Chapter 394: Heaven and Earth Prison Cage

Ling Yuxiu and others were inexplicably shocked. More and more Sun Herders approached, kneeling on one knee, and the calls of "Your Highness" echoed continuously.

At this moment, almost all the Sun Herders had gathered here. Looking out, nearly a hundred thousand Sun Herders were kneeling on one knee, heads bowed.

There was no emperor among the Sun Herders, and Qin Mu was certainly not one of them. So, whose "Your Highness" were they referring to?

"Is the cowherd a prince from the Great Ruins? Or from Wuyou Township? Is he the Crown Prince of the Great Ruins?" Ling Yuxiu was somewhat bewildered. Did this cowherd boy have such a background? And how was he able to control this Sun Ship and its power?

Fox Spirit was somewhat disappointed: "So Young Master isn't a male fox spirit?"

Qin Mu relaxed his grip, his body gradually returned to normal, and the two extra arms retracted. He quickly helped the old chieftain to his feet and said, "Chieftain, please tell your people to rise."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

The old chieftain rose, his expression solemn. "We were unaware of Your Highness's identity before, and we may have offended you in many ways. Please forgive us." He turned, raised his arm, and shouted loudly to the Sun Herders below: "People of the Sun Herder tribe, guardians of the Sun Well, the Prince of Wuyou Township has come! Wuyou Township has not forgotten us! After twenty thousand years of waiting, twenty thousand years of hardship, we have waited for this day! The Sun Well will not fall! The Sun Herders will not perish!"

The faces of the simple Sun Herders filled with ecstasy. They cheered and laughed, the suffering of recent days, the suppression brought by the brutality of war, all vanished. The invasion of the otherworldly devils had cast a shadow of extinction over the Sun Herders near the Sun Well. All the tribesmen were fighting for the future of their race, but they had no certainty of surviving this calamity. The pressure grew increasingly intense, and the atmosphere within the tribe became more and more stifling. Now, however, with Qin Mu's arrival, their lost hope had returned!

It was a carnival; giants ran and cheered everywhere. Some wept with joy, others sang and danced, some went to inform wounded warriors and dying elders, and others offered incense and prayers to the ancestral tablets.

"Could the chieftain have misunderstood?" Qin Mu looked at the jubilant crowd below, a little puzzled, and said to the old chieftain, "I am not your Highness..."

The old chieftain shook his head. "Someone who is not a Sun Herder but can control the Sun Ship can only be royalty! Back then, Sister Qing, by imperial decree, refined the Sun Ship. Apart from being piloted by a Sun Guardian with a Pure Yang Body, it can also be controlled by royalty. Your Highness is not a Sun Herder, so you must naturally be royalty from Wuyou Township!"

Qin Mu shook his head. "I am a Hegemon Body. Perhaps a Hegemon Body is also a Pure Yang Body."

"Hegemon Body? What is that?" The chieftain looked bewildered. The celebration below grew louder and more boisterous. He tentatively asked, "Your Highness, is 'Hegemon Body' a term for royal bloodlines?"

Qin Mu couldn't help but feel suspicious. Was 'Hegemon Body' really a term for royalty? Something felt off. If 'Hegemon Body' referred to royalty, then was Xu Shenghua also royalty? If Xu Shenghua was also royalty, then what did the village chief mean by 'true and false Hegemon Bodies'? Was there such a thing as fake royal bloodlines? If a Hegemon Body was not royalty, then was it a Pure Yang Body? If it was a Pure Yang Body, then how was Qin Mu able to control the Moon Ship? Doubt arose in his heart, and he longed to find the village chief to clarify things.

All along, he had believed himself to be a Hegemon Body, a unique and unparalleled one, and thus possessed an invincible conviction, which he fully trusted. But now, the words of the Sun Herder chieftain made him feel somewhat doubtful and wavering.

After the festivities, the old chieftain ordered the selection of Sun Guardians to continue. The Sun Herders were rather puzzled but returned to the Sun Temple as instructed. Qin Mu also followed with Ling Yuxiu and the others, and as the "Prince," they were treated as honored guests.

Qin Mu watched below as many Sun Herders stepped forward to try and ignite the Sun Furnace. Most could only briefly light it before it extinguished itself; no one could sustain it for long. Strangely, however, when some Sun Herders ignited the Sun Furnace, marvelous phenomena appeared within it, such as fire dragons, fire phoenixes, fire flood dragons, and fire Qilins, emitting peculiar sounds. Ling Yuxiu and the others also found it extremely peculiar. Si Yunxiang whispered, "The phenomena appearing in the furnace seem like spirit bodies, but the spirit bodies here are a bit different."

Everyone nodded. There were four great spirit bodies: Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger. These four were general classifications; each spirit body was a broad category and didn't necessarily appear as these specific forms. They could take other forms; for instance, many spirit bodies in Langjuxu Country were Dragon Wolf spirit bodies, which belonged to the Azure Dragon spirit body. However, judging by the phenomena emerging from the Sun Furnace, the Sun Herders' spirit bodies manifested as fire dragons, fire phoenixes, and other similar forms, appearing like branches of the Vermilion Bird spirit body. Yet, the Vermilion Bird spirit body did not seem to be the so-called Pure Yang Body but rather a fire-attributed spirit body. The Sun Furnace should be testing for a Pure Yang Body. From this perspective, the Sun Herders' spirit bodies could not be simply categorized as Vermilion Bird spirit bodies.

Qin Mu asked, puzzled, "Chieftain, are there not just four great spirit bodies in the world?"

