Chapter 808: The Yulin Army Time-Travel Incident
The village chief's expression was grave as he said in a low voice, "Mu'er, put the jade pendant away. Don't flaunt it. Let's first see who these people are."
Qin Mu flipped his hand, and the jade pendant in his grasp vanished without a trace.
The massive blue-green kun emitted an extremely powerful aura, capable of churning rivers and overturning seas with ease. Under the illumination of the ghost ship's lights, it carried the many demigods to the edge of this great vessel.
Compared to this Yulin Army warship, the kun appeared rather small and delicate.
Qin Mu was no stranger to kun. In the Heavenly River a million years ago, many kun had lived there—demigods capable of swimming through water and soaring through the air alike.
In those days, the kun of the Heavenly River often made their living by carrying passengers in exchange for a few spirit pills.
Although many of the demigods on the kun's back had human bodies, they bore different visages and possessed varying numbers of heads.
Demigods were descendants of the ancient gods, with divine blood flowing through their veins. Since Heavenly Lord Hao had pioneered the method for demigods to transform into human form, demigods could also cultivate the Divine Treasury system and the Heavenly Palace system.
However, demigods could not fully transform into human form—they retained certain physical features of their original selves. Only a rare few demigods could assume complete human shape.
Those demigods saw them but did not stop. Instead, they continued advancing toward this ghost ship.
"Hook Serpent, stop this vessel!" An elderly demigod leaning on a staff, his body bent with age, called out loudly from the kun's back.
"It's Ancestral Dragon King!" Qin Mu exclaimed in surprise.
The river currents around them surged violently, and suddenly massive bodies appeared one after another—strange serpents several hundred zhang in length. These serpents bore no scales but rather bony plates, upon which grew sharp bone spikes, while their tails ended in scorpion-like curved hooks.
These strange serpents lashed out their tails, hooking onto the ghost ship's masts and gunwales, pulling the vessel to a halt.
The hook serpents' bodies were stretched taut, and several of them were immediately torn apart, their blood splattering across the Surging River.
The great kun swam toward the ghost ship, and the elderly demigod unhurriedly cast his staff into the air. The staff transformed into a divine dragon, threading through the chains of black qi, and embedded itself in the ghost ship.
Only then did the ghost ship come to a stop.
The elderly demigod then produced a mirror, which blazed with brilliant light upon the river's surface. It hovered above their heads, illuminating the great kun and all those upon its back.
When the black qi chains restraining the ghost ship touched the mirror's light, they rebounded on their own, unable to draw near.
The great kun swam to the ghost ship's deck, then suddenly shook its body and transformed into a radiant golden divine bird. The divine bird then folded its wings and transformed into a divine being with a bird's head and a human body.
The others on the kun's back also descended one after another.
The kun race possessed a unique form with three distinct shapes: first the kun, second the peng, and third the bird-headed human.
The village chief's heart tightened. He said in a low voice, "That old man is extremely powerful. I am no match for him. The demigods around him are no weaklings either, and that kun's strength is nothing to scoff at! Mu'er, we should fetch the First Ancestor before we have any hope of exploring this ghost ship..."
He had barely finished speaking when suddenly a beam of light shone down upon the river's surface. The light was like a pillar, as if a moon had descended from the heavens, its radiance falling upon the ghost ship.
Within the pillar of light, a small boat carrying a one-armed man and several one-armed youths drifted downstream along the river's surface. The small boat actually sailed along the light pillar, plunged into the river, and headed straight for the ghost ship.
The one-armed man sat at the boat's prow, appearing extraordinarily sacred in the moonlight.
"Luo Wushuang!"
Qin Mu's heart leaped. He looked toward the small boat and saw that Zhe Huali was also among them—the only one with both arms intact.
At that moment, flames blazed upon the river's surface. Qin Mu and the village chief looked up from beneath the water and saw a massive fireball rolling across the river's surface, evaporating the waters of the Heavenly River.
They could not see clearly from beneath the water, but the fireball flew closer and suddenly plunged into the river, transforming into a seven-colored phoenix that swam through the water, heading for the ghost ship.
On the seven-colored phoenix's back was strapped a stone coffin—most peculiar indeed.
Qin Mu's heart stirred: "Could it be Feng Qiuyun? She's still alive, not killed by Qi Xiayu, and her skills are considerable! But why has she come here? Could she be acting on orders from Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign? The stone coffin on her back... it couldn't be one of the stone coffins from the Nine Emperor Tombs, could it?"
