Daoist Ling Jing's face changed drastically as he retreated continuously. The Heavenly Demon King and Dragon Qilin were also forced backward by Qin Mu's aura, standing a thousand feet away but still unable to steady themselves.
Under Qin Mu's feet, the face of the old Moon Guardian was completely crushed into the Moon Ship by his steps.
He had been holding on to his last breath, but now he was being trampled into complete fusion with the Moon Ship, becoming part of it. His life ended and his Dao vanished.
The old Moon Guardian was dead.
Daoist Ling Jing was shocked. The life or death of that old Moon Guardian didn't concern him—that man was a madman to begin with.
What caught his attention was that flesh and blood were growing on Qin Mu's body, actually breaking through the constraints of the Realm of Life and Death!
Entering the Realm of Life and Death, even an existence like him would be reduced to bare bones, with not a shred of flesh remaining.
After Qin Mu entered the Realm of Life and Death with him, he was also reduced to bones. Dragon Qilin was the same. Only the Heavenly Demon King, not being a flesh-and-blood body, remained unchanged.
But now, not only had Qin Mu's flesh and blood returned, but his form was growing larger and larger, like a living deity. Divine light coiled around his body, his aura unmatched!
He had now replaced the last Moon Guardian—the moon herder—and become the new Moon Guardian.
The power he controlled was so strong that it broke through the limitations of the Realm of Life and Death. The rules of the Realm of Life and Death could no longer bind him!
This was almost impossible to achieve.
Daoist Ling Jing had visited this Moon Ship many times and examined everything here repeatedly. He had touched these massive pillars countless times, but had never witnessed such an astonishing transformation as Qin Mu's.
He believed that only those unique moon herders had this ability, and they had to be moon herders with a special physique.
The human body was a great furnace. Ordinary moon herders probably couldn't contain the terrible energy of the Moon Ship. Only moon herders with a special physique could possibly withstand such enormous energy.
Moon herders should have gone extinct, with only this one old man left on the ship, who was also sinking into the Moon Ship, unable to survive for long.
Could it be that Qin Mu, who controlled the Moon Ship and its power, was a moon herder—and a moon herder with a special physique at that?
However, Qin Mu was not a moon herder.
Grasping the pillar was an extremely dangerous act even for moon herders, but he did it with perfect safety. His body seemed to naturally withstand this power, naturally adapting his physical body and soul to it.
"What incredible power!"
Qin Mu was both surprised and delighted. The power within him had reached an inconceivable level. Before, his strength compared to this power was like a single drop of water in a vast ocean—utterly insignificant!
He felt as if a mere wave of his hand could transform heaven and earth, change the rules of the world, and control those rules!
Qin Mu was cloaked in a halo of moonlight. Rings of lunar brilliance flowed down from his head like water, all the way to his feet, before vanishing into the Moon Ship.
His feet had already begun sinking into the Moon Ship, the soles merging with it.
This was the Moon Ship's backlash.
Qin Mu had seen this backlash on the Sun Guardian of the Sun Ship before.
The Sun Guardian, Yan Jingjing, had controlled the Sun Ship when its sun went out. While she gained the Sun Ship's immense power, she also had to bear its backlash—burning her own life. The longer she operated the Sun Ship, the faster she would die.
Now, the waning moon above the Moon Ship was also extinguished, giving off no light. Qin Mu controlled the Moon Ship, borrowing its power, and the price was his own life!
He had to act quickly. Using the Moon Ship's power and speed, he needed to dive deep into the darkness, find the Land of Carefree, and find Village Chief and the others. Otherwise, the deeper he sank, the harder it would be to escape, and the cost would become unacceptable!
"Senior Brother Ling Jing, thank you for your help along the way."
Qin Mu looked down from above at Daoist Ling Jing, his voice rumbling like thunder: "Now, I must go through the night to find Village Chief and the others. Farewell!"
Daoist Ling Jing suppressed his shock and flew up from the Moon Ship, hovering in mid-air.
The Daoist was now in skeletal form, his Daoist robe tattered. He cupped his fists and bowed: "Sect Leader, please!"
*Boom—*
The enormous Moon Ship took a step forward. Beneath the hull was a three-legged toad form made of towering mountains. With a single step, it covered more than ten li.
In just a few steps, the Moon Ship passed through the Netherworld's gates, the chains dragging the black waning moon in the sky behind it, moving out of the Realm of Life and Death.
Within the Netherworld, powerful figures flew over one after another, but could only watch the Moon Ship recede into the distance.
These Netherworld experts gazed after it but made no move to pursue. When the Moon Ship had entered the Netherworld years ago, the Netherworld King hadn't accepted the Moon Guardian, only allowing the Moon Ship to stay on the wasteland outside the city.
Now that the Moon Ship was leaving, the Netherworld King clearly had no intention of getting involved.
A strange figure with a bird's head and human body flew over, calling out to Daoist Ling Jing: "Daoist Ling Jing, the King summons you."
Daoist Ling Jing hurriedly followed him into the Netherworld, heading toward the Palace of Hell.
Meanwhile, Qin Mu's body radiated brilliant light, like a deity forged from the bright moon. He controlled the ship as it left the Realm of Life and Death, the colossal Moon Ship crossing the sea of fog and entering the darkness of the Great Ruins.
