"Judging by what those two white bats said, quite a few Grand Sorcerers from Loulan's Golden Palace have come to the Underworld Valley recently. We can't let our guard down."
Qin Mu's expression was grave as he opened a small gap on the Glutton Satchel on his back, ready to draw his sword at any moment for any unexpected events.
"Cult Master, those two guys were just now very strong."
Dragon Qilin walked forward, avoiding the large rocks floating in the air, and said: "Those two guys are no weaker than me, and they are extremely ancient."
Qin Mu looked around and said in a deep voice: "They should be divine seeds, descendants of gods and demons. Saying they're no weaker than me is just you bragging. If you picked one of those two white bats, ten of you together still couldn't beat them. Their aura is too strong."
Dragon Qilin was quite unconvinced and said resentfully: "That's because I'm still young. If I were grown up, ten of them still couldn't beat me. I'm very useful!"
Qin Mu ignored this Dragon Qilin who was already fat as a ball but still bragging, and pondered: "Strange, how can there still be white bat things in the Great Ruins? Could they be descendants left by the Bat Gods before the Cataclysm? Are there still descendants of the gods and demons from before the disaster surviving?"
Some temples in the Great Ruins enshrine statues of the Bat Gods. Bat God means God of Fortune, bestowing blessings upon people.
He had once seen a stone statue of the Bat God in Xianglong City. It had a bat's head and human body, with fleshy wings and membranes growing under its armpits, looking somewhat similar to these two white bats, except these two white bats appeared more primitive, while the Bat God除了脑袋和肉翅之外 other parts looked more human.
If those two white bats are descendants of the God of Fortune from before the Cataclysm, then shouldn't other places in the Great Ruins also have descendants of gods and demons?
However, Qin Mu had lived in the Great Ruins for so many years, why hadn't he seen more descendants of gods and demons?
"Dragon Fatty, where did you live before you met the Ancestor?" Qin Mu suddenly remembered something and asked.
"The Great Ruins."
Dragon Qilin recalled the past with nostalgia and said: "Not long after I was born, my mother disappeared. When I was so hungry I was dizzy and almost starved to death, I met the Ancestor. Seeing how handsome and extraordinary he looked, I was tricked by one of his spirit pills, and one misstep led to eternal regret."
Qin Mu was between laughter and tears: "It was clearly the Ancestor who saw you were pitifully hungry and gave you a spirit pill, but then you clung to him, shamelessly followed him and wouldn't leave, making it impossible for him to shake you off! But speaking of which, Dragon Fatty, you should also be considered a divine seed, right? Could it be that the divine race before the Cataclysm in the Great Ruins transformed into the current exotic beasts of the Great Ruins?"
His expression became peculiar. Before the Cataclysm, the Great Ruins must have been an incredibly prosperous and flourishing era, with gods and humans living together, dwelling among mortals, and the descendants of gods also lived here. Then the great catastrophe occurred, causing the gods to become extinct from then on, and the descendants of gods increasingly transformed into the form of exotic beasts.
This speculation was somewhat sensational, but not impossible.
On the cliffs on both sides of the canyon ahead, the jungle was dense. Forests growing on cliffs gave people an extremely absurd feeling, while the stones floating in the air indicated that the geomagnetic force here was distorted.
Suddenly, Qin Mu felt movement coming from the Glutton Satchel. He was slightly startled, opened the Glutton Satchel, and inside the Carefree Sword was gently vibrating, emitting a crisp sword cry.
Qin Mu's qi penetrated deep into the Glutton Satchel and took out this sword.
He had originally intended to use the Carefree Sword as a mother sword to refine into a sword pellet, so he hadn't equipped it with a scabbard. Now holding the Carefree Sword in his hand felt somewhat inconvenient. He immediately reached out and pointed, and the Carefree Sword flew up and severed a branch of an ancient tree.
"What hard wood!"
Qin Mu cut off a section of the branch and tried to use a qi thread to cut the wood, but found it difficult to cut, and couldn't help but exclaim. This wood's texture was comparable to mystic iron.
He urged the Carefree Sword to slice away, and soon made a wooden scabbard, inserting the Carefree Sword into the scabbard. The Carefree Sword was still slightly vibrating, but was no longer so conspicuous.
"It seems that what fell from the sky sixteen years ago wasn't just the broken sword and divine metal of the Carefree Sword, but also other things. This thing is resonating with the Carefree Sword!" He secretly thought.
The people from Loulan's Golden Palace had already entered the Underworld Valley. Would they find that thing before him?
