Chapter 818: Divine Blade Zhe Huali

Dragon King Hùan looked at a demigod approaching from a distance. That demigod, whose body was already semi-ethereal, was likely a deity himself. He was probably a powerful follower of Ancestor Dragon King, who had been continuously hunting other passengers on the ship.

However, this person feared the Village Chief and only dared to appear after seeing the Village Chief disappear.

“My Lord, this person’s strength is extraordinary.”

Dragon King Hùan leaped down from the platform in the hall and said in a deep voice, “I will fight to the death, and I hope, my Lord, that you can revive me in the future!”

“Do not worry, Dragon King. You are my Heavenly River Dragon King; I will not let you die here.”

Qin Mu also descended from the main hall, saying, “You will turn ethereal in the next reincarnation, and so will that demigod. You only need to stall until the next reincarnation; then both you and he will become ethereal.”

Dragon King Hùan faced the demigod and chuckled, “But I’m not confident. His dragon bloodline is superior to mine. I can only contend with him if I’m prepared to die together; if I try to stall, he will kill me instead.”

He roared, striking his palm and fist together heavily before his chest, his blood boiling. He laughed heartily, “When two warriors meet on a narrow path, the brave one wins! In the past, I was a deity who fought desperately against Human Emperor Su and did not die by his sword! I followed my Lord and became the Heavenly River Dragon King, not some minor deity kept by the heavens to raise dragons for others! If you want my Lord’s life, you’ll have to step over my corpse!”

He and the demigod clashed, transforming into two colossal dragons, rolling and fighting, manipulating water and fire, their divine powers terrifying.

Qin Mu walked into the main hall.

Outside, the tremendous sounds of two divine dragons battling echoed. Few of the original passengers remained, but some had survived. He did not see Luo Wushuang’s Spirit Xiu Army, nor did he see Prince Qiuming from the Heavenly Court.

These individuals must have gone into hiding. Their cultivation had not reached the divine realm yet, so they wouldn’t turn ethereal for now. They could wait for the deities to slaughter each other or transform into ethereal beings.

Qin Mu meticulously surveyed the palace. This grand hall belonged to Wei Suifeng.

Wei Suifeng, the founding patriarch of the Heavenly Saint Cult, explored the Ruins of End and experienced a miraculous time-travel event there, returning to the Dragon Han Era.

He became the Left General of the Dragon Han Heavenly Court’s Imperial Forest Army, commanding the most powerful army of gods and devils.

This Senior Brother also understood Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine abilities. When the Imperial Forest Army returned to the Heavenly Court, he encountered the fog again and realized it was time for him to go back, so he extinguished his lamp and departed.

Wei Suifeng was very intelligent; it was highly probable that he had figured out the flaws in Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine abilities, which allowed him to escape disaster.

“Perhaps I can find some clues here with Senior Brother.”

Qin Mu observed the layout of the palace, noting the precise location of every item, then searched meticulously.

They found the founding patriarch’s bookshelf. Some books on it were written in ancient divine script, some in ancient god or ancient demon script, and some were in human characters.

Qin Mu flipped through them one by one, then randomly placed the books he had finished reading.

He found Senior Brother’s handwritten notes, written in human characters, detailing some mundane matters from his time in the Dragon Han Heavenly Court. Qin Mu read them carefully; there wasn’t much useful information in the notes, but there was a geographical map leading to the Ruins of End.

Qin Mu was slightly taken aback. This map of the Ruins of End closely matched one of the maps Senior Brother had given him. Although there were slight geographical differences, most of the topography was consistent.

“The Ruins of End is one of the places Senior Brother wanted me to find! He must have left something there, and that item must be extremely important!”

Qin Mu composed himself. It seemed that the maps Wei Suifeng had given him largely concealed significant secrets and treasures. The first time, he found the Imperial Forest Army’s military token.

With the second map, he found the Red Stream Deity and the God-Slaying Profound Blade, but that wasn’t the main point. The most significant outcome was establishing a connection with the remnants of the Crimson Bright Era, leading to an alliance between Eternal Peace and the Crimson Bright Divine Son.

With the third map, Qin Mu found the divine being Yingzhao’s brain in a jar in the Supreme Brightness Realm, obtaining all blueprints for the Ark of the Other Shore.

And this map of the Ruins of End was the fourth named map. Wei Suifeng returned to the Dragon Han Heavenly Court while exploring the Ruins of End. He must have made a discovery there and hidden a secret within the Ruins of End, waiting for the Woodcutter or him to unearth it.

The ghost ship emitted a slight tremor, a precursor to its next reincarnation.

Qin Mu’s expression subtly changed. He swiftly left the main hall, pressed the notes down with a stone, picked up a writing implement, and scribbled all over the pillar where Celestial Venerable Ling had left her poem, then quickly retreated.

Outside the hall, the battle between Dragon King Hùan and the divine dragon continued. Dragon blood splattered everywhere. Both were fighting with bloodshot eyes, unable to stop even with the impending reincarnation.

Light erupted, and the ghost ship departed from that space-time. When the light faded and Qin Mu’s vision returned to normal, he saw that the scroll of notes he had just weighed down with a stone had vanished!

Qin Mu’s eyes lit up. He returned to the hall, only to find that the items he had randomly placed were back in their original, perfectly neat positions.

Qin Mu turned and walked out of the grand hall, examining the pillar in front of it. The scribbles he had made on the pillar were gone, but Celestial Venerable Ling’s calligraphy remained.

Qin Mu was slightly stunned, then suddenly burst into laughter.