He felt a chill run down his spine.
If the coffin Feng Qiuyun carried was indeed one of the stone coffins from the Nine Emperor Tombs, then what lay within could only be one of the Supreme Heavenly Emperors of the Northern Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court!
Why would Earth Mother place such importance on this ghost ship, even going so far as to deploy the imperial coffin from the emperor's tomb?
One must know that even when she fought against the other Earth Mother, she had not deployed the imperial coffin!
Suddenly, a rope of light descended from the sky. Qin Mu looked up and saw that the moon of Yankang, wrinkled like a blooming flower, had lowered a silver rope. The silver rope landed precisely on the ghost ship's flagpole, tied itself around it, and formed a knot.
Several figures slid down the silver rope at tremendous speed, landing on the flagpole in short order.
One of the divine beings then untied the silver rope, gave it a shake, and the silver rope from the moon above came tumbling down, slithering like a spirit snake into his sleeve.
From the moon to the ground was a distance of a hundred thousand li, yet when the silver rope burrowed into his sleeve, his sleeve showed not the slightest sign of bulging.
This divine being collected the rope and bowed to a young man beside him. The young man nodded, and these figures leaped from the flagpole to the mast, spiraling down it like civet cats before disappearing into the ghost ship.
"Coming down from the sky... could they be divine beings from the Heavenly Chart? No, the divine beings in the Heavenly Chart are gods left here by the Outer Realm Heavenly Court to deceive all living beings. They have their duties and would not dare abandon their posts."
Qin Mu's heart stirred: "Then they must be visitors from the Heavenly Court! Strange—Luo Wushuang's Lingxiu Army also comes from the Outer Realm Heavenly Court, so why are they not together?"
At that very moment, a great star appeared in the sky. The star looked like an apple that had been bitten into—it was precisely that anomalous star of the Chiming Remnant Clan.
Light flickered upon the anomalous star, and a red beam descended from the heavens, illuminating the ghost ship's deck. As the light dispersed, the figure of the Chiming Divine Son appeared there.
"The Chiming Divine Son has come as well!"
Qin Mu laughed: "Village Chief, the Chiming Divine Son is a friend, not a foe. I also know the One-Armed Divine Blade Luo Wushuang, and that phoenix is my sister. As for that old man leaning on the dragon-head staff, I have met him once before—he is called Ancestral Dragon King. We will be safe going in."
The village chief glared at him with a dark expression and unfriendly eyes: "The Chiming Divine Son is not necessarily a friend either. And that phoenix—she should be one of Earth Mother's people, yes? As for the One-Armed Divine Blade, I heard of his reputation in Taihuangtian—he is clearly an enemy! And Ancestral Dragon King—he should be a leader among the demigods, yes? What 'met him once before' nonsense! Not a single person who boarded this ship is trustworthy!"
The ghost ship's tremors grew increasingly violent. Many hook serpents snapped and broke apart, meeting their deaths.
The other hook serpents hastily withdrew their tail hooks, and this ghost ship sailed upstream along the Heavenly River, its speed gradually increasing.
Seeing this, the village chief hesitated, then said: "What exactly is that jade pendant of yours?"
Qin Mu replied: "It might be the military tally that controls this ghost ship, but I cannot be certain..."
The village chief gritted his teeth and said: "Let's go in and take a look! This ship is certainly no ordinary vessel—otherwise, it would not have attracted so many factions. If I don't go in and investigate, I won't be able to sleep for the rest of my life!"
Qin Mu did not know whether to laugh or cry.
The village chief's curiosity was even stronger than his own. Even if the military tally were not the artifact that controlled the ghost ship, he would still be unable to resist exploring.
The reason he hesitated was mainly concern for Qin Mu's safety—that was why he had delayed so long.
Huan Longjun hastily swam toward the ghost ship. Qin Mu produced the military tally, and its light dispersed the chains of black qi, allowing them to land on the vessel.
The two jumped down from Huan Longjun's head, while Huan Longjun transformed into a dragon-headed divine being and carefully surveyed their surroundings.
This ship's deck was extremely wide and large, like a small continent. All manner of structures were complete, and there was air here—the river waters had not invaded. The deck was quite dry.
"Mu'er, stay close to me. Don't go running off."
The village chief had barely finished speaking when he saw Qin Mu already walking ahead of him. He hastily caught up and said in a low voice: "Don't act rashly. Follow me—I'm an old hand at this!"
