Qin Mu's injuries had healed. He set out from the village with a gift for the Demon Ape, heading towards the Zhenyang Palace valley. Just as he left the village, he saw a strange beast dragging a corpse. When it saw him approach, the beast let out two low hisses, the fur on its neck bristling.
The river water flowed gently, and several more strange beasts leaped from the water, their bodies human but their heads fish-like, heading towards other corpses. When these beasts saw Qin Mu, they immediately stopped, prostrated themselves on the ground, and dared not approach.
Qin Mu paid them no mind. During the two days he spent recuperating, various Yankang cultivators who had been pursuing him had found their way here. Before they could even enter the village, he had eliminated them one by one using things that could be found anywhere in the village.
Some things in the village were extremely terrifying. Besides the insects in the clay pots, there was the rake for gathering grass, the curtain at the blacksmith's shop, the water vat, the sword pill under Grandma Si's bed, the butcher's whetstone, the trough for feeding chickens, and even the washbasin that Dragon Qilin had snatched away to use as a food bowl.
There were many who hunted Qin Mu. Besides Dragon Jiaonan's group of experts, there were likely several other batches of masters from various sects. In the two days Qin Mu spent recovering, many had found their way here.
The Village of Broken Elders was not difficult to find. It was built along the river, only over a thousand li from Xianglong City. Xianglong City was not far from Yankang's border, so if one searched carefully, it could be found.
Qin Mu estimated that forty to fifty people had found their way here in the past two days. Of course, they were all dead now.
"Dragon Jiaonan hasn't come looking. Did she get lost, or was she killed along the way? Or perhaps..."
When Qin Mu was in the village, he always felt a pair of eyes watching him from outside, like a great poisonous snake hidden in the shadows, ready to strike at any moment.
"She's nearby?"
He had left the village this time specifically to lure out Dragon Jiaonan.
Dragon Jiaonan held a deep grudge against him. The destruction of the Dragon Command Sect was entirely Qin Mu's doing. If he hadn't summoned the Heavenly Demon King at Tianbo City, the Dragon Command Sect wouldn't have been so easily annihilated.
Qin Mu arrived at Zhenyang Palace and found many wild beasts there, but the Demon Ape and Dragon Elephant were nowhere to be seen.
He searched around but found no trace of them. The beasts in the valley did not cultivate and could not speak, so he had no idea where the Demon Ape had gone.
Qin Mu had to return to the Village of Broken Elders. Two more days passed, and he finally could sit still no longer. The New Year was only two or three days away, and Grandma Si and the Village Chief still hadn't returned!
"The elders of the village really don't know how to make things easy!"
He went to Zhenyang Palace again but still didn't see the Demon Ape. His anxiety grew.
"Dragon Fatty, get up!"
Qin Mu tidied up, fed the insects and the Chicken Hen Dragons, then wiped away the "Seal" character on the Heavenly Demon King's body. He roused Dragon Qilin and said, "We're going deeper into the Great Ruins to find them!"
The Heavenly Demon King stretched his body and sneered, "Even someone as powerful as the Deaf, a demigod, entered the Great Ruins and never returned. What use are you going?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "My strength may not be high, but I have help. Demon King, you're of the Heavenly Demon race, aren't you?"
The Heavenly Demon King replied proudly, "So you want to borrow my power. If you treated me better, I might help you. But you hit me for no reason, which displeases me. If you ingratiate yourself with me, then I'll help you."
Qin Mu asked curiously, "How can I ingratiate myself with the Demon King?"
The Heavenly Demon King grew excited and was about to say his usual words, when he suddenly felt something was wrong. If he said it, he'd probably be the one on his knees licking toes.
Qin Mu said solemnly, "If you help me find them with all your heart and effort, I will release you. How's that for a deal?"
The Heavenly Demon King's eyes lit up. "Is it a promise?"
"A promise!"
Qin Mu made his preparations and left the Village of Broken Elders, having Dragon Qilin travel upstream along the river. The Village Chief and the others had gone to find the whereabouts of the Land of Carefree. Last time, the Village Chief had taken Qin Mu upstream along the river, deep into the Great Ruins to the source of the Yong River, where they had encountered many strange and bizarre things.
However, what they had found that time was not the Land of Carefree, but the Moon Ship from the Netherworld.
The Moon Ship had drawn Qin Mu's jade pendant, making it float, which had guided Qin Mu there.
Qin Mu felt that if the Village Chief and the others were searching for the Land of Carefree, they would surely start from there. Perhaps they had left some clues.
Dragon Qilin moved quickly, but compared to the Village Chief's pace, he was much slower. When the Village Chief had carried Qin Mu, he walked through the Great Ruins like a radiant deity in the darkness, moving with incredible speed.
Qin Mu could only venture deeper into the Great Ruins during the day. At night, he had to find other villages or ruins to avoid the darkness.
The Great Ruins of the day and the Great Ruins of the night were two completely different worlds. The Village Chief had guessed that during the day, the Great Ruins was the real world. At night, another dark world overlapped with it.
If the Village Chief and the others had entered that world of darkness, taken by the dark, then Qin Mu would not be able to find them.
All he could do now was hope that the Village Chief and the others had found the Land of Carefree.
Not long after he left the Village of Broken Elders, a girl in a dark green dress arrived outside the village. An earring hung from her earlobe, which twitched and then stretched out, becoming an earring that was actually a small red snake.
"This village is full of treasures. I wonder if I can go in and steal some?"
Dragon Jiaonan whispered, "Little Red, call some helpers."
