Chapter 781: Origins

"If I had known the truth about the Exalted Emperor, I wouldn't have come this time."

The scholar, holding a radish to entice his donkey, sighed and said, "The Exalted Emperor era has perished, and the Primeval Realm has vanished, leaving only the Grand Ruins of the Exalted Emperor. Even if one wished to uncover the secrets of that era, it would be impossible. Even the Exalted Emperor Sword God, being young, knew little of the Exalted Emperor era. I once encountered some remnants from that time, but their accounts of the era were vague. It is because the Primordial Realm of the Earth Mother has appeared that I have come to explore its secrets."

Suddenly, the fog over the sea thickened, encroaching and engulfing the Yao Sea. Ahead, someone cried out, "This is where the Earth Mother fell! The fog has suddenly intensified; there's likely something sinister afoot! Everyone, be careful!"

The voice was not far from them, likely belonging to powerful gods and devils who had traveled from other heavens to reach this place.

Just then, Qin Mu suddenly saw a massive shadow sweep past them in the mist. Immediately, screams and shouts of fury erupted from ahead, followed by terrifying surges of divine abilities. Then, the sea surface erupted with flashes of blades and swords!

The Dragon Qilin and Water Qilin grew tense. Each opened its mouth and spat something out. The Water Qilin produced a Qilin Pearl, which swirled the surrounding seawater to form a barrier against the onslaught of divine and demonic powers.

The Dragon Qilin, however, spat out two pearls: one was a Fire Qilin Pearl, and the other was a Dragon Pearl.

The Water Qilin glanced at him, thinking, "This fellow's lineage isn't as pure as mine, nor is his ability as great."

No sooner had he thought this than he saw the vital energy and magic power gathered within the Dragon Qilin's two pearls surge violently. The two pearls, each over a yard across, shot out countless divine lights, stabilizing the surrounding fluctuations!

The Water Qilin was dumbfounded.

The flashes of blades and swords were residual effects of Luo Wushuang and Bai Qiong'er's divine abilities, triggered by the people ahead, causing chaos on the sea. Once the turbulence subsided, silence returned to the front.

They cautiously moved forward. Not long after, they saw many people standing before a pillar floating on the sea, staring at them with eerie smiles and ceaseless laughter.

The mist was thick, and their figures appeared hazy.

The pillar floated on the water, and the people in front of it were demons and gods, including several formidable deities and devils, all tall and robust, emanating potent divine and demonic power.

Other gods and demons formed a large circle, watching their surroundings with extreme tension, while more people focused their attention on the floating pillar.

Qin Mu felt uneasy from their laughter and instructed the Dragon Qilin to stop.

The gods and demons continued to laugh at them, their expressions unnervingly stiff.

"What are they laughing at?" Yu Tianzun asked curiously.

No sooner had he spoken than the gods, demons, and the pillar suddenly floated upwards, rising into the air, then receding into the mist.

"Hehehe..."

The laughter of the gods and demons echoed from within the dense fog, shifting from left to right, then front to back.

"There are monsters in the sea! Let's join forces against them!" the gods and devils in the large circle shouted to them.

Qin Mu looked at the scholar, who said, "They are numerous and a large target. The monsters will surely attack them. We can use this opportunity to slip past."

Hearing this, the experts among the gods and demons cursed furiously. The scholar, riding his donkey, grinned and bypassed them.

Qin Mu had the Dragon Qilin and Water Qilin follow him closely. Looking back, the gods and demons remained in a large circle, as if facing a formidable enemy, their curses incessant.

Suddenly, another massive shadow flashed through the thick mist. After it passed, the sea surface was instantly empty; the hundreds of god and demon experts had vanished without a trace!

Qin Mu shivered. Several of those vanished gods and demons were actual deities!

He hastily instructed Yu Tianzun to stay close to him, and told the Dragon Qilin and Water Qilin to keep pace with the donkey.

The "hehehe" laughter returned, surrounding them, and the fog grew even thicker.

Divine light swirled in Qin Mu's eyes, transforming into a seven-layered galaxy. He looked around, and suddenly a face appeared in front of them.

The Dragon Qilin, terrified of this, almost cried out. Then, more faces emerged from the mist, forming a large circle around them.

These faces belonged to the very gods and demons they had just seen!

The faces of these powerful gods and demons spun rapidly around them, their smiles growing increasingly eerie, and strange laughter emanated from all directions.

