Chapter 306: Trap

"Something is watching me!" Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat. Though he couldn't see the two eyes hidden in the darkness, he could feel their gaze.

He turned around. Instead of entering the bridge, he closed his eyes and walked slowly outside. His steps were unhurried; even with his eyes closed, he traced a perfect circle.

Once the circle was complete, Qin Mu stopped. He had walked it to calculate the precise position of the gaze based on his sensory perception, which involved spatial calculation techniques from arithmetic.

To others, he merely appeared to be pacing and pondering a difficult problem. No one would have suspected he was actually determining the peeping entity's location. True skill is revealed in the details, and Qin Mu had executed this flawlessly.

Suddenly, his mind reeled. Within those few steps, he had calculated the source of the gaze, and even the distance between the two eyes!

He was being watched by a pair of eyes, the distance between them reaching two hundred sixty-four *zhang*.

This meant the terrifying entity watching him from the darkness had eyes over two hundred sixty *zhang* apart!

What an incredibly colossal being!

"Could it be the Youdu creature I startled with a phrase in Youdu language when I boarded the ship? Or is something else lurking nearby?"

Qin Mu composed himself. His expression remained normal, showing no hint of panic, as he turned and walked towards the bridge.

He had made up his mind to explore the bridge first. If anything unusual occurred, he would leave immediately without hesitation!

The bridge was the ship's control room, from which one could control the treasure ship's heading and route, direct battles, and evade attacks. It was the nerve center of the treasure ship.

Once inside the bridge, if he found the geographical route map, he could operate the ship accordingly.

Qin Mu's heart burned with anticipation; this ship carried his dream of returning to Wuyou Xiang.

Just as he stepped onto the bridge, a door suddenly opened, and a Grand Shaman, seemingly disoriented, stumbled in.

The two stared at each other, both startled. The Grand Shaman, a seasoned expert, reacted instantly. Without a word, he unstoppered the gourd behind him, from which countless wandering spirits immediately flew out, lunging at Qin Mu!

At the same time, a brilliant golden light erupted from the Grand Shaman's body. He activated the Witch God Louluo Scripture of the Loulan Golden Palace, and his body swelled, transforming into a one-eyed, four-armed giant.

His eye was in the center of his face; his mouth, squeezed small by the eye, was at the bottom of his left cheek; and his nose was beneath his right cheek. He held vajra maces, and with a swing, the segmented vajra columns of the four maces spun with a whistling sound, resembling four slender pagodas, which crashed down towards Qin Mu!

"A disciple of the Witch God?" Qin Mu recognized at a glance that the Grand Shaman was using the Witch God Louluo Scripture. This person's cultivation was extremely profound, and the wandering spirits sprayed from the gourd behind him were a means of attacking souls.

Grand Shamans refined the souls of others into wandering spirits, each possessing immense power. When a wandering spirit burrowed into an opponent's body and gnawed at their soul, even ordinary divine arts practitioners found it difficult to resist.

If dozens of wandering spirits attacked simultaneously and invaded the body, divine arts practitioners of that realm would have no room to resist!

The wandering spirit gourd's greatest utility was still on the battlefield, where countless wandering spirits would burrow everywhere, invading human bodies, devouring the souls of enemy soldiers and leaving behind piles of corpses. It was truly unstoppable and terrifyingly powerful!

The most terrifying aspect of the battlefield before Qingmen Pass was not the saber pellets of the Barbarian Di nation's soldiers, but the Grand Shamans of the Loulan Golden Palace, whose attack methods were truly bizarre and difficult to guard against.

From the wandering spirit gourd, countless spirits flew forth, emitting wails like ghosts and gods, rushing towards Qin Mu. Behind Qin Mu, the Gate of Heaven's Inheritance suddenly opened, and a howling yin wind swept everything away with a whoosh, engulfing all the wandering spirits!

As long as they were the souls of the deceased, they could not escape the control of Youdu. Although the Loulan Golden Palace possessed secret techniques to retain souls and cultivate using the souls of others, reaching heights in the path of souls that other sects and sacred lands could not hope to achieve, facing the Gate of Heaven's Inheritance was like encountering their natural nemesis!

The Gate of Heaven's Inheritance swallowed all the wandering spirits, then slammed shut. Immediately, the mournful wails on the bridge vanished.

The Grand Shaman's heart jolted in surprise. The gourd behind him fell to the ground with a smack, shattering into several pieces. His four arms flailed, and the vajra maces in his hands transformed into four vajra pagodas, which crashed down towards Qin Mu with immense power.

Qin Mu, however, did not meet the attack directly. He dodged backward, and behind him, the Wuyou Sword flew out from its sheath. The Grand Shaman sneered as a beam of light from one of the vajra pagodas trapped the Wuyou Sword and drew it inside.

His four vajra maces appeared to be maces, but in reality, his spirit weapons were four pagodas refined to change size at will. When shrunk to their smallest, they resembled maces and could be held in hand.

But during combat, he could use the terrifying power of the pagodas to crush enemies, smashing them into pulp with invincible force in a single blow!

Additionally, the pagodas were also extraordinary treasures capable of confiscating an opponent's spirit weapon. If one was slightly careless and their spirit weapon was drawn into the pagoda, their strength would be diminished while the opponent's increased, leaving them with no spirit weapon and facing certain death!

He had just used a pagoda to confiscate Qin Mu's Wuyou Sword when suddenly, countless other swords flew out from behind Qin Mu, embedding themselves into the pagoda with a clang.

