Chapter 285: Qin Chaichai

The interior of the grand hall grew somewhat dim, yet gazing upwards revealed an astonishingly brilliant star-filled sky. Starlight and moonlight intertwined, creating a scene that, in the outside world, would be one of sparse stars under a bright moon. Here, however, the celestial bodies complemented each other, lending the hall's firmament an enchanting allure.

Qin Mu did not immediately re-enter the hall. After a while, a bovine head unexpectedly emerged from behind the moon, then proceeded to casually nudge it aside.

The two young women felt a surge of annoyance. "This oaf, utterly devoid of romance! If you were within this hall, bathed in starlight and moonlight, uttering sweet words she enjoys, wouldn't it have been a perfect moment for the two of you to deepen your affections? Of course, one would first have to dispatch the vixen lurking beside you!"

Then, Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang heard the sounds of bricks and tiles being stacked outside. They watched as the hall's celestial ceiling gradually disappeared, a bovine head periodically poking through the gap, systematically collecting the stars from the sky.

The stars above the grand hall diminished with each passing moment. After a good half-hour, the firmament was completely unveiled, all the stars and the sun and moon having been "collected" by Qin Mu.

The two young women stepped out of the hall, only to find a mountain of gleaming pearls piled on the ground, alongside two enormous eyes. These eyes, though possessing pupils, were currently closed.

Each eye stood approximately a *zhang* tall, significantly taller than them. Their substance was akin to jade, not resembling true eyes, suggesting they were crafted from exquisite jade.

Ling Yuxiu approached and observed intricate patterns etched within the eyes, presumably array formations.

The pupils were closed, the arrays within the pupils converging into a fine white line, rendering the pupils themselves invisible. Beside this line were diverging patterns, like the myriad golden rays emanating from the sun.

The two young women tentatively touched them. Their touch was icy cold, a stark contrast to the fiery power they had witnessed earlier.

"I thought they were the Taotie's eyes," Si Yunxiang remarked, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "I didn't expect them to be made of jade."

Qin Mu was standing behind one of the eyes, tinkering with something unknown. Suddenly, a slit cracked open in the pupil of that eye, like an upright almond.

The two young women immediately saw the incredibly complex arrays within the opening activating and operating, like a precise machine composed of countless gears. Then, terrifying firelight surged forth from the pupil, growing increasingly intense. Their gaze upon it made their own eyes feel as though they were being burned!

Si Yunxiang hastily tugged at Ling Yuxiu, and the two young women swiftly retreated. They heard a whoosh, and a blinding white beam of light shot out from the pupil, igniting the very air. Wherever it passed, the white jade paving stones on the ground instantly transformed into lava, which then began to evaporate!

This beam struck several pieces of glazed tile. Though the tiles bore rune imprints, they evaporated in an instant under the light's intensity!

Ling Yuxiu jumped in alarm. "If that light had struck us, wouldn't we have been utterly annihilated? Thankfully, Sister Xiang pulled me aside..."

Qin Mu continued to fiddle behind the eyes. The two young women circled around and saw that behind the eyes was an array imprinted with runes. It wasn't overly complex, but discerning its specific function proved difficult.

Qin Mu was adjusting the array's configurations using his vital energy.

As he adjusted, the jade eye's pupil gradually split further open, the fiery power becoming more and more intense, like sunlight spilling forth. Even standing behind the eyes, they felt an unbearable wave of heat.

"Close your eyes," Qin Mu said, his face solemn. "I'm about to fully activate the might of this eye's array. I'm preparing to have the pupil close into a vertical line to test the power of this spirit soldier."

"Spirit soldier?"

The two young women were slightly startled. Qin Mu was already manipulating the array, contracting the pupil. The light abruptly became blindingly bright. Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang quickly closed their eyes.

Even with their eyes shut, they could still perceive a terrifying shaft of light cutting out, like an incredibly thin blade of light!

Qin Mu halted the array. They heard a buzzing vibration emanating from within the jade eye, then the light vanished, and the surrounding fiery power gradually dissipated.

The two young women opened their eyes. In front of them was still a black light, bright to the extreme then fading to black. Their own pupils had been scorched.

Although they hadn't looked directly, the light from the jade eye had still penetrated their eyelids, injuring their eyes. Fortunately, their vital energy was robust, and this minor damage could be self-repaired.

Qin Mu emerged from behind the eyes and looked up, unable to suppress a start. The grand hall in front of them had been neatly bisected by the light blade shot from the jade eye!

Though the grand hall still stood, they didn't know when it would finally collapse!

And in the sky of this underwater world, a knife scar stretched across the firmament. The barrier supporting the seabed had cracked open a gaping maw, leaking water into this submerged realm.