Finally, they came to the end of the canyon, and the view suddenly opened up. Qin Mu didn't rush into the valley but looked around alertly. At the end of the canyon on both sides were two huge stone statues carved along the mountains, as tall as mountains themselves.
The two statues had solemn expressions, were sacred and dignified, with deep gazes, each leaning on a sword and standing upright.
The sound of rushing water came, which was the waterfall flowing down from the statues' shoulders. The waterfall was powerful, with a thousand-zhang waterfall rushing down, falling between the statues' hands, flowing down along the swords, and converging into a river.
Two rivers flowed from the statues' feet, forming the shape of two dragons in the forest, then disappeared in the center of the valley.
These two statues had bat heads and human bodies, exactly like the Bat Gods.
"Two Bat Gods guarding the Underworld Valley? What is the relationship between these two Bat God statues and those two white bats just now?"
Qin Mu looked into the distance, his heart suddenly jolted: "Could these two rivers be flowing underground? Azure Sky Heavenly Eye, open!"
Suddenly another layer of sky appeared in his pupils. Qin Mu looked toward where the two rivers disappeared and couldn't help but frown. His vision seemed to be blocked by something, unable to see clearly there.
"Dan Sky Heavenly Eye, open!"
Qin Mu surged his qi, forming the Dan Sky Heavenly character array pattern in both eyes. He saw a ring of cinnabar-colored texture appear in his pupils, with the inner layer being the azure-colored Azure Sky Heavenly Eye, and further inside was the cyan-colored Azure Sky Heavenly Eye, going one layer deeper was the white-light-formed Shenxiao Heavenly Eye, and at the center was the pupil.
The Nine-Layer Heaven Eye Art that the Blind One had taught him, he had already learned. However, with his current cultivation, he could only open up to the Dan Sky Heaven, and the consumption was great. He wouldn't easily use it in normal times.
Under normal circumstances, the Azure Sky Heavenly Eye was already sufficient, and there was no need to open the Azure Sky Heavenly Eye and Dan Sky Heavenly Eye.
However, even the Dan Sky Heavenly Eye couldn't see clearly what was at the place where the two rivers disappeared.
"Huh..."
Qin Mu's heart trembled slightly as he saw several corpses in the forest ahead. They were the corpses of Grand Sorcerers from Loulan's Golden Palace. These corpses weren't far apart. The strange thing was that some corpses looked lifelike, as if they had just died, while others had rotted until only bones remained, yet their clothes were still intact.
As his gaze looked deeper into the forest, he saw several more corpses. Obviously, these people had immediately encountered misfortune and died unnatural deaths after entering the forest!
He looked with the Dan Sky Heavenly Eye and suddenly saw something moving rapidly next to a corpse, disappearing in a flash. Then his Heavenly Eye seemed to feel a violent impact, and layer after layer of Heavenly Eyes rapidly closed!
Qin Mu's mind was also dizzied by the impact, with countless shrill voices screaming in his mind, almost tearing his soul apart!
Fortunately, he had already refined his Primordial Spirit and forcefully withstood this attack.
But what exactly attacked him, he hadn't seen clearly.
"Immeasurable, immeasurable, Mahavairocana!"
The shrill screams in Qin Mu's mind grew louder and louder. He made a prompt decision to urge the Tathagata Great Vehicle Sutra. Buddhist light shone brightly around his body, and six layers of celestial heavens with gods and Buddhas appeared behind his head, chanting in unison. The Buddhist voices resounded, immediately refining that strange screaming that was attacking his soul.
Suddenly, a sizzling sound came from the soil beneath his feet, and a wisp of green smoke rose. A foul stench came from the soil. Qin Mu extended both hands forward, empty-embracing. With a thunderous boom, his qi transformed into a Bodhi tree that descended from the sky, vibrant with emerald green, and smashed onto the land ahead. Myriad branches along with the tree trunk hit the ground, with branches and roots dancing, drilling into the earth.
From underground came a shrill cry, then the land in front of Qin Mu churned, as if something was rapidly fleeing underground. When passing a large tree, that tree was also shaken by the underground thing, making a rustling sound.
"My Bodhi Asura Divine Art still can't kill this thing?"
Qin Mu shouted softly, and suddenly his entire body became like jade. His skin throughout became crystalline and translucent, with a Bodhi tree faintly appearing behind him, like a bull-headed Buddha achieving enlightenment under a tree.
In the Great Thunderclap Monastery, he had only obtained the Dharma of the Tathagata Great Vehicle Sutra, not the divine arts. But with the Dharma, he could then figure out the divine arts.
