"Nothing that Qin-surnamed person says can be trusted!"
Ban Gongcuo was furious. He randomly opened a door and charged through it, shouting, "What happened to sticking together and helping each other? What happened to being friends as long as we're on the boat, only to kill each other after we leave? No honor! The moment he sees a benefit, he runs off by himself, then shuts the door to eat alone! May you choke on it, you bastard!"
He had just been following behind Qin Mu and saw clearly: after Qin Mu entered that mysterious room, he immediately closed the door!
It wasn't the door closing automatically—it was Qin Mu actively shutting it, using the boat's spatial alignment method to lock him out!
The kid clearly intended to eat alone!
Soon, Ban Gongcuo calmed down and began carefully calculating the second-layer spatial alignment method of this treasure ship. He said coldly, "Since I already know there's a second layer of space, I can figure out where that corridor is. Don't even think about hogging the benefits by yourself!"
While calculating, he opened room after room, searching for his subordinates. The ship had countless rooms, and his men had long since become separated, wandering from room to room, trying to find a way out but only getting deeper and deeper.
Ban Gongcuo already had a way to crack the outer layer's spatial alignment method, but finding these people still took considerable time. Along the way, he occasionally encountered two white bats and a dragon qilin. That dragon qilin was also calculating the spatial alignment method's solution and had almost found the location of the bridge.
A fierce battle erupted between the two sides. Ban Gongcuo and his men were soundly defeated, barely saved when a Witch King broke into the room.
By the time he found the other Witch Kings, he still couldn't calculate the corridor's location. A deep sense of frustration welled up in his heart.
"Not finding it doesn't matter. That Qin brat will definitely show up. When he does, I'll capture him, force him to hand over the silver helmet, and make him reveal all his secrets!"
In the room at the end of the corridor, Qin Mu blinked. He had deliberately shut Ban Gongcuo outside. All along the way, the Elder in the Painting had been leading him to uncover the ship's secrets. Since they were about to find the secret, there was no need for Ban Gongcuo to tag along and be a nuisance.
His original reason for agreeing to team up with Ban Gongcuo was precisely to push him forward as a shield when danger appeared. Now that there was no danger, it was only natural to kick Ban Gongcuo out.
"The Great Venerable, I imagine you had the same idea? But I'm still one step ahead."
He turned around and looked around. The room was unbelievably large, somewhat similar to the Qushan Divine Temple he had seen under the sea—vast beyond reason, nearly ten miles long and wide, like a small world hidden within the ship. It was slightly smaller than the Qushan Divine Temple.
But this room was many times larger than the entire treasure ship. Hiding such a vast space within a ship was truly inconceivable.
Qin Mu looked up. The ceiling was constructed from long wooden beams, whereas the Qushan Divine Temple had been built from the bones of a glutton beast. The two were different.
The glutton beast naturally contained vast spaces within its body; one only needed to build a temple outside its bones, and the interior would naturally be spacious.
But this room had been created by using immense power and divine abilities to distort space. In comparison, it was far more difficult to construct.
In the center of this enormous, spectacular room, a massive wooden stake hung down from the ceiling, connecting to the ground. On the ground, tree roots wound and coiled like dragons, giving an ancient air.
Light constantly flowed across the surface of the massive trunk, streaming from the roots to the ceiling in an endless stream, illuminating the empty room.
Within those streams of light, rune marks seemed to flow, following the long beams on the ceiling to all parts of the room, injecting into the ship's hull.
After a while, a heartbeat sounded from within the tree trunk—a thunderous boom that was deafening.
Qin Mu observed for a moment, then showed a puzzled expression. This ship seemed to have been built upon an impossibly ancient tree. The beams on the ceiling were likely the branches of this ancient tree.
Moreover, from the flowing light on the trunk and the heartbeat, the ancient tree was still alive and had become the core of the treasure ship—or even its power source!
But how many years would it take for such a massive tree to grow?
Why did this ancient tree possess such tremendous power, able to serve as the treasure ship's engine and support its long voyage?
"As expected, the ship's helm and the silver helmet in the bridge aren't the means to control the treasure ship. This is."
Qin Mu's gaze fell on the ground before him. The floor here was smooth as a mirror. The Elder in the Painting was lying on the ground, waving at him, then running forward.
Qin Mu hurriedly caught up, his curiosity piqued: "Is this Elder in the Painting drawn? This art of painting seems even more masterful than Grandpa Deaf's. Grandpa Deaf's paintings can bestow a soul with a spark of inspiration, but if the painted figures come to life, they can't last long before turning back into ink. This Elder in the Painting truly seems like a living being. Besides only being able to walk on floors and walls, he's no different from any normal living creature. Could there really be someone in this world whose painting surpasses Grandpa Deaf's... Impossible!"
He suddenly realized the key point. The person who painted the Elder in the Painting might not have surpassed the Deaf One in painting, but rather in the Dao of Creation.
This person had painted the old man and used the Dao of Creation to grant him life, making the Elder in the Painting come alive as a guardian and guide for the secrets!