In the distance, Dragon King Hùan’s opponent had disappeared. The great dragon was also exhausted and covered in wounds, his body already ethereal, on the verge of turning into an ethereal being. He panted, “What are you laughing about, My Lord?”

“I changed the items’ positions, but after reincarnation, they returned to their original places.”

Qin Mu looked at the poem on the pillar with interest, smiling, “I even scribbled over Celestial Venerable Ling’s poem, but my scribbles vanished, while her poem remained. Do you know what this means?”

Dragon King Hùan looked bewildered.

“We are within Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine ability. It’s impossible to change anything on the ship; anything damaged will return to its original state after reincarnation. Yet Celestial Venerable Ling boarded later, and she changed things on the ship, leaving a poem on the pillar.”

Qin Mu asked, “Why could her poem remain?”

Dragon King Hùan was even more confused and shook his head, “My Lord, my mind is dull; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been captured by you and forced to become the Heavenly River Dragon King.”

“The matter on the ship is unchangeable, neither increasing nor decreasing. Yet Celestial Venerable Ling could leave a poem, which indicates she herself deciphered her own divine ability.”

Qin Mu smiled, “Her poem explains the principles behind her divine ability, and as she wrote it, she used the method to decipher that very ability. In other words, in this short poem, she concealed both the divine ability of matter’s immutability and the method to break it. Dragon King Hùan, Dragon King Hùan…”

Dragon King Hùan’s body grew increasingly faint. He looked back, and the Dragon King gradually faded away like a dream bubble.

“My Lord, the path ahead is yours alone…”

Dragon King Hùan completely vanished.

Qin Mu stood there dazedly. After a moment, he regained his senses. He was alone, with only himself and his shadow.

“You’re still here with me, aren’t you? I know the Village Chief and you are both here, not far away.”

He sat down, gazing at the poem on the pillar, and whispered, “Don’t worry, I will find a way to break it. Celestial Venerable Ling believed that time does not exist in the world, only the illusion caused by material changes. If matter remains immutable, neither increasing nor decreasing, then time does not exist. Her divine ability was based on this. When she first used this ability, she didn’t perfect it, leaving a flaw. When she returned here, she left words on this pillar, thereby increasing matter…”

In the distance, within the ghost ship’s armory, divine weapons rested on weapon racks, still gleaming as new, even after untold tens of thousands of years.

The armory hall was extremely vast, but numerous corpses now lay on the ground. A blood-dripping blade hung diagonally, blood drops pattering from its tip.

The hand gripping the blade was steady. The blade’s owner, like the corpses on the ground, was a one-armed youth.

“Junior Brother Zhe Huali, Teacher Luo has already turned ethereal, and there are fewer and fewer people on the ship. Our Spirit Xiu Army selects the most outstanding disciples from the Heavenly Court’s divine populace, undergoing strict screening and elimination before being able to join.”

The one-armed youth looked at Zhe Huali on the other side of the weapon rack and said indifferently, “Each selection requires hundreds, even thousands, of deaths to choose a single Spirit Xiu Army disciple. And to receive Teacher Luo’s true inheritance, most chose to sever an arm, only then gaining enlightenment in the blade dao from his sword arts. However, Teacher was partial to you, believing your aptitude to be the best, and sent you to the lower realm to study under Fu Riluo, hoping you could forge a different path.”

The demonic blade on Zhe Huali’s back vibrated lightly. He said in a deep voice, “Senior Brother, you have learned Teacher Luo’s blade arts best; I am not as good as you. However, when it comes to entering the blade dao, you are inferior to me. You are merely following in Teacher Luo’s footsteps. Why did you have to kill so many junior brothers and sisters? They could have turned ethereal without threatening you.”

“They had to die because they were weaker than me, and I would have turned ethereal before them.”

The one-armed youth said coldly, “I need to ensure that I am the last one alive. I did not hesitate to sever an arm to enter the blade dao, let alone kill them. As for you, Junior Brother, I am even more curious about what Teacher Luo saw in you, making him believe you were better than me, capable of going further! That’s why I saved you for last.”

*Clang—*

Blade light flared, instantly filling the armory hall. The two youths clashed, their terrifying power activating all the divine weapons in the hall. These weapons exploded with their might, shattering the entire hall to pieces!

After the terrifying divine power swept in all directions, Zhe Huali raised his hands, sheathed his twin blades on his back, and walked out of the ruins without looking at the one-armed youth’s corpse.

His footsteps were measured, each stride neither too long nor too short.

“My blade arts, refined through the tempering of the Qin Ba Body, have long surpassed Teacher Luo’s. Teacher Luo didn’t know, and neither did you. I entered the blade dao and comprehended its two heavens; this is my own path, my own method. You used Teacher Luo’s blade arts and Teacher Luo’s blade dao, and that is why you died.”

He walked towards the barracks, and from a distance, he saw Qin Mu sitting in front of the grand hall, his pupils constricting.

Qin Mu sensed something, turned his head, and gave him a slight smile.

Zhe Huali involuntarily smiled, then his heart grew stern: “This scoundrel is using a smile to lower my guard! I can’t fall for his trick! He’s an enemy; I must eliminate him!”

At that moment, another figure appeared not far away: Prince Qiuming.

“Of this group of passengers, only the three of us remain.”

Prince Qiuming shook the sword in his hand, causing blood droplets to fly off. He said calmly, “I’ve killed a few more waves of people who boarded later. I’ve discovered a secret that I’d like to share with you two.”

He smiled faintly, “It turns out that even the constant, unchanging ones on this ship can die. I just killed one.”