Suddenly, a dark portal appeared behind Qin Mu. The portal opened, and the faces passed through it one after another, yet continued to swirl around them.

Qin Mu's heart sank. He murmured, "They are corpses, not living beings!"

His Gate of Inheritance could absorb the souls or primordial spirits of living beings, but these faces passed through it unharmed, indicating they had no souls!

The scholar glanced at the Gate of Inheritance behind him and remarked in surprise, "Your portal seems extraordinarily profound."

He took out a guqin and plucked it twice. A muffled grunt came from within the thick mist, the faces contorted and stopped spinning, and then incredibly dazzling lights flared up in the mist, like two small suns ignited within it, emitting blinding radiance.

"Haha, it seems you're an expert!" A foul, fishy odor emanated from near the two small suns.

The scholar hooked three strings, then abruptly released them. The guqin burst into powerful sound. Three notes blended into a single line, and the two small suns extinguished one after another. Sounds of heavy objects falling into water, "thump-thump," followed.

The thick mist around them gradually thinned, and their vision slowly cleared.

Qin Mu and Yu Tianzun looked around and saw a gigantic tentacle floating on the water. The tentacle was covered with suckers, each over ten feet in size, and hanging from these suckers were the gods and demons!

These gods and demons were gasping for air, yet appeared unable to breathe.

They wailed as their faces rapidly withered, and their bodies grew thinner and thinner, until they became mere shriveled husks!

The scholar on the donkey's back, having put away his guqin somewhere, dangled the radish, and the donkey continued to follow it forward.

Qin Mu quickly followed. When they reached the place where the lights had extinguished, they saw a round head, roughly the size of an island dozens of miles across, floating on the sea. Its skull had been blown off, and the two eyes of the bald head were sliced open by a sharp object!

All around the sea surface were the bodies of gods and demons, hanging from incredibly thick tentacles, reduced to mere husks.

Qin Mu and the others passed the colossal creature, looking up, and realized they had reached the shore.

Ahead was a divine mountain, with two strands of malevolent energy intertwined at its peak.

Qin Mu looked back; the monster slowly sank into the sea and disappeared.

"This demigod was extremely powerful," Qin Mu said. "Brother, you killed him with just a few plucks of your guqin strings. Your guqin skills have attained the Dao. I wonder where your guqin ranks in the world?"

The scholar looked up at the two strands of malevolent energy and said, "My primary skills are the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, which I diligently cultivated. My secondary skills are in weaponry like blades, spears, swords, and halberds, which I learned for amusement. My primary skills can rank among the top one or two, but my secondary skills, which I picked up for fun, are quite ordinary. As for my guqin, I was defeated once, by Emperor Chi Qi Xiayu."

His expression darkened as he added, "That woman's abilities are extraordinary; her mastery of the guqin surpasses mine."

Qin Mu was greatly startled.

Emperor Chi Qi Xiayu's abilities were beyond mortal comprehension, reaching the realm of an Emperor-Seat expert. Qin Mu had personally experienced her guqin music. Back when he and Emperor Shakyamuni Buddha were escaping the Buddhist world, Emperor Chi Qi Xiayu's "Phoenix Seeks Mate" pursued them across realms, her guqin music alone severely wounding Emperor Shakyamuni Buddha!

This scholar had actually competed with her in guqin, and survived! This showed his incredible skill!

"Originally, I thought my guqin skills ranked first," the scholar continued. "But now I believe my chess skills are the best. It should be chess, calligraphy, painting, then guqin."

The scholar rode his donkey up the divine mountain, fanning himself with a feather fan, and chuckled, "Sect Master Qin, where do you think your guqin and chess skills would rank?"

Qin Mu sighed, "I know almost nothing about them."

The scholar laughed, "I thought Grand Sect Master Qin was omniscient and omnipotent. I didn't expect there were things you didn't know."

Qin Mu took out paper and a brush, smiling, "Your calligraphy ranks second. Would you mind writing a few characters for me?"

The scholar picked up the brush. "What's difficult about that? What do you want me to write?"

"Just write the three characters: Qin Fengqing."

The scholar wrote Qin Mu's name on the paper. Qin Mu took the paper and brush, carefully examining the three characters. His eyes flickered, and he asked, "Where is Carefree Village?"

