Chapter 878: Follow the Map to Rescue Me
"Lăng Thiên Tôn's hairpin was actually left for me, but it was taken away by Senior Brother."
Tần Mục quickly arrived at the place where Ngụy Tùy Phong had disappeared, the hairpin having vanished along with him, and couldn't help furrowing his brows.
He had realized the hairpin was left for him by Lăng Thiên Tôn, but it was already too late—Ngụy Tùy Phong had already gone to the ancient times in his place.
"Senior Brother will remain in the ancient Long Hán era for who knows how long, and will become the Right General of the Long Hán Heavenly Court's Imperial Guard. He won't return until the incident of Empress Dowager's assassination and the Ghost Ship case erupt."
Tần Mục placed the corpse of Empress Dowager's younger sister back into the crystal coffin and waited silently, thinking to himself: "When he returns from the Long Hán Heavenly Court, he should appear at this place again. I can wait for his return. Perhaps Lăng Thiên Tôn will tell him certain things before he comes back."
Meanwhile, there was no movement from the Dark Flower World. Long Kỳ Lân had gone to find Yên Nhi and still hadn't returned, and he didn't know how the battle was going.
Tần Mục stayed by the crystal coffin, took out his mirror, and continued organizing the ancient god runes while waiting for Ngụy Tùy Phong's return.
He waited for several days, but never saw Long Kỳ Lân and Yên Nhi return to this place. Only then did he begin to worry, and stood up intending to go look for the two of them.
He arrived at the edge of the Dark Flower World and was about to step into the darkness when he suddenly stopped, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"The flower world within the Great Abyss has no cycle of day and night, yet the Red Flower World and the Dark Flower World have day and night!"
He looked toward the Dark Flower World, which had no light at all, took out a piece of jade, and with light flowing at his fingertips, carved the words "wait for me" onto the jade, then tossed it into the Dark Flower World.
But as the jade fell into the Dark Flower World, it suddenly disappeared without a trace—not even the sound of it hitting the ground could be heard.
This kind of disappearance was a complete disappearance from this era!
"The Red Flower World belongs to daytime, the Dark Flower World belongs to nighttime. Walking from day into night, the crossing will stop, and one returns to their original era. Long Fat and Sister Yên Nhi both returned to the era we came from. Only I didn't walk into the darkness, so I remain in Senior Brother's era."
Tần Mục withdrew his steps and continued sitting by the crystal coffin. As long as he didn't actively step into the Dark Flower World, he wouldn't return to the era he came from.
But to be safe, he first organized the Great Sun Star Lord's great dao runes, transforming his primordial qi into a sun that hung in the sky of the flower world.
Days passed one after another. Tần Mục had already recalculated the runes of the Starry Sky Star Lords among the ancient god great dao runes using the Thái Vi Calculation Sutra, and the beard on his face had grown more and more robust.
The time he had stayed in this era was already longer than the time he had stayed in the Long Hán era.
During this period, a few more remnant stars fell into the Great Abyss, causing undercurrent eruptions and the Great Abyss flowers to bloom. However, this place seemed to have been completely abandoned—no one came in.
One day, he was immersed in his research and calculations, paying no attention to anything else, but the female corpse in the crystal coffin slowly opened her eyes.
The female corpse silently turned her head to the side, quietly sizing up Tần Mục.
The wound at the back of the female corpse's head had unknowingly healed over these past few months.
Tần Mục suddenly felt something and turned to look, but saw the female corpse still lying there quietly, no different from before.
"Strange, I clearly felt a gaze watching me."
Tần Mục shook his head and continued his research, but he set up the mirror to reflect the crystal coffin behind him.
He manipulated his calculation spirit weapon to continuously compute, devoting himself entirely to studying those runes. After a long while, the female corpse in the coffin opened her eyes again.
The female corpse was lying in the coffin, but at this moment her head silently twisted around, twisting at an alarming angle, her eerie gaze falling on Tần Mục's back.
The lid of the crystal coffin silently flew up, and the female corpse inside also silently floated up flat.
Tần Mục was in the middle of calculating, but the corner of his eye suddenly twitched.
Behind him, the female corpse silently drifted down, her body floating in the air, her head lowered, her hair flowing down from her snow-white neck like a waterfall.
Her head gradually approached Tần Mục's neck.
