Chapter 602: A Pair of Embroidered Shoes (First Update!)
"They are the same as me—people who should have died long ago. We should have fallen on the battlefield twenty thousand years ago, but circumstances forced us to cling to life."
The Woodcutter Saint set his axe aside and said with emotion: "Fuluo Riluo, do you know? If this were the Kaihuang Era, a minor demon god like you jumping around would have long been sent to the Execution Platform and beheaded. But times are not what they once were. I admire you, and I know your skills and methods. You never invited the Heavenly Court's people here—you attacked the Taihuang Heaven with your own strength. I know you don't want to live under someone else's roof. You have your own ambitions and wild aspirations—you want to use the Taihuang Heaven as a springboard to leap into the Kaihuang Heavenly Court. Your ambition is very great."
Fuluo Riluo smiled slightly: "A man living in this world—if he has no ideals, what difference is there between him and a dried fish?"
The Woodcutter Saint shook his head: "Have you ever considered—if you occupied the Kaihuang Heavenly Court, would you be destroyed? When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is boiled. You must understand this, no? The moment you attack the Great Ruins and destroy Yankang, that is the moment of death for you and your people. The calamity of clan annihilation is right before your eyes. You bear the name Fuluo Riluo—the great wise one of the demon race—surely you can see this?"
Fuluo Riluo turned his neck, switching to the face on his right side, and said leisurely: "The Saint is skilled at attacking the heart. You appear to be thinking of my welfare, but in truth this is the art of psychological warfare. I understand the reasoning you speak of, but I also know that I must find a path of survival for my people. As for whether the Heavenly Court will destroy me—that remains uncertain. At worst, I can lower myself and play the dog. Surely the Heavenly Court wouldn't go so far as to kill a dog?"
His left face laughed: "A man in this world must be able to bend and stretch. Dao Brother, if you insist on threatening me with the Luofu Heaven, I need not kill you—someone else will naturally do it. Dao Brother, what harm is there in bending a little?"
The Woodcutter Saint shook his head: "If I wanted to play the dog, I could have done so twenty thousand years ago. If I can stand and live, I would rather stand."
Fuluo Riluo's gaze flickered: "But after death, most people still lie prone—like a dead dog."
The Woodcutter Saint laughed: "Shattered bones and ground flesh—I fear nothing. I would rather die in pieces. Don't worry, I won't die lying prone. Before Qin Mu and the others arrived, you made your demands—that I cede part of Yankang's territory to your demon race. Now that Qin Mu is here, I can give you my answer."
His expression suddenly turned cold and grim: "As long as we live, not an inch of Kaihuang's land will be ceded!"
"If your leg reaches in, I'll cut off your leg. If your head reaches in, I'll cut off your head! If your demon race dares to enter Yankang, I will annihilate your entire race!"
He said coldly: "Kaihuang's land—don't even think about it!"
Fuluo Riluo heard his words, and all three of his faces instantly turned gloomy as well. He said icily: "Then there is nothing to discuss. In that case, let us sign the Tubo Covenant!"
He picked up his brush, rapidly wrote out the oath, and lightly raised his hand—the paper flew toward the Woodcutter Saint across from him. The Woodcutter Saint also wrote his own oath and exchanged papers with him.
Each considered the other's oath, checking for loopholes, then picked up their brushes to make revisions before exchanging the oaths back again. They examined them once more carefully, revising the parts they could not accept.
Thus they went back and forth several times until they finally settled on their respective oaths.
The two stood up and each swore their vow. Fuluo Riluo spoke in the demon tongue, while the Woodcutter Saint spoke in the divine tongue. The divine language and demon language sounded simultaneously, each carrying its own mysteries and subtleties—even attacking each other!
Qin Mu was fluent in both languages. Whether divine or demon speech, he understood it all, and found himself listening with rapt attention.
Suddenly, space trembled. The altar beneath their feet, towering like a mountain, shook unsteadily, and everyone on the altar hurriedly steadied themselves. Below the altar, Granny Si and the Black Tiger God were facing off against two other demon gods. The ground beneath their feet also began to undulate, and the four divine beings hurriedly stabilized themselves, lest the other side take advantage.
