Chapter 912: The Third Eye's Strange Transformation
The nine-headed phoenix rose from the ship, its wings spanning the heavens, shielding the entire vessel as it stubbornly withstood that strike. It was Tề Hà Du's divine power transmitted from Nguyên Giới that saved them.
Everyone who had flown up from the ship collided with the nine-phoenix's wings, which were soft and pliant, so no one was injured.
The shockwaves from the Heavenly Bell grew increasingly violent, causing the phoenix ship to fly unsteadily, careening wildly through the blood-rust zone.
The ship brushed past those continents, even crashing into broken stars and slamming into landmasses. One could see that within the blood-rust zone, on those ancient, ruined continents, prehistoric relics suddenly blazed to life. Beams of light flashed, and a hair-raising scene unfolded.
On continent after continent, within countless relics, light erupted as terrifying phantom figures of ancient gods rose from those landmasses!
The blood-rust zone stretched an astonishing length, filled with dark red celestial bodies and shattered continents, yet now specks of light illuminated the entire region.
The nine-phoenix phantom struggled to control the phoenix ship as it weaved through, dodging one terrifying attack after another. From one of the phoenix heads came Tề Hà Du's furious voice: "How dangerous is the blood-rust zone? Even in the Heavenly Court, it's considered a forbidden area! Which one of you stirred up this huge mess?"
The six thousand-plus deities on the ship turned in unison to look at Tần Mục. Arms raised, all pointing at him.
Yên Nhi also raised her wing, pointing at Tần Mục.
Long Kỳ Lân hesitated for a moment, then did not point at Tần Mục.
However, from inside his ear, the little Thổ Bá stepped out of the ear canal, raised his hand, and pointed at Tần Mục with a solemn expression: "Moo—"
Long Kỳ Lân hastily whispered: "You can't just point randomly. The spirit pills were all refined by the Giáo Chủ. If you point recklessly, the Giáo Chủ won't give you food."
The little Thổ Bá lowered his hand, hung his head, turned around, and walked back into the ear canal, looking like he had done something wrong.
Tần Mục suddenly felt a sense of being isolated. He stood there with an unchanged expression, but inwardly he was uneasy, afraid that the furious crowd would throw him off the ship.
"Mục Thiên Tôn, I'm only helping you this once. Don't expect me to save you again!"
The nine-phoenix phantom pushed the phoenix ship to its limits. The blood-rust zone was like a pot of boiling porridge—within countless beams of light that spanned heaven and earth, bizarre deities and demons, somewhat resembling ancient gods in form, all struck out, making the rust zone nearly boil over as they reached for the phoenix ship!
Everyone on board grabbed whatever they could hold onto, lest they be flung off by the tumbling phoenix ship.
The nine-phoenix phantom piloted the vessel at breakneck speed, but the blood-rust zone was long, the starry sky stretched endlessly, and they couldn't fly out of this place in a short time.
Moreover, the figures above the altars on those continents were disrupting the blood-rust zone, stirring up more altars in the relics ahead. The number of ancient god spirit bodies flying out from the front was also increasing.
These ancient god spirit bodies could be called immensely powerful, their divine abilities all being ancient god great-path techniques of immense might.
If it were one-on-one, Tề Hà Du, even controlling the phoenix ship from Nguyên Giới, would fear no one. But there were simply too many ancient god spirit bodies here.
She could only focus all her effort on piloting the phoenix ship, narrowly dodging the attacks of one giant spirit body after another, doing her utmost to protect the safety of those on board and escape this place.
The phoenix ship dove and climbed, and when it couldn't dodge in time, it would shrink its hull and charge straight through the ancient god spirit bodies, passing right through their forms—fierce and fearless.
But each collision took a toll on Tề Hà Du. After all, she hadn't come in person. Controlling the phoenix ship from Nguyên Giới meant she couldn't react in time, and her divine power was also flagging, causing the nine-headed phoenix phantom to grow dimmer and dimmer.
Finally, when her divine power was nearly exhausted, the phoenix ship managed to fly out of that terrifying blood-rust zone. Everyone on board breathed a sigh of relief.
The nine-headed phoenix phantom had almost completely vanished, clearly showing that Tề Hà Du's consumption had been enormous. Rescuing everyone this time had left her utterly spent.
"Deliver him to the Heavenly Court and toss him in front of the South Heaven Gate. Then immediately sail the ship back. Don't let me see him again!" The nine-phoenix left these words behind and dispersed.