Tần Mục still seemed completely unaware, but sweat beads formed on his forehead. The sword pellet in his glutton sack at his waist flowed out slowly like mercury, quietly coming to the back of the female corpse's head, gradually forming into a sword tip, pointing at the wound behind her head that had only just healed.
At that moment, light swirled ahead, and a middle-aged man wearing only white undergarments stepped out from the light.
This middle-aged man had a dignified appearance. The moment he appeared, he immediately saw the floating female corpse behind Tần Mục, and his eyes blazed with fury. Behind him, layers of divine treasures leaped out, and a heavenly palace rumbled into existence atop the stacked divine treasures!
Within the heavenly palace, above the large and small palaces, phantom images of gods and demons stood tall, appearing like a river of stars above the heavenly palace!
His primordial spirit was like an ancient god wielding the power of the starry river, possessing boundless strength. It appeared before the Emperor's Throne within the Lingxiao Hall, reached out its palm, and the palm blasted through the heavenly palace, striking toward the female corpse behind Tần Mục!
"Lady Nguyên Mẫu, since you are dead, why cause trouble?"
The female corpse behind Tần Mục, upon hearing him call out her true name, let out a piercing shriek. Her hanging hair flew up, and the various paths of the Guixu Great Dao within her body seemed to awaken. The darkness in the Dark Flower World surged toward this side!
Tần Mục immediately felt an immense pressure.
It was the power of an ancient god awakening within the female corpse's body, as if a terrifying force that devoured all things in the world was erupting behind him. But the middle-aged man's primordial spirit stamped its palm onto her forehead, and as the power erupted, it pressed the surging darkness behind her back into the Dark Flower World all at once!
The female corpse was sent tumbling backward involuntarily, crashing with a bang into the crystal coffin. The coffin closed, sealing the female corpse within.
The female corpse struggled inside the coffin, shrieking, her delicate features turning ferocious, but she could not break free from the middle-aged man's suppression.
The middle-aged man walked toward Tần Mục and bowed in greeting: "Second Junior Brother, eight thousand years apart—eight thousand years without seeing you, and you've grown a beard. Lady Nguyên Mẫu, have you turned into a corpse demon?"
The female corpse in the coffin flopped about like a fish out of water.
Tần Mục returned the bow and laughed: "I was thinking of old friends and forgot about my beard. Senior Brother, you were gone for eight thousand years, but I've been here for less than half a year. I saw the notes you wrote in the mist on the Ghost Ship. Senior Brother, have you found your path to sagehood?"
This middle-aged man was none other than Ngụy Tùy Phong. Hearing this, he laughed heartily, his spirit soaring, and said: "I've roughly found it. But I couldn't accomplish it in the Long Hán era—I need to return to my own era to do it. The Holy Teacher once said, three accomplishments make a sage. I only lack the accomplishment of merit."
Tần Mục couldn't help but say: "Senior Brother, 'three accomplishments make a sage' was just a casual remark by the teacher—don't take it seriously. I don't know what you're planning to do, but the teacher told me you've already gone astray. If you continue exploring, it's truly dangerous. In my era, I never even saw you!"
Ngụy Tùy Phong was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "The Holy Teacher's words cannot be wrong. My entire life has been devoted to achieving sagehood through three accomplishments. The sage I want to become is something the teacher himself never achieved in his lifetime. He assisted Khai Hoàng but never built the achievements he wanted. His dao heart was never perfect. Junior Brother, I want to become a sage who surpasses the teacher, to completely resolve the tragic fate of the world's people! You don't need to persuade me—my mind is made up."
Tần Mục said no more.
Ngụy Tùy Phong laughed: "You once said you followed the geographical map I left for you to find this place. If I hadn't left you the geographical map, wouldn't you have been unable to find this place? Giving you the geographical map is a future event for me, but a past event for you. So, if I don't give you the geographical map in my future, can I change the future?"
Tần Mục was silent for a moment, then said: "Senior Brother, in my era, I never saw you. The geographical map was also something you showed me using your own divine weapon. I don't even know whether you were alive or dead at that time."
Ngụy Tùy Phong laughed heartily: "I'm definitely still alive, you can rest assured! We brothers can meet across twenty thousand years—how marvelous! I have a way to let you stay in this era. How about this: let's go to the outside world together, explore the truth of history, and establish achievements that even the teacher never built! I have enough strength now—I won't be as cautious as I was before."
Tần Mục shook his head: "I need to go back. I won't stay here."
