Chapter 700: Tubo's Unlikely Friendship

Tian Shu was mostly sober now, muttering, "Put my heart back in my stomach? I don't even know where my physical body is right now. If my body is still alive, my heart must be leaping out of my mouth..."

Dragon Qilin and Qi Jiuyi were oblivious. The two continued drinking, Dragon Qilin pouring the wine directly into his mouth, quickly emptying a jar. Qi Jiuyi, on the other hand, plunged his head into a jar. The jar's opening was wide enough for his head to fit comfortably.

Dragon Qilin chuckled incessantly, "Third Brother, if you drink like that, you'll suffocate. Third Brother, Third Brother..." His expression shifted slightly when he saw Qi Jiuyi's head stuck in the jar, body motionless. Just as Dragon Qilin was about to help, Qi Jiuyi suddenly pulled his head out, grinning, "Did I scare you, Second Brother? Your head's too big; you can't fit it in. Drinking with your head in the jar is incredibly satisfying. I can even put nine heads into nine jars; wait a moment..."

He staggered and opened a room door, bringing out nine wine jars. He uncorked them, then shook his body, manifesting his nine heads—nine phoenix heads. With several soft thuds, his nine heads plunged into the nine jars to drink.

Qin Mu watched, shaking his head. Qi Jiuyi was an outstanding young man from the Outer Heavens, and his name, Jiuyi, naturally suggested he was highly intelligent. However, he had suffered such a devastating blow that he had fallen to the point of calling Dragon Fatty his sworn brother. This scene today would undoubtedly become a significant blemish on his life someday.

"There's a subtle flaw in Emperor Dīpankara Buddha's cultivation technique. This flaw will manifest as a weak point in the Divine Blade of Emperor's Abode that he forged. At that specific point, I can open the Gate of Heaven's Mandate and connect to Youdu. The key is to find where this flaw is..."

Qin Mu's eyes flickered. He used his vital qi to construct Emperor Dīpankara Buddha's physical and spirit forms, then integrated the Emperor Dīpankara Sutra as a vital qi circulation diagram into their structures, meticulously calculating.

"This weakness is constantly in motion."

Qin Mu calculated for several months, his gaze fixed on a specific point in the vital qi circulation within Emperor Dīpankara Buddha's body—that was the weak point in his cultivation technique. He then used his own vital qi to construct the dualistic structure of the Divine Blade of Emperor's Abode, imagining himself as Emperor Dīpankara Buddha forging this divine blade. As he activated the technique, the flaw in his own cultivation would unconsciously integrate into the Divine Blade of Emperor's Abode during the forging process. *Clang, clang, clang*, the sounds of forging echoed in his mind, one after another.

Qin Mu's brain was working frantically, various arithmetical symbols leaping continuously in his mind. After an unknown period, he suddenly opened his eyes wide and burst into laughter, "I've calculated it!"

He looked around and saw Dragon Qilin passed out drunk on the ground, while Qi Jiuyi, in his drunken stupor, had reverted to his original form, a nine-headed phoenix lying in the corridor. One of his phoenix legs was pinned under Dragon Qilin, and his nine heads were poking into nine different rooms. Tian Shu, however, was doing fine, sitting on one wine jar and leisurely sipping from another.

"Wake up, everyone, wake up!" Qin Mu nudged Dragon Qilin and Qi Jiuyi with his foot, smiling, "Now we can leave."

Qi Jiuyi sobered up, looking around in a daze. Dragon Qilin also yawned and woke up. Qi Jiuyi suddenly remembered that he had sworn brotherhood with this Dragon Qilin and the Left Vice Minister of Kaihuang's Celestial Heavens. His face flushed, and he felt deeply uneasy.

Tian Shu walked over, carrying his wine jar, his hooves clicking crisply on the ground. He smiled, "Third Brother, sober now? Don't worry, we only swore brotherhood when we were drunk. We didn't do anything excessive."

Qi Jiuyi's expression stiffened. He stammered, "I'm the Third Brother?"

Dragon Qilin got up, shook his head, and said, "You're a hundred years younger than me, of course, you're Third Brother. We swore an oath to Earth Count to die on the same day, month, and year..."

"Swore an oath to Earth Count?" Qi Jiuyi's eyes filled with terror and blankness. He was somewhat at a loss, "Drinking really messes things up this badly..."

