Chapter 439: Heart is Hell

The rain of corpses continued for a short while, and an unknown number of bodies fell, creating a truly horrifying sight.

When the rain of corpses ceased, Gray Immortal quickly led the Deaf Elder back underground. There, they saw the more than a dozen stone statues standing motionless around the altar, their teleportation light already extinguished.

They looked towards the palace, where a sapphire-blue flood dragon was coiled on the roof. Its head was held high, its long whiskers swaying gently. Qin Mu stood on the dragon's head, gazing at the altar in the hand of the divine statue.

The two quickly crossed the long floating bridge to the palace and climbed onto its roof. The Deaf Elder looked down, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

Below, the stone statues surrounding the altar, though motionless, had all raised their heads, their stone eyes fixed on their location.

“Mu’er, what happened?” the Deaf Elder asked nervously.

“They are looking at me,” Qin Mu replied.

Qin Mu murmured, “Have they realized that I killed their clansmen?”

The Deaf Elder shook his head. “In their minds, these demonic armies were meant to be sacrificed. Even if they didn't die by your hand, they would have been blood-sacrificed anyway. You don't need to dwell on it. On the contrary, you prevented them from awakening this divine statue, which is a great deed. It saved countless common people of Eternal Peace from certain death.”

Qin Mu looked directly at him. “Deaf Grandpa, I have never killed so many people. Perhaps many have died because of me, but to personally send so many lives to their end, I'm still quite apprehensive. When these demonic armies were teleported over, some were already dead, others were not yet, but they all died upon rushing into the Gate of Heavenly Succession. I counted over a hundred thousand people. I’ve never personally killed so many… Just now, within the Gate of Heavenly Succession, I even saw many paper boats floating in the darkness, with underworld envoys sitting on them, guiding the souls of these people. It was I who condemned them…”

The Deaf Elder was momentarily stunned, unsure how to comfort him. After a moment, he spoke, “Back when I was the Crown Prince of the Heavenly Map Kingdom, our nation was annihilated. I awoke from my seclusion and walked alone through the palace and streets, where corpses lay everywhere. Because our resistance was so fierce, the Raging Wolf Kingdom, which attacked us, suffered heavy casualties. To vent their anger, their king ordered a massacre of the entire city.”

He fell silent, lost in thought, seemingly still unable to escape that dark shadow. After another moment of silence, he continued, “I saw my father's and mother's heads hanging on the palace gate. I saw the heads and bodies of the concubines and maids. Soldiers took my father's head, impaled it on a spear, and ran around showing it off. I ran into the streets and saw Raging Wolf Kingdom soldiers pillaging everywhere, arbitrarily beheading people, raping, and plundering. I went to my own residence; my wife and child were dead. My daughter was trampled to death by warhorses…”

He stared, wide-eyed, seemingly still trapped in that period of darkness. In the depths of his eyes, the scene of the Heavenly Map Kingdom's destruction seemed to linger—it was a living hell.

“I was engrossed in calligraphy and painting, devoted to the art of drawing, and paid no heed to state affairs. Yet, this led to the ruin of my nation and family. I tore off my own ears, for if I couldn't hear the world's affairs with them, what good were they?”

“I used the bones of the common people as my brush, and the blood from the streets as my paint. I turned that place into hell. Heh heh, the Raging Wolf Kingdom's army was dragged into hell. A million soldiers—it was I who buried them… But what was the use? My old home and country would not return, the dead would not be reborn. So I hid in the Great Ruins.”

The Deaf Elder looked up at Qin Mu, raised a finger, and tapped his chest. “Mu’er, harden your heart. Don’t be like me, waiting until your nation is destroyed and your family ruined before you become resolute. By then, it will be too late. This is war; there is no right or wrong. On the battlefield, your heart is hell, it is Youdu!”

Qin Mu's mind suddenly cleared, and he bowed, saying, “I am enlightened.”

The Deaf Elder smiled and said, “Let these sins cling to us. After death, let the Earth Count settle them. Our mission, for now, is to send more enemies to meet the Earth Count!”

Qin Mu burst out laughing. “Send them to meet the Earth Count!”

Gray Immortal looked at the stone statues below and asked, “What happened to them?”

“I don't know,” Qin Mu replied. “They suddenly stopped moving.”

Qin Mu was also puzzled. “These stone statues are very powerful,” he said, “their bodies are fossilized and extremely hard. Since their sacrifice failed this time, they will likely try something else and won't give up easily.”

Suddenly, each of the stone statues around the altar leaped up and plunged into the abyss below. Qin Mu quickly looked and saw them burrowing into the ground, quickly disappearing from sight.

“What in the world…?”

The three exchanged bewildered glances. Qin Mu looked at the divine blade embedded in the statue's forehead. It was incredibly bright, as if it had been struck deep into the statue, almost splitting it open.

The divine blade's surface was incredibly smooth, without any texture, brighter and more transparent than the world's most brilliant mirror. The souls of Granny Si, the Imperial Preceptor of Eternal Peace, the Mute, the Butcher, and others appeared as flat images, battling the Heavenly Gods within the mirror's surface. They could not see the outside world.

Suddenly, wisps of gray mist, emerging from an unknown source, spread throughout the underground space. The three stood in the gray mist, watching as it grew heavier. Within the mist, countless mountains and rivers seemed to emerge, engulfing them.

Not only them, but even the divine statue that had emerged from the ground, and the gleaming long blade, were obscured by the mist. Only faint chains remained, half-visible.

After a moment, the mist stopped flowing. Around them, countless colossal mountains of white bones appeared, situated within the sea of mist. The underground space beneath the mist seemed to be entirely filled with bones.

Countless white bones crawled across the peaks of these mountains, creating an eerie and terrifying sight.

