Chapter 650: Qin Mu's Big-Eyed Monster

"How should the Celestial Palace be treated?" Qin Mu had healed the First Ancestor's physical injuries and spent two days regulating his divine treasures, even planting herbs directly when supplies ran low. However, while the First Ancestor's body had recovered, his complexion continued to worsen, and he frequently slipped into a coma.

This was because the injuries to his primordial spirit and Celestial Palace were too severe.

Faced with the First Ancestor's primordial spirit and Celestial Palace injuries, Qin Mu was at a loss. The medical skills and dao taught by the Apothecary could heal cultivators at the Divine Bridge realm or powerful individuals who had not yet entered the Southern Heavenly Gate. However, Celestial Palace injuries in the divine realm were uncharted territory even for the Apothecary.

Moreover, acupuncture needles could not reach the Celestial Palace, making the delivery of medicinal power a significant challenge. Steaming or boiling was also impossible, as it couldn't penetrate the Celestial Palace. Ingesting elixirs offered no direct path for the medicine to reach the Celestial Palace either.

The First Ancestor's primordial spirit was no longer in the Spirit Embryo divine treasure but resided within the Celestial Palace. Judging by his cultivation, he had likely reached the God Slaying Platform or Jade Capital realm. His precise cultivation could only be determined by entering his Celestial Palace.

The First Ancestor's primordial spirit was in an extremely poor state. He was unable to release his primordial spirit for Qin Mu to treat; healing required entering the Celestial Palace.

"I can still transform into a shadow and invade his divine treasures to guide the medicinal power for his healing," Qin Mu thought, "but I can't enter the Southern Heavenly Gate!" He paced around the First Ancestor, carefully considering the situation. The Southern Heavenly Gate was a crucial pass, a threshold for deities to transform from pseudo-gods into true gods, requiring a primordial spirit with the power of a true god to enter.

Although the Great Creation Demonic Scripture contained various wondrous cultivation methods, no matter how exquisite the technique, it still had to adhere to a fundamental principle: cultivation realm. Qin Mu's cultivation realm was far from reaching the level required to enter the Southern Heavenly Gate!

The First Ancestor fell unconscious again. During this coma, it was unclear what he dreamed, but he kept muttering in his sleep: "I am guilty..." "I won't run anymore..." "I have come to atone..." "I'm sorry..."

Qin Mu frowned. Such a conscious coma was extremely ominous, indicating that the First Ancestor's primordial spirit was beginning to disintegrate. There could be no more delay; the medicinal power had to be delivered to the Celestial Palace as soon as possible!

"I can't cross the Southern Heavenly Gate, but some things can!" Qin Mu rapidly refined more and more elixirs to treat primordial spirit injuries. He then gathered all these elixirs and told Ling Yuxiu, "Sister Xiu, I'm going to treat the First Ancestor's injuries. Stay here and be wary of Chixi!"

Ling Yuxiu tightly clutched the box and nodded heavily.

Qin Mu's body suddenly transformed into a shadow and burrowed into the First Ancestor's glabella. He sped through divine treasures like the Spirit Embryo, Five Element, and Six Direction, and after a long while, finally reached the Divine Bridge divine treasure.

Standing on the First Ancestor's Divine Bridge, he saw it radiating with rainbow-like brilliance. Below the bridge, various divine treasures were layered and interlocked: the Five Elements and Seven Stars, the Six Directions and Celestial Beings. Beneath the Six Directions was the dark Netherworld, the divine treasure of Life and Death.

Qin Mu composed himself and walked along the Divine Bridge toward its other end, where the First Ancestor's Celestial Palace lay.

As he reached the center of the bridge, he was slightly startled. He saw that the First Ancestor's Divine Bridge was completely connected, not broken! The divine bridges of Divine Arts practitioners in Eternal Peace were all broken; even with the Magpie Bridge Art, Profound Attraction Art, and Divine Crossing Art, parts of their divine bridges remained unconnected, requiring them to use the Divine Crossing Art to fly directly to the other shore. However, the First Ancestor's Divine Bridge was entirely connected, not broken.

"That's right," he realized. "He is like me, both originating from the Kaihuang bloodline. Our divine bridges were not broken."

Qin Mu walked forward. After a long while, he reached the end of the Divine Bridge, looking up to see the Southern Heavenly Gate towering amidst swirling clouds. It was grand and vast, showing signs of immense age.

This Southern Heavenly Gate was the portal to the Celestial Palace. The surrounding clouds automatically formed various runic patterns such as ram horns, Kui dragons, Vermilion Birds, Black Tortoises, and Phoenixes, along with wondrous cloud textures resembling lightning and wind. The mere portal exerted an unparalleled and exceptionally heavy pressure on Qin Mu, feeling incredibly weighty.

Entering this portal meant that if one couldn't withstand the pressure, their primordial spirit would disintegrate!

Qin Mu composed himself, took out his Taotie Pouch, fumbled inside for a moment, and then pulled out two jade eyes.

A Lunar Jade Eye and a Solar Jade Eye.

