When they reached the mountaintop, they found a place of extraordinary luxury. Towers and palace halls gleamed with golden light. The pillars beneath the main hall alone were so thick that two people could barely encircle them with their arms, and golden idols stood everywhere, with many prairie barbarians gathered beneath them.
Suddenly, one of the golden idols moved. Qin Mu's heart jumped, and only then did he realize that these were not golden idols at all, but Great Wu shamans one after another!
The Great Wu shamans of the Loulan Golden Palace had actually refined their bodies until they looked as if they had been cast from pure gold, radiating golden light.
Before the Loulan Golden Palace, beneath a towering gate, the Great Wu shamans stood like radiant golden deities, solemn and imposing. At their head was an old man with golden hair and a golden body. He was tall and powerfully built, dressed in golden robes, holding a scepter and wearing a feathered crown. His voice rang like a great bell. “Wu Khan, you’ve enjoyed your freedom for so many years. Why come knocking at our door today?”
“That’s a fine way to put it. Azure Ox, put the mountain gate down!”
With a thunderous crash, Azure Ox lowered the mountain gate. Sacrifice Jiu Bashan threw his head back and laughed. “Wu Zun, I’ve delivered the mountain gate to you. I seem to have fought most of these gleaming senior brothers before. Back then, I blocked the gate for a hundred days and wounded or killed quite a few people. The strong ones left me no choice but to kill them, while the weak ones survived at my hands. And those weak ones are the very people seated here today.”
The moment he said this, an uproar swept across the mountain. The senior experts of the Loulan Golden Palace were all furious, and a murderous atmosphere immediately filled the air.
Sacrifice Jiu Bashan's tongue was simply too poisonous. In an instant, he had offended every expert in the entire Loulan Golden Palace and aroused the wrath of the crowd. And after carrying the mountain gate up here, there was no way this matter would end peacefully.
One of the Great Wu shamans had a solemn face, and his voice rang like metal striking stone. He said coldly, “Our injuries healed long ago. All these years, our Golden Palace has been recovering its strength. We’ve been eager to cross hands with Wu Khan once more and wash away our former humiliation.”
Sacrifice Jiu Bashan smiled. “You’ll have your chance. But this time, I came to block the gate, not to kill you.”
He led Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu forward until they reached the golden mountain gate. He looked up at it, recalling the past, and sighed, “Back then, I stood beneath this gate with my teacher and killed quite a few people…”
The Great Wu shamans, gleaming like gods of gold, glared at him with eyes spitting fire. Sacrifice Jiu Bashan turned back, winked at Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu, and said with a smile, “Now, this mountain gate is yours.”
Ling Yuxiu was somewhat uneasy. In a low voice, she said, “Teacher, the rules here seem different from those in Yankang.”
Sacrifice Jiu Bashan smiled, his voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. “When the Daoist sect and the Great Thunderclap Monastery went to the Imperial College to block the gate, they only competed to decide victory or defeat, without fighting to the death. Afterward, everyone remained on good terms. But here, they fight as if they mean to kill. You can choose to spare your opponent, but when you meet an expert on your level and must kill him, it’s hard to hold back. Back then, I met many experts here who could match me, so quite a few people died.”
Ling Yuxiu's scalp prickled.
Qin Mu steadied himself as well and drew a long breath. At last, things were following the rules of the Great Ruins.
The rules of the Great Ruins were the same!
Wu Zun walked over and came beneath the golden mountain gate. His gaze fell on Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu, and he said unhurriedly, “To block the gate, we’ll follow the old rules: life and death are not counted. But beyond that, I also need to take back Wu Khan’s title. Life and death are not counted!”
Sacrifice Jiu Bashan's expression did not change as he said loudly, “Everyone, they are both at the Five Luminaries Realm.”
“We understand the rules for blocking the gate.”
Wu Zun's face remained as calm as an ancient well. After tapping his scepter once, he said indifferently, “Disciples of the Golden Palace, hear my order. Contest them at the Five Luminaries Realm. Kill them if you can. Anyone who dares to exceed the Five Luminaries Realm will answer with his life!”