He felt boundless power filling his body. Every one of his divine repositories opened—whether the spirit embryo, the five planets, the six harmonies, the seven stars, the celestial being, life and death, or the divine bridge—all were filled with terrifying energy. Even more power surged from within the Moon Ship.
The Moon Ship contained incredibly complex formations. When his palm touched the pillar on the ship, the formations activated, pouring boundless energy into his body while simultaneously transforming his physical body, his soul, and his spirit embryo, raising his realm directly beyond the divine bridge to an inconceivable level.
The realm of a deity.
It was hard to imagine what level of power a complete Moon Ship would achieve!
"Land of Carefree, Village Chief—I'm coming!"
The colossal Moon Ship traveled through the darkness, a blur of floating light and fleeting shadows. The surrounding mountains swept past in an instant. The jade pendant around Qin Mu's neck also grew enormous, floating in the night, pointing toward a distant place in the darkness.
Suddenly, with a *clink*, the jade pendant fell from his neck and flew off into the distance.
Qin Mu sped up the Moon Ship to follow the jade pendant cutting through the darkness. As the ship moved, it compressed space. Thunder crackled around the Moon Ship, constantly tearing through the darkness with earth-shattering force.
Above the Moon Ship, massive boulders kept falling from the broken moon, streaking through the air in arcs of fire before plunging into the darkness of the Great Ruins.
Wherever the Moon Ship traveled, fireballs rained down, crashing around the ship amid rolling clouds of smoke and flame—a striking sight.
The deck of the Moon Ship held countless palaces and temples, the living quarters of the moon herders. Unfortunately, a great battle had taken place here, and the moon herders had gone extinct. The last moon herder was the Moon Guardian, who had also been swallowed by the Moon Ship after Qin Mu became the new Guardian.
The Heavenly Demon King and Dragon Qilin were hiding in a palace that hadn't yet collapsed, sheltering from Qin Mu's terrifying divine aura. Dragon Qilin was swayed back and forth and soon fell asleep with half-closed eyes. Only the Heavenly Demon King was wide awake, gazing out from the palace window.
He could see the majestic Qin Mu standing like a towering mountain amid the pillars. Qin Mu's power had become tangible—the lunar halos cycling down around him were solidified power, possessing terrifying might.
"This world isn't as lowly as I imagined. This kind of divine creation requires incredibly profound Dao arts and divine abilities—not something an ordinary civilization could produce."
The Heavenly Demon King's gaze flickered uncertain, his heart truly conflicted: "Do I really want to invade such a world? What I fear isn't the height this civilization has reached—it's what destroyed it..."
In the darkness of the Great Ruins, countless demons were stirred by the giant ship and surged toward it. These monsters were enormous, but compared to the Moon Ship, they were tiny—like ants—and slow as well.
The Moon Ship simply crushed them underfoot. Amid the rumbling thunder, squelching sounds could be heard as countless mysterious creatures of the darkness were trampled into piles of gore.
Many more demon creatures pattered toward the Moon Ship, their demonic gibberish echoing through the air. They struggled to climb this land vessel, only to be struck down by the thunder generated by the Moon Ship's movement. Their bodies rained down like a shower.
"Qiangkenawu (Sanskrit for Moon Ship)!"
In the darkness, a terrifying aura surged. A black shadow grew larger and larger, wings like clouds, flying out of the darkness to cross the thunder barrier of the Moon Ship. It brought rolling demonic clouds as it invaded the ship.
Within the demonic clouds, a massive demon creature poked out its heads—nine of them—spewing demonic fire toward Qin Mu at the center of the pillars.
The raging flames illuminated the night sky. The enormous demon creature in the clouds rolled about, part bird, part flood dragon—seemed to be a monster born from the fusion of two beings.
"Garuda!" the Heavenly Demon King exclaimed in surprise.
Qin Mu was surrounded by swirling moonlight that blocked the demonic fire. Suddenly, a crescent moon appeared between his brows, gradually transforming toward a full moon, like a gate being pulled open.
Soon, a full moon appeared at his brow. It wasn't truly a full moon—it was an eye, radiating light like the moon.
*Ssss—*
A blindingly bright flash crossed the sky, splitting the darkness and cleaving the demonic fire in two. In mid-air, bird heads fell one after another—exactly nine. Behind them, necks writhing like flood dragons gurgled and spurted blood.
The full moon on Qin Mu's forehead slowly closed, becoming a crescent once more, then the crescent vanished entirely.
The Heavenly Demon King shut his mouth without a word: "After this kid releases me, I am absolutely NOT invading this freakish world!"
The Moon Ship continued onward, and still demon creatures swarmed toward it. Suddenly, a resounding roar echoed from the darkness, and the countless monsters retreated, vanishing into the dark.
Qin Mu's jade pendant flew ahead of the ship, looking impossibly small in comparison—like a mote of dust.
Suddenly, the pendant gave a *ding-dong* as if striking an invisible barrier, stopping in place on what appeared to be nothing at all.
The barrier was like a lake standing upright between heaven and earth, gently rippling outward. Waves spread from the jade pendant as their origin, growing larger and larger. At the center of the waves, another world slowly revealed a magnificent and awe-inspiring corner.
The Land of Carefree.