The scholar, still on his donkey, turned back and chuckled, "Sect Master Qin, your mind is so whimsical. We were talking about zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, so why did you suddenly mention Carefree Village? It quite puzzles me."

"You've been to Carefree Village, and it's even possible you came from there!"

Qin Mu took out the Qin family's genealogy, flipped to where his name was, and said, "I saw your handwriting on my father's boat. Many names in the Qin family's genealogy are in your hand! And the name my father wrote on the last page, my name, his handwriting is very similar to yours. Clearly, his calligraphy and painting skills were learned from and imitated you! You are from Carefree Village!"

He suddenly became excited. "Heavenly Master Zixi, where exactly is Carefree Village? Is Emperor Kai still there? Why hasn't he appeared for twenty thousand years?"

The scholar fell silent, then suddenly chuckled. "Emperor Kai's descendants are indeed extraordinary individuals. I did revise many names in the Qin family genealogy, but I didn't write your name. You asked me to write your name to catch me off guard, but I forgot that I once taught Qin Hanzhen calligraphy and painting."

She turned back to look at Qin Mu, her gaze showing some pity. She shook her head and said, "You wouldn't want to return to Carefree Village. Give up that idea and live your life well. I've seen you; you're very good and haven't disgraced Emperor Kai... Lu Zheng, let's go!"

She dangled the radish. The donkey suddenly leaped, soaring to the peak of the tall God-Slaying Platform. The donkey brayed loudly, then its body shifted, transforming into a god-demon with a donkey's head and a human body, rippling with muscle. Its two hands reached out, grasping the two strands of malevolent energy on the God-Slaying Platform!

The two strands of malevolent energy were in fact the God-Slaying Profound Blades of this Heavenly Palace. The donkey wielded them like two great dragons, splitting the God-Slaying Platform with a resounding crack!

The God-Slaying Platform split into two, and blood immediately gushed from the divine mountain. Innumerable streams of blood surged from it, transforming within a few breaths into a vast, oceanic sea of blood, blocking the path ahead!

"Qin Fengqing, this is not a place you can enter. Go back!"

The scholar's voice came from ahead, saying, "If you weren't so clever, I might have taken you on a journey. But you're too smart; it's better for you to go home!"

Qin Mu looked ahead and saw the sea of blood widening. It was filled with fragmented malevolent energy, forming terrifying specters and monstrous illusions, making it impossible to traverse!

Qin Mu also possessed a God-Slaying Profound Blade and knew the origin of the God-Slaying Platform. The God-Slaying Platform was forged in imitation of the one in the Dragon Han Celestial Court, absorbing the vital energy and blood of gods and demons. Anyone who sustained even a minor injury on the God-Slaying Platform would have all their vital energy and blood stripped away, absorbed by the divine blade and the divine mountain.

And Chi Xi once said that the Exalted Emperor era was the most brutal, with countless gods and demons beheaded on the God-Slaying Platform. One can only imagine how terrifying the malevolent energy here must be!

"But trying to block me won't be easy!"

Qin Mu reached into his Taotie Pouch and pulled out a small box, opening it with a click.

As the small box opened, bone membranes rattled. The jade Emperor's Head inside the box was inexplicably excited, frantically absorbing the malevolent energy from the sea of blood!

Qin Mu used his vital qi to lift the small box, making it float in front of him, then guided it into the sea of blood.

Yu Tianzun quickly urged the Water Qilin to follow him. Qin Mu's small box was devouring the malevolent energy of the blood sea like a whale, making the bloody aura increasingly thick. The bone membranes turned blood-red, and the malevolent energy in the jade head's eyes grew stronger and stronger.

The Dragon Qilin was terrified, constantly looking up at the small box. The Water Qilin whispered, "Brother, what are you looking at that box for?"

The Dragon Qilin trembled, saying, "I'm watching to see when it gets full. You haven't eaten spirit pills, so you don't know that eating too much can make you bloat. I've been bloated before. If it gets full, it won't eat anymore..."

As he was speaking, a burp suddenly echoed from inside the small box.

Click, the small box suddenly closed.

The Dragon Qilin was horrified and cried out, "Oh no!"

The bloody malevolent energy on the sea surged towards them. Qin Mu's body glowed with countless array symbols, and he was about to activate a teleportation array. Suddenly, the bloody malevolent energy subsided, and a voice came from the depths of the blood sea: "Distinguished guests, the Earth Mother requests your presence. Please follow me!"