The Deaf One's paintings relied not on cultivation, but on his own mastery of the art of painting!
Qin Mu caught up with the Elder in the Painting and rushed toward the ancient tree in the center of the room. As they drew close, his brow furrowed slightly. He saw pools of green slime on the smooth floor ahead—traces left by something that had crawled past.
The closer they got to the ancient tree, the more of this green slime there was.
The Elder in the Painting also became cautious, carefully circumventing the slime as he approached the tree.
Qin Mu looked around warily. The place was quite empty—a single glance revealed everything in sight, with nothing fearsome in sight. But this slime gave him an uneasy feeling. He had seen this kind of slime on the deck of the towered boat. At that time, a demonic aura had surged toward them, concealing a terrifying existence within.
Moreover, the room leading to the corridor had been covered in this same slime.
And here too. From the distribution of the slime, it seemed to surround the ancient tree, suggesting the tree was of utmost importance to the slime's owner.
Qin Mu looked elsewhere, his sense of unease growing. The more he looked, the more this place seemed like a lair—the lair of the slime's owner!
Finally, Qin Mu followed the Elder in the Painting to the base of the tree. Just then, he froze. He saw the white-robed man he had seen in the vision.
To be precise, he only saw the white-robed man's face.
The owner of this treasure ship—the white-robed man from the Land of Carefree with the surname Qin—had now merged his body with this ancient tree, becoming one with it. Only a face remained exposed, and even that was not entirely so.
His face had almost completely fused with the tree. His eyes had lost their luster. The tree's heartbeat was likely his heart beating, very slow indeed.
Qin Mu stared. This white-robed man must have used a unique method to extend his life, connecting himself to this tree, linking his life to the ancient tree. But such a method had terrible drawbacks—it would make him part of the tree, unable to move, and gradually turn into wood!
His injuries at the time must have been grievous—so severe he could no longer hold on!
He had been chased by enemies, fighting his way here, eventually defeating his opponent, but had been forced to use this forbidden technique to become part of the tree and extend his life!
Qin Mu looked at him. The man's eyes in the tree were slowly turning, like two eyeballs carved from wood. They could still barely make out images, but nothing clearly.
"Did you send this Elder in the Painting to guide me here?"
Qin Mu felt an inexplicable sense of kinship with this man, as if there were some wondrous connection between them, setting his heart trembling. He asked: "Are you called Qin Fengqing? Are you from the Land of Carefree?"
The man in the tree seemed to gradually make out his features and grew agitated. He struggled to open his mouth, but his tongue had turned to wood, unable to produce sound.
Qin Mu was stunned. The backlash of this forbidden technique was truly terrible. Though the white-robed man's life had been extended, his senses and bodily functions had essentially ceased to exist.
"Do you recognize this jade pendant?"
Qin Mu quickly took the jade pendant from around his neck and held it before the man, suppressing the excitement in his heart. "Do you recognize it? This was with me when I was a baby. I've worn it all my life. This character 'Qin'—is it the Qin from the Land of Carefree?"
Suddenly, the man in the tree grew agitated. The ancient tree trembled slightly, as if the man were struggling desperately to break free from the tree's bonds and seize the jade pendant!
Streams of light flowed across the tree's surface, suppressing his struggles.
He opened his mouth, as if he had a thousand words he wanted to tell Qin Mu, but could not utter a single one.
Qin Mu's face darkened. He spoke as if to the man in the tree, yet also as if talking to himself, his voice low: "I heard Grandma say that a woman's body carried me in a basket, delivering me to the Village of Broken Elders in the Great Ruins at night. I never saw her. Later, I saw her beneath the river, but no matter how I looked, I couldn't make her out clearly. I've only ever had this jade pendant. I've worn it since I was little, always hoping to find where I came from, whether I still have relatives there..."
He sat beneath the tree, hugging his knees, the jade pendant dangling from his fingertips, swaying back and forth.
"I think my parents might still be alive, still waiting for me to come back and see them. I've never met them..."
"Later, a little girl who became the Sun Keeper told me I might be from the Land of Carefree. So I desperately wanted to return to the Land of Carefree. I searched for news of it, looked for a way to get there, but failed again and again. I even dragged Village Chief and the others into danger, almost getting them killed for my sake..."
"This time I didn't tell them and came here. I was afraid of putting them in danger again. Qin Fengqing—you're called Qin Fengqing, right? I found you, but I never imagined you couldn't tell me anything. Wanting to go home, wanting to know your own origins—can it really be this difficult..."
He buried his face in his arms and spoke no more.
Drip.
A tear fell. Qin Mu looked up, wiped away his tears, and looked upward. In the eyes of the man in the tree, tears were rolling down.
Suddenly, something writhed upon the tree, coiling around the trunk like a great serpent, slowly descending. A strange, guttural voice issued from it: "Qin Hanzhen, you have now seen Qin Fengqing. Your wish should be fulfilled, shouldn't it?"