Chapter 310: Mysterious Corridor

They burst into the room. The old man from the painting still hadn't stopped and went into another room. Qin Mu quickly followed him, only to see someone rushing straight towards him. The two almost collided but quickly dodged past each other.

The moment their bodies crossed paths, they saw each other's faces clearly and were both startled.

"Heavenly Devil Cult Master!"

"Barbarian Nation Soldier!"

Qin Mu reacted faster. The instant they passed each other, his palm was already raised, instantly breaking the sound barrier with a thunderous roar, and he stamped a seal on the person's back.

Nine Dragons Riding Wind and Thunder!

His palm landed on the person's back. Just as the power was about to fully unleash, the person reacted, their blade-pellet just beginning to float. But then, the power of Qin Mu's move erupted with a surge of dragon-shaped energy. The first wave of impact shattered the person's protective vital qi. The second wave, a twin-dragon impact, destroyed the muscle structure of their back. The third wave shattered their bones. The fourth wave crushed their heart. The fifth wave of dragon-shaped energy then burst through their chest, transforming into a blood-red dragon, baring its fangs and claws, erupting from their body!

The Barbarian Nation soldier's blade-pellet floated in the air, the curved blades within it clanging. Tiny curved blades began splitting out from the pellet one by one. At this moment, Qin Mu, with his other hand, raised the Carefree Sword, striking its blade against the pellet and slicing it open with one strike.

The blade-pellet instantly disintegrated, scattering into a hundred or so broken curved blades that clattered to the ground.

Meanwhile, the Barbarian Nation soldier's vital qi dissipated, and he fell to the ground, dead.

Ban Gunguo was a step behind. Before he could rescue the soldier, Qin Mu had already killed him at close range. Ban Gunguo was furious and roared, "Cult Master Qin, that was my man!"

Qin Mu sheathed his Carefree Sword, shaking his head. "Your man's first reaction upon seeing me was to try and kill me," he said. "I was just defending myself. If I hadn't seized the initiative, it would be me lying here now. If Your Reverence is displeased, why not walk ahead? Your men won't try to attack you."

Ban Gunguo hesitated. Letting Qin Mu walk ahead meant exposing his back to him. That kid had just killed the Barbarian Nation soldier so cleanly with one palm strike; if he had a chance to kill him, he would surely be even more efficient.

He didn't dare to turn his back to Qin Mu.

Moreover, Qin Mu had only described one scenario. If the next people they met weren't Ban Gunguo's men, but the two white bats and the dragon qilin by Qin Mu's side, and he was caught in the middle, Ban Gunguo could already imagine his fate.

But following Qin Mu aimlessly wasn't a solution either. Qin Mu was rushing around without any discernible pattern, clearly having no understanding of the treasure ship's spatial harmony method. Continuing to wander from room to room like this, Ban Gunguo feared that even he would lose his bearings because of Qin Mu and would need to recalculate to figure out the structure of the ship's rooms.

"I can't let this kid lead the way."

Thinking this, Ban Gunguo pushed open a room door and said, "This way!"

A door opening sound came from behind him; Qin Mu had gone into another room. Ban Gunguo was furious and had no choice but to chase after him, as the silver helmet that controlled the ship was still with Qin Mu.

The two arrived in this room and suddenly stopped. Qin Mu lifted his foot; the sole of his shoe had some viscous fluid stuck to it.

This room was filled with green viscous fluid everywhere, covering the floor and walls. Even the tables had disgusting fluid on them.

Qin Mu looked around and saw the old man from the painting was also in this room, carefully avoiding the fluid and moving only where there was none.

As a person from a painting, this fluid was harmful to him and could stick him down, so he had to avoid it.

Ban Gunguo also saw the old man from the painting, and his heart was startled. He hastily waved the Myriad Locust Banner in his hand. Clanging sounds and violent impacts rang out as Qin Mu activated his flying sword to block Ban Gunguo's locusts.

