The Village Chief blinked and probed, "Could it be that he also bears the surname Qin..."
Qingyou Shanren said mockingly, "Indeed, he does bear the surname Qin. Is Qin Chongming an Overlord Body as well, then? Fellow Daoist, you puzzle me. Even our Little Yujing knows nothing of the Overlord Body, so how are you so certain that such a thing exists in this world?"
The Village Chief's heart surged with feeling, but he did not explain, only shook his head. "I am merely puzzled. Why would a god of the Land of Carefree come to Little Yujing?"
"This senior was in fact one of the founders of Little Yujing."
Qingyou Shanren said, "I learned from Little Yujing's records that he made the Pact of Tu Bo with another, and later resolved to break it. There were things he had to do, and so Tu Bo claimed his primordial spirit, leaving only his body behind. Before his death, he transformed his own divine treasury into seven halls. His intentions were earnest—even in death he left these seven halls behind to nurture future generations."
The Village Chief looked toward the Three Origins Hall, puzzled. "Seven halls? Could it be that besides the Three Origins Hall, the Five Qi Hall, and the Six Directions Hall, there are also the Seven Stars Hall, the Celestial Being Hall, the Life and Death Hall, and the Divine Bridge Hall? Why is none of the other halls to be seen?"
"The seven great divine treasuries of the human body are one whole, so the seven halls are naturally one whole as well. The other halls all lie within this Three Origins Hall."
Qingyou Shanren said, "Just now you asked: since I had already opened the Three Origins Hall and the Five Qi Hall, why not press on with a single effort and open the Six Directions Hall as well. The truth is that even our Little Yujing lacks the power to open it. This god holds many secrets, and whether the Six Directions Hall can be opened is not for me to decide. The Elder of Three Origins and the Elder of Five Qi of our Little Yujing can only open the Three Origins Hall and the Five Qi Hall; the Six Directions Hall is beyond them. Our Little Yujing does not have enough hands—though with the old Dao Master and the old Tathagata added, there would be just enough. But the two of them have only just arrived at Little Yujing and will need some time to grow familiar with the Six Directions Hall."
Little Yujing had only a dozen or so old immortals. Opening the Six Directions Hall required six of the very top powerhouses; reaching the Seven Stars Hall would require seven existences of their level, and there Little Yujing was even shorter of hands.
"So that's it. I said that while you are stingy, you would never be so stingy toward people of the Land of Carefree." The Village Chief laughed.
Qingyou Shanren snorted coldly. "Everything about this god has been refined to the level of the divine—divine eyes, divine hands, divine legs, a divine body. More than that, his primordial spirit has reached a state of utmost purity, and the majesty of his magic power is likewise at the level of the gods. His wisdom, too, is at the level of the gods! Fellow Daoist, if the Human Emperor chooses to break through here at the Three Origins, I fear he will gain nothing at all!"
The Village Chief pondered a moment and said slowly, "His magic power is at the level of the gods too? Then Mu'er has truly met his match."
Qingyou Shanren did not understand.
The Village Chief said mildly, "We old undying ones of the Village of Broken Elders each have our own strengths. In some respects, all nine of us have reached the divine realm, but not one of us has ever attained it in magic power. Yet the sheer majesty of Mu'er's qi has reached that very level. His cultivation realm has not caught up, but in the richness of his power, none could catch him even on a galloping horse. If there is anyone in this world who can possess magic power like a god's, that person could never be the State Preceptor of Yankang—it can only be Mu'er!"
Qingyou Shanren knew full well how formidable Qin Mu's cultivation was, and said, "You said just now that his sword art still has many flaws—that against one whose insight surpasses his, he would die without knowing how he died. I think he has met that one."
The Village Chief's heart quaked violently. "This god is a Sword God as well?"
Qingyou Shanren nodded, a half-smile on his face. "Fellow Daoist, now surely you can tell me what this Overlord Body business is about?"
The Village Chief smiled faintly and said leisurely, "The Overlord Body is one of a kind, surpassing the four great spirit bodies, the rarest physique under heaven. So long as one Overlord Body exists in the world, a second cannot appear. But false Overlord Bodies will emerge, contending for the destiny of the Overlord Body..."
Inside the Three Origins Hall.
Qin Mu strode straight toward that young deity, his steps heavy but blazing fast. Each footfall sent dirt flying and made the earth shudder like waves.
Dirt and broken stone melted the instant they were flung up; some became pottery swords in midair, some became stone swords, and some rocks that held metal within were smelted and refined into keen flying swords!
Fusing artifact refinement into battle was Qin Mu's own special skill. The Mute had never taught him this, but learning and applying on the fly had always been one of his strengths.
Since he could not use the spirit weapons he had brought, he would refine them on the spot!
By the time the two were a hundred zhang apart, a hundred-odd flying swords already circled Qin Mu, and at the same instant his sword art unfolded.
The moment his hand came out, it was Sword Trampling Mountains and Rivers!
Heroic passion surged in Qin Mu's chest. Can even gods be attacked? The answer: yes!
His sword light surged wildly, and flying sword after flying sword hurled itself at that young deity, blade-light flashing. But a hundred flying swords were too few, so sword light burst from his own body to make up the swords' shortfall.
He charged forward at top speed, and Sword Trampling Mountains and Rivers spread out before him—mountains and rivers surged up like an unrolling scroll. Into this one sword he poured every insight he possessed: the Village Chief's teachings, the State Preceptor's enlightenments, Qin Hanzhen's pointers. Everything he had gained, he fused into the sword!
The sword light's power soared. This was his strongest move—even the second move of the Sword Diagram, One Sword of Kaihuang, a Vast Ocean of Blood, was not its equal, for he had poured all his thought into Sword Trampling Mountains and Rivers and refined it the most.
Compared with the version the Village Chief had taught him, Qin Mu's move had grown nearly twice as powerful!
Opposite him, sword light burst from the young deity's fingers and palm as well—sword light beyond counting came flying. Qin Mu paused ever so slightly, and at once saw the mystery within.
"The sword art of the Land of Carefree! He is from the Land of Carefree!"
He had no time to think further. The two sword arts finally collided, and countless streams of blade-light swallowed them both. All the might hidden in the towering mountains and rivers was released in full, and the power of the Land of Carefree's sword art surged as well!
The Elder of Three Origins stood atop sun, moon, and high mountains, looking down. He saw the mountains and rivers collapse inward in an instant, and then boundless energy burst forth, like two blazing-white great spheres swelling outward.
"Magnificent," marveled the True Person of Celestial Origin from within the great sun.
When the power of the two moves had spent itself, Qin Mu and the young deity were both flung backward, crashing to the ground with a boom, their bodies still tumbling helplessly like rag dolls rolled down a hillside, four limbs flailing without control as they rolled.
With a smack, Qin Mu plastered himself against a cliff face. Sword wounds split open across his body one after another, blood painting plum-blossom brands across the cliff wall.
"My sword art..."
Qin Mu coughed blood and slid slowly down the cliff face, landing on the ground with a thud, the shock on his face impossible to hide. "I lost..."
He had unleashed his perfected sword art for the very first time, and then lost clean through—his sword art broken by his opponent.
Opposite him, the young deity slammed into a mountain peak with a boom, boulders shaken loose and tumbling down from the cliff. He bore no sword wounds, but Qin Mu's move had been too mighty, exceeding what he could withstand.
In pure sword art, his indeed stood above Qin Mu's. Though Qin Mu's Sword Trampling Mountains and Rivers had controlled a hundred-odd flying swords plus countless streams of sword light, not one stream of light or one flying sword had struck him.
Yet the enormous power of Qin Mu's move had wounded him gravely. When the sword art's might erupted, a terrifying force came crushing over; though it had not struck him directly, his ribs gave off the sound of snapping.
But the young deity seemed to feel no pain at all. His arms quivered, he tore himself free of the mountain rock, glided forward dozens of zhang, and landed steadily.
From his armpits, broken ribs had pierced through his skin, jagged bone jutting into the open, yet he seemed entirely unaware of it. He raised a hand, drew the broken bone out, and tossed it casually onto the ground.
Below the cliff, Qin Mu rose unsteadily to his feet and roared, circulating the Creation Human King Art to seal shut the wounds on his body.
He did not choose to use dragon saliva to treat his wounds: his wounds concealed the other's sword intent, and unless that sword intent was expelled, dragon saliva could not heal him.
Besides, his opponent had not treated his own injuries either. In that case, so be it—a fair fight!
"The Overlord Body stands alone in all the world. If I cannot defeat you, then it is I who have not worked hard enough!"
Qin Mu urged on the Overlord Body Three Elixir Art, and his form abruptly transformed—bull-headed and human-bodied, treading two dragons beneath his feet, a bull's eye sprouting from the center of his brow and rolling about with a turn.
Flames blazed around his body; atop the two dragons beneath his feet he charged at the young deity in great strides.
Using Sword Trampling Mountains and Rivers had cost him enormously. If he kept using moves like that one, he could not last long, so he had to change techniques.
The young deity's body was changing as well, becoming the Taibai Star Lord form, tiger-headed and human-bodied, also treading two dragons—but his two dragons were made of metal qi, while the two beneath Qin Mu were made of fire qi.
The two pairs of dragons beneath them sprinted, then abruptly bent away together, almost parallel, charging toward a nearby peak. The great dragons pressed against the cliff wall, claws gripping the rock, racing up the mountainside with flying steps, while the two upon the dragons' backs, each in a divine transformation form, unleashed their strongest divine abilities and attacked one another!
That mountain was extremely tall—it was the very peak that the True Person of Earthly Origin had raised.
Though the mountain towered a full thousand zhang, Qin Mu and the young deity were soon slaughtering their way toward the summit, their cultivation arts shifting again and again as the five divine transformation forms of the Five Planets Realm were wielded by the two of them: now the Suixing Star Lord form, human-headed and bird-bodied; now the Zhenxing Star Lord form, human-headed and serpent-bodied; suddenly becoming the Chenxing Star Lord form, human-headed with crimson hair and a serpent's body—fighting with all their might.
The True Person of Earthly Origin raised his hands, and the great mountain at once began to grow, its ranges swelling, ever larger, ever higher.
Qin Mu and the young deity climbed without pause, fighting so fiercely that shattered rock burst and flew everywhere.
"His magic power is not the least bit weaker than mine! He is absolutely an Overlord Body!"
Qin Mu was shaken to his core. Without his realizing it, he had already fallen into a disadvantage. Even as he warded off his opponent's attacks, he melted rock to refine stone swords, iron swords, and bronze swords, trying to seize the advantage of weaponry.
But the moment his attention divided, the other pressed him down. Though the young deity was below him, he drove Qin Mu to retreat upward and upward. The flying swords Qin Mu refined were struck away one after another, each one battered and broken, planted crookedly all over the cliff face.
The two figures ran nearly parallel to the ground, racing ever upward, their momentum showing not the slightest sign of slackening.
"This mountain can rise no higher. If it rises further, it will collapse."
The True Person of Earthly Origin frowned and was just about to leave the summit, giving up his place so the two could fight to their hearts' content, when suddenly Qin Mu channeled all his magic power and clashed head-on with the young deity.
"The Human Emperor is still too young. Refining those flying swords drained a good deal of his power, and now he clashes head-on with a god—I fear he cannot win this exchange."
The True Person of Earthly Origin had scarcely finished speaking when both were shaken clear off the sheer cliff; Qin Mu was knocked rebounding high into the air, while the young deity was knocked falling downward.
Qin Mu forced his body to a halt, and the sword scars all over him split open at once, blood hissing out.
"The outcome is decided!"
He bellowed and shot downward, and wherever he passed, the stone swords, iron swords, and bronze swords planted in the cliff rose up one and all to strike at the young deity!
That whole cliff face was bristling with every kind of sword he had refined, and now who knew how many stone swords, iron swords, and bronze swords, driven by Qin Mu, hurled themselves madly at the young deity!
The young deity had no time to dodge. His qi erupted and his sword art unfolded—ding-ding-ding, blade-light met blade-light, dense as a rainstorm lashing pear blossoms. His sword art was indeed profound, but having lost the advantage of terrain all the same, he was pressed by the force pouring down from above until he could no longer hold his footing and sank toward the base of the mountain!
And from the cliff, still more stone swords, iron swords, and bronze swords flew out, converging into a torrent of blades. Qin Mu guided his swords with qi; every sword flew at a different speed, with different moves—slow then fast, advancing then retreating!
What he unleashed was still Sword Trampling Mountains and Rivers, still his strongest move. From time to time the young deity's sword light broke through the rain of blades and struck him, adding sword wound after sword wound to his body.
Qin Mu seemed to feel no pain at all, his sword art forcing the young deity to slam toward the ground at ever greater speed!
The earth drew closer and closer.
"You've lost!"
A trace of a smile crossed Qin Mu's face, and countless stone swords, iron swords, and bronze swords swept up the young deity and smashed him savagely into the ground!
Boom!
The earth quaked violently; surging air currents sent blocks of mountain rock flying off in every direction, and a vast pit opened in the ground, broken swords planted crookedly all around its rim.
Thud.
Qin Mu came crashing down right after, smashing out a somewhat smaller pit.
From within that somewhat smaller pit came his voice, faint as a dying breath: "You are... a false Overlord Body. Heh, heheh..."
And at that very moment, movement stirred within the great pit. Qin Mu's hair stood on end: "You're still alive?"