Qin Mu pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and activated the Myriad Gods Nature Technique, attempting to imbue the two jade eyes with sentience.

His mastery of the Myriad Gods Nature Technique was not high; he had only dabbled in it, and he wasn't sure if he could successfully imbue them with spirits.

He waited for a long time, but the two jade eyes remained still. Qin Mu frowned slightly, just as he was about to use the Myriad Gods Nature Technique again, when the Lunar Jade Eye suddenly made two popping sounds and sprouted two slender legs from beneath its large eyeball. With two more popping sounds, two thin arms grew from its surface. It stretched, then exclaimed, "I was stifled to death! Brother, brother, don't stifle yourself!"

Qin Mu was stunned. Suddenly, the Solar Jade Eye next to it began chuckling, its two slender arms clasping its large eyeball as it rolled on the ground with laughter. The Lunar Jade Eye also burst into hysterical laughter, kneeling and wildly pounding the ground with its two small arms: "He thought we weren't awake yet, and he was going to try to wake us up again!"

The two large eyeballs rolled on the ground again.

Qin Mu's face darkened. "Alright, that's enough, stop laughing..." he said. "If you laugh any more, I'll turn you back into your original forms!"

The two jade eyes immediately quieted, standing upright on their thin arms and legs. The Lunar Jade Eye said, "I think our legs are a bit too thin; I keep worrying they'll break."

The Solar Jade Eye's large eyeball drooped as it tried to look at its own legs, but how could it possibly see them?

*Roll*. The Solar Jade Eye rolled away, tumbling over a dozen times before finally stopping. The Lunar Jade Eye was beside itself with laughter, kneeling and wildly pounding the ground.

Qin Mu's hands trembled as he fiercely plucked two whiskers from his beard. He shouted, "Have you had enough fun? I didn't summon you spirits just to watch you act like clowns!"

The two jade eyes quickly stood together again, obediently listening to his instruction.

Qin Mu took out the elixirs he had refined, bundling them into a large package. "After you enter the gate, keep walking forward," he instructed. "Take these elixirs near the First Ancestor's primordial spirit, then release their medicinal power."

Just as he was about to hand the elixirs to the two large eyeballs, he suddenly realized, "It seems my mastery of the Myriad Gods Nature Technique is not perfect; everything I summon always turns out to be somewhat unreliable. For example, when I awakened a box, it always liked to collect bones and corpses. When I summoned a dune giant in the Supreme Emperor Desert of the Great Ruins, it only roared 'Ah, ah' and ran incredibly slowly. Will these two also be unreliable...?"

He thought for a moment, then took out an elixir and said, "Try to release the medicinal power."

The Lunar Jade Eye suddenly shot out a ray of light, splitting the elixir in half.

Just as Qin Mu was about to speak, the Solar Jade Eye shot out a burst of flame, reducing the elixir to ash.

"That's not how you do it," he said.

Qin Mu patiently explained, "One of you is Yin, and the other is Yang. When Yin and Yang combine, you should release the medicinal power like this."

He took out another elixir. His eyes transformed, his left eye becoming the sun and his right eye the moon, as two rays of light simultaneously shone upon the elixir. Immediately, its medicinal power dispersed, and a strong fragrance wafted out.

"Try again," he instructed, "both of you activate the medicinal power at the same time!"

The two jade eyes once again reduced the elixir to ash. Qin Mu patiently guided them on how to control their power, and after more than a dozen attempts, they finally succeeded once.

Qin Mu had them try over ten more times. The success rate gradually improved, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief. "A forty to fifty percent success rate is acceptable," he said. "After you enter, release the medicinal power of the elixirs one by one. Don't release them all at once; if you fail, all will be lost. Remember, don't play around. You must release the elixirs' power, or I'll turn you back into your original forms!"

The two large eyes walked toward the Southern Heavenly Gate. The Lunar Jade Eye carried the large package on its back. As they walked into the Southern Heavenly Gate, both eyeballs paused for a moment, then went inside.

Qin Mu couldn't help but feel nervous as he watched the two eyeballs walk away. Suddenly, the Solar Jade Eye said, "Walking is too slow; let's roll!"

"Okay!" Qin Mu's eyes widened as he watched the two jade eyes roll rapidly toward the depths of the Celestial Palace. He couldn't help but break into a cold sweat, but fortunately, the package didn't come undone.

"Unreliable, unreliable," he muttered. "Why are the creatures I summon always so unreliable..."

The two jade eyes rolled rapidly, cheerfully punching and kicking each other, sending the other flying. Qin Mu's face was ashen, and he continuously wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Soon, he couldn't see the two anymore, only hearing crashing sounds from within the Celestial Palace behind the Southern Heavenly Gate. Occasionally, he would see a large round object fly up and fall, likely kicked into the air by the other jade eye.

He waited for a long time. The two jade eyes finally arrived at the God Slaying Platform, where malevolent energy surged. He saw a man kneeling, offering his neck for execution. In the air, a blade glowed and automatically chopped down repeatedly, striking the kneeling man's neck, again and again.