He froze, unable to react, as sword light, like an ocean, surged towards and engulfed him, completely covering the pagoda in an instant!

The Grand Shaman's arms were the first to give way. Even though he had transformed into a one-eyed giant of immense strength, he couldn't bear such a heavy weight; his arms snapped with a crisp crack, their bones breaking under the pressure.

Thousands of swords neatly formed an incredibly large sword orb around the pagoda, several *zhang* in circumference, completely obscuring the Grand Shaman.

Qin Mu walked towards the ship's helm on the bridge. Beneath the massive sword orb, the Grand Shaman lay impaled, dead within it, with one foot still protruding.

Qin Mu reached the helm. This treasure ship's helm differed from those on Yankang Nation's multistory ships, mainly in its construction. Yankang's ships had a single helm for changing direction, ascending, and descending, but this treasure ship featured other strange components beside the helm, with a silver helmet adorned with a red tassel placed nearby.

Qin Mu frowned, looking around, unable to understand the purpose of these components. After a moment of hesitation, he picked up the silver helmet with the red tassel and placed it on his head.

*Buzz*— Suddenly, his vision lit up as vast space rapidly expanded before his eyes, unfolding. In an instant, the world dramatically changed, and before him lay the immense geographical landscape of the Great Ruins, Yankang, the grasslands, and the northern icy lands!

Qin Mu was stunned. "The creators of this ship are truly ingenious," he thought, "to have hidden the geographical terrain within a skull, using a helmet to control the treasure ship's course!"

He extended a finger and lightly tapped the geographical map before him. At that moment, the treasure ship suddenly vibrated, as if it wanted to fly out from the honeycomb seal, heading in the direction he had tapped.

However, the ship was firmly stuck within the seal between the two worlds and could not take flight.

"So this is how one controls the treasure ship's movement!" Qin Mu's heart filled with joy. He blinked, and suddenly the scenery before him changed drastically, revealing another unfamiliar world—a geographical map of a different realm, with dark void, profound continents, and an air of profound mystery.

"What is this place? It's not Yankang, nor the grasslands..."

He surveyed it, confirming he had never seen this strange place. He blinked again, and suddenly the scenery changed once more, revealing another magnificent and grand world, distinctly different from the Great Ruins and Yankang.

He blinked yet again, and the scenery changed once more, revealing a water world with undulating mountains beneath the surface.

He tried more than ten times, and over ten different geographical maps of various worlds appeared. However, contrary to his expectations, these maps did not indicate which world they represented, nor did they show any paths. He didn't know which one was Wuyou Xiang, let alone how to enter it.

"This ship must have a compass that records the path to Wuyou Xiang," he thought. "As long as I find this compass, I can use this ship to return to Wuyou Xiang!"

Qin Mu looked around. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon the place where a compass should have been. A mirror like the one the Village Chief had given him should have been there, but it was empty now!

"The compass mirror is broken?" he wondered. "Fortunately, I still have the compass mirror the Village Chief gave me, but I wonder if I can break his seal?"

He reached his hand behind him, into his Taotie Pouch, to retrieve the compass mirror. Just then, he saw the broken mirror on the ground.

This compass mirror had been smashed. Someone must have deliberately destroyed it to prevent others from knowing the location of Wuyou Xiang!

"Was it the man in white who destroyed the compass mirror?"

Qin Mu paused slightly, lowering his hand. Many gods were pursuing the man in white. He had been defeated, and his Wuyou Sword was broken, leaving him powerless to resist. He had guarded this place to cover the escape of his fellow shipmates. It was likely that he destroyed the compass mirror, which contained the path to Wuyou Xiang, before he died in battle, not wanting anyone to find Wuyou Xiang.

"Then, this ship is a trap!"

Qin Mu's scalp suddenly felt cold, and the hairs on his nape stood on end. He adopted a searching posture, but his feet subtly shifted towards the bridge door.

"Some people on the ship escaped into Youdu; they might still be alive. The purpose of this trap is to capture people from Wuyou Xiang and find the way there! I have the mirror the Village Chief gave me. If they get the compass mirror from me, they can find Wuyou Xiang! They can't be sure if I have such an item on me, and as long as they're not certain, they won't reveal this trap by making a move."

He passed by his sword orb. The orb loosened, and sword hilts flew outwards, beginning to disassemble. But the feeling of being watched returned. The two gazes, two hundred sixty-four *zhang* apart, landed on him, exerting terrible pressure!

Clearly, the owner of the gaze had grown suspicious!

Qin Mu feigned a bewildered expression. He looked back, seemingly sensing the pair of eyes, and at that moment, the aggressive gaze suddenly receded.

"Which senior is hiding in the dark?" Qin Mu called out loudly, "Thank you, senior, for guiding this junior into this treasure ship! Might senior reveal themselves?"

He waited for a moment, but no one answered.

Qin Mu showed disappointment. He continued to retrieve his swords, sighing, "Since senior refuses to show themselves, this junior will simply bear it in mind."

He walked towards the bridge door, his heart rate slightly accelerated. But he immediately used his vital qi to forcibly suppress it, returning his heartbeat to a steady rhythm.

Just as he was about to leave the bridge, the door suddenly opened. Ban Gungcuo walked in, blocking the doorway with his body, and smiled faintly, "Cult Master Qin, you have two choices: leave the helmet on your head, or leave your head."

Qin Mu almost cursed aloud. He wished he could immediately stab him hundreds, if not thousands, of times in the chest!