His voice was not loud, yet it spread across the entire mountain.
After saying this, Wu Zun immediately looked at Sacrifice Jiu Bashan and revealed a faint smile. “Wu Khan, back then, the Heaven Khan brought you to my Golden Palace to block the gate. The Heaven Khan's divine abilities were boundless, and naturally worthy of admiration. But you are not the Heaven Khan.”
Sacrifice Jiu Bashan's expression turned grave. He stepped across the mountain gate, and his voice entered the minds of Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu. “Junior Brother, Princess, don’t worry. As long as they don’t kill me, they’ll continue challenging you according to the rules. But if they kill me, then you’ll be in danger as well.”
Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu felt a chill in their hearts.
Their safety was tied to Sacrifice Jiu Bashan's life. If Sacrifice Jiu Bashan were stripped of the title of Wu Khan and killed afterward, no one would spread word of Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu's deaths. The Loulan Golden Palace's reputation would remain intact, and the outside world would never learn of this challenge.
The experts from the prairie who had come to watch the battle all submitted to the rule of the Loulan Golden Palace. As long as the Golden Palace gave the order, they would not speak of it.
If Sacrifice Jiu Bashan were allowed to walk out of the Loulan Golden Palace alive, this bigmouth Bashan would certainly blab about the matter. Not only would the entire prairie learn of it, but most likely the whole world as well.
Sacrifice Jiu Bashan absolutely had the ability to do that.
By then, the Loulan Golden Palace would lose every shred of face.
Therefore, before Sacrifice Jiu Bashan died, the Loulan Golden Palace would never swarm Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu. It would only act according to the rules.
“Master, don’t get yourself killed!” Azure Ox shouted.
Sacrifice Jiu Bashan stumbled, then turned around and glared angrily. “When we get back, we’re having beef!”
Azure Ox hurriedly ducked his head.
“Two young people, bold beyond reason. Do you know whose gate you’re blocking? A sacred ground’s!”
A voice suddenly came from behind Qin Mu. He and Ling Yuxiu rose and looked down the mountain, only to see a group of strangely shaped shamans approaching and blocking the road behind them.
One of the shamans stepped forward. His body shimmered with faint golden light. Horns grew from his head, wings sprouted from his back, and he had a bird's beak. This method of cultivation, transforming oneself toward a nonhuman form, was indeed rare.
“Senior Brother.” Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu saluted him.
The Golden Palace shaman did not return the salute. His voice was sonorous and forceful. “Etiquette is something from your State of Yankang. My Loulan Golden Palace has no need for so many rules. After killing you, I’ll absorb your souls to cultivate my divine abilities. People like you are far stronger than those slaves, and your souls are incomparably tough. They’re perfect for refining divine abilities!”
Qin Mu's gaze flickered. “Sis, I’ll go first this time and probe their cultivation arts and divine abilities.”
Ling Yuxiu nodded. Although her strength had advanced at astonishing speed along the way, she still fell somewhat short of Qin Mu. Without knowing the shamans' background, rushing into a fight would make it easy to suffer a loss.
Qin Mu exhaled a breath of stale air and said in a deep voice, “Azure Ox, bring me my bundle!”
Azure Ox stepped forward and took the bundle from his back. Qin Mu first strapped on the blade satchel, crossing the two pig-killing knives over it. Then he put the sword case behind the blade satchel, hung up the large iron hammer, stuck in a bamboo staff, and belted on the Shao Bao Sword.
Azure Ox brimmed with killing intent. “I heard you used to herd cattle, yet you couldn’t even beat me. Can you beat them?”
Qin Mu rolled his shoulders. His bones crackled loudly, and he said calmly, “I am the Supreme Body.”
Azure Ox shouted, “My master never lost beneath this golden gate!”
Qin Mu's expression was wooden. “I was born with the Supreme Body. Under heaven, no one at the same realm can defeat me.”