Qin Mu continued along the corridor, examining each room. "It's not that drinking messed things up; it's that people get drunk on their own, not necessarily on the wine itself. The fine wine here is actually a manifestation of spiritual power, which is why it seems endless. Yan Shaoqing, the Left Vice Minister of the Outer Heavens, must be an exceptionally powerful spiritual entity. He used his mighty spiritual abilities to create these fine wines. Since you are in your spirit forms, drinking this wine means consuming his spiritual abilities, and his abilities made you feel drunk."

Dragon Qilin asked curiously, "There's such a divine ability? So, we've been drinking air all this time?"

"Not entirely air, but Yan Shaoqing's spiritual manifestations." Qin Mu opened a door, peered inside, and took out a jar of fine wine. With a powerful mental surge from his spirit, the wine in the jar grew progressively fainter until it completely vanished before their eyes. "This is how I used my own spirit to nullify Yan Shaoqing's spirit. Of course, he is extremely powerful and manifested countless jars of wine, so my spirit isn't strong enough to completely dispel the illusion he created. Each time you drank, it was equivalent to him attacking your spiritual plane once, which is why you felt drunk."

Qin Mu was calculating the rooms when his eyes suddenly lit up. He chuckled, "It's this moment, this place!"

The others didn't understand what he meant. Qin Mu violently pushed open the door, and a burst of light erupted from behind it, causing everyone to instinctively raise their hands to shield their eyes. Qin Mu stepped into the room, followed quickly by Dragon Qilin. Tian Shu and Qi Jiuyi also hurried inside. Once their vision returned, they marveled.

This was not a room, but a bizarre, interlocking spatial structure composed of various runes. Different runes formed different spatial fragments, which interlocked like gears.

Tian Shu murmured, "I've opened all the rooms here. Why have I never seen this one before?" It was then that he noticed Qin Mu, who was walking ahead, had turned into a paper-thin figure! Qin Mu was like a paper cutout, walking in front of them without any depth! Tian Shu shook his head, then suddenly realized he could see his own backside! He too had become a paper-thin figure! Dragon Qilin and Qi Jiuyi were no different! They were all in their spirit forms, which were at least three-dimensional. To their surprise, upon entering this peculiar room, they had been rendered without depth.

"This room has always existed, but it's Emperor Dīpankara Buddha's flaw. Furthermore, the room is constantly shifting and moving. Even if you opened all the doors simultaneously, you might not find it." Qin Mu's mouth appeared on the back of his head, sending shivers down Dragon Qilin, Tian Shu, and Qi Jiuyi's spines. The mouth on the back of Qin Mu's head opened and closed as he spoke, "You need to calculate the exact time and the precise room to open the door and find this place. When you enter the Divine Blade of Emperor's Abode, its outer structure is a dualistic world, but this specific spot is where Emperor Dīpankara Buddha, realizing his own flaw during forging, created a room to store miscellaneous items. This is a one-dimensional space, which is why anyone who enters becomes very flat."

Gear-like spatial fragments floated silently past them, strange and dazzling. These spatial fragments contained many bizarre runes, likely those of Kaihuang. Kaihuang designed this Divine Blade of Emperor's Abode and had Emperor Dīpankara Buddha forge it. As the designer, Kaihuang likely made no errors. However, Emperor Dīpankara Buddha's forging skills were not flawless, which led to the creation of this storage room. It was precisely this storage room that offered Qin Mu and the others a chance to escape. Kaihuang was not incapable of forging the Divine Blade of Emperor's Abode himself, but specialization exists; Kaihuang's artifact refining methods were certainly not on par with Emperor Dīpankara Buddha's, which is why it was entrusted to the latter for refinement. This is similar to how, in Yankang, many divine arts practitioners specialized in the "Heavenly Craft" profession, refining spirit weapons for others to earn money.

Qin Mu examined these spatial fragments, his mind stirred. These runes embodied Kaihuang's wisdom; if he could comprehend their mysteries, it would undoubtedly be an immense treasure.

"We can't linger here too long, our physical bodies will die," he murmured, though his gaze was reluctant to leave the runes.

"Brother Qin, we really can't wait any longer!" Qi Jiuyi urged, "Three days have already passed outside. What if our physical bodies are ravaged by wild beasts?"