Qin Mu touched his chin. Several stubborn whiskers had sprouted, which he grasped and pulled down with force.

The young man inhaled sharply, not from physical pain, but from the ache in his heart.

Just moments ago, he had tested the might of this jade eye, yet he had inadvertently breached the barrier of this strange underwater world. He feared that within a few days, seawater would flood the area.

Si Yunxiang watched as water droplets falling from mid-air struck the grand hall. The seemingly sturdy structure immediately emitted groaning sounds of distress, tilting towards two sides. With two resounding crashes, the grand hall split into two halves and collapsed, raising a cloud of dust and revealing enormous beast bones.

It was the skeleton of a Taotie, the skull of a pure-blooded Taotie, which had also been bisected by Qin Mu's beam of light.

With the grand hall's collapse, the Taotie's enormous skull was now fully exposed.

"The Several Heavenly Kings weren't wrong," Si Yunxiang murmured. "Cult Master Qin indeed demolishes everything in his path..."

Ling Yuxiu also felt a pang of pity in her heart.

This was a divine hall, a miraculous underwater world, and just like that, Qin Mu had fiddled with it twice and destroyed it.

"You oaf who raises cows, you have a name but no given name! I shall give you one! Let's call you Chai Chai, Qin Chai Chai!" Ling Yuxiu proposed.

Qin Mu was still nursing his heartache. Hearing her words, his face flushed, and he argued, "I'm not Qin Chai Chai! I didn't demolish things randomly! Don't speak nonsense, you're ruining my innocence!"

Si Yunxiang ground her teeth and laughed coldly. "Innocent? You just arrived at Saint Lin Mountain and demolished the Three Kings Hall!"

Ling Yuxiu laughed coldly. "Haven't the Imperial Academy's student residences been demolished three, five times? And the palaces around the Imperial Palace's Heavenly Altar, weren't they demolished by you bringing the Heavenly Demon Cult? Also, I heard Tian Bo City was also demolished by you! Look, we just arrived here, and you've already demolished this underwater world! This underwater world has likely stood here for tens of thousands of years, and it's gone the moment you arrived!"

Qin Mu looked dejected, muttering, "Don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense..."

The two young women teased the Great Cult Master Qin for a bit, then went to search for useful items within the collapsed divine hall. After a moment, Ling Yuxiu carried over two large pillars and placed them in front of Qin Mu. These two pillars likely weighed tens of thousands of *jin*, yet she had managed to carry them with effort.

Si Yunxiang praised her. "Indeed, a person with a bit of flesh has strength. I can't compare to Princess Xiu, I'm delicate and can't withstand the wind."

Ling Yuxiu was enraged, wanting to wrestle this Heavenly Demon Cult's Saint Female to the ground and give her a good beating. However, with Qin Mu present, it wasn't appropriate. She clenched her teeth and laughed, "Yes, oh yes, Saint Female Xiang is indeed delicate and can't withstand the wind, too thin, not even two ounces of meat on her chest."

Si Yunxiang was furious, her gaze sharp. "I'm still young, still growing. Besides, what's the use of being large? When you get old, won't it just sag?"

The two young women exchanged glances, then averted their gazes.

"Great Cult Master, do you think these two pillars can be refined into spirit soldiers?" Ling Yuxiu asked softly.

Qin Mu was examining the other jade eye, trying to understand the mysteries of how the two jade eyes operated. He hadn't paid much attention to their argument.

"This kind of metal is truly rare. It seems to be mixed with other metals. By combining several types of metals, its quality and toughness are far superior to cold iron and gold crystal!"

Qin Mu examined the two pillars and was quite surprised. The divine ability practitioners of Yan Kang Country often sought purity when refining spirit soldiers, whereas these two pillars, on the contrary, did not. By mixing other metals with profound copper, they had significantly enhanced its strength and toughness!

"Can it refine the Nine Dragons Soldier I need?" Ling Yuxiu asked eagerly.

"It can!"

Qin Mu was full of confidence. "My blacksmithing skills are excellent, truly!"

He activated the array of the Sun Jade Eye, melting one of the copper pillars. He first refined a large hammer, then had Ling Yuxiu unleash the form of her spirit soldier, demonstrating all the transformations of the Nine Dragons Soldier.

He pondered for a long time, took out paper and pen, drew a blueprint, then began the refining process.

Two days later, Qin Mu finally forged the Nine Dragons Soldier. It was comprised of nine dragons. They could interlock to form a large hammer, or separate their tails and connect to form the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover.

He had refined the dragon bodies to be soft. During the forging process, he had fused the Creation Spirit Art into them, allowing for numerous transformations. For example, although the nine dragons were cast from metal, their bodies contained over nine hundred bones, enabling them to swim in the air. Each dragon scale could also detach from the dragon body as an independent entity, becoming very sharp, and could also retract.

