Chapter 608: Slashing Divine Mysterious Blade

Qin Mu rushed out of the temple, swiftly reaching the steps of the divine mountain. He immediately lay flat, concealing his body beneath the stone steps. Two thick beams of divine light swept across the ground just above him, turning the stone slabs of the divine mountain a fiery red.

After the two beams of divine light passed, Qin Mu immediately rolled twice, descending several steps before rising. He then sped down the mountain like a raging dragon, leaving a trail of rolling smoke behind him.

As he sprinted, he channeled his primal energy to create a dense mist behind him, truly shrouding the entire mountain.

However, blood and vital energy were leaking from the wound on his neck, drawn out of his body and surging towards the mountain.

The wound was made by Chi Xi's fingernails at the edge of his neck. On this God-Slaying Platform, even minor wounds could neither self-heal nor be cured by medicine. Any existing wound would cause the God-Slaying Platform to absorb and drain vital energy. The only way was to leave the mountain while still alive!

Qin Mu's vital energy was depleting rapidly. He dared not look back to see if it was being absorbed by the God-Slaying Platform or by Chi Xi; he could only grit his teeth and sprint downhill.

Finally, he reached the foot of the mountain, his mind completely blank. Due to blood loss, his ears rang with a thunderous tinnitus, and his eyes were completely dark.

Qin Mu's primordial spirit left his body, allowing him to perceive his surroundings. With his right hand, he swiftly took out dragon saliva from his Taotie pouch and poured it onto the wound on his neck. He then quickly took out and consumed a Spirit Buddha Pill, which replenished blood and vital essence.

He touched his body, horrified. In that short time, he had become emaciated, and it would likely take a period of recuperation to recover.

It was a remarkable achievement that he hadn't been completely drained, considering both the God-Slaying Platform and Chi Xi had been siphoning his vital energy.

"I wonder if Chi Xi was interfering, causing my vital energy to drain so quickly just now."

Qin Mu, as thin as a bamboo pole, tucked the small box under his arm and stumbled forward, moving away from the eerie divine mountain. He thought to himself: "My blood-dissolving powder was placed in the water. He first absorbed the blood of Zhe Huali and Qi Jiuyi, using their blood to awaken himself, and then used my three bags of water to nourish his body. The blood-dissolving powder should have permeated every corner of his flesh along with that water. If he absorbed my blood, the blood-dissolving powder would neutralize all the blood he had taken. He awakened by blood, so if the blood is neutralized, he will fall back into dormancy. However, if Chi Xi was quick to react, he might have been able to retain some clean blood."

As an expert in both medicine and poison, he knew how to retain a portion of clean blood, and he also knew where Chi Xi would have stored it.

That would be Chi Xi's eyes, the very pair that had just emitted divine light.

He should only have clean blood in one pair of eyes.

Therefore, Qin Mu didn't know if Chi Xi would fall back into slumber, which is why he had to get far away from the divine mountain.

"If he's clever, he'll expel the water from his body, allowing himself to shrivel completely, and then use the last remaining blood in his eyes to enable himself to stand."

Qin Mu channeled his remaining primal energy to help the Spirit Buddha Pill dissolve within him, thinking: "I hope he's not that clever..."

Inside the temple, Chi Xi knelt motionless, like a wooden sculpture. Murky water, thin and turbid, mixed with milky-white corrupted blood, trickled from the fingertips of his six hands.

Qin Mu's blood-dissolving powder couldn't neutralize Chi Xi's divine blood. Instead, it neutralized the blood he had absorbed from Qi Jiuyi and Zhe Huali, as well as the portion of Qin Mu's own blood that he had absorbed.

After a long while, Chi Xi's body was drained of water, transforming him into a horrifying, skeletal three-headed, six-armed corpse. However, a faint glimmer of light still flickered within the pupils of the head facing forward.

Chi Xi cautiously separated a portion of the blood in his eyes, allowing this small amount to activate some of his functions, and then he shakily stood up.

His other two heads hung low, and his six arms drooped limply.

The blood in his eyes was too scarce to sustain more than a small fraction of his physical functions; the rest of his body remained temporarily dormant.

He painstakingly moved towards the temple exit, taking a long time to get out and reach the stone steps. Then, his legs gave way, and he tumbled down the divine mountain.

His tumbling speed, however, couldn't compare to the running speed of Qin Mu, Zhe Huali, and the others. It took him over half an hour to roll from the summit to the foot of the mountain this time.

Chi Xi rested for a long time before finally getting up and laboriously moving his body, searching for water.

Qin Mu, by a distant lake, was taking out bags of blood-dissolving powder to poison the water. When he glimpsed Chi Xi stumbling closer, he quickly scattered the powder into the lake. He then activated a divine ability, causing a cloud of mist to appear above the lake. From the mist, a divine dragon descended, its tail plunging into the lake and stirring vigorously.

Qin Mu waved his hand and sprinted away.

Whoosh—Two beams of divine light shot from Chi Xi's eyes but missed Qin Mu. He could only watch helplessly as Qin Mu departed.

"Water—"Overcome with rage, Chi Xi swayed and could no longer support himself, collapsing to the ground. Like a horse exhausted from running to a mountain it can see, or an ox worn out along a lake, he had painstakingly dragged himself here only for the lake water to be poisoned by Qin Mu. To reach another water source would likely take him one or two months, or even one or two years if his luck was bad.

Just then, thunder rumbled in the sky, and the rolling sound startled Chi Xi awake. He laboriously turned over, looked up at the sky, and opened the mouths of his three heads, joyfully anticipating rain.

