Chapter 9: Red Powder Skull

"Indeed, there are ruins ahead!"

Qin Mu, swept along by the frantic stampede of the beast horde, suddenly saw the terrain dip, revealing a valley. Within this valley, ancient structures surprisingly remained: palaces scattered throughout, a sprawling square, and majestic, towering buildings.

At the entrance to these ruins stood a colossal gate, connecting the valley's two sides, its massive pillars adorned with coiled dragons. The beast horde was charging precisely towards this gate, intent on rushing into the ruins.

"Darkness is coming!"

Qin Mu's gaze lifted, and a chill snaked up his spine. Darkness, black as ink, was flowing down the sheer valley walls, pouring into the valley itself! This darkness would soon reach the gate of the ruins, engulfing it!

The beast horde grew even more frenzied, a desperate surge towards that gate. The horde was now a perilous torrent of colliding, trampling strange beasts; a single misstep meant being crushed to a pulp. But at this moment, such dangers were secondary. Failure to reach the ruins before the darkness would mean a far more gruesome end!

Qin Mu lunged forward, desperately grabbing the tail of a colossal beast. This beast was incredibly sturdy, a rapidly moving black mountain that knocked aside and flattened other strange beasts in its path. And the strange beasts behind this behemoth, in turn, leapt up, also grasping its tail, allowing it to carry them towards the ruins.

Qin Mu lowered his head, seeing the usually fierce divine evil strange beasts beneath him now trembling with fear, clinging desperately to the giant beast's tail, daring not to move. He turned his head, seeing the five figures who had been pursuing him – Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and the others – also rushing madly towards the ruins, not far behind.

Finally, just before the darkness submerged the gate, the giant beast crashed through the massive portal. At the same instant, the inky blackness swallowed the gate.

Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and the others howled as they rushed forward, but only Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and another young man managed to scramble through the gate before the darkness engulfed it. Of the remaining two young men, one was a step too slow, only managing to get an arm through the gate. The other had half his face, chest, legs, abdomen, and one arm enter the gate, while the remaining half was struck by the darkness.

Senior Brother Qu, having tumbled through the gate, immediately reached out to grab his two fellow disciples. He grasped the hand of one, and with a forceful pull, drew forth a body of bare white bones from the darkness.

Before Senior Brother Qu could reach out to grab the other young man, he saw him collapse to the ground.

Senior Brother Qu and Senior Sister Qing's hair stood on end in terror. This young man’s front was still covered in flesh and blood, but his back was utterly devoid of it. It was unknown what had consumed the flesh and blood from his back within that darkness!

"What exactly is in that darkness? How can such a thing exist?" Senior Sister Qing shrieked.

Senior Brother Qu steadied his mind, exhaled a heavy breath, and said in a low voice, "Death is like a lamp extinguishing. Our two fellow disciples died in the line of duty, eliminating demons. They died in their rightful place, a valiant death. This little demon spawn deliberately arrived at these ruins moments before the darkness, surely intending to use it to harm and kill us!"

The other young man, filled with righteous indignation, said hatefully, "He is also within these ruins, surrounded by darkness; he has nowhere to escape! We must find him, tear him into ten thousand pieces, and avenge our two fellow disciples!"

"He's there!"

Senior Sister Qing, spotting Qin Mu leaping down from the giant beast's tail, immediately shrieked, "Little demon spawn, you caused the death of my two fellow disciples, and you still dare to escape?"

Qin Mu, enraged, pointed, "It is clearly you who are pursuing and attempting to kill me without reason, relentless in your pursuit! As a result, you pursued yourselves into the darkness and brought harm upon yourselves. What does that have to do with me? I have never provoked any of you in good faith, yet you come to kill me. How am I not innocent?"

Senior Sister Qing gritted her teeth, "The little demon spawn still dares to quibble…"

"Demon your big grandpa!"

Qin Mu shouted angrily, "Granny and I just killed a deer to make clothes, and you all call us demons! Yet you kill an entire group of deer, and still dare to call us demons?"

Senior Brother Qu's face was grim. He stepped forward, "This little demon spawn is skilled at confusing people's hearts. There's no need to waste words with him; kill him directly!"

Just as the three were about to make their move, a series of low beast roars echoed. The three were startled and looked around, only to see over a thousand strange beasts gathered within these ruins. Among them were even some Lord-level strange beasts, all fixing them with unfriendly stares, their eyes gleaming with ferocity.