The divine arts of the Tathagata Great Vehicle Sutra were actually encompassed within the twenty celestial heavens of the Great Vehicle Sutra. The Eight Thunder Moves was one of them, belonging to the Sakra Heaven level of divine arts, already the most top-tier divine arts, second only to the Brahma Heaven divine arts.
The Bodhi Asura Divine Art belonged to the Bodhi Tree Heaven. Counting from top to bottom, it was the fourteenth celestial heaven, and from bottom to top, it was the seventh celestial heaven.
Although the Tathagata Great Vehicle Sutra wasn't the main cultivation method Qin Mu practiced, his ability to apply knowledge from other domains meant he hadn't fallen behind in his comprehension of the Great Vehicle Sutra.
Now what he was displaying was the Bodhi Jade Buddha True Body, using Buddha nature to suppress the weird thing underground, preventing it from getting close. However, he was simultaneously urging the Fiery Mars Fire Lord True Art, so he still maintained the divine transformation state of bull-head and human body. Flames blazed around his body, with blossoms of fire floating around him, appearing somewhat incongruous.
The weird thing underground came and went with extreme speed, and strangely, Qin Mu felt that thing would sometimes scatter and sometimes converge, sometimes even drilling into trees, and even into those few corpses.
"What exactly is this thing?"
Just at this moment, suddenly two auras approached rapidly from behind. Qin Mu's back, the Carefree Sword whistled as it left its sheath, transforming into Cloud Sword Style and rapidly spinning around his body to protect him.
But those two auras bypassed him, flying past from both sides. It was those two big white bats.
These two big white bats separated, flying to the two giant statues on both sides of the canyon, hanging upside down in the nostrils of the statues with heads down and feet up. One of the white bats chuckled: "This stupid ox doesn't know yet that a large group has come from behind. Several hundred experts have entered..."
"Shh!"
From another statue's nostril, the other white bat complained: "Why did you remind him?"
"A large group? Several hundred experts?"
Qin Mu's heart grew cold. Those who came in definitely weren't the State of Yankang's army. The defense at Qingmen Pass was passable, but they couldn't dispatch more troops into the Underworld Valley!
"It's the barbarian army of the Man Di Kingdom!"
Qin Mu hesitated no longer and immediately walked into the forest, heading toward the center of the Underworld Valley.
A conflict with the Man Di Kingdom's great army would absolutely be seeking death. The soldiers of the Man Di Kingdom were wild and domineering by nature, with excellent coordination between troops. Supported by military formations, when Qin Mu followed Basha Jijiu to Loulan's Golden Palace, he had encountered the grassland army. Their strength was extremely powerful, with eight hundred people able to resist a Cult Master-level existence like Basha.
Judging by what these two white bats meant, the Man Di Kingdom had brought several hundred experts. Qin Mu could only temporarily avoid their edge.
"The stupid ox is going to die!"
The two bats in the statues laughed in unison: "Fall, fall!"
Qin Mu was surrounded by Buddhist light, protecting himself and Dragon Qilin, and still didn't fall.
Those two white bats were surprised. Suddenly, one of the white bats flew out from the statue's nostril, grasped a branch with its claws, and hung upside down in front of Qin Mu, puzzled: "Why don't those things attack you?"
Qin Mu looked up and said: "Fellow Daoist, what is that thing underground?"
That white bat was about to answer when suddenly it flew up silently, heading toward the nostril of the Bat God statue. Several hundred Man Di Kingdom soldiers and dozens of golden-glowing Grand Sorcerers and Shaman Kings walked out of the canyon, arriving at the entrance of the Underworld Valley, their formation neat and orderly.
"Prince Ban Gongcuo, please!"
A Shaman King bowed respectfully, and Ban Gongcuo walked slowly from the rear, his gaze sharp as lightning, sweeping toward the Underworld Valley. Then he saw Qin Mu on Dragon Qilin's back, couldn't help but pause, and revealed an amused smile.
"Cult Master Qin, long time no see?"
His somewhat youthful voice came, but it was extremely loud, displaying incomparably powerful cultivation.
Qin Mu heard this voice and his heart trembled slightly: "His cultivation speed is even faster than mine! When we clashed at the capital's outskirts, although we both entered the Sixfold Realm at the same time, his cultivation wasn't as deep as mine then, but now he has caught up with me!"
"No problem at all."
Qin Mu laughed heartily: "I'm doing great! The little prince also looks great. I was worried that those few blades of mine had killed you underground. Seeing that you're still alive, I'm relieved."
Ban Gongcuo smiled faintly: "The Cult Master was fine before, but now it may not be so."
"Your Highness, there are two bat monsters up above." A Shaman King looked up at the Bat God statue.
Ban Gongcuo said lightly: "Kill them."