The sky grew overcast, with lightning flashing amidst the thunder. The dark clouds thickened and descended lower and lower.

On a distant mountain, streams of fiery dragons suddenly soared into the clouds, dispelling the rain. Moments later, the sky cleared completely, turning a brilliant blue, and the dark clouds transformed into white ones, drifting away.

Chi Xi painstakingly turned his head, and two beams of divine light shot from his eyes, blasting two large holes through the mountaintop!

"If I ever find you..."

Meanwhile, after dispelling the clouds, Qin Mu immediately descended the mountain. The mountain behind him had already suffered undeservedly, with two large holes blasted into its summit.

He had recovered much, but his physical body had not yet returned to its peak condition.

"It won't rain again for a while now, so I should be safe for some time. I can carefully recuperate and figure out what this small box is for."

He transformed into a dark shadow, clinging to the ground, concealing his tracks as he moved far away from the area. He made every effort to leave no trace, ensuring that even if Chi Xi awoke when it rained later, he wouldn't be able to find Qin Mu's hiding place quickly.

After a long while, Qin Mu emerged from his shadowy state, revealing himself. He picked up the small box and began to examine it carefully.

This small box was the core of the God-Slaying Platform. It was imprinted with various ancient patterns, presumably runes from the Crimson Bright Era, which differed significantly from present-day runes.

The divine arts and dao methods of the Crimson Bright Era must have been different from those of today. Qin Mu meticulously examined the runes, attempting to decipher their mysteries, but having never encountered Crimson Bright Era runes, he understood nothing and had to give up.

Around the small box, faint, ethereal rays of light rotated. These rays were harmless to living beings; Qin Mu had tested them with spirit weapons before obtaining the box. The light had no power and seemed to be merely the radiance emitted by the treasure within the box.

The box had no lock or clasp, yet it was tightly sealed, offering no discernible way to pry it open.

No matter how Qin Mu tried, he couldn't open the small box. He even struck it several times with his Carefree Sword, but it left no marks.

Suddenly, footsteps approached, and a familiar voice drifted into Qin Mu's ears, saying leisurely, "Brother Qin, your divine abilities are truly vast. To escape from such a dangerous situation is something Qi greatly admires."

Qin Mu tucked the small box under his arm, turned, and smiled at Qi Jiuyi as he approached.

Although Qi Jiuyi still appeared graceful, he too had lost a significant amount of vital energy to the divine mountain and Chi Xi, making him much thinner. However, compared to the now emaciated Qin Mu, he still seemed robust.

Qin Mu, having first had his vital energy drained by Chi Xi and then by the divine mountain, had suffered too great a depletion of his physical body.

Qi Jiuyi and Zhe Huali had trapped him in the temple for a brief time, almost killing him, and he had lost even more vital energy than either of them.

This time, Qi Jiuyi clearly came prepared. Behind him, a towering Canguo Tree stood, radiating fiery light. A phoenix nest, constructed from golden rice straw and wutong branches, rested on the tree. Within the nest, bathed in brilliant golden light, a Nine Phoenix resided, its nine heads breathing fire to refine its own body.

His great divine ability had reached full power.

"Where is Senior Brother Zhe Huali?" Qin Mu asked, glancing around.

Qi Jiuyi calmly replied, "He challenged me and was severely wounded, forced to flee. Brother Qin, you probably don't recognize this small box, do you? Perhaps I can enlighten you."

Qin Mu's expression grew solemn. "I'm eager to hear more."

"I don't know what the Crimson Bright Heavenly Court of 350,000 years ago called this small box, but in our Heavenly Court, it bears a resounding and ominous name: the God-Slaying Profound Blade."

Qi Jiuyi stopped, and the Nine Phoenix in the phoenix nest on the Canguo Tree behind him also lifted its heads, their gaze fixed on Qin Mu. Qi Jiuyi's own eyes, however, rested on the small box as he said, "You might not understand what this small box is used for, Brother Qin, as you haven't served as an official in the Heavenly Court. Generally, these small boxes are used to hold human heads."

"Human heads?"Qin Mu asked in surprise, shaking the box. He heard no sound of a head rolling inside.

Qi Jiuyi raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "It's for the heads of Emperor's Throne realm experts, serving as a profound blade for slaying gods. Brother Qin, since you don't know how to open the box, why not give it to me? I can open it for you to see."

Qin Mu held the box in both hands and extended it, sincerely saying, "Here, take it."

Qi Jiuyi's gaze settled on the small box, and he inhaled deeply. Behind him, the Canguo Tree suddenly floated into the air as his Emperor's Throne cultivation method activated!

Qin Mu's hands relaxed, and the box dropped to the ground. Beneath where the box had been, a rotating sword pellet rested in his palm.

Qi Jiuyi retreated, his body passing through the Canguo Tree. The Canguo Tree then wildly expanded, growing to sixteen zhang tall. In the phoenix nest on the tree, the Nine Phoenixes shrieked and soared away, a streak of light heading directly towards Qin Mu!

Buzz—The sword light suddenly became blindingly bright. The Calamity-Opening Sword erupted, clashing with the Nine Phoenixes. In an instant, the combined light of fire and sword obscured the sunlight from the sky. Sword and fire exploded amidst the mountains, like an incredibly bright sphere of light, a miniature sun close at hand, expanding wildly outwards!

Qi Jiuyi burst forward, his hand forming a phoenix seal as he struck. The Canguo Tree followed immediately behind the Nine Phoenixes, sweeping down with devastating force!