Chapter 519: Village Chief Returns to the City

"I am twenty-three this year," Qin Mu honestly replied. "I've wasted twenty-three years of my life and accomplished nothing significant. Thinking about it makes me sigh and shed tears."

"For Divine Physician Qin to have achieved so much at twenty-three is truly remarkable."

Xing Han turned around, held up the mirror in his hand, and genuinely praised, "At twenty-three, you are not only the Heavenly Devil Cult Master, controlling a million cultivators, but also hold a high position as the Grand Master of the Imperial College of the Heavenly Saint Academy. You are also the Human Emperor, incredibly wealthy, and widely connected. How many people in this world could achieve what you have at twenty-three? Only you!"

He raised the mirror to reflect, but Qin Mu was not in the reflection. He paused slightly, then heard Qin Mu's voice from a distance: "Fat Dragon, Fat Dragon! Tell the newly arrived cultivators that this is the Great Ruins; they mustn't wander off after dark, or people will die! Get some loud-voiced people to shout a few warnings, telling the cultivators not to leave the city at night!"

Xing Han put away the mirror and stepped forward to follow. Once Qin Mu stopped, he again took out the mirror, turned his back to Qin Mu, and prepared to reflect him, but again, Qin Mu's figure was not in the mirror.

Qin Mu's voice once more came from afar, saying, "Yu Xiu, can you find dozens of court painters? Senior Brother Xing Han gave me a drawing, and we need to make hundreds or thousands of copies to distribute everywhere."

Xing Han raised an eyebrow, thinking, "If he is the person Lu Li is looking for, then he definitely wouldn't copy the jade pendant in the drawing. Am I truly being overly suspicious? But why is he avoiding me?"

He followed Qin Mu again, his eyes flickering. "If he runs again, I'll use my magic to suppress and immobilize him!"

Just then, the slightly plump young woman from the Ling family tilted her head, examining the drawing. "I think I've seen this jade pendant before!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Xing Han shuddered, no longer bothering to reflect Qin Mu. He quickly asked, "Princess of the Ling family, have you truly seen it?"

Ling Yu Xiu had been responsible for military intelligence in the northern frontier for the past few months. Living in the northern snowfields had made her skin very fair. It was also a time of growth for her, making her face a bit longer and her appearance more refined, though she remained slightly plump.

She had returned to the capital for a report. With Qin Mu having established the "Between Life and Death" realm, she took advantage of her free time to come to Xianglong City, not only to meet her beloved but also to gain experience within the "Between Life and Death" realm.

"I've seen it once," Ling Yu Xiu said. Having gained much experience from her military service in the north, she was now much more mature than before. She still preferred wearing men's clothes, which gave her a heroic air. "I saw it in a ruin in the Great Ruins."

"The Great Ruins!" Xing Han's heart pounded. He quickly asked, "Was the person a youth?"

Ling Yu Xiu replied, "No, it wasn't a person. There were texts like that in the Great Ruins' ruin, and also a small swaddling cloth and a little wooden horse, as if a child had lived there."

Qin Mu looked at Xing Han, who remained silent for a moment, evidently communicating with the strange eye within his Life and Death Divine Treasure.

He looked at the mirror in Xing Han's hand, very curious about it. Xing Han had repeatedly tried to reflect him with it, which was why he had been avoiding him.

"Senior Brother Xing Han, do you also like carrying a mirror? Is this mirror some incredible treasure?" Qin Mu's eyes flickered, and he reached out to grasp the mirror. "May I borrow it? I think I have a pimple on my face, and I want to look at it..."

Xing Han slapped his hand away, stuffing the mirror back into his Taotie Bag. He said indifferently, "Don't touch my things; you're poisonous. Princess of the Ling family, where exactly in the Great Ruins is that place you visited? Can you take me there?"

His communication with the strange eye in his Life and Death Divine Treasure likely meant the eye wanted him to investigate that place.

Ling Yu Xiu hesitated. "I still need to go to Fengdu and don't have time to take you there. However, I still remember the geography of that place, so I can draw you a map."

Xing Han thanked her. Ling Yu Xiu asked Qin Mu for brushes and ink and drew a geographical map. Xing Han calmly asked, "Are there any dangers there?"

Ling Yu Xiu chuckled, "If there were dangers, how could I have returned alive? Besides Senior Xing Han, who else in this world has the highest cultivation?"

Xing Han smiled. "If you could return alive, then so can I. Divine Physician Qin, will you come with me?"

Qin Mu hesitated. "Senior Brother, why do you need to take me with you to the Great Ruins to find someone? I've helped you find the person, and I'll help you post copies of this drawing all over Yan Kang. I'll notify you as soon as there's any news. While you're looking for traces of the jade pendant, I also need to visit the graves at the Human Emperor Hall. If I don't go soon, the past Human Emperors will be cursing me, urging me to die early and join them."

Xing Han looked at the map Ling Yu Xiu drew and said very seriously, "Princess of the Ling family, if I don't find the text on the jade pendant there, you can imagine the consequences. Your Ling family will be erased from existence!"

Ling Yu Xiu shivered and forced a smile. "I didn't lie to you..."

Xing Han turned and left. Both Qin Mu and Ling Yu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief. Ling Yu Xiu wiped the sweat from her forehead and was about to speak when Qin Mu raised a hand, and she quickly stopped.

With a mutual understanding, both of their primordial spirits left their bodies and fled far away.

Their primordial spirits flew tens of thousands of miles from Xianglong City before stopping. Ling Yu Xiu's primordial spirit asked, "Herder, what exactly is that place? Is it dangerous? My Ling family's entire fate and lives are riding on this!"

She said that because Qin Mu had secretly contacted her using the mental waves of the Feathered Spirits, telling her what to say and how to draw the map.