Granny Si swayed back and forth, seemingly lacking sufficient cultivation, and retreated several steps. One of her embroidered shoes inadvertently slipped off, leaving her to steady herself with one bare foot.
The demon god facing her brightened at the sight. Before she could react, he reached out and picked up the embroidered shoe. With the shoe in hand, that demon god stared instead at Granny Si's delicate, fair foot, chuckling lewdly as he brought the shoe to his nose and sniffed it.
Granny Si feigned anger, extending her hand with a half-smile: "Give me back my shoe!"
That demon god laughed heartily and tucked the shoe into his robes: "Little beauty, you're so lovely I can't help but pity you. Your shoe—I'll keep it."
Granny Si flew into a rage, pulled off her other shoe, and hurled it at him: "You're supposed to be a demon god—an exalted existence! How can you be so frivolous?"
That demon god raised his hand and caught the other embroidered shoe, staring at her pair of fair, delicate feet, and chuckled: "Good! Got myself a pair! Little beauty, you have such fair, dainty feet. I do keep some human concubines—if you submit to me, I'll make you my first wife. Just say yes, and when I return, I'll eat my ugly old wife at home!"
Granny Si giggled: "If you eat your ugly wife, then I'd have to worry—what if one day I become the ugly wife and you eat me too! My little shoes wouldn't fit you anyway, so consider them a gift."
The Black Tiger God frowned deeply, thinking to himself: "What kind of person is this woman? She talks nonsense and flirts with this demon god—she's just as unreliable as Junior Brother Qin!"
Thick darkness surrounded them. Suddenly, firelight appeared within the darkness, and a pair of enormous horns slowly rose from the darkness beneath the altar.
All around the altar was pitch-black. Those horns curved nine times with eighteen bends, towering into the clouds, far surpassing the altar itself.
The Black Tiger God was terrified. His two hammers fell to the ground without his noticing, and he hurriedly picked them up, looking up at the pair of horns that kept rising from the darkness.
After a moment, the phantom image of Tubo's head finally emerged, its two pairs of horns already reaching a height level with the stars beyond the heavens.
Tubo's tiger-like face was hidden in the darkness, his flaming eyes casting his features in flickering light and shadow. The towering, majestic altar also flickered under his gaze.
Tubo was silently waiting for their oaths.
This was only Tubo's phantom—not the true Tubo, but a projection of his power into this world to witness the vows of two mighty beings.
Tubo could not descend in person. His physical body was simply too vast—if he descended, this fragile world could not bear it.
Qin Mu grew excited and waved vigorously at Tubo's phantom.
Tubo's expression remained solemn, ignoring him completely.
Qin Mu continued waving excitedly, calling out loudly: "Me! It's me! Tubo, we've met before! I'm Qin Fengqing—you sealed me!"
Tubo continued to ignore him.
Qin Mu kept waving excitedly.
Tubo's eye twitched: "Solemn! Do not speak to me. I am conducting official business."
Zhe Huali and Qi Jiuyi exchanged glances, their hearts filled with awe.
Fuluo Riluo and the Woodcutter Saint finished reciting their oaths and signed the Tubo Covenant. That majestic head of Tubo glanced briefly at Qin Mu, who was excitedly waiting to speak with him.
Qi Jiuyi hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to pay his respects to Tubo.
Tubo ignored him as well, saying to Qin Mu: "Don't cause trouble."
He left that one sentence behind, slowly sinking back into the darkness, gradually disappearing, leaving Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi standing awkwardly on the altar.
Only when the horns had completely sunk into the ground did the darkness disperse on its own, and light returned to the surroundings.
The Woodcutter Saint stared at Qin Mu. Fuluo Riluo also stared at Qin Mu. Zhe Huali and Qi Jiuyi's gazes likewise fell upon him. Tubo had always been the solemn, majestic image of death itself—never smiling, never joking. Every time a mighty being swore an oath, his power projected over as witness, and that aura was truly dark and terrifying, pressing down until one could hardly breathe.
