Chapter 373: Heavenly Crafted Creation

Mu Qingdai asked, "Has the Great Ruins invaded this place? Otherwise, why must we leave before dark?"

Qin Mu shook his head, offering no further explanation.

The group waited outside the hall for a moment. Suddenly, the sky darkened, and a faint rumble of thunder could be heard. Qin Mu looked up to see that dense, dark clouds had appeared from nowhere, despite it being a clear day just moments before.

It was already early winter, and the weather was cold. Thunder was rare, and lightning almost nonexistent. Yet, these suddenly appearing dark clouds brought thunder with them.

The dark clouds grew thicker and heavier, obscuring the sky. Then, a torrential downpour began. The group quickly took shelter under the eaves of the hall as the icy rain poured relentlessly.

Even if it rained this season, the rainfall wouldn't be heavy, but now it was a violent storm.

Over a dozen flood dragons also crowded together, coiling around the bronze pillars to escape the heavy rain. The Dragon Qilin, meanwhile, dozed off by the hall's entrance, a spot where it could avoid the rain.

The large deer then went over to the Dragon Qilin, lowered its head, and used its antlers to pick up and toss the Dragon Qilin out of the hall before lying down itself.

The Dragon Qilin was furious. Soaked by the rain, it stomped over, opening its gaping maw. The stag leaped up, shaking its massive antlers, ready to fight at any moment.

Suddenly, steam rose from the ground. Long Yu reached out and cupped a handful of rainwater, exclaiming in surprise, "The rain is hot!"

Qin Mu's heart stirred. He extended his hand, and sure enough, the falling rain was hot, scalding like boiling water!

He quickly stepped out from under the eaves, unleashing his vital qi to force the rainwater to part around him, preventing it from touching his body.

He looked up to see that the sky had become very dark. In the pitch-black heavens, lightning occasionally rolled within the dark clouds. A booming sound came from a thousand miles away, rapidly rolling towards them, then continuing to the other side, covering over two thousand miles in an instant!

This didn't sound like thunder from a lightning strike!

Wang Muran and others also stepped out from under the eaves, looking up. They saw more and more lightning in the dark clouds, crisscrossing and cutting through the black sky, a truly frightening sight.

And the rain falling from the sky grew even hotter.

"Something seems to be happening in the sky... Fat Dragon, put down that deer!"

Qin Mu called back. The Dragon Qilin loosened its grip, having been biting the stag's neck. The stag was furious and about to retaliate, but the Dragon Qilin sat down on it, pinning it beneath its body like a mountain, unable to move.

The thunder in the sky grew more incessant, like giants beating war drums. The lightning, too, had coalesced into balls, rolling around and illuminating the darkness.

Layers of heavens opened in Qin Mu's eyes. He looked into the clouds and suddenly faintly saw rapidly flashing figures leaping and fighting above the clouds!

On the other side, Wang Muran, Long Yu, and Mu Qingdai, who came from Little Jade Capital and had also learned techniques like "Heaven's Eye" or "Divine Eye," all activated their spells to look up, involuntarily letting out exclamations of surprise.

Suddenly, the dense, heavy dark clouds were torn open, and a tall, imposing figure appeared in the dark clouds. Holding two large sabers, his face, illuminated by a flash of lightning, appeared exceptionally fierce, excited, and ferocious!

"Grandpa Butcher!"

Qin Mu cried out in shock. He had seen the Butcher in his mad states; in Crippled Old Village, the Butcher often went berserk, even attacking the Village Chief when he did. Only when facing Qin Mu would the Butcher show a hint of gentleness.

No sooner had his cry escaped than several other figures appeared in the cloud's fissure and attacked the Butcher!

"Just now, when the dark clouds split open, it was Grandpa Butcher's saber that cut them!"

As he thought this, the dark clouds closed again, and the thunder continued. That rolling thunder wasn't thunder at all, but the enormous sound produced by figures moving at high speed!

The Butcher's saber sliced through the sky, immensely hot, boiling the rainwater in the clouds. That's why the rain falling from the sky was getting hotter and hotter!

Just then, Qin Mu suddenly saw a majestic continent descending from the sky, piercing through the clouds. That continent had mountains and rivers, lush and verdant, but it was positioned directly opposite the ground where they stood, appearing as if it were about to collide with Eternal Peace Empire. The scene was horrifying.

"Aba!" the Mute said seriously.

"That's right, it's the Village Chief!"

Qin Mu nodded repeatedly: "The Village Chief is up there too. Who are they fighting?"

The continent in the sky seemed to have met its match, whistling upward and flying back into the clouds. Then, its mountains and rivers suddenly collapsed and disintegrated.

Qin Mu was stunned. The Village Chief's sword technique had been broken!

Boom—

The sky violently shook. A massive pillar, dozens of zhang in diameter, descended from the sky, piercing through the clouds like a colossal heaven-supporting column falling from above.

But it wasn't a pillar; it was frantically swirling water, like huge water dragons coiled together to form a spear shaft. Someone was gathering water to form a spear!

"Grandpa Cripple's spear technique!"

Qin Mu's mind reeled. That enormous water-dragon spear was indeed Cripple's spear. Cripple rarely used weapons; even when facing sect master-level entities, he would make do with just a bamboo cane.

A single bamboo cane was enough for him to break all spells and divine arts.

But now, he was gathering water to form a spear, which meant he must have encountered a formidable enemy he couldn't easily handle!

