Before them, the underground space was vast, and a mountain peak stood in front of them, looking like the upper half of a giant's statue. This statue was incredibly massive, made of black stone all over, but carved with distinct features: a nose, eyes, a mouth, and ears.
The statue only revealed its upper body down to the chest. The lower body must be buried underground, or perhaps it was never carved out.
Behind this statue, an ancient towered boat hovered motionless in midair. One side of the ship was underground, while the other side penetrated through a massive gateway. Within the gateway was a honeycomb-like seal. The bow of the ship had passed through the seal, entering another world.
That seal must be the Netherworld Seal the White Bats had mentioned.
Ancient gods had opened a passage between the real world and the Netherworld here, which led to the invasion of Netherworld creatures, forcing them to seal the place. The White Bat race had been ordered to guard this location, and things had remained peaceful until the arrival of this ship, which had shattered the seal.
Now, the seal had become somewhat loose, especially where the ship connected to it. Many cracks had appeared in the seal at that point.
Not only that, there was another problem: Netherworld creatures could enter the Great Ruins through this ship!
Occasionally, several bizarre creatures crawled down from the ship. Some spread their wings and flew up, while others jumped down from the ship. But before they could run far, the honeycomb seal would flash with light, and suddenly those creatures would be silently decapitated.
The giant statue of the divine being, the gateway, the massive ship, the honeycomb seal, the Netherworld creatures—this underground world appeared bizarre and fantastical.
"This gateway looks somewhat familiar..."
Qin Mu examined the giant gateway up and down, feeling vaguely that he had seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
"How did these two monks die?"
He frowned slightly. The abilities of these two old monks far surpassed those of the two White Bats. They had been guarding this place under the Tathagata's orders, and things had always been peaceful. How could they have suddenly died?
The two White Bats said they died of exhaustion, but judging from the current situation, even after the old monks died, their physical bodies could still resist the invasion of Netherworld demonic energy with their own Buddhist powers. This clearly indicated that their strength had reached an extremely high level, not far from being temple lords of the Divine Bridge realm.
Such existences would find it difficult to die from exhaustion when facing demonic energy invasion.
Could it be that some terrifying creature from the Netherworld had already entered the real world through this ship and killed the two old monks? Or was something fiercely attacking the seal, and the two old monks fought with all their might to block it, ultimately exhausting themselves to death?
Regardless of which possibility was true, this place was definitely not a safe place. Approaching this ship recklessly would likely bring great danger.
"The Netherworld, Tu Bo's world, the place where souls return. Tu Bo's messengers guide the souls of the dead in the world into the Netherworld, and these messengers are the death messengers. I once saw the death messengers—the strange old men making paper boats in the dark Great Ruins. Although somewhat eerie, they were still amicable. As long as you don't interfere with the death messengers' activities, they won't trouble the living."
Qin Mu looked around. Tu Bo's Netherworld obviously had its own unique rules and regulations. Acting according to these rules, Tu Bo would not interfere with the real world.
Then what was the situation with these Netherworld creatures in the Spirit Valley?
These creatures were powerful, bizarre, wicked, and evil—even more wicked and bizarre than the Heavenly Demon hordes Qin Mu had seen before!
Compared to the Netherworld creatures, the Heavenly Demon hordes could be considered kind.
These Netherworld creatures and the Netherworld death messengers were practically two extremes!
He looked up at the ship hovering in midair, neither touching heaven nor earth. The honeycomb seal had fixed the ship in place. Equal-sided hexagonal pillars were embedded in the space, layer after layer, translucent like glass. These were the seals left by the ancient gods.
From within the ship, waves of demonic energy and other eerie auras emanated. Faintly, unsettling sounds could be heard from within the demonic energy, like the twisted screams of countless wronged souls suffering in the Netherworld.
Qin Mu steadