Chapter 152: Loulan Golden Palace

He didn't give Qin Mu a chance to speak, muttering, "I'm just afraid this Wu Zun fellow will play tricks, wear me down with continuous battles, and prevent me from escaping... This is going to be difficult..."

Soon after, the Loulan Golden Palace finally appeared before everyone.

From a distance, Qin Mu saw a vast lake suddenly appear on the endless prairie. Its blue waters rippled, stretching as wide as an ocean in the grassland.

Gazing further, Qin Mu vaguely saw continuous mountains at the other end of the lake, their peaks covered in snow, looking like silver-clad giants.

Among these majestic mountains, a gleaming golden peak stood out. Only when Qin Mu opened his Shura Celestial Eye did he realize it wasn't a golden mountain but a magnificent golden palace complex.

There were so many palaces that they completely covered the entire mountain, making it look like a golden mountain composed of pure gold from a distance.

There was no fixed currency on the prairie; only gold circulated. Along their journey, they had paid for their meals using the gold ingots General Bian Zhenyun had given them.

To the people of the prairie, gold was a rare and highly valuable commodity. The fact that these palaces were built from pure gold highlighted their extreme luxury.

Ba Shan Jijiu arrived at the lakeside. Qin Mu looked around and saw a wooden boat moored there. On the boat stood a man with horns on his head, dressed in black, leaning on a bamboo pole at the bow.

In the shallow waters of the lake, several wooden poles were haphazardly stuck, each bearing a rotten human head.

"The Great Witches practice soul-gathering techniques; they resemble a demonic cult more than our Heavenly Saint Cult."

Qin Mu looked at the man. His face resembled a goat's, but it was brown, unlike the usual white goat, and there wasn't much hair on it.

"A Goat-faced Great Witch?" Qin Mu was slightly taken aback.

When he was in the capital, he had treated several border generals afflicted by witchcraft poison. He'd heard one of them describe encountering a barbarian with horns who made them fall unconscious by looking at them through a mirror.

Qin Mu had initially thought the barbarians' Great Witches wore masks, but seeing this Great Witch on the wooden boat, he realized there truly were horned barbarians.

The Goat-faced Great Witch glanced at them and emitted a sharp sound: "Wu Khan, Wu Zun has been waiting for a long time! Please board the boat!"

Ba Shan Jijiu boarded the boat and chuckled, "This lake is the Weak Water; it has no buoyancy. Even a feather would sink. We need a boat from the Loulan Golden Palace to cross. Let's get on."

Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu boarded the wooden boat, followed by Green Ox and Fox Spirit. The Great Witch's gaze fell on Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu. He let out a cold laugh and poled the boat towards the opposite shore.

Ling Yuxiu laughed, "If we can't step on the Weak Water to cross, can't we go around it? Or fly over?"

The barbarian Great Witch sneered, "Fly over? Try the air here and see if you can fly. The air here is dead."

"The air is dead?" Ling Yuxiu was puzzled.

The Green Ox, standing nearby, rumbled, "The air here is indeed dead; you can't fly."

Being skilled in controlling wind and thunder, he could sense that the air here was completely stagnant. For a normal person, breathing involves air movement – inhaling and exhaling. If the air doesn't move, a single breath would deplete the air under the nostrils, creating a vacuum. Since surrounding air can't rush in to replenish it, one would naturally suffocate.

This Weak Water lake was exactly like that. The air above the lake was fixed by an unknown force, completely motionless. Only by having the wooden boat glide forward, carrying the people with it, could they breathe without feeling strange. But if the boat stopped, the air beneath one's nostrils would be sucked away, and over time, one would surely suffocate.

Furthermore, if one attempted to use flight techniques, it would be almost impossible to fly over the lake. Flight requires disturbing the air to create upward lift. But here, disturbing the air would only create a vacuum, making flight impossible.

Fox Spirit also tried, discovering that her wind and rain spells were useless here.

The barbarian Great Witch chuckled, "It's not impossible to go around. But the Weak Water lake is too wide; it would take two days to walk around. And once you enter the snowy mountains, well, not many make it out alive."

Ling Yuxiu gasped in astonishment.

Qin Mu quietly activated his Shura Celestial Eye and Azure Celestial Eye, looking towards the sky. He vaguely saw a nearly imperceptible, mist-like veil covering the entire area above the lake. His heart stirred: "This thin veil must be what's preventing the air from flowing, right?"

This veil couldn't be touched, yet it truly existed. It was likely the restriction Ba Shan Jijiu had mentioned.

He inadvertently looked down into the water and felt a jolt. The bottom of the lake was filled with skeletal remains, submerged. Ling Yuxiu also looked down and let out a soft gasp.

Ba Shan Jijiu said, "Those are all slaves used by the Witch Cult for their practice."

Qin Mu was horrified.

The Goat-faced Great Witch poled the boat very quickly. He possessed a unique secret art that allowed him to move like the wind across the lake, and the Weak Water couldn't sink his boat.

Soon after, the wooden boat docked at the foot of the snowy mountain. The Goat-faced Great Witch chuckled, "Wu Khan, please proceed!"

Ba Shan Jijiu smiled slightly and walked towards the gleaming golden peak.

Toot toot—

From the mountain, a long, low horn blast echoed, its deep sound making eardrums and chests resonate. In the distance, avalanches suddenly occurred on various snowy peaks, their rumbling adding to the heavy atmosphere.

Ba Shan Jijiu burst into laughter, overpowering the horn and the roar of the avalanches. Qin Mu and the others didn't feel anything unusual, but those on the mountain felt their blood boil from his laughter. Their blood rushed to their heads, making their skulls swell as if they were about to explode, and they couldn't suppress it.

At that moment, a weighty voice came from the mountain: "Wu Khan, your cultivation is profound, even greater than in the past. Why must you deliver a warning upon arrival? Wu Khan, please come up the mountain for a discussion!"

This voice, clearly audible even amidst Ba Shan Jijiu's laughter, was old but full of power, clearly belonging to an unparalleled master.

"Since Wu Zun speaks, I naturally must comply. However, I, Ba, have come to block your mountain gate, not to reminisce."

Ba Shan Jijiu conversed with the old voice from afar, calmly stating, "I shall ascend the mountain now!"

Qin Mu looked up and saw a staircase paved with gold leading up the mountain. However, not far along, a massive golden gateway stood horizontally across the path, lacking any doors.

This gateway, made entirely of gold, stood over ten zhang high and twenty zhang wide, inlaid with precious jade and pearls, making it truly extravagant.

Years ago, Butcher brought Ba Shan Jijiu here, and they blocked the mountain gate for three months, defeating the young talents of the Loulan Golden Palace and all the masters who flocked from all corners of the prairie upon hearing the news.

Ba Shan Jijiu was thus revered as the Martial Emperor by the prairie people.

Butcher, too, had fought hundreds of battles, large and small, back then, defeating all the older generation experts of the Loulan Golden Palace and earning the title of Celestial Khan and Heavenly Emperor.

Ba Shan Jijiu led them to the mountain gate. Many Great Witches were already waiting there, along with some powerful figures from the prairie who were not disciples of the Golden Palace but had also gathered, likely renowned individuals who had rushed there upon hearing the news.

"Ox!" Ba Shan Jijiu shouted.

Green Ox let out a low bellow, and his body suddenly expanded, muscles bulging, growing taller and taller until he transformed into a hulking, horned humanoid figure. He strode to the golden mountain gate, shrugged his shoulders upwards, and uprooted the immensely heavy gate.

The barbarian Great Witches and powerful figures nearby were all stunned.

Ba Shan Jijiu said calmly, "Take the gate up the mountain!"

Qin Mu's heart trembled slightly as he understood Ba Shan Jijiu's intention. Blocking the gate at the bottom of the mountain would make it hard to enter the heart of the Loulan Golden Palace. Carrying the gate up the mountain to block the main hall of the Golden Palace would then make it convenient to steal Butcher's lower body.