The bird-winged shaman took out two golden pestles. Light flashed in his eyes as he laughed. “What kind of dogshit Supreme Body? Never heard of it.”
Qin Mu activated the Supreme Body Three-Dan Art, sending his qi surging explosively through his body in an instant.
“I, the Supreme Body!”
He raised his foot. The golden ground beneath it sank deeply, leaving a footprint. With a thunderous boom, his body shot toward the bird-winged shaman. He moved so quickly that people could see only a string of afterimages.
“Peerless Supreme Body!”
The bird-winged shaman's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly flapped his wings and tried to rise, but before he could take flight, Qin Mu's fist had already slammed toward him. A dragon's roar shook the air. His pupils contracted as he saw not a fist, but a ferocious, savage dragon head!
In the next instant, he saw two dragon heads, then three, then four!
His wings beat as he tried to dodge, but it was already too late. In desperation, he crossed the two golden pestles before him to block the blow.
The two golden pestles suddenly bent downward. The force of Qin Mu's punch struck the spirit weapons as if they were made of mud, blasting the golden pestles into sheets as thin as paper.
Whoosh—
The bird-winged shaman flew into the air, then exploded with a bang, turning into a cloud of blood mist. Dragon roars and howls came from within the mist. The blood mist transformed into forty-five savage blood dragons, as if it were not Qin Mu's punch that had shattered the bird-winged shaman, but the forty-five blood dragons bursting his body apart from within!
On the golden terrace before the mountain gate, Qin Mu suddenly went from violent motion to absolute stillness. His raging qi subsided at once, and his expression became calm.
“Azure Ox, your master would need a hundred days to bring down the Loulan Golden Palace.”
Qin Mu turned around, his gaze indifferent as it swept over the shamans below the golden terrace. “But I only need one day.”
Standing beneath the gate, his voice boomed like thunder, exploding back and forth through the Loulan Golden Palace. “I only need one day to crush the will of every disciple in the Golden Palace, grind their self-respect into dust, and trample their dignity beneath my feet!”
“Impudent!”
A shaman flew into a rage and charged at Qin Mu. As he ran, his body underwent a world-shaking transformation. Human skin flew from his head, revealing an elephant's head. His body grew taller and broader, tearing his clothes into shreds with a series of ripping sounds, while his hands and feet swelled as large as elephant legs.
Golden light spilled from his skin. With an elephant's head and a human body, he looked as if a god once worshiped in sacrifice had come back to life, possessing boundless strength!
His cultivation and strength were clearly far greater than those of the bird-winged shaman. The latter's body had not yet begun turning to gold, while this shaman's skin looked as if it had been cast from gold.
Boom—
A fist as large as a water vat thundered toward Qin Mu. It shook the air and produced a peal of thunder, sending rings of white airflow bursting outward in all directions.
Behind Qin Mu, the snow-white fur of Hu Ling'er standing before the mountain gate was blown backward by the force of the punch, while Ling Yuxiu's fine hair streamed behind her as well.
“Die!” the elephant-headed shaman roared.
Qin Mu leaped and shot past the side of that incomparably overbearing punch. With both hands gripping his knives, he rushed beneath the elephant-headed shaman's enormous body, and blade light flared.
Drawing the Blade from the Forbidden!
Qin Mu soared into the air and flipped backward. When he landed, he slid both knives into the blade satchel behind him. The elephant-headed shaman's enormous body split in two and tumbled down the mountain, staining the golden steps bright red.
A shaman's eyes turned bloodshot. He suddenly pulled out a black banner and shook it at Qin Mu, shouting harshly, “I’ll refine your soul! Die!”
Qin Mu sealed his soul with the Demon Creation Art. He raised a finger, and the sword case behind him opened. A flying sword let out a sharp whistle and pierced straight through the shaman's brow.
Qin Mu lifted his finger. The flying sword whistled back and plunged into the sword case with a clang, leaving a trail of bloodlight behind it.
—Don’t go anywhere—the second update will be posted in ten minutes!