactly in the Great Ruins is the place you went to? Can you take me there?"
He was communicating with the strange eye in his Life-Death Divine Treasury—the strange eye must have wanted him to go there and take a look.
Lin Tu Tu hesitated for a moment, then said, "I still need to go to Fengdu, so I don't have time to take you there. But I do remember the geography of that place, and I can draw you a map."
Tinh Kien thanked her.
Lin Tu Tu asked Qin Mu for a brush and ink, then drew a geographical map. Tinh Kien asked nonchalantly, "What dangers are there here?"
Lin Tu Tu smiled and said, "If there were dangers, how could I have returned alive? In this world, who has higher cultivation and strength than Senior Tinh Kien?"
Tinh Kien smiled. "If you could return alive, then so can I. Divine Doctor Qin, why don't you come with me?"
Qin Mu hesitated and said, "Senior Brother, why do you need to bring me along to search for someone in the Great Ruins? I've already helped you find the person, and I'll hang the picture all over Yankang. As soon as I have any news, I'll notify you. You go search for traces of the jade pendant. I need to go to the Hall of Human Sovereigns to pay respects at the graves. If I don't go soon, the successive Human Sovereigns will be poking my spine and cursing me to die early so I can go see them."
Tinh Kien looked at the map drawn by Lin Tu Tu and said seriously, "Princess of the Lin family, if I don't find the writing from the jade pendant there, you can imagine the consequences. Your Lin family will be wiped from the face of the world because of this!"
Lin Tu Tu shuddered and forced a smile. "I'm not lying to you..."
Tinh Kien turned and left.
Both Qin Mu and Lin Tu Tu breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Tu Tu wiped the sweat from her forehead and was about to speak when Qin Mu raised his hand, and Lin Tu Tu quickly stopped.
The two understood each other's minds, and together their primordial spirits left their bodies and fled far away.
Their primordial spirits flew tens of thousands of miles away from Xianglong City before stopping. Lin Tu Tu's primordial spirit asked, "Cowherd, what place is that exactly? Is it dangerous? My Lin family's lives and fortunes are all staked on it!"
The reason she had said those things was that Qin Mu, while Tinh Kien was off guard, had used the spiritual wave communication of the Skyfeather Clan to contact her, telling her to say and draw those things.
Members of the Skyfeather Clan did not speak to each other; they communicated through spiritual waves. Without needing sound, a mere thought could convey one's intentions, allowing them to act in perfect unison—very flexible.
Although spiritual communication had its drawbacks, it was very useful for keeping secrets.
"Don't worry. What you told Tinh Kien, Tinh Kien will see there, but he won't find anything useful."
Qin Mu's primordial spirit said, "After he goes there, if he immediately turns back, he can still walk out. But if he insists on going deeper to find more clues, then whether he can walk out will depend on his wisdom. Back then, the Village Chief and the others charged into that place together and almost didn't make it back. It was Grandpa Mute who rescued them. After Tinh Kien returns, he won't come to kill you because of this, because you didn't lie."
The place he was referring to was the place they had once suspected to be Wuyou Village—a giant ship forged by the Heavenly Crafts Divine Clan. But the Heavenly Crafts Divine Clan had failed to enter Wuyou Village. They had fallen into an enemy ambush and, together with that unimaginably giant ship, had been trapped in an enormous three-dimensional space seal.
The Heavenly Crafts Divine Clan had spent countless generations and sacrificed countless lives to let a single child walk out of the seal—and Qin Mu suspected that child was Mute.
It was with Mute leading the way that the Village Chief and the others had been guided out.
If Tinh Kien stepped into that place and immediately turned back, he could break out. But if he went deeper, he would be trapped by the seal.
Lin Tu Tu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Why is Tinh Kien looking for you? That jade pendant is clearly yours."
Qin Mu shook his head. "I don't know either. But there is a very powerful existence hiding in his Life-Death Divine Treasury—extremely terrifying. Tinh Kien should be under its coercion. I only saw the eye of that existence, not its body. But Tinh Kien fell from Fengdu into Youdu and then returned alive. That eye in his divine treasury must be a demon god from Youdu!"