Ban Gunguo was annoyed. He looked at Qin Mu and said in a deep voice, "Cult Master Qin, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

Qin Mu said calmly, "My surname is Qin. That is the best explanation."

Ban Gunguo's heart was greatly shaken, and he immediately thought of the key point.

The terrifying entity with eyes over two hundred and sixty zhang apart was waiting for someone with the surname Qin. Qin Mu and he were being targeted by this terrifying entity precisely because they both "bore the surname Qin"!

He was extremely clever; otherwise, he wouldn't have survived until now. He thought to himself, "Could it be that the owner of this ship is surnamed Qin? Is this kid from the same family as the treasure ship's owner? If so, then he's also from Carefree Village! No wonder this guy ran here... Wait a moment! Sixteen years old. That terrifying entity is waiting for a sixteen-year-old boy with the surname Qin! And this kid is also sixteen years old! Sixteen years ago, this ship crashed here. What's the connection here?"

He suppressed the shock in his heart. He shook the Myriad Locust Banner, retracting the flying locusts, and Qin Mu also retracted his flying sword.

The old man from the painting found a path and slipped into another doorway.

The two quickly followed. Pushing open the door, they looked inside, and it was a long corridor. Ban Gunguo was slightly stunned. He had deduced the spatial harmony method used in these rooms, which allowed him to find the bridge's location, but he had never seen this corridor before.

"Logically, the total number of rooms here should be the number I calculated," he thought, puzzled. "Why is there a place I don't know about?"

If he hadn't seen through the spatial harmony method here, how could he have found the bridge?

If he had seen through it, then why hadn't he calculated this corridor?

In his calculations, this corridor simply wouldn't appear!

Then there was only one possibility: the spatial harmony method he had deduced was merely an outer structure designed to deceive, making those who found this place believe they had thoroughly searched the treasure ship, thus overlooking its true secrets!

It was even possible that the silver helmet Qin Mu obtained was also a deceptive treasure and couldn't truly control the ship!

"Even I was deceived," he thought. "The deities of Carefree Village are indeed extraordinary. Fortunately, the kid surnamed Qin is with me; otherwise, I wouldn't have discovered this secret."

Ban Gunguo's eyes flickered. The last room had a lot of green viscous fluid, indicating that the entity pursuing this ship had clearly found this place and entered.

The old man from the painting was darting along the corridor walls, moving up and down, as if avoiding something.

Qin Mu and Ban Gunguo looked and saw many traces of battle on the walls. Deep palm prints were left on the walls, and besides those, there were strange weapon marks, extremely terrifying. It seemed as if a slight touch would trigger destructive, world-ending energy, sweeping away and destroying everything!

These were traces left by divine weapons!

Besides the traces of divine weapons, there were also marks left by divine arts. These marks weren't large, but they still contained terrifying power, held back and not unleashed, emitting a heart-pounding pulsation and light from the walls.

The light within the marks was runes, appearing and disappearing, flickering uncertainly. The runes were very complex and profound, difficult to understand.

At first glance, one couldn't understand anything, but as soon as one's mind slightly immersed itself in them, one would immediately feel a myriad of profound mysteries rushing forth, making one entranced.

"They have a similar effect to the Dao Sword Stone Walls of the Dao Sect!"

Qin Mu and Ban Gunguo couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. The divine arts and divine weapon imprints left here were practically a huge treasure trove of cultivation methods. Although not as good as the Dao Sword's Fourteen Chapters of the Dao Sect, if one could fully comprehend all the mysteries contained within the marks on this corridor, the cultivation methods and divine arts obtained would probably be enough to establish a holy land!

Both were greatly tempted, but they had to withdraw their minds. The enemy was right beside them; if they indulged in comprehension, they would certainly be seized the opportunity by the scoundrel beside them and killed.

Although they both wanted to eliminate their mortal enemy beside them and monopolize this place, the marks on the walls were very unstable. If they accidentally touched them, the power contained within them would erupt, enough to kill them a thousand times over!