The Feathered Spirits do not speak; they communicate through mental waves. Without needing sound, a mere thought allows them to understand each other's intentions, enabling flexible and coordinated actions.

Although mental communication has significant drawbacks, this method is very useful for maintaining secrecy.

"Don't worry," Qin Mu's primordial spirit said, "Xing Han will see everything you told him about there, but he won't find anything useful."

Qin Mu's primordial spirit continued, "If he goes there and immediately turns back, he can still get out. But if he insists on delving deeper to find more clues, then whether he can escape will depend on his wisdom. When the Village Chief and the others went in there, they almost didn't make it back; it was Grandpa Mute who rescued them. After Xing Han returns, he won't kill you over this, because you didn't lie."

The place he referred to was where they had once suspected Carefree Village was located: a colossal ship forged by the Divine Craftsmen. However, the Divine Craftsmen failed to enter Carefree Village; instead, they were ambushed by enemies and, along with the incredibly vast ship, became trapped within an immense three-dimensional spatial seal.

The Divine Craftsmen spent countless generations and sacrificed innumerable lives to enable one child to escape the seal. Qin Mu suspected this child was Mute.

The Village Chief and his companions were led out by Mute.

If Xing Han steps into that place and immediately turns back, he can break free. But if he ventures deeper, he will be trapped by the seal.

Ling Yu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief. "Why is Xing Han looking for you? That jade pendant is clearly yours."

Qin Mu shook his head. "I don't know either. But there's an extremely powerful and terrifying entity hidden in his Life and Death Divine Treasure; Xing Han must be coerced by it. I've only seen that entity's eye, not its body, but since Xing Han fell from Fengdu into Youdu and returned alive, that eye in his divine treasure must belong to a demon god from Youdu!"

Ling Yu Xiu frowned. "What if Xing Han manages to escape from there?"

Qin Mu shook his head. "It should be able to trap him for about half a year. After he gets out, we can continue searching for the jade pendant youth for him."

His eyes held a strange glint as he whispered, "When he gets out, he'll discover that such jade pendants are commonplace, whether in the Middle Earth, Western Earth, grasslands, ice fields, or the Great Ruins. What do you think is going on?"

Ling Yu Xiu rolled her eyes at him. "I know you're capable; stop bragging!"

Qin Mu burst into laughter. Their primordial spirits returned to their bodies. Outside, dusk was falling. By the river of "Between Life and Death," pleasure boats arrived. Hu Ling'er and Si Yunxiang allowed those who had paid to board. The pleasure boats sailed along the airborne river towards Fengdu, and Ling Yu Xiu also boarded a boat.

Outside the city, Qin Mu walked into the darkness. The Dragon Qilin sat atop a trunk, which sprouted legs and followed Qin Mu. The trunk was filled with items: offerings of fruits and vegetables, and also paper money. The trunk was quite displeased with these contents, but Qin Mu had forcibly stuffed them into its belly, leaving it helpless.

"The Human Emperor Hall, like Little Jade Capital, is a fragment of the Founding Emperor's Heavenly Court."

Qin Mu's eyes flickered as he walked through the darkness, holding a black iron lump in his hand. He thought, "The Second Ancestor and the others didn't tell me how to get there, only that activating the Human Emperor Seal would lead the way. How does the Human Emperor Seal find the Human Emperor Hall...?"

He poured his vital qi into the Human Emperor Seal. The large seal vibrated slightly. This time, activating the Human Emperor Seal was different from the last. Previously, when he activated the seal, he saw the arduous years of humanity after the fall of the Founding Emperor era, and the spiritual force within the Human Emperor Seal surged out, spreading to every corner of the world.

However, that time, the Village Chief and a group of masters had assisted him. Now, with only Qin Mu himself, he naturally couldn't unleash the Human Emperor Seal's full spiritual appeal.

Qin Mu cautiously probed with his vital qi, then suddenly felt a stir in his heart: his vital qi had touched a mark within the Human Emperor Seal.

Just then, the Human Emperor Seal vibrated gently, emitting a ray of light that struck Qin Mu's eyes before disappearing.

Qin Mu shook his head, opened his eyes, and saw a beam of light, seemingly from nowhere, shining directly at his feet.

Qin Mu was surprised. He looked back and asked, "Fat Dragon, can you see this light?"

The Dragon Qilin, who had been sleeping, hastily looked up upon hearing him. "What light?" it asked, looking around.

"Only I can see this light?" Qin Mu quickly took out a mirror and looked into it. He saw a strange rune had appeared in his eyes. It seemed this rune, imprinted in his vision, allowed him to see the light!

"So this is how you get to the Human Emperor Hall!" Qin Mu said, following the light.

Meanwhile, the Village Chief finally returned to Fengdu. He saw that Fengdu was incredibly lively. A long river descended from above the city, with a bridge crowded with gods and devils. Beneath the bridge, pleasure boats held a pile of skeletons.

"What's going on?" The Village Chief was surprised. He suddenly spotted Human Emperor Qi Kang on the bridge, and his eyes lit up. He waved, "Old Man Qi Kang, over here! I'm back! I've brought astonishing news, news about the Overlord Body! Heh heh, something you won't expect: an Overlord Body appeared forty thousand years ago! Come down quickly, I even have rubbings here!"

Human Emperor Qi Kang hastily jumped off the bridge and pointed at the Village Chief. "Don't move, don't move! I'll go call the Second Ancestor and the others!"

The Village Chief chuckled, "Aren't you going to look at the rubbings first?"

"It's better to enjoy it with everyone than alone. Let's wait until all the other Human Emperors are here, then we can look together," Human Emperor Qi Kang said, turning back with an honest expression.

The Village Chief was puzzled. "That old geezer's smile today looks a bit familiar. Why is he being so polite to me today...?"