The little red snake on her earlobe flicked its tongue, and from the forest, one red-crowned giant serpent after another slithered out. One of the serpents glided into the village. As soon as it entered, a black spider that had been lying on a leaf of spirit medicine in the herb garden beside the village jumped up, landed on the serpent's head, and bit it.
The serpent died instantly, its flesh and blood rotting into liquid, which the spider sucked dry, leaving only a snake skin.
The spider grew larger and larger. After drinking the serpent dry, it spat out flames of true fire, burning itself smaller and smaller, before jumping back into the herb garden to hide.
Dragon Jiaonan's eyes twitched, and she immediately turned and left. The snakes behind her scattered in all directions. "Even celestial beings cannot enter this village!"
Dragon Qilin traveled six thousand li upstream along the river. Qin Mu looked up and saw that the sky was getting late, so he looked around, trying to find a place to stay.
"The map of the Great Ruins says there's a place called Suppressing Calamity Palace nearby. It might be a place where we can take shelter."
Qin Mu recalled the map of the Great Ruins, searching for the location. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He ordered Dragon Qilin to go ashore, and before long, they found the ruins of a palace. They saw that some strange beasts had already taken shelter there.
Qin Mu entered the ruins of Suppressing Calamity Palace and saw many giant beast skeletons lying haphazardly in the ruins. These beasts were very quiet, and when they saw him arrive, they remained motionless.
Qin Mu looked up and examined them. The giant beast skeletons in Suppressing Calamity Palace were truly enormous—dozens of times larger than Dragon Qilin in his full form. If they were alive, they would likely be over a thousand zhang tall, like moving mountains!
Before long, several Daoists arrived in the ruins. They were likely experts who had entered the Great Ruins to train. When they saw Qin Mu, they showed surprise but remained silent, each lighting a fire to prepare food.
Qin Mu also cooked some food, ate dinner, and then lay down to sleep beside Dragon Qilin.
The Daoists glanced at each other without a word and began writing on the ground. Suddenly, the earth trembled, and roar after roar came from outside. Then, from the darkness, came obscure and incomprehensible sounds, as if demon gods were whispering.
Qin Mu sat up and saw that the giant beast skeletons in the ruins suddenly emitted divine light. The ground shook more violently, and then the giant beast skeletons slowly lifted their legs and feet from the earth, each skeleton appearing to come alive as they walked out of the ruins.
Outside the ruins, earth-shattering roars erupted. Occasionally, divine light tore through the darkness and shone in. Through this light, Qin Mu saw that the giant beast skeletons had actually grown flesh and blood, becoming several beast gods battling the monsters in the darkness.
The Daoists were shocked and uncertain. The Heavenly Demon King was also startled.
But Qin Mu, accustomed to such sights, lay back down and whispered, "Heavenly, stop watching. I've seen stranger things."
The Heavenly Demon King whispered, "Those Daoists are somewhat strange."
Qin Mu didn't care. "I know. One of the female Daoists is Dragon Jiaonan."
After a while, the sound of his snoring came. The Heavenly Demon King had to hold back and remain still.
The battle outside the ruins lasted all night. By the next morning, the earth trembled, and several divine beasts that seemed to touch the sky walked out of the darkness and into the ruins. They prostrated themselves, their flesh and blood vanished, and they returned to being several dry bones, half-buried in the earth, restored to their original state.
The darkness retreated like a tide, and sunlight shone down. The other strange beasts in the ruins surged out and scattered in all directions.
Qin Mu lit another fire to cook, and the Daoists also lit fires. No one spoke a word as they each ate their breakfast.
Dragon QilinDragon Qilin how he had hidden the washbasin from the Village of Broken Elders, now produced it again and placed it before Qin Mu, waiting to be fed.
Qin Mu poured half a measure of Red Fire Spirit Pills into it, then took another washbasin and poured half a basin of Yulong Lake water into it.
Dragon Qilin ate and drank his fill, and they continued on their way. The Daoists glanced at each other, extinguished their fires, and stood up to follow behind Qin Mu.
Qin Mu stopped, looked back with a smile, and said, "Brothers, is there something you need?"
One of the Daoists shouted, "The Great Ruins is vast. Is it yours? We walk our way, you walk yours. We won't be in your way!"
Qin Mu smiled slightly and continued forward.
Starting early that day, they finally reached the end of the Yong River before sunset. Qin Mu saw a dilapidated village by the river, and his eyes lit up. He had Dragon Qilin walk towards it.
The Daoists followed him in. They saw the village in ruins, with spider webs hanging everywhere, and even the stone statues in the village were broken and tattered.
Strangely, while other ruins had beasts taking shelter from the darkness, this village had not a single monster beast.
The Daoists were unsettled. Dragon Jiaonan, now a beautiful female Daoist, whispered, "There's something strange here..."
Just as she spoke, the darkness descended. The weather suddenly became exceptionally cold, and a lone boat drifted lazily from another world. A lantern hung from the prow, and beneath it sat an old man making paper figures, paper horses, and paper boats.
The old man came to the village and stepped ashore. Everyone shivered several times, feeling as if their souls were about to freeze.
The old man set down a paper boat, which floated up. One of the Daoists suddenly found himself inside the paper boat without knowing when he had gotten there, drifting towards the darkness.
He was startled and looked quickly, only to see his other self still sitting in the village.
That was his body.
"Brother Daoist."
Qin Mu performed the True Art of Suppressing the Earth Star, transforming into a human-headed, snake-bodied form. Behind him, the Gate of Heaven appeared. He saluted the old man, spoke a sentence in the language of Youdu, took out the portraits of the Village Chief and the Alchemist, and asked, "May I ask, Brother, have you seen them?"