“The Realm of the Living Dead!” Qin Mu exclaimed.

Qin Mu's heart trembled. He looked into the depths of the mist sea, where a dock lay in the farthest reaches—the only path to enter the Realm of the Living Dead!

The Realm of the Living Dead and Fengdu had appeared beneath the Divine Break Mountains, overlapping with this strange underground space!

“Does anyone have Fengdu gold coins?” Qin Mu urgently asked.

Gray Immortal and the Deaf Elder had never seen such a sight and both shook their heads. The Flood Dragon King God, being a deity of the High Heavens, naturally could not possess Fengdu gold coins either.

Just then, a dilapidated boat sailed from the mist sea. Qin Mu raised his hand and waved, calling out loudly, “Boatman, could you give us a ride?”

The oar creaked as it moved, and the boat sailed through the sea of mist and between the bone mountains. Qin Mu was excited, while Gray Immortal and the Deaf Elder watched the approaching dilapidated boat with extreme tension, as if facing a formidable enemy.

After a moment, the boat reached the palace, floating in front of the Flood Dragon King God’s massive head, appearing quite small in comparison. The boatman on board was clad in a straw cape and wore a bamboo hat that obscured his face.

The Flood Dragon King God lowered its head. As Qin Mu was about to jump into the boat, a skeletal hand extended from beneath the straw cape, and a chilling voice came from under the bamboo hat: “Young friend, do you have money?”

Qin Mu shook his head.

“This treasure boat does not carry moneyless passengers,” the boatman replied.

The boatman said, “My small business operates on thin margins. It’s not too late to enter Fengdu once you have money.”

Qin Mu was disappointed, but then he suddenly noticed the skeletal hand. It had only four fingers; one had been severed, seemingly by a sword.

His body trembled greatly, but at that moment, the boatman rowed away, disappearing into the depths of the mist sea.

“When did Fengdu change boatmen?” Qin Mu called out loudly.

From the mist sea came a chilling voice, but strangely, it carried a hint of joy: “On the day I died, they changed boatmen!”

Qin Mu called out loudly, “Have you seen the Heavenly Devil Ancestor?”

“Heh heh,” came the reply, “once you have money, you can come in and see for yourself…”

Qin Mu was stunned, while Gray Immortal was filled with surprise and uncertainty. He quickly said, “Human Emperor Qin, do you know that underworld envoy?”

Qin Mu nodded. “He seems to be an old friend,” he said. “That old friend also had only nine fingers. The severed finger was cut off by the village chief.”

“Are you saying he’s Ling Jing?” Gray Immortal asked.

Gray Immortal suddenly realized, both surprised and delighted. He quickly called out loudly, “Senior Brother Ling Jing, do you still remember your old friend?”

There was no reply from the mist sea.

Gray Immortal called out several more times, but still received no reply, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss.

Suddenly, the mist surged again, receding westward and quickly disappearing without a trace. Qin Mu looked up and saw that the divine blade was still on the statue’s forehead, still incredibly bright, but Granny Si and the others were no longer visible within the blade.

“Were Granny Si and the others taken by Fengdu?” Qin Mu wondered, alarmed.

Qin Mu’s heart lurched. He, Gray Immortal, and the Deaf Elder quickly rushed out to the surface. Suddenly, the light before them was dazzlingly bright. A rising sun appeared in the east, its first rays shining on their faces. Behind them, the darkness of the Great Ruins rapidly receded.

“That is where the corpses of over a hundred thousand demonic soldiers fell,” the Deaf Elder said, pointing into the Great Ruins.

The Deaf Elder pointed to a spot in the Great Ruins and said to Qin Mu, “You teleported about a hundred li.”

Qin Mu activated his Flaming Cloud Heavenly Eye and looked in that direction. He saw only a single peak of white bones there. The more than a hundred thousand demonic soldiers had been reduced to mere skeletons, devoid of flesh and blood.

The flesh and blood of those demons had been devoured by the monsters lurking in the Great Ruins’ darkness.

The white bone mountain was also illuminated by the sunlight, appearing eerily stark.

Qin Mu turned and walked towards the Sun Ship, his voice resounding, “My heart is hell! Let the sins be as monstrous as they may!”

The Deaf Elder smiled and followed him. Near the Sun Ship, the myriad stars formed by the Great Luo Heavenly Stars were rapidly dimming one by one. The woman who had established the Great Luo Heavenly Star force field opened her eyes, and her body began to fall from mid-air.

Qin Mu quickly sped up and ran forward, intending to catch the woman.

Another person fell from the sky, weakly calling out, “Aba, Aba…”

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, raising his arms to the left and then swinging them to the right. But at that moment, the Blind Elder fell head-first. Qin Mu quickly rushed towards him.

“Mu’er, are you just going to watch Old Man and Master Ma fall to their deaths too?” came the Butcher’s voice.

Qin Mu looked and saw the Butcher and Master Ma also falling from the sky. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead; he truly didn’t know who to catch.

As for the Imperial Preceptor of Eternal Peace and King Yi, who were also falling, Qin Mu had even less intention of catching them.

Fox Ling’er rushed out from the Sun Ship, calling out loudly, “Maha—!”

“Maha! Maha! Maha!”

A group of flood dragons raced out from beside her like the wind, catching the falling people on their backs.

Qin Mu finally let out a sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

In the distance, the Imperial Preceptor of Eternal Peace fell to the ground. Qin Mu was startled and quickly looked at the flood dragon that was supposed to catch him. He couldn’t help but be dumbfounded, seeing that the flood dragon was instead carrying a vibrating cauldron, calling out “Maha Maha,” and joyfully running back to the Sun Ship with the other flood dragons, completely unaware that it had caught the wrong item.