Tần Mục stood there awkwardly, saying nothing.
Tề Cửu Nghi cast him a sidelong glance: "Tần Giáo Chủ, I told you before—the blood-rust zone is extremely dangerous, but you didn't believe me. This is a forbidden area. Even beings at the Đế Tọa realm wouldn't dare set foot here lightly, let alone us. Someone! Help Tần Giáo Chủ to the cabin to rest!"
Several deities stepped forward. Two of them flanked Tần Mục, hoisting him up, while a few more followed behind, escorting him into the cabin.
Tề Cửu Nghi still wasn't reassured, worried he might escape, so he ordered layers of seals placed on the cabin, saying: "Tần Giáo Chủ, there are still a few dangerous relics along the way. Bear with it for a few days. We'll release you once we reach the Heavenly Court."
Yên Nhi asked curiously: "There are dangerous places along the way? How do they compare to the blood-rust zone?"
Tề Cửu Nghi said: "No less dangerous. Two more days' travel ahead is the place where Minh Hoàng fell. He died in battle there, and its danger far surpasses this place."
Yên Nhi said seriously: "Then your subordinates won't be able to hold him. The Công Tử is skilled in all sorts of seal-breaking techniques. Although your subordinates have higher cultivation than him, he can easily break your seals. I'll have to apply the seals myself before he can't break them."
With that, she layered heavy seals on the cabin door, lest Tần Mục escape and cause more trouble.
From inside the cabin came Tần Mục's furious voice: "Yên Nhi Tỷ, you've betrayed me!"
Long Kỳ Lân hastily said: "Giáo Chủ, Yên Nhi Tỷ is doing this for your own good, so you don't cause more trouble. Next time, without Xích Đế to save you, you'd really die!"
Tần Mục was enraged: "Long Béo, you've betrayed me too! When New Year comes, I'm putting you on the dinner table!"
The phoenix ship sped up and continued onward.
Inside the cabin, Tần Mục took out that red Creation Divine Stone. He hadn't had a chance to examine this treasure closely since obtaining it.
This Creation Divine Stone was small—it should be a fragment of a complete Creation Divine Stone. Ngụy Tùy Phong had most likely found this treasure while searching the relics of the blood-rust zone.
Ngụy Tùy Phong knew many secrets. This senior brother had gone to great lengths to earn merit, and leaving this Creation Divine Stone for Tần Mục must carry deep meaning.
Tần Mục placed the Creation Divine Stone against his brow, emptying his mind, and let his divine consciousness flow into it. At that moment, something abnormal happened!
The small bump on his brow suddenly stirred. A terrifying energy surged forth, sweeping up all his blood energy, causing it to rush toward his brow!
Tần Mục's heart jolted. His face turned deathly pale in an instant. The blood from every part of his body was flowing toward his brow, and in that brief moment, he became gaunt and withered, like a skin-and-bones dried corpse!
"Damn it!"
He was about to channel his vital energy to control the blood flowing to his brow, but strangely, not using his vital energy was fine—the moment he did, his vital energy also spiraled out of control, flowing toward his brow!
"What in the world is this Creation Divine Stone that senior brother gave me?"
Tần Mục's scalp went numb. His withered hand gripped the Creation Divine Stone tightly, resisting the force emanating from his brow. That force seemed desperately eager to obtain the Creation Divine Stone, pulling it closer to his brow.
The force was so great that Tần Mục could barely hold onto the stone.
"It's not my brow that wants this stone—it's this stone that wants to burrow into my brow!" Tần Mục suddenly realized.
All the power within his body belonged to him. There was no power from the U Đô Thần Tử. Ever since he had opened heaven and earth to reshape his soul and be reborn, he had known every bit of power within his body like the back of his hand.
Right now, there was absolutely no external power in his body.
Then the power must be coming from this Creation Divine Stone!
It was the Creation Divine Stone that was mobilizing his blood energy and vital energy. This gem wanted to burrow into his brow and become his third eye!
Tần Mục resisted with all his might, opening his mouth to call out to Yên Nhi, but no sound came out.
He tremblingly extended his other hand, trying to grab something to smash, to alert Long Kỳ Lân and Yên Nhi outside the door, but he couldn't move his body, nor could he mobilize any vital energy.
Even his primordial spirit was trapped inside his body, unable to be summoned!
Suddenly, a tearing pain shot through his brow. The skin there split open with a crack, revealing a bloody wound.