The ghost ship's speed increased ever more, sailing through the riverbed. Various dragon palaces and dragon mansions in the river flashed past, impossible to make out clearly.
The ship's hull creaked and groaned. At such tremendous speed, traveling beneath the water, this vessel seemed liable to split apart at any moment!
"Where is this ship heading? Why is it so fast? Mu'er, be careful!"
The village chief suddenly reached out and grabbed Qin Mu, gesturing: "There's a seal beneath your feet! Don't step on it."
Qin Mu looked down and saw a strange seal formed by chains of black qi on the deck. The seal was circular in shape, its internal structure complex, presenting the form of a tortoise entwined with a serpent.
"This is... the Northern Emperor's Seal!" His heart tightened.
"There's a seal over here too!" Huan Longjun called out.
When Qin Mu walked over to look, the seal Huan Longjun had discovered was the Azure Dragon Seal—likely left by the Eastern Emperor.
"There's one here too!"
They soon discovered more seal patterns on the deck. Some seals took the form of the Vermilion Bird, others the White Tiger. The seals of all Four Ancient God Emperors appeared on this vessel.
"The Four Ancient God Emperors jointly sealed this ship—there must be something strange about it..."
The village chief mused: "Anything worthy of being sealed by the Four Emperors must be extraordinary. Let's try not to touch anything."
At that moment, cries of surprise came from ahead. Ancestral Dragon King and his group had already undone one of the seals on the deck, and a pitch-black coffin was slowly "growing" out from the deck.
The black coffin indeed appeared to grow, rising higher and higher, reaching about a hundred zhang in height. Black qi chains also coiled around it, like great black pythons tied into a knot, locking the coffin in place.
"The Yulin Army—the Heavenly Court's Heavenly Emperor's imperial guard, recruited from the most elite gods and demons in the world!"
Ancestral Dragon King raised his hand, and the dragon-head staff fell into his grasp. He struck once at the center of the knot formed by the black qi chains, and said in a deep voice: "Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign once inadvertently revealed a secret. In the ancient Longhan Heavenly Court era, Empress Dowager was attacked, and the Yulin Army boarded a great tower ship to suppress the rebellion. As a result, the Yulin Army suddenly vanished during their march. The most powerful army of the Longhan Heavenly Court disappeared into thin air, becoming one of the unsolved mysteries of that era!"
The black qi chains came undone, and the black coffin emitted a hissing sound of escaping air. Waves of foul, turbid qi leaked out from within.
A demigod beside him suddenly let out a miserable scream. His feet rotted away, dissolving into pus, and soon his entire body became a puddle of rotten flesh, bubbling and emitting a foul stench.
Yet he was not dead. His face pressed against the rotten flesh, and he screamed without cease.
Fear gripped the hearts of all present, and they hastily held their breath.
In the distance, Qin Mu had also been about to undo a seal to see if a black coffin would grow out, but upon witnessing this, he hastily stopped.
Ancestral Dragon King waved his hand to disperse the corpse poison, struck out with his staff, and killed the screaming demigod. Staring at the upright black coffin before him, he said: "The Heavenly Emperor dispatched many experts to search for the Yulin Army aboard this ship, but they never found them. However, this ship and the Yulin Army upon it continued to appear in the Heavenly River over the following hundred-plus thousand years—appearing suddenly, then vanishing suddenly."
From within the black coffin came a creaking, scratching sound—as if something was clawing at the coffin boards with its fingernails.
Ancestral Dragon King gripped his dragon-head staff tightly and said: "There were also rumors of this ship in the Chiming Era. It was said that this ship often appeared on the Heavenly River, and some claimed to have seen tens of thousands of divine beings upon it, majestic and awe-inspiring. In the Supreme Emperor Era, this ship also appeared frequently. Earth Mother once went to investigate but unfortunately could not find it or the vanished imperial guard that had disappeared with the ship."
Suddenly, the coffin lid slammed to the ground with a bang. The crowd looked into the coffin, but it was pitch black within—nothing could be seen.
"According to legend, this ship conceals a great secret—a secret that can transcend time and space."
Ancestral Dragon King's mouth was dry, and his voice came out hoarse: "There are rumors that whoever masters this ship can travel through time and space, journeying to any era they desire!"
Two red points of light appeared within the dark coffin, like red lanterns.
———— I've caught a cold, my head is splitting with pain, and the update is late. My sincere apologies.