Besides the dragon scales, the dragon claws were like hooks, extremely sharp. The dragon teeth were like knives, and the two dragon whiskers were segmented gold chains, yet very soft, capable of locking onto others.

When the nine dragons merged, they formed a Nine Dragons Gold Wall, with dragon scales composing the mirror-like surface and nine protruding dragon heads on the back of the mirror.

Even if Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu lacked much skill in forging, they could see that the Nine Dragons Soldier Qin Mu had refined was truly different from ordinary ones, possessing very high refining techniques. This set of Nine Dragons Soldier should be very suitable for Ling Yuxiu.

Ling Yuxiu excitedly channeled her vital energy into runes, imprinting them onto the Nine Dragons Soldier. With her own vital energy to nourish and refine it slightly, she immediately felt it was very easy to control, capable of transforming into any shape she desired at any time.

"Not bad, not bad!"

Ling Yuxiu praised endlessly. "You oaf who raises cows, your craftsmanship isn't bad, only a tiny bit short compared to the Minister of Works."

Si Yunxiang was extremely envious. She revealed the form of her spirit soldier, a silk thread that transformed into a thousand variations. "What does it mean for tempered steel to become soft enough to wrap around a finger? Forging a spirit soldier to the point where it can be wrapped around a finger is not as simple as just blacksmithing. Cult Master, my spirit soldier is called Thousand Silks. It is both a sword and a technique, imitating the scriptures of my Heavenly Saint Cult's Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Scripture. Cult Master, can you refine metal to be as soft as silk thread?"

Qin Mu sized up the form of her spirit soldier and frowned. "Refining such a fine sword, fine as silkworm silk, and moreover forging spell imprints onto it, is difficult. I've studied it before, but I haven't refined it yet. I'll give it a try!"

Si Yunxiang's Thousand Silks spirit soldier was much more troublesome than Ling Yuxiu's Nine Dragons Soldier. It was finer, requiring the metal to be hammered and refined to an extremely soft degree, then stretched open, and forged into a metal film much thinner than silkworm silk. Silkworm silk has a thickness of one *si*, and behind *si* are even finer thicknesses like *hu, wei, xian, sha, chen, ai, miao, mo*, etc.

Qin Mu could only roll the metal film to the thickness of *chen*. Any finer was impossible.

Reaching this thickness required more exquisite imprinting. Both Qin Mu and Si Yunxiang cultivated the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Scripture. The two of them joined forces to imprint the runes. With great difficulty, they managed to imprint the runes onto the metal film. The film broke several times during the process, requiring them to re-refine it.

Afterward, Qin Mu folded the metal film, hammered and refined it a thousand times, then stretched it open again, and re-imprinted the runes. After repeating this process three times, he finally forged the Thousand Silks spirit soldier.

Si Yunxiang's heart stirred, and the Thousand Silks spirit soldier transformed into a silk ribbon, tying itself around her waist.

The water in this underwater world was gradually deepening, making it impossible to stay for long.

Qin Mu immediately used his vital energy to form vital energy threads, wrapping the two jade eyes and those jade-like stars in a net of vital energy. "Let's go up," he said.

The three of them hurried towards the large cauldron. Si Yunxiang reached the edge of the cauldron, her gaze flashing. She attempted to lift the large cauldron and take it away, but it was incredibly heavy, immovable even with her full strength.

"You're small-chested, no strength," Ling Yuxiu said with a laugh.

"Then you with your big chest come!" Si Yunxiang retorted angrily.

Ling Yuxiu stepped forward, but unexpectedly, this cauldron was truly too heavy. She also couldn't lift it, her face slightly red.

Qin Mu shook his head and said, "This cauldron has sprayed out so much spirit water, the spirit water supporting the ground at a height of over one thousand six hundred *zhang*. The weight of the water sprayed from inside the cauldron could probably rival a mountain. Not to mention the cauldron's own weight? This thing is absolutely a divine object, you two shouldn't even think about it."

The two young women secretly felt a pang of regret and followed Qin Mu upwards.

After a long time, they finally floated to the surface. Ling Yuxiu laughed, "This time we indeed gained some treasures, this trip wasn't in vain..."

"Princess gained some treasures? What treasures are there?"

A voice came from the edge of the pond. The three of them quickly looked over, only to see Long Jiaonan sitting on the head of a red giant snake. The giant snake's enormous body had encircled the entire pond.

Long Jiaonan revealed a smile, her gaze sweeping over their faces, then towards Qin Mu. She laughed, "Cult Master is truly leisurely, making this humble servant search extensively."

"Kill!"

Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang splashed water waves upwards, activating their Nine Dragons Soldier and Thousand Silks spirit soldier without a word, and attacked Long Jiaonan!