Ngụy Tùy Phong frowned again: "Why are you so stubborn?"
He suddenly laughed: "It seems I'm just as stubborn. Oh, right—when I was returning, I encountered Lăng Thiên Tôn in the mist. She asked me to give this to you."
He took out a peach wood hairpin, his eyes flickering, and laughed: "This hairpin is Lăng Thiên Tôn's treasure. She seems to be trapped in the Heavenly River. She gave me the hairpin and asked me to pass it to you. Can you lend it to me for a while?"
Tần Mục had been waiting for this. He reached out to grab the hairpin, but Ngụy Tùy Phong moved his hand and clenched the hairpin in his palm, saying: "Junior Brother, let me borrow this hairpin for a period of time."
Tần Mục was furious and stretched out his hand: "Give it to me! Last time, Lăng Thiên Tôn inserted the hairpin into the back of Lady Nguyên Mẫu's head—it was left for me, but you snatched it away!"
Ngụy Tùy Phong quickly said: "I truly need this hairpin. Junior Brother, I will return it to you in the future. I'll leave it right here in this Guixu. Rest assured, let me borrow it!"
Tần Mục was about to snatch it, but at that moment, the undercurrents of the Guixu erupted.
Ngụy Tùy Phong shot into the sky, flying out beyond the heavens as the flowers bloomed, laughing: "Don't worry, I'll leave the hairpin here in the future!"
"Ngụy Tùy Phong, you bastard!"
Ngụy Tùy Phong disappeared, his laughter echoing: "When you return to your own era, go to the hall to find the hairpin. I'll leave a geographical map for you!"
Tần Mục stood there stunned.
After a moment, the surging undercurrents subsided.
Tần Mục snapped back to his senses and immediately hoisted the crystal coffin onto his shoulder, walking toward the Dark Flower World.
Inside the crystal coffin, the female corpse of Lady Nguyên Mẫu giggled, looking expectantly at the Dark Flower World growing closer and closer.
Although she was a product of corpse transformation, the Dark Flower World was after all the place of her birth, holding a tremendous attraction for her. Moreover, once she entered the Dark Flower World, she could mobilize its great dao to break through Ngụy Tùy Phong's suppression and this crystal coffin.
Tần Mục stood before the Dark Flower World, set down the crystal coffin, untied the willow leaf at his brow, and said loudly: "Heavenly Duke, help me watch over this female corpse—don't let Big Brother eat her!" With that, he stuffed the crystal coffin into the Tần Character Continent.
The female corpse flew into a rage.
Tần Mục remained unmoved, leaping into the Dark Flower World and disappearing into the darkness.
When his feet touched the ground and he opened his eyes, he immediately saw himself standing in the Dark Flower World, while Long Kỳ Lân's voice came from the Red Flower World, scolding Yên Nhi: "...I told you not to eat like that, not to eat like that! But you just had to eat! See how you'll explain to the Sect Leader when you get back!"
Tần Mục rushed toward the two palaces at the junction of the two worlds. Long Kỳ Lân caught sight of him and was both startled and delighted, calling out loudly: "Sect Leader, we received the jade token you carved and have been waiting here all along! Sister Yên Nhi ate the beauty snake and has become..."
"Shut up!" Yên Nhi's voice came through.
Tần Mục vaguely saw a round, plump green sparrow standing on Long Kỳ Lân's head. He didn't have time to look closely—he immediately charged into the Black Palace and searched frantically within it.
Suddenly, his gaze fell upon an offering platform in the Black Palace.
Around the platform, star sand flew, forming a river of stars.
Tần Mục growled: "Again!"
He rapidly calculated, solved the weakness in the star river formation, immediately charged into the formation, reached out and grabbed the red cloth on the offering platform. Beneath the red cloth was a peach wood hairpin.
Under the hairpin was also a piece of sheepskin paper with a line of writing on it.
Tần Mục breathed a sigh of relief. Without bothering to look at the writing on the paper, he quickly grabbed the peach wood hairpin, thinking: "Senior Brother does keep his word. But what was that round, plump green sparrow just now?"
At that moment, his gaze fell on the sheepskin paper. The handwriting on it was Ngụy Tùy Phong's, only four words: "Follow the map to rescue me!"
—Every day, you can go to the Mục Thần Ký page and give love hearts to Tần Mục, Tần Phượng Thanh, and the Village Chief!