The old man from the painting was still leading the way. This corridor was deep, seemingly endless. From the path they had walked, they had long since left the ship, but the corridor still had no end.

This was a more profound spatial harmony method, using great magical power to distort space, folding or extending it, rather than using Taotie hide and bone to expand space.

Such a narrow corridor, with so many divine art and divine weapon imprints on its walls, one could imagine how fierce the battle was at the time. But most crucially, when these powerful beings fought here sixteen years ago, all their divine art power was condensed, only exploding upon hitting an enemy. If it didn't hit an enemy, not a single trace of power would leak out!

This was extremely terrifying.

This showed that their control over power reached an extremely subtle and refined level—minimal power loss and maximum damage. Achieving this was extremely difficult.

Even a divine arts practitioner of the Six Directions realm, a single divine art explosion could sweep across an area of several zhang. But if a practitioner were to control the damage within the confines of their fingers and palm, then very few people would be able to do it.

However, if the power that could destroy an area of several zhang were extremely compressed to the size of a palm, then its destructive power would likely increase a hundredfold!

And if a deity compressed their divine art to this extent, how terrifying would its destructive power be?

Qin Mu and Ban Gunguo's eyes both lit up, immediately realizing the immense power within. If two people had the same cultivation and divine art power, but one of them could compress the power of their divine art to this extent, then in a confrontation, their opponent would definitely be killed by a single strike!

Moreover, with no power leakage, the loss of vital qi would be minimal, allowing them to fight at full strength for a longer duration.

However, neither of their cultivation methods nor divine arts possessed such subtle and refined power control methods. To make divine arts subtle to the extreme required extremely high attainments in arithmetic and numerology.

The Dao Sect had extremely high attainments in arithmetic and numerology, but even they seemed unable to achieve this level; otherwise, the Dao Sect would have been invincible long ago.

"Perhaps only those proficient in divine calculation can control power to this level?"

Suddenly, a gentle breeze swept through the corridor. Qin Mu and Ban Gunguo each grunted, their bones crackling. It wasn't the breeze physically pressing on their bodies, but the aura of a deity carried by the breeze, pressing them so hard they could barely breathe.

Qin Mu immediately transformed into a black shadow and merged into the wall, moving along it. Seeing this, Ban Gunguo secretly praised his cleverness and also quickly transformed into a black shadow, merging into the wall. The two carefully avoided the marks on the wall. Not long after, they saw the source of the deity's aura.

That was a divine corpse, the body of a deity. Its head was gaping open, and half of its body had already turned to stone, while the other half was still flesh. It had been killed by an enemy before it could fully petrify.

The intensity of the battle in this corridor was somewhat beyond their expectations.

They moved along the wall surface, following the old man from the painting. After walking several tens of zhang further, they saw a second divine corpse, then a third, a fourth...

Qin Mu and Ban Gunguo's hearts pounded as they cautiously walked forward. Finally, they reached the end of the corridor, where there was a doorway.

The doorway suddenly opened automatically, creaking.

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, stepped down from the wall, and entered the doorway.

Ban Gunguo was half a step behind, wanting Qin Mu to test for danger inside first. When Qin Mu entered and seemed to encounter no danger, he then stepped down from the wall. Just as he was about to enter the doorway, the door suddenly creaked shut, blocking him outside.

Ban Gunguo hurriedly slammed against the door but couldn't force it open no matter what. Only then did he remember he should pull the door outwards. The door opened with a single pull. He frantically rushed inside, looked up, and his heart turned cold as cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

Outside was a world of dark Youdu, with distant specks of light floating in the air like stars in the sky.

He was now standing on the deck of the treasure ship. Qin Mu and the old man from the painting had both vanished!

Evidently, after that doorway closed, when it opened again, the spatial harmony method had shifted the space. It was no longer the same room Qin Mu had entered!

"Damn it!"

Ban Gunguo was furious. He turned and opened the door, and where the door opened, inside was no longer the mysterious corridor, but a new room.