Chapter 841: Farewell to You Forever

The ground rolled like boiling soup as a gigantic creature suddenly burst forth from beneath it. Its colossal body caused distant mountains to topple like trees in a hurricane.

Qin Mu stood atop the Dragon Qilin's head. The Dragon Qilin was running at an incredibly high speed, yet it was still buffeted by the powerful winds churned up by the colossal creature's emergence from the earth, almost unable to stay upright.

The incredibly thick body was only dozens of yards away, seeming to brush past them from a distance.

It was a body covered in woody scales, resembling tree roots. Yet, these woody scales were adorned with various natural runic markings and even emitted a metallic sheen.

Though woody, this enormous body was incredibly agile. As it burst from underground, Qin Mu observed its auxiliary roots unfurl, resembling sharp, powerful dragon claws.

However, this creature had hundreds of these dragon claws.

Additionally, its body was covered in numerous tendrils, resembling dragon whiskers and beards. The tendrils on its back were long and flowing, like a dragon's mane.

Due to its immense speed, lightning flashed and thunder roared around it. The lightning strikes didn't descend to the ground; instead, they radiated outwards from the creature, forming thick layers of electrical discharge.

Arcs of electricity crackled and shot in all directions. Even though Qin Mu and the Dragon Qilin simultaneously activated the Ancestral Dragon Grand Profound Art to deflect the lightning's power, their bodies were still riddled with tiny holes when the current passed through them!

“Master, medicine!” the Dragon Qilin cried out in a panic. “There are some places I can’t lick!”

Qin Mu steadied himself as his physical body rapidly recovered. He then retrieved dozens of bottles of dragon saliva, smashed them, and allowed the liquid to flow into the Dragon Qilin's wounds.

He looked up to see the massive creature’s head already piercing the clouds, pushing aside the surrounding vapor. Its head spewed forth streams of air, thick with billowing smoke that flickered with firelight.

The air streams it spewed were so fast that they caused the air to ignite.

However, the air it exhaled was foul and murky, carrying the stench of decay from being buried underground, thus filling the air with thick smoke.

This was an earth dragon, truly immense in size. Unlike other divine dragons with their sparse beards, this one's dragon beard was composed of dense tendrils, emerging profusely from around its mouth. They were incredibly long, swaying like hanging curtains.

The moment the earth dragon emerged, it opened its mouth and lunged at Blind and Qu River, who were locked in combat. With a single crunch, a section of the sky vanished—it had bitten off a large chunk of the Heaven Map that enveloped Yankang!

Blind and Qu River swiftly dodged, narrowly escaping from its maw and landing on the earth dragon's colossal head. The two divine beings ran rapidly across its immense cranium, all the while fiercely attacking each other.

Blind's Dragon Edge Divine Spear transformed into a black dragon, striking and withdrawing with incredible swiftness. The Dragon Edge moved with exceptional agility under Blind's control, accurately striking Qu River's divine ability power nodes and disrupting his formations.

Qu River, on the other hand, employed a different attack method. Though he pressed relentlessly, his offensive wasn't close-combat. Instead, his thousand arms flailed, and divine eyes in his palms continuously shot out beams of light that collided, bounced, and wove into a net in mid-air.

Consequently, every move he made was a unique formation. He utilized formations as divine abilities, which was truly remarkable.

Formations typically require prior arrangement, and few individuals directly employ them as divine abilities in combat, unless they have refined a set of formation spirit weapons or divine weapons.

For instance, He Yiyi, a formation master from the Western Land, pursued the path of formations. She used square stones as the fundamental elements to construct her formations, structuring them with numerological arts. These square stones were her spirit weapons.

However, she couldn't directly employ formations as divine abilities.

Qu River, however, possessed extraordinary talent. He had numerous arms, and an eye grew in the palm of each hand. He had refined his thousand eyes into divine eyes, each secretly concealing a formation.

When a formation was activated, the emitted light beams weren't simply raw power; they were interwoven with countless formation patterns. As these light beams collided, complex patterns intermingled, spreading out to form various array configurations.

Naturally, the power of these formations couldn't rival killing arrays constructed with spirit weapons or divine weapons. However, they could be freely combined and shifted instantaneously, leaving opponents no time to dismantle them.