"Four great spirit bodies? Are you referring to the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise?" The old chieftain shook his head. "The Pure Yang Body is not among the four great spirit bodies."

"So it's true!" Everyone was greatly shaken. Indeed, there were more than just four great spirit bodies in this world; there were others!

"The concept of the four great spirit bodies must be something people outside the Great Ruins believe, right?" The old chieftain continued, "In this world, there are not only the four great spirit bodies, but also the Pure Yang Body, the Pure Yin Body, and other even stronger spirit bodies. The notion of only four great spirit bodies is merely a belief from the era of the cataclysm. Our tribe has legends that many spirit bodies coexisted in the past, numbering in the hundreds, but after the great calamity, many disappeared. People outside the Great Ruins were sealed and imprisoned, leaving only the four great spirit bodies."

Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang exchanged glances, revealing expressions of confusion and dread. This was completely different from what they had been taught! They had heard that the abandoned people within the Great Ruins were the ones who were sealed and cursed, forbidden to ever leave the Great Ruins! If the abandoned people left the Great Ruins, they were to be killed without question! Yet, according to the old chieftain of the Sun Herders, it was the people outside the Great Ruins who were sealed?

"People outside only have the four great spirit bodies." The old chieftain said, "However, in the Great Ruins, you can find many more types of spirit bodies. Therefore, it is the people outside the Great Ruins who are sealed. They live unknowingly in a cage, under a false starry sky, cultivated by the gods—they are merely a group of pitiful wretches."

Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang let out a muffled groan. The people of Yankang viewed the abandoned people of the Great Ruins as pitiful wretches, yet unexpectedly, in the eyes of the Great Ruins' inhabitants, it was the people outside who were the pitiful wretches. The Great Ruins was where freedom lay, the true sky! The old chieftain's words delivered a devastating blow to their minds!

However, Qin Mu, recalling the Heavenly Alliance's deduction that the sun, moon, and stars were all illusions, felt that the Sun Herder chieftain's words held considerable truth. Perhaps it wasn't the Great Ruins that was sealed, but the outside world!

"Chieftain, there should also be Hegemon Bodies in this world, right?" Qin Mu asked confidently.

The old chieftain shook his head. "Your Highness, I have never heard of a Hegemon Body, nor do our tribal records mention any such thing."

Qin Mu waved his hand and chuckled, "Just because you don't know doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Your knowledge is too limited, not as extensive as our village chief's. Chieftain, if I am truly your Highness, royalty, then would I be able to ignite the Sun Furnace?"

The old chieftain laughed. "Even if Your Highness is royalty, it's likely impossible for you to ignite the Sun Furnace. This Sun Furnace can only be ignited with true fire, using the blood of a Pure Yang Body as a catalyst. It's impossible for anyone who isn't a Pure Yang Body to light it. Our Sun Herder tribe was renowned for our Pure Yang Bodies back then; only we, the Sun Herders, can ignite the Sun Furnace. Not even royalty could do it."

Qin Mu leaped down and walked toward the Sun Furnace, saying, "However, the blood of a Hegemon Body can ignite the Sun Furnace!" He approached the Sun Furnace, cut his wrist, and let his blood fall into it. Qin Mu's thoughts stirred, and he channeled true fire into the Sun Furnace.

Boom—

The Sun Furnace immediately blazed furiously, rising like a nascent sun, emitting rolling heat waves and immense power. Sunlight instantly illuminated the entire Sun Temple! Within the Sun Furnace, instead of fire dragons or fire Qilins, a human figure appeared. The figure grew larger and larger, filling the entire Sun Furnace, then stepped out, gripping the Sun Furnace with both hands as if holding a sun to its chest!

Qin Mu dispersed the true fire, and the Sun Furnace instantly extinguished. The figure also vanished, and the Sun Furnace settled back onto the backs of the three divine statues.

Qin Mu, his confidence renewed, returned to the platform and smiled at the dumbfounded Sun Herder chieftain, "Now, can you see that I am a Hegemon Body?"

The old chieftain looked dazed, somewhat bewildered, and murmured, "Royalty can also possess a Pure Yang Body... It must be so!"

Qin Mu shook his head and chuckled, "This is precisely the effect of a Hegemon Body!" He was full of confidence: "The village chief really didn't lie to me! There truly is a Hegemon Body in this world!"

Little did he know, he possessed the most ordinary body, that of a common person with no inherent spirit body attributes. It was precisely because he was a blank slate that he could freely transform his vital qi attributes. He could become like the four great spirit bodies, mastering the vital qi of the Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger, or transform into a Pure Yang Body, mastering Pure Yang vital qi. This was not due to some "Hegemon Body" but rather his inherent nature. Ever since the village chief mentioned the "Hegemon Body," Qin Mu had tirelessly cultivated and trained, causing his ordinary physique to undergo incredible transformations. Through efforts thousands of times greater than others, he repeatedly transformed his body, gradually moving towards an unknown path, and his future held many unpredictable possibilities. Qin Mu attributed this to being a Hegemon Body, overlooking his own diligent cultivation.

"Chieftain, it's getting dark!" a Sun Herder elder suddenly said with a solemn expression.

The old chieftain's heart tightened. He looked at Qin Mu and said, "Your Highness, otherworldly monsters are invading. Please lend us your assistance!"

Qin Mu nodded. Just then, the sky above the Sun Well was suddenly enveloped in darkness. While the area around the Sun Well radiated bright light, outside lay an incredibly dense darkness.