Senior Brother Qu felt a bad premonition and quietly retreated a step. When those strange beasts saw that they made no move, they also quieted down, making no further actions.

Qin Mu clicked his tongue in wonder. These strange beasts usually fought fiercely among themselves for territory and prey, yet now they were peaceful, which was very peculiar.

"Could it be that these strange beasts have set rules, forbidding fighting within the ruins?"

Qin Mu blinked his eyes. Many of these strange beasts were natural enemies who would not rest until the other was dead, yet here they were peaceful, suggesting his guess might be true. The villagers often said that strange beasts had spirits. Qin Mu had seen that magical ape that could speak, muttering "little dot" one after another. These strange beasts might really have set rules here.

Senior Brother Qu also considered this point and exhaled a sigh of relief. He said in a low voice, "Tonight, we will not make a move. We will wait until daybreak and immediately kill him!"

Senior Sister Qing and the other young man nodded.

Qin Mu looked around, seeing that the ruins occupied a vast area, situated in the valley like a city. Strange beasts were everywhere here, except for the square, which was completely empty of them.

That square was occupied only by skeletons, human bones, numbering around two or three hundred. It was unknown why they had died here, their bodies still adorned in luxurious clothing.

"These people are all female."

Strangely, all these female skeletons were seated cross-legged in neat formations. There were fifteen rows, with fifteen dry bones in each row. It seemed as though some disaster had struck while they were meditating, leaving them no time to escape, dying instantly and turning into dry bones.

He approached the square and examined it closely, seeing that these female skeletons also had a leader, seated cross-legged at the front of the skeleton formation.

These skeletons and their leader all faced the massive gate, facing the same direction.

"Senior Brother, look quickly!"

Senior Sister Qing's eyes brightened. She nudged towards the skeletons in the middle of the square with her mouth and said in a low voice, "These skeletons have treasures in their hands! Every single one of them!"

Senior Brother Qu's gaze swept over them, and his heart couldn't help but pound. Some of the skeletons held treasured swords in their hands, some gripped fly whisks, some wore jade pendants, and some embraced treasure bottles – all sorts of weapons.

These treasures were still shining brightly, as if they had just been forged, clearly all extraordinary artifacts!

The most eye-catching was the luminous pearl held by the leader of the skeletons. The pearl lay in the skeleton's palm, floating there. Within the bright pearl, it seemed as though mist was flowing.

This place was actually an enormous treasure trove!

"If we can obtain these treasures…" Senior Sister Qing said in a low voice, her breathing somewhat rapid.

Even the treasure house of the Five Elders of Li Jiang was not one ten-thousandth of what was here! Obtaining these treasures, they feared, would allow them to establish their own sect, to form their own school!

Senior Brother Qu's gaze flickered, and he chuckled, "Heaven is treating us well! Fifth Junior Brother, go and retrieve these treasures."

The Fifth Junior Brother stepped forward, just entering the square. Suddenly, the dust filaments of a fly whisk in the hand of one of the female skeletons lightly floated. One by one, the filaments seemed to come alive, slowly growing. One of the filaments extended towards the Fifth Junior Brother.

That filament, like an extremely fine spiritual snake, raised its head and scrutinized the Fifth Junior Brother.

"Senior Brother Qu…" The Fifth Junior Brother's voice trembled slightly; he dared not turn his head back.

Senior Brother Qu said in a low voice, "These treasures are all dead, ownerless things. Rest assured…"

Before he finished speaking, that filament shot out like lightning, drilling into the Fifth Junior Brother's eyes. The other fly whisk filaments howled as they came, aiming for both of the Fifth Junior Brother's eyes.

The Fifth Junior Brother opened his mouth to wail but failed to emit any sound. Not far away, Qin Mu watched as this young man withered at a visible speed, instantly becoming a dried corpse! And the fly whisk was still entwining him. Soon, the skin of the dried corpse dissolved, and the bones also dissolved, leaving only several pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes on the ground.

----

Greetings to all fellow book friends! "Shepherd God Record" will be holding a recommendation ticket activity in the book review area. Please see the book review area for details. The activity is already pinned at the top, and everyone is welcome to participate. Furthermore, thanks to Array[] for the generous sponsorship!