Lin Tu Tu frowned. "What if Tinh Kien can escape from that place?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "It should be able to trap him for half a year. After he comes out, we'll continue searching for the young man with the jade pendant for him."
His gaze was strange, and he said in a low voice, "When he comes out, he will find that whether in the Central Plains or the Western Lands, or the grasslands, the ice plains, and the Great Ruins, this kind of jade pendant is everywhere. Guess, how did that happen?"
Lin Tu Tu rolled her eyes at him. "I know you're capable. Don't brag!"
Qin Mu laughed heartily. The two's primordial spirits returned to their bodies. Outside, the sky was gradually getting dark. By the river of the Bridge Between Life and Death, a painted boat came sailing over. Fox Ling'er and Ti Van Huong let the people who had paid board the boat. The painted boat sailed along the river in the sky toward Fengdu, and Lin Tu Tu also boarded the boat.
Outside the city, Qin Mu walked into the darkness. The Dragon Qilin sat on the box, and the box walked on its legs, following Qin Mu. The box was filled with things—besides fruits, vegetables, and sacrificial offerings, there was also paper money. The box was very dissatisfied with these things, but Qin Mu had forcibly stuffed them into its belly, and it had no choice.
"The Hall of Human Sovereigns, like the Lesser Jade Capital, is a fragment of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court."
Qin Mu's eyes flickered as he walked in the darkness, holding a lump of black iron in his hand, thinking, "The Second Ancestor and the others didn't tell me how to get there. They just said that by activating the Human Sovereign Seal, I could find it. How does the Human Sovereign Seal find the Hall of Human Sovereigns..."
His vital energy surged into the Human Sovereign Seal. The great seal vibrated slightly. This activation was different from the last time. Last time, when he activated the seal, he had seen the arduous years of the human race after the fall of the Kaihuang Era. The spirit contained within the Human Sovereign Seal surged out and spread to every corner of the world.
But that time, the Village Chief and a host of experts had assisted him. Now, Qin Mu was alone, so naturally he could not unleash the spiritual call of the Human Sovereign Seal.
Qin Mu probed with his vital energy, and suddenly his heart stirred. His vital energy touched a mark within the Human Sovereign Seal.
At that moment, the Human Sovereign Seal vibrated gently, and a beam of light shot out, striking Qin Mu's eyes. Then the light disappeared.
Qin Mu shook his head and opened his eyes to look. A beam of light shone from somewhere unknown, landing precisely at his feet.
Qin Mu was surprised and turned back to ask, "Fat Dragon, can you see this light?"
The Dragon Qilin had been asleep. Hearing this, it hurriedly raised its head and looked around. "What light?"
"This light—only I can see it?"
Qin Mu quickly took out a mirror and looked at himself in it. He saw that a strange rune had appeared in his eyes. It must be this rune imprinted in his eyes that allowed him to see this light!
"So this is how you get to the Hall of Human Sovereigns!" Qin Mu followed the beam of light.
Meanwhile, the Village Chief had finally returned to Fengdu. He saw that Fengdu was extremely lively at the moment. A long river hung above the city, with a bridge spanning it. The bridge was crowded with gods and demons, while below the bridge, a bunch of skeletons stood on the painted boat.
"What's going on here?"
The Village Chief was surprised. Suddenly, he saw Qi Kang the Human Sovereign on the bridge, and his eyes lit up. He waved and called out, "Old man Qi Kang! Over here! I'm back! I've brought shocking news—news about the Overlord Body! Heh heh, news you'd never expect! Forty thousand years ago, an Overlord Body appeared! Come down quickly! I have a rubbing here!"
Qi Kang the Human Sovereign quickly jumped down from the bridge and pointed at the Village Chief, saying, "Don't move! Don't move! I'll go call the Second Ancestor and the others!"
The Village Chief laughed. "Don't you want to see the rubbing first?"
"Joy shared is joy doubled. Wait until all the other Human Sovereigns have gathered, then we'll look together." Qi Kang the Human Sovereign turned back with a look of utmost honesty.
The Village Chief was puzzled. "That old undying's smile today looks a bit familiar... Why is he being so polite to me today..."