The Mute's expression was solemn. He turned and walked back into the hall, retrieved a wooden box, pointed at Qin Mu, and said, "Aah, aah-aah!"

Qin Mu nodded seriously and said, "Don't worry, Grandpa Mute, I absolutely won't run around. Besides, I can help. I have many powerful flood dragons under my command."

The Mute raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

Qin Mu looked abashed and whispered, "They're pretty formidable, at least..."

Just as the Mute was about to leap into the air, having barely risen, he suddenly stopped three zhang above the ground, his body motionless, floating silently there.

In the torrential downpour, blood flood dragons emerged from all directions, enduring the rain as they walked, heavily encircling this sacred immortal land.

The Mute's feet landed, leaving two deep imprints on the ground. Around the imprints, cracking sounds erupted, and stone slabs fractured, revealing cracks.

The Mute placed the box on the ground. The lid automatically opened, revealing a box full of finger-sized silver pellets.

On his back, he carried a large furnace, his blacksmith's furnace. Even after putting down the box, he kept the cylindrical furnace strapped to his back.

The furnace had long been extinguished, and it was pitch black.

The Mute clenched his fists, and his vital qi erupted. Suddenly, the furnace on his back burst into blazing flames, igniting fiercely.

The blood flood dragons stopped. Some clung to railings, some squatted on the heads of stone lions, some stood on the stone steps, and others appeared on the roof of the great hall behind Qin Mu and his group.

The surroundings were dim. An incredibly heavy set of footsteps approached, accompanied by rough, heavy breathing, steady yet brimming with ferocity.

The box beneath the Mute's feet rattled and vibrated continuously. Suddenly, the Emperor's Disk flew out of it, landing with a whoosh in Qin Mu's hand. Without turning his head, the Mute raised his hand, his five fingers moving rapidly, making several gestures.

Qin Mu hung the Emperor's Disk on his chest and said in a deep voice, "Grandpa Mute wants us to retreat into the hall! Fat Dragon, get up quickly, don't sit that deer to death!"

The Dragon Qilin promptly got up. The large deer lay sprawled on all fours, panting heavily, its tongue hanging out long.

"Pah!" the Dragon Qilin spat a mouthful of dragon saliva at the large deer.

"This blockhead is so wasteful, spitting out several bottles' worth of dragon saliva!" Qin Mu was furious, feeling a pang of heartache.

The footsteps in the darkness grew closer. Two gigantic flood dragons first entered their sight, from their massive, hill-like heads, to their long necks, and sharp claws. Then, a pair of feet, gripping the backs of the two flood dragons, appeared in the darkness.

The heavy rain enveloped everything, and the scalding rainwater poured down like a waterfall from the sky, drenching the imposing figure that emerged from the darkness. The rain washed his scales to a gleaming shine, reflecting flashes of lightning and thunder.

The two flood dragons stopped. A bolt of lightning tore through the darkness, illuminating the majestic figure.

The Dragon Herder.

The Dragon Herder, with only a few strands of hair left on his head and a face as black as charcoal!

"You intend to stop me?"

His gaze, like lightning, tore through the darkness, like two beams of light shining on the Mute, whose furnace was blazing behind him, seemingly illuminating the Mute's body until it was translucent. His voice boomed like thunder: "You think you can stop me? Hand over that simple-faced brat who burned off my hair, and I'll grant you a complete corpse!"

The Mute looked stunned and scratched his head.

"Grandpa Mute, he's talking about me!"

Qin Mu poked his head out from inside the hall, looking very honest and sincere. "Dragon Herder, it was me who burned your hair. The boy didn't mean to. You asked me to feed the dragons, and I fed them very well, so they followed me. Then they saw your hair chasing after us, and it was so ugly, damaging to the Dragon Herder's image. So the boy took it upon himself to help you burn away those three thousand strands of trouble."

The Dragon Herder's eye twitched, but his gaze didn't leave the Mute. He very much wanted to look away, but he realized that the moment he shifted his gaze, he might suffer a fatal blow from the opponent.

"So, it's a remnant from the Kaihuang Era."

His gaze fell on the furnace fire behind the Mute, and he sneered, "You're a descendant of the Heavenly Craftsmen from the false Heavenly Court of the Kaihuang Era, aren't you? The false Heavenly Court deified your ancestors as Heavenly Craftsmen. You Heavenly Craftsmen created Wuyou Country and the Ark of the Other Shore to travel to Wuyou Country, but you never made it. Heh heh, the gods sealed you all away. We originally thought you remnants would die in the seal, but it seems some of you escaped! Why don't you speak?"

The Mute remained expressionless and made a gesture.

Qin Mu poked his head out from inside the hall and shouted, "Dragon Herder, he's calling you a lowlife! He said it, not me!"

The Dragon Herder's face suddenly darkened. The two flood dragons on his ears quietly stretched their bodies, leaped onto his shoulders, and slid down his arms. Gradually, the two flood dragons grew larger and larger, their scales sliding like intricately precise mechanisms, covering his arms in layers.

And from within his clothes, three more flood dragons slowly grew, coiling around his waist and legs.

The Dragon Herder leaped off the dragon's back, his two powerful dragon claws gripping the ground. The two flood dragons that had been under his feet suddenly shrank, transforming into two dragon maces, which he grasped in his hands.

"Remnant of the false Heavenly Court's Ministry of Works!"

The Dragon Herder roared. His body was grotesque, his monstrous dragon strength erupting. His mouth full of sharp dragon teeth clenched tightly as he swung his dragon maces down at the Mute: "Die!"