Directly across from Tần Mục happened to be a mirror. He looked into it and saw the wound on his brow gaping open, yet no blood flowed out.
The small blood sac in his brow finally revealed its true form—it was an eye, appearing in the socket where his original third eye had been. His blood energy and vital energy surged toward it, frantically absorbed by this eye!
Tần Mục's vital energy and blood energy were draining away at terrifying speed. His blood energy and vital energy were incredibly abundant, comparable to a true god, yet this eye was like a bottomless pit that could never be filled!
Tần Mục was terrified. He had long suspected what that small blood sac on his brow was—he thought it might be a new eye growing in the socket after he had gouged out his third eye.
After all, he was skilled in the art of creation; the regeneration of a third eye was hardly difficult.
But that small blood sac had never shown any activity. Whenever he channeled the Bá Thể Tam Đan Công and his vital energy circulated to his brow, he would faintly sense his vital energy and blood energy flowing into the small blood sac and vanishing without a trace.
Because the consumption was minimal, and Tần Mục was in the explosive cultivation period after his rebirth, with his cultivation skyrocketing, he hadn't paid it much mind.
Who would have thought that this time, the Creation Divine Stone would draw all his blood energy and vital energy to his brow, and this not-yet-formed eye would devour all of his blood energy clean!
"I'm not going to be killed by my own eye, am I?"
His hair stood on end. He gradually lost control of his hand, and the Creation Divine Stone in his grip drew closer and closer to his third eye. The stone seemed to possess sentience, desperately wanting to take up residence in his brow, crush his third eye, and replace it!
"Ngụy Tùy Phong, you bastard... Every time you screw me over!"
Tần Mục gritted his teeth, his hand trembling, finding it harder and harder to resist the force from the stone.
Suddenly, his third eye had devoured all his blood energy and vital energy. Unable to seize more from his body, a force erupted from within the eye, and a beam of light shot forth, illuminating the blood-red divine stone.
His eye was actually trying to seize the power of the Creation Divine Stone!
"My eye is a monster too!"
Tần Mục cursed inwardly. The third eye and the Creation Divine Stone—one trying to seize the other's power, the other trying to squeeze the first out and take its nest—were locked in mutual struggle.
Tần Mục laboriously moved his other hand, slowly reaching toward his chest, and pulled off the jade pendant hanging around his neck.
That jade pendant was the Tần-character jade pendant. When Tần Phượng Thanh went to Vô Ưu Hương, he had given this pendant to U Đô Tôn, asking him to pass it on to Tần Mục. He had kept it hanging around his neck ever since.
Tần Mục grabbed the pendant, slowly moving it until it reached his brow, and with great effort, resisting the forces of the third eye and the Creation Divine Stone, he painstakingly wedged the Tần-character jade pendant between the eye and the Creation Divine Stone.
This jade pendant was refined from Thổ Bá's horn. It looked like a jade pendant, but in truth it was a vast continent—a treasure Thổ Bá had used to suppress Tần Phượng Thanh.
The pendant appeared between the third eye and the Creation Divine Stone, cutting off those two terrifying forces. Tần Mục's hand holding the Creation Divine Stone relaxed, and the eye and the divine stone no longer attracted each other. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
At that moment, the Creation Divine Stone suddenly flew out of his hand and struck the jade pendant with a clink, catching him completely off guard!
Tần Mục's eyes flew wide, trying to grab the stone, but it was already pressing the pendant against his third eye on his brow!
Light exploded from his brow. The forces within the Creation Divine Stone, the third eye, and the jade pendant collided with one another. In an instant, Tần Mục's consciousness was blasted into a daze. He toppled backward and fell, unconscious.
"Ngụy Tùy Phong, you bastard..." Before losing consciousness, he forced out a breath and muttered a curse.
"We've reached Minh Hoàng's fall site! Be on high alert!"
From the deck came the shouts of deities. Long Kỳ Lân and Yên Nhi, who had been guarding outside the cabin door, hurriedly ran out to observe the final battlefield of this Xích Minh era's Heavenly Emperor.
It wasn't until the phoenix ship had flown past that they returned.
"This time the Giáo Chủ has been quite well-behaved. Not so much of that heavy curiosity."
Long Kỳ Lân laughed: "How rare. The Giáo Chủ should be locked up more often to rein in his heart."
Yên Nhi deeply agreed.
Tần Mục lay stiff and straight in the cabin, motionless, his breathing faint. The struggle between the third eye on his brow, the jade pendant, and the Creation Divine Stone continued unabated.