However, doing so would completely offend the Loulan Golden Palace, likely turning this trip into a fight to the death!

If they ventured deep into the Loulan Golden Palace, those powerful figures could block the path down the mountain, trapping them, which would be extremely disadvantageous.

Ba Shan Jijiu snorted coldly and walked forward, transmitting a message to Qin Mu's ear: "After we go up the mountain, it won't be about you two blocking the gate anymore; I'm afraid they'll come for me. This situation is turning out a bit differently from what I expected..."

Qin Mu reassured him, "The one who taught me how to steal is a cripple, and he's truly formidable."

"How did he become crippled?" Ba Shan Jijiu asked.

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then honestly replied, "It seems he was caught stealing and had a leg chopped off."

Ba Shan Jijiu scoffed, "When you said he was crippled, I knew he'd been caught stealing and beaten until he was lame. Have you ever stolen anything?"

Qin Mu hesitated again, then shook his head, saying, "I haven't tried it yet."

Ba Shan Jijiu completely lost hope, his expression shifting unpredictably. He suddenly shoved a map into Qin Mu's hand and said, "This is a map of the Golden Palace's layout. Keep it for now... I hope you won't need it. For now, we'll take it one step at a time. Once we're in the Golden Palace, we'll have to adapt. Maybe I can find an opportunity to steal Master's lower body!"

The Loulan Golden Palace's stairs were extremely long, extending all the way to the mountain peak. Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu followed Ba Shan Jijiu up the mountain. Looking around, they saw numerous gleaming golden statues lining both sides of the path. Each statue was exceptionally bizarre, neither quite human, nor devil, nor god, yet possessing characteristics of all three, with countless strange appearances.

Walking on such a path was incredibly oppressive. Even Fox Spirit, who usually enjoyed bickering with Green Ox, was unusually quiet now. Only the heavy footsteps of Green Ox could be heard.

Qin Mu looked back and saw the prairie's powerful figures and barbarian Great Witches, their eyes spitting fire, following them silently.

Ahead, more and more gleaming golden palaces appeared. Beneath these palaces stood strange-looking people: some had horns on their heads, some had wings on their backs, some had animal heads, and others had snake tails.

Yet, they were decidedly not demon beasts. Demon beasts had demonic energy; for instance, Fox Spirit had it, and Green Ox, though his demonic energy was faint, still possessed it.

These strange individuals, however, had no demonic energy.

Fox Spirit and Green Ox were transforming towards a human form, while the powerful figures of the Loulan Golden Palace seemed to be transforming towards a non-human direction.

This represented a different cultivation philosophy between the frontier and Yan Kang: transforming towards non-human forms, approaching gods and devils, was the path of the Great Witches.

However, some individuals retained their ordinary human forms. These people should be able to freely control their bodies, transforming or reverting as they pleased, their divine abilities fluid.

In front of these palaces were many cages filled with ragged people, presumably "materials" for the Loulan Golden Palace's Witchcraft Masters to practice their arts.

Ling Yuxiu's expression subtly changed, and anger flared in her heart: "These are my Yan Kang citizens!"

Qin Mu said blankly, "Yan Kang also abducts citizens from my Great Ruins and treats them as slaves."

Ling Yuxiu's body trembled slightly, and she fell silent.

"Young master," Fox Spirit nudged, "they don't just use humans for their practice; demon beasts are also captured."

Qin Mu looked where Fox Spirit gestured and indeed saw some cages holding demons.

Ba Shan Jijiu explained, "The Witch Cult has peculiar cultivation methods that use souls to alter bodily structures. For example, absorbing a bird's soul can allow one to grow wings or a bird's head. Absorbing a sheep's soul will cause the body to transform towards a sheep-like form. Those who master divine abilities are called Great Witches, those who haven't are called Witchcraft Masters, and those who reach the Celestial-Human realm are called Witch Kings. The Loulan Golden Palace is a sacred site within the Witch Cult, and its cultivation technique, called the Wu Zun Luojing, is quite extraordinary."