Tian Shu sighed, "My physical body might already be dead..."

"I think I might have seen your physical body, Senior." Qin Mu activated his Hegemon Body Three Elixir Art. A paper-thin Gate of Heaven's Mandate appeared within the storage room. As the portal opened, plumes of Youdu devil qi surged out. He said, "In the Underworld Valley, I saw a god-demon suspected of being a Hegemon Body, with a honeycomb-shaped seal behind him, somewhat similar to my Gate of Heaven's Mandate."

Tian Shu was slightly startled, shaking his head. "What is Underworld Valley? When I cut off Earth Count's horn, he pursued me. A hand reached out to grab me, and I quickly fled. But he was indeed formidable. I escaped Youdu through the Gate of Divine Slaughter, yet I still couldn't shake him off, so I transformed into a stone statue." His small eyes filled with terror. "Earth Count's hand reached out from Youdu and grabbed my physical body. I transformed into a stone statue, and my spirit escaped, but a small portion of my spirit remained trapped within the statue... I fled into Fengdu and only came out after avoiding him. However, I can't return to my body; if I did, I'd be caught. A small fraction of my spirit clone is still in that statue, and I can still feel Earth Count squeezing me..."

He shivered several times, then quickly changed the subject. "Oh, right, you mentioned the Gate of Heaven's Mandate earlier—is this it? This gate is somewhat similar to my Gate of Divine Slaughter, but also different; it's peculiar. And what is a Hegemon Body?"

Qin Mu replied, "The matter of the Hegemon Body is complicated. You are a pseudo-Hegemon Body; I'll explain it in detail later. You all go in first, I'll be last."

Qi Jiuyi stepped into the portal first. Dragon Qilin hesitated, then also jumped in. Tian Shu's goat horns trembled; he suddenly felt timid. "Entering Youdu, I'll definitely see Earth Count. I think I'd better stay here..."

Qin Mu quickly reassured him, "Senior, you can rest assured, I truly have a relationship with Earth Count!"

Tian Shu tremblingly walked into the Gate of Heaven's Mandate, his voice quivering, "Earth Count is ruthless; how could you possibly have a relationship with him..." He went in. Qin Mu glanced around, sighed, and then stepped into the Gate of Heaven's Mandate. "Kaihuang's runes are utterly exquisite, demonstrating unfathomable Dao and profound wisdom. How could someone with such extraordinary talent be a doddering old man hiding in Wuyou Township, afraid to come out..." He suppressed his confusion and passed through the Gate of Heaven's Mandate, arriving in Youdu.

As soon as he stood firm, a light suddenly shone towards them. A small boat, with a horse lantern hanging from its bow, glided softly towards them. Under the lantern sat an old man whose face was obscured. All around was boundless darkness; only this light illuminated their faces.

The old man under the lantern stood up and bowed from a distance. "Tianqi Rensheng King greets the Underworld King and the God-Son of Youdu!"

"God-Son of Youdu?" Tian Shu glanced at Qin Mu, slightly startled, then suddenly burst into loud laughter, shedding his earlier dejection and unease. An unmatched aura erupted from him, his body growing more immense and his spirit vast, making Qin Mu and the others appear incredibly tiny next to his goat hooves. He declared grandly, "Left Vice Minister of the Kaihuang Divine Dynasty, Tian Shu, greets Lord Tianqi!"

The old ghostly messenger smiled, "Heavenly King, Earth Count has been waiting for you for a long time. Please come aboard."

Tian Shu's aura immediately deflated, and his spirit rapidly shrank. His goat horns twitched, and he chuckled awkwardly, "I was also planning to apologize to Earth Count. I just didn't expect to be trapped for so many years and never had the chance." He secretly poked Qin Mu, his voice trembling, "Do you really have a relationship with Earth Count?"

"Don't worry," Qin Mu patted his chest vigorously. "Earth Count and I are friends who forget age, friends who forget formality, and friends of principle. He'll at least give me some face."

The small boat drifted closer, and the old ghostly messenger's gaze fixed on him. He sneered, "I sensed someone opening the Gate of Heaven's Mandate and knew it was you! You're causing trouble again! If you mess up one more time, Earth Count will devour you!"

Tian Shu's face turned ashen, and he slumped, thinking, "This 'relationship' isn't what I imagined... I'm dead for sure!"