Chapter 307 — A Trap Laid in Secret

He stretched out a finger and lightly touched the map before him. At once the treasure ship shuddered, as if about to fly out of the honeycomb seal and toward the direction he had touched.

But the ship was jammed fast in the seal between the two worlds, and could not rise.

"So this is how the treasure ship is piloted!"

Joy rose in Shen Mu's heart. He blinked, and suddenly the scene before him changed utterly: another unfamiliar world appeared, the geography of another world -- dark void, deep and hidden continents, unfathomably mysterious.

"What place is this? Not Jingping, not the grasslands..."

He studied it and was certain he had never seen this strange place. He blinked again, and the scene changed once more, revealing another world of splendor and grandeur, utterly unlike the Desolate Ruins or Jingping.

He blinked again, and the scene changed again: a world of water, with mountain ranges rising and falling beneath the waves.

He tried more than ten times, and more than ten different worlds' geographies appeared. But unlike what he had imagined, these maps marked neither which world they were nor any routes, and he did not know which was the Land of No Sorrow, nor how to enter it.

"This ship must have a compass that records the route to the Land of No Sorrow. Find that compass, and I can steer this ship home to the Land of No Sorrow!"

Shen Mu looked around, and suddenly his gaze fell on the place where the compass had been set. There ought to have been a mirror there, just like the mirror the village headman had given him -- but now the place was empty!

"The compass mirror is shattered? Luckily I still have the one the village headman gave me. Only, I do not know whether it can break the headman's seal."

His hand reached back into the Taotie Pouch for that compass mirror, and just then he saw the broken mirror on the ground.

This compass mirror had been smashed by a blow. Someone had deliberately destroyed it, unwilling that anyone should know the location of the Land of No Sorrow!

"Was it that man in white who destroyed the compass mirror?"

Shen Mu was briefly stunned, and lowered his hand. Many gods had hunted the man in white, and he had been defeated, his No Sorrow Sword shattered, unable to resist. Guarding this place to cover the escape of his shipmates, he must have destroyed the compass mirror that recorded the route to the Land of No Sorrow before he fell, so that no one could find it.

"Then this ship is a trap!"

A chill ran up the back of Shen Mu's skull; his hairs stood on end. He made as if to search, while his steps edged toward the bridge's door.

"Some of the people on this ship fled into the Nether Capital; they may still be alive. The purpose of this trap is to catch people from the Land of No Sorrow and find the road there! I carry the mirror the village headman gave me; once they have the compass mirror from my body, they can find the Land of No Sorrow! They cannot be certain whether I carry such a thing, and so long as they cannot be certain, they will not move to spring the trap."

He passed by his own sword core. The core loosened; sword hilt after sword hilt flew outward and it began to come apart. But that sense of being watched came over him again: two gazes two hundred and sixty-four zhang apart fell upon him, pressing him with a dreadful weight!

Clearly the owner of those eyes had grown suspicious!

Shen Mu put on a look of bewilderment and turned his head, as if he had sensed the gaze. At once that invasive stare vanished.

"Which senior is hidden in the dark?"

Shen Mu raised his voice. "Many thanks, senior, for your guidance in letting this junior enter the treasure ship! Will you not show yourself and meet me?"

He waited a while. No answer came.

Shen Mu looked disappointed and went on collecting his swords one by one, sighing. "Since senior will not show himself, this junior can only keep it in his heart."

He walked toward the bridge's door. His heartbeat quickened a little, but at once he forced it down with his own primal breath, restoring it to steadiness.

Just as he was about to leave the bridge, that door suddenly opened and Ban Gongcuo walked in, barring the doorway with his body. He smiled. "Cult Master Shen, you have two choices: leave the helmet on your head, or leave your head."

Shen Mu nearly cursed him aloud, and longed to stab him a thousand times through the chest on the spot!