The kneeling man's neck was almost severed; it wouldn't be long before he was killed.

The two large eyeballs looked at each other. "This should be the place, right?" one asked. "Is this person trying to die?"

"If he's trying to die, we can't save him," said the other. "Let's go back."

The two jade eyes rolled back, tumbling down the mountain. They suddenly stopped. "Master said if we don't release the medicinal power of these elixirs, he'll turn us back into our original forms," one said. "We'll be dead if we go back now."

The two jade eyes rolled back, hopping and jumping up the mountain until they reached the God Slaying Platform. The Lunar Jade Eye opened the package and took out an elixir. The two jade eyes then activated their Yin and Yang energies, releasing the elixir's power.

After releasing the power of over a dozen elixirs, destroying seven or eight in the process, the two jade eyes grew impatient. The Solar Jade Eye suggested, "Why don't we release all of them at once and just tell Master we released them all?"

"Great!" The two jade eyes excitedly widened as two buzzing rays of light shone upon the package!

Ling Yuxiu stood guard beside the First Ancestor, feeling a little anxious. Qin Mu had transformed into a shadow and entered the First Ancestor's divine treasures a long time ago, but he had not yet reappeared, and she didn't know if he would succeed in saving the First Ancestor.

However, the First Ancestor's aura gradually weakened; it was clear his injuries were worsening!

Suddenly, Ling Yuxiu stood up, cautiously staring at Ban Gongcuo, who was approaching.

Ban Gongcuo walked slowly, a smile on his face. He chuckled, "Princess Xiu, how are the First Ancestor's injuries? I am also skilled in medicine; perhaps I can offer some humble assistance."

Ling Yuxiu clutched the small box and said flatly, "Don't trouble yourself. The cowherd's medical skills are far superior to yours."

Chixi approached from another direction, saying unhurriedly, "Little girl, Young Friend Qin's medical skills are indeed superb, but no matter how skilled he is, it's difficult for him to deliver medicinal power to the Celestial Palace. If this continues, the First Ancestor will surely die. Here, only I can save him; only I can enter his Celestial Palace."

Ling Yuxiu opened the small box slightly. Chixi's heart tightened; he stopped, his muscles contracting, ready to flee swiftly at any moment to evade the God Slaying Dark Blade.

His other head looked at Ban Gongcuo, who cautiously stepped forward, placing a foot on the herb garden and kicking around, trampling Qin Mu's cultivated herbs into a mess.

He was trying to distract Ling Yuxiu.

Many of the herbs in the garden were planted by Qin Mu to treat the First Ancestor's injuries; if they were destroyed, the First Ancestor's injuries might become irreversible!

Moreover, if Ling Yuxiu were distracted, Chixi would seize the opportunity to snatch back the small box in one go!

At that point, the First Ancestor, Ling Yuxiu, and Qin Mu would be at their mercy!

Veins popped out on Ling Yuxiu's forehead. She still stared intently at Chixi, gritting her teeth as she whispered, "Great Venerable, you are also a descendant of the tribesmen rescued by the First Ancestor. Do you truly have no gratitude?"

Ban Gongcuo was slightly startled. He said with a cynical smile, "I am a person of extreme evil; everyone in the world wishes me dead. If the First Ancestor knew that the people he saved back then would have a descendant like me, he definitely wouldn't have helped them. I don't feel grateful to him at all!"

Chixi gave him a meaningful look. Ban Gongcuo hesitated but didn't continue forward. He chuckled, "I poisoned millions of my tribesmen on the grasslands. Why would I be grateful to the First Ancestor for his righteous act back then? I won't..."

Chixi gave him another look.

Ban Gongcuo gritted his teeth and stepped forward. Ling Yuxiu's gaze remained firmly fixed on Chixi. She sharply asked, "Are you not afraid I'll use the God Slaying Dark Blade to kill you?"

Ban Gongcuo's expression was complex. He walked from behind her, slowly extending his hand, inching it toward the box in her hand.

Ling Yuxiu could no longer hold back. She suddenly kicked backward, striking Ban Gongcuo squarely in the face. He fell backward, unconscious.

"Useless!" Chixi was furious, but he seized the opportunity when Ling Yuxiu kicked. His divine ability was about to erupt to blast Ling Yuxiu away when suddenly the First Ancestor sat up. Chixi's heart seized; he turned and left, disappearing into the forest.

"I will save you." The First Ancestor's face was sallow, and he said softly, "At that time, no matter how bad you were, I would have saved you, because you were the last humans."

Ban Gongcuo opened his eyes, rolled over, and knelt before the First Ancestor. He kowtowed heavily several times, then transformed into a wisp of black smoke and departed.

Ling Yuxiu finally relaxed, her legs weak, and she sank to the ground. She watched in surprise as Ban Gongcuo disappeared as black smoke, murmuring, "My kick absolutely couldn't have knocked him out. Does he still have humanity?"

Qin Mu flew out from the First Ancestor's glabella. "Humanity," he said, "there should still be a little left, right?"