But this time, Tubo's phantom had not only spoken—it seemed quite familiar with Qin Mu. This inevitably made one wonder: when swearing an oath to Tubo, would he handle matters impartially, without personal bias?
The very reason Tubo was the object of oaths was precisely because he had no personal bias whatsoever. If Tubo developed personal feelings, that would be truly terrifying.
"I never expected Young Friend Qin to have such a good relationship with Tubo." Fuluo Riluo said with a beaming smile.
Qin Mu closed all three of his eyes, refusing to look at him, and grunted: "If our relationship were truly good, he wouldn't have sealed me."
Fuluo Riluo felt relieved, but then suddenly thought of Qin Mu's jade pendant and his heart tightened: "The jade pendant is Tubo's seal? That day I suppressed the seal, which is why I released that demon king?"
His mind suddenly cleared, and a great stone lifted from his heart: "Tubo personally sealed him—it seems he has no hope of escaping the seal. With that settled, I can deal with him at ease. Though this brat doesn't dare look at me anymore."
At that moment, a scream of agony came from below the altar. Everyone on the altar was startled and hurried to the edge to look down.
Below the altar, one of the demon gods who had accompanied Fuluo Riluo was rolling back and forth in pain, clutching his legs. That demon god wore a pair of tiny embroidered shoes on his feet—shoes so small they were only three inches long—and the shoes were filled with needles, piercing his enormous feet until they were bloody.
The demon god's body alternately swelled and shrank as he tried to shake off the embroidered shoes, but the shoes only shrank with him without ever growing larger. By now, the bones of both his big toes were completely shattered, and the pain was indescribable.
Beside him, the Black Tiger God and the other demon god stared at Granny Si in terror, each edging away, not daring to approach.
"The bones in both your feet are completely broken."
Granny Si spoke with a sweet smile, her voice soft and gentle as she advised: "You should just cut them off. If you wait until the embroidery needles swim up to your heart and lungs, up into your brain, it will be too late."
That demon god trembled all over with pain, gritting his teeth and hissing: "You tricked me into wearing those tiny shoes..."
Granny Si said in mock surprise: "You put them on yourself. When did I ever trick you?"
On the altar, Fuluo Riluo raised an eyebrow and sneered at the Woodcutter Saint: "Is this another disciple of yours? Same style as you, Dao Brother—stabbing from the shadows!"
The Woodcutter Saint was also somewhat surprised and shook his head: "Not exactly my disciple. Though her cleverness rivals my own."
Fuluo Riluo snorted coldly, his voice carrying down to the base of the altar: "Mutuluo, your divine arts are not refined enough—you cannot suppress her fine needles. The longer you delay, the more dangerous your life becomes. Cut off both your feet."
That demon god was straining with all his might to suppress the embroidery needles flowing from the embroidered shoes into his bloodstream. The needles in the shoes were extremely fine, almost imperceptible, yet they moved like slender swords—agile and nimble—boring into his blood vessels. He transformed his primordial energy into various divine arts hidden within his blood to block and suppress them, but because it was his own body, he could not unleash powerful divine arts, and could not stop these fine needles.
When he heard Fuluo Riluo's words, he let out a sharp cry. Tears streaming from his eyes, he struck down through his tears and severed both his lower legs.
From the wounds of his severed legs, countless fine silver needles flowed out like water.
"The artifact-forging techniques of the Heavenly Craftsman Divine Clan!"
Fuluo Riluo recognized the forging methods of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court's Heavenly Craftsman Divine Clan from these silver needles, and his heart jolted. He suddenly remembered that day when there had been an old blacksmith beside Qin Mu. Granny Si's silver needles were certainly the work of that old blacksmith!
"A blacksmith, an embroiderer, a painter, a seller of fake medicine... What kind of people are these around Qin Mu?" Fuluo Riluo found himself with a headache as well.
——First update, second update coming right away! Don't go away, it's coming soon!