While focusing on formations as the primary cultivation path makes progress challenging, the resulting battle power often surpasses that of those who cultivate other skills. This is why Grandmaster Zi Xi was able to utterly defeat Grandmaster Wu Dou.

Qu River was one such individual.

However, he encountered Yankang's most renowned master of divine eyes and formations. Blind's mastery of formations was already exceptionally high; in his early years, after Xing Han gouged out his divine eyes, he had become despondent and retreated into the Great Ruins. But later, due to Qin Mu leaving the Great Ruins and the concurrent Yankang reforms, his spirit revived.

He absorbed the achievements of Yankang's reforms and studied the formation accomplishments of the Founding Emperor era, propelling his mastery of formations to the absolute pinnacle.

While Blind did not employ formations as divine abilities in the same manner as Qu River, his method of breaking formations with his divine spear perfectly countered Qu River's techniques, preventing them from fully unleashing their power.

Overcoming a stronger opponent with a weaker force is a tactic formation masters pride themselves on. When two such masters meet, the depth of their cultivation ceases to be the determining factor; instead, victory hinges on whose mastery is superior.

The two sprinted rapidly across the earth dragon's back, as the power of various divine abilities and techniques swept all around them. However, in the very next moment, both simultaneously found themselves in peril.

The earth dragon had been disturbed by Qin Mu's Heavenly Fire divine ability. However, it did not target Qin Mu because he was comparatively weaker. Instead, the two battling deities in the sky were its true objective, so it immediately lunged at them.

The earth dragon's bite missed. The two had already reached its head, whereupon the earth dragon shook its cranium, causing countless tendrils to emerge from beneath its woody-scaled skin and wrap around them.

Those tendrils, resembling earthy yellow flood dragons, were extremely hard and effortlessly pierced through their divine abilities.

Startled, Blind raised his spear and thrust it at a tendril. This strike was a masterpiece, executed with ultimate precision and adept at breaking power. Yet, upon striking the flood dragon-like tendril, he only heard a dull thud.

The Dragon Edge Divine Spear only penetrated five inches into the dragon's head, failing to pierce through the tendril.

“So hard! What is this thing?!”

Blind quickly withdrew his spear and, leaping to escape, was about to fly away when he suddenly stumbled. His feet had been bound by the tendrils, pulling him down.

Innumerable tendrils surged forth, binding Blind tightly.

On the other side, Qu River was simultaneously attacked by the earth dragon. His thousand arms were tightly bound, rendering him immobile. He shouted loudly, “Earth Dragon, how dare you be so presumptuous! I am a squad leader of the Heavenly Court’s Divine Capture Camp—”

Before he could finish speaking, tendrils lashed out, wrapping around both men, lifting them upside down, and conveying them towards the dragon’s gaping maw.

The earth dragon opened its colossal mouth. Inside was utter darkness, thick with smoke and faintly visible flickers of firelight.

Blind and Qu River struggled desperately, but the tendrils had already pierced deep into their muscles and wrapped around their bones, making escape impossible.

Just then, Blind saw Qin Mu standing on the Dragon Qilin's head. The Dragon Qilin was galloping on fire clouds, rushing into the earth dragon's vast maw.

Blind angrily exclaimed, “What are you doing here? You’re just walking to your death!”

The Dragon Qilin sprinted wildly, pursuing them into the earth dragon's vast maw. It quickly reached the throat, finally catching up with the two men.

Qin Mu sprinted a few steps on the Dragon Qilin's head, then raised his arm. Countless formation patterns flew out, surging towards Blind. He laughed loudly, “Squad Leader Qu, you are proficient in formations, do you know teleportation divine abilities?”

Qu River was struggling, but then saw the teleportation formation patterns envelop Blind as light burst forth.

Qu River sneered, “Even teleportation won’t save you! These tendrils have already pierced into our bodies and wrapped around our bones; your teleportation divine abilities cannot sever them!”

The teleportation light faded, leaving Blind still ensnared by the tendrils. While teleportation divine abilities shift space, these tendrils, possessing the Earth Mother's bloodline, simply would not budge.

“If I could have teleported away, I would have already left!” Blind fumed. “Brat, do you think I’ve been idling all these years? I learned your Heavenly Saint Sect’s teleportation divine ability ages ago! If I could leave, I would have already! You go quickly; don’t worry about me!”

The tendrils carried them sliding downwards into an abyss of utter darkness!

Blind smiled and said, “Mu’er, go on your own. It wasn’t in vain for old Blind to raise you. You are very filial; my life has been worth it. Go back!”

Qin Mu paid no heed, urging the Dragon Qilin forward. He suddenly drew the Carefree Sword, leaped from the Dragon Qilin's head, and with flashing sword light, struck at the flood dragon-like tendrils wrapped around Blind.

The willow leaf on his brow unfurled, instantly unleashing surging dark demonic energy that caused his cultivation to skyrocket—he was forcibly borrowing Qin Fengqing’s magic power!

His sword light flashed, severing a tendril with a hiss, then it swiftly revolved around Blind.

Qu River looked at the sword light and suddenly realized, sighing, “So it was you. You were the one who left sword marks on the Daoist Academy walls, you killed the Heavenly Court’s envoy, and you killed the disciple of the Heavenly Court’s True God of the Zhou Tian Stars. Truly, you are incredibly audacious…”

Qin Mu held the sword in his right hand, severing the tendrils around Blind. He then slammed his left hand forward, causing teleportation formation patterns to erupt and engulf Blind.

“You are the Son of Youdu, aren't you?” Qu River sighed. “The power you are wielding is from Youdu; no wonder the name Qin Mu sounded familiar to me. Your file is in the Heavenly Court’s Divine Capture Camp, which I inadvertently saw, but I only remembered Qin Fengqing, with little impression of Qin Mu. Qingyun Heaven has indeed rebelled, just as I suspected, hasn't it?”

“Lord Qu, you live up to your name as a divine capturer.” Qin Mu, holding the Carefree Sword inverted, bowed to him and said, “Unfortunately, I cannot save you. Farewell.”

Behind them, the Dragon Qilin sprinted with all its might, reaching Qin Mu’s feet just as the dense tendrils were about to ensnare him, and swiftly carried him away.

Countless teleportation formation patterns whirled, light burst forth, and with a whoosh, Qin Mu and the Dragon Qilin vanished.

Qu River, enveloped by the tendrils, was sent into the darkness within the earth dragon's belly. He murmured, “I don’t admire you or that Blind man; I admire the young Daoist named Yu Chenzi who brought me here. He is truly ruthless and meticulous in his execution. I am utterly convinced, dying by his scheme.”

His body vanished into the darkness, leaving only a faint sigh: “After I die, when the Heavenly Court sends more people, they will assume the Earth Mother was responsible. Qingyun Heaven will then become a malignant growth within the Heavenly Court. Truly, a formidable individual…”

Outside the colossal earth dragon's body, a flash of light revealed Blind, covered in blood. From his wounds, tendrils were still growing wildly, attempting to drill out of his body and connect with the earth dragon's flesh.

Just then, a flash of light heralded the sudden appearance of Qin Mu and the Dragon Qilin. Before they could even steady themselves, Qin Mu was already casting a spell, causing innumerable teleportation formation patterns to materialize and form an array in the air.

The next moment, the three of them were already a hundred *li* away.

In the air, the Water Qilin, treading upon a great river, galloped wildly with Imperial Heavenly Venerable on its back, while Yu Chenzi swiftly moved above them.

Qin Mu pointed a finger, and countless runes, entwining the great river, whistled and spun forward, swiftly engulfing the Water Qilin and Imperial Heavenly Venerable.

With a palm strike, teleportation runes, like countless yellow talismans, scattered through the sky, engulfing Yu Chenzi, who was fleeing for his life.

The earth dragon raised its sharp claws and lunged at them.

A flash of light, and they all vanished.

A hundred *li* away, even before their figures materialized, countless teleportation runes were already seen flying through the air, as a teleportation array began to form.

No sooner had the array formed than Qin Mu and his companions materialized, precisely entering the formation. Light burst forth, and they vanished once more.

The earth dragon roared in fury and chased after them, but it only saw individual bursts of light rapidly receding into the distance, quickly losing all trace of Qin Mu and his group.

The earth dragon plunged abruptly into the earth, vanishing from sight. However, the ground rapidly swelled, and a ridge arched forth from beneath, revealing that the earth dragon was burrowing underground, pursuing Qin Mu and his group.