Chapter 646: The Star Lord's Puzzle (First Update!)
The First Ancestor Human Emperor finally breathed a sigh of relief and earnestly instructed, "This blade is extremely inauspicious—it was refined from the skull of a being at the Imperial Throne level. You simply cannot control it. If you can avoid using it, then don't."
Ling Yuxiu, still shaken, was frantically patting herself down. Only after confirming her head was still attached did she feel at ease.
Ban Gongcuo was also feeling his own head, and upon discovering it hadn't fallen off, he too let out a long sigh of relief.
"Not being able to take the chance to behead the Great Venerable is truly a pity…"
Qin Mu put away the box and crouched down to examine the corpse of the Fire Crow Divine Being on the ground. He saw that this deity had been decapitated, his body's vital energy and blood completely drained, not a single trace of blood to be found. It was as if the moment his head was severed, all the divine blood within his body had been sucked dry, leaving behind two halves of a desiccated corpse!
"Indeed, it is an inauspicious object."
Qin Mu's heart pounded with fear: "As long as the blade strikes, there's no chance of survival! The most terrifying thing is that if the divine blade in this box fails to hit its target, it will most likely turn on its master… But it is indeed very useful—it cut down a deity as easily as chopping vegetables…"
The First Ancestor Human Emperor asked, puzzled, "I didn't see you cultivate my hand seal technique, so why have you mastered it so purely, to the point where you can even instruct the creator of this technique?"
Qin Mu stood up, stretched lazily, and laughed, "I am the Overlord Body, so of course I learn it after a single glance."
The First Ancestor Human Emperor's expression darkened, emanating an air of melancholy.
Qin Mu quickly added, "Although I didn't cultivate it directly, I've run it through my mind hundreds and thousands of times. First Ancestor, your hand seal technique is indeed not bad, but you have too little experience facing battle formations. I think I can teach you how to charge into enemy lines and break formations at the fastest speed. As for breaking formations, I learned from my blind grandfather at home, and I've also experienced quite a few wars."
Upon hearing this, the First Ancestor felt deeply wounded: "You… teach me…"
He looked like a wilted eggplant, dejected and dispirited.
Qin Mu said, "To break a formation, you need to be utterly fearless and disregard everyone in your path. The Fire Crow Formation just now looked very formidable—four thousand eight hundred Fire Crow Divine Beings constantly shifting the formation, attacking the head when you strike the tail, attacking the tail when you strike the head. Once you're trapped inside the formation, you'll be dazzled and unable to lock onto any single enemy. At that point, you need to treat them as mere numerical symbols—a total of four thousand eight hundred numbers. As these numbers shift and change positions, you'll quickly be able to discern the formation's secrets."
The First Ancestor became intrigued. He replayed the scene in his mind, recreating the Fire Crow Formation, substituting the Fire Crow Divine Beings with numbers. Sure enough, all the mysteries of the formation were laid bare before him!
In this way, the Fire Crow Formation had a discernible pattern!
"However, the formation changes of these Fire Crow Divine Beings are too fast. There's a strange psychic connection between them that makes the formation's flaws vanish in an instant. How does one break the formation under such circumstances?" The First Ancestor Human Emperor quickly noticed the problem and humbly sought guidance.
Qin Mu guided him step by step: "Which move did I teach you to use to break the formation?"
"Heaven and Earth Spin, Heart Unmoved!"
The First Ancestor suddenly understood and laughed, "When heaven and earth spin, space becomes chaotic, the numbers are thrown into disarray, and the formation is broken. So that's it!"
Qin Mu smiled: "Now do you understand?"
"Your disciple under—"
The First Ancestor Human Emperor caught himself mid-sentence, quickly shut his mouth, his old face flushing red as he raised his sleeve to cover it.
Qin Mu's teaching had unconsciously made him feel as though a teacher was diligently guiding him, leading him to almost blurt out the words "Your disciple understands." Fortunately, he reacted quickly and didn't finish the sentence.
Chixi was cleaning the deck of the great ship, retrieving the various treasures that had been knocked down, and tossing the corpses of the Fire Crow Divine Beings overboard. He walked over and said, "The Fire Crow Divine Beings possess a strange psychic ability that allows them to communicate over vast distances. These Fire Crow Divine Beings have found us, which means the Great Sun Star Lord is not far behind. The Fire Crow Divine Beings left behind can't catch up to us, but the Great Sun Star Lord certainly can. We must leave as quickly as possible!"
Qin Mu walked to the deck and looked behind them. He saw the Fire Crow Divine Beings that had been flung away by the First Ancestor Human Emperor still pursuing relentlessly, but this time they couldn't use the sun to accelerate, so the distance between them and the great ship was growing ever wider.
"Abandon the ship."
Qin Mu suddenly said, "Fly to a place where the Fire Crow Divine Beings can't see us, then abandon the ship and take another vessel to leave. Leave this ship behind to draw the Great Sun Star Lord's attention. Do we have another ship?"
Chixi shook his head, and the First Ancestor Human Emperor also shook his head.
"Senior Chixi, since you knew enemies would be pursuing us, why didn't you prepare an extra ship? For instance, if I were refining poison, I would prepare an extra dose, just in case."
Qin Mu shook his head: "You people are far too immature in your ways."
Ban Gongcuo hastily took out a small notebook and jotted down Qin Mu's words, thinking to himself, "The more I understand him, the easier it will be to deal with him!"
Chixi said, "My Crimson Bright Divine Dynasty was destroyed. It's already remarkable that I managed to preserve a single ship like this."
The First Ancestor Human Emperor pondered, "We can't abandon the ship; we'll have to fight head-on. Although the Great Sun Star Lord is formidable, we are no pushovers either! Only by severely wounding the Great Sun Star Lord can we have a chance to shake him off!"
Chixi hesitated. The First Ancestor Human Emperor's performance just now clearly showed he had never been on a battlefield. When faced with a formation's encirclement, he was at a loss and even got lectured by Qin Mu.
Of course, Chixi himself was no battlefield general either, and he didn't know how to handle battle formations.
If not for Qin Mu's experience in battle and his mastery of the First Ancestor Human Emperor's techniques, even the Fire Crow Formation alone might have left them battered and humiliated.
The Great Sun Star Lord was a renowned deity. His reputation was long-established, and his strength was unfathomable. If he caught up to them, with the combined strength of the First Ancestor and Chixi, they probably wouldn't be able to withstand him.
Ling Yuxiu suddenly spoke up: "Look at that sun!"
Everyone on the ship quickly looked. The sun they had flown away from was actually changing!
The sun underwent a miraculous transformation. Its surface was collapsing inward, forming layer upon layer of complex rings that kept folding in on themselves. Upon closer inspection, those rings were composed of incredibly intricate runes forming formation patterns!
Soon, from the sun's surface to its core, an incredibly complex formation took shape. The ring patterns contracted, and from a distance, it looked like a giant eye!
"The Great Sun Star Lord has arrived!" Chixi said nervously, his voice hoarse.
The First Ancestor Human Emperor took a deep breath, standing at the stern with his feet planted firmly, and said in a deep voice, "One-on-one, we might not be without a fighting chance! Since it's difficult to escape the Great Sun Star Lord's tracking and pursuit, we might as well severely wound him so he dares not follow!"
Qin Mu stared at the ever-changing sun, momentarily stunned. Suddenly, he quickly took out his Sun Jade Eye, examined it, then looked at the distant sun, and exclaimed in shock, "Is the one coming really the Great Sun Star Lord?"
"It's definitely the Great Sun Star Lord!"
Chixi tossed the Heaven-Suppressing Tower into the air above the great ship, climbed into the tower, and headed straight for the thousandth floor to retrieve the tower's most precious treasure. He said in a deep voice, "No one else has the ability to command the power of the sun!"
Qin Mu's mind was slightly muddled. He muttered, "But why is the formation structure of the Sun Jade Eye almost identical to the formation of this sun… The Jade Eye is a treasure from the Qu Shan Divine Temple of the Upper Emperor era. The Great Sun Star Lord should have existed since the Dragon Han era, right? Why would he use a formation from the Upper Emperor era…"
Ling Yuxiu said, "The Great Sun Star Lord lived through the Upper Emperor era. He could have learned the formation techniques of that time. What's so surprising about that?"
"No, that's not it!"
Qin Mu shook his head: "Divine abilities depend on the Dao and techniques. Once one's own techniques are established, one basically continues along one's own path. Learning other people's divine abilities and techniques can never reach the pinnacle. The Great Venerable is an example."
Ban Gongcuo was furious and shouted, "Qin, when you give examples, can you consider other people's feelings? At the very least, we're all on the same ship right now!"
"The Great Venerable originally cultivated shamanic arts and was one of the few great masters of shamanic divine abilities in the world. His attainments in the soul and primordial spirit were rare even by today's standards. However, he became distracted and went on to learn the Daoist sword techniques of the Daoist Sect, the Buddhist teachings of the Great Thunderclap Temple, the techniques of the Heavenly Sage Sect, and the techniques of the Lesser Jade Capital. As a result, his skills became merely mediocre."
Qin Mu analyzed on his own: "If I were the Great Sun Star Lord, I would learn the formations of the Upper Emperor era, but I would modify them to suit myself best. Yet the Great Sun Star Lord made almost no modifications at all. That's unreasonable. Moreover, from what Senior Chixi and the First Ancestor have said, he is a deity born from the sun itself. In that case, it would be even more impossible for him to learn the divine abilities of the Upper Emperor era. Because he simply couldn't learn them!"
Ling Yuxiu was puzzled: "Why can't he learn them?"
"He was born from the sun, so the Dao within his body is already fixed. But the reformations began with changing divine abilities—changing abilities leads to changing techniques, and changing techniques leads to changing the Dao. Once the techniques and divine abilities change, the Dao changes along with them."
Qin Mu explained: "The Great Sun Star Lord's internal Dao remains unchanged. Trying to learn the reformed techniques and divine abilities would naturally be impossible. It's like Tubo—Tubo is also a primordial deity. He should be unable to learn King Yan's divine abilities and techniques."
In the distance, the sun's formation had already taken shape. Suddenly, an incredibly thick beam of light broke through the constraints of space and shone toward the great ship!
The beam passed through a star, and in an instant, that star was pierced through, blasted open with a massive hole!
This power was countless times stronger than the power of the Sun Jade Eye!
At the stern, the First Ancestor Human Emperor and Chixi were extremely tense, while Qin Mu paced back and forth, tugging at his thick beard, deep in thought. "If my guess is correct, then there's one possibility: this Great Sun Star Lord might not be the original Great Sun Star Lord, but rather a deity from the Upper Emperor era. If my speculation is true, then where did the real Great Sun Star Lord go… First Ancestor, can you get a bit of the Great Sun Star Lord's blood for me to study?"
Chixi said in exasperation, "It'll be a miracle if we even survive!"
The First Ancestor Human Emperor shouted, "Hurry into the tower and take cover!"
Qin Mu dashed toward the building. Ling Yuxiu stood at the entrance. Ban Gongcuo intended to close the door and lock Qin Mu outside, but Ling Yuxiu grabbed him by the neck with one hand and slammed him heavily onto the ground.
Qin Mu rushed into the tower at full speed. The moment the door was shut, there was a thunderous boom, followed by violent tremors that sent the three people inside the tower flying into the air, crashing into each other!
At the stern, the First Ancestor Human Emperor drew the sword at his waist, channeling all his power as he slashed down at the beam of light. The Yuming Sword expanded, splitting through the intensely blazing divine light, but was immediately scorched red-hot!
The First Ancestor was pushed back relentlessly by the terrifying force. Chixi activated the tower's precious treasure—six divine swords—and slashed at the beam of light as well. His own strength was insufficient, but the power of these six divine swords was immense, forcibly elevating his abilities by a large margin.
The two joined forces and finally managed to block the power of the Sun Divine Eye. The intensely blazing firelight and divine light were split in two by them, howling past the edge of the great ship, leaving two long, brilliantly bright trails across the starry cosmos.
At that moment, the great ship suddenly lurched heavily. A divine being with a bird's head, a human body, two wings, and three feet had already ridden the divine light and landed at the stern. It was the Great Sun Star Lord!
Inside the tower, Qin Mu shouted, "First Ancestor, remember to get a bit of his blood!"
"Shut up!" the First Ancestor Human Emperor shouted in exasperation.
—Happy birthday to Shuai Shuai~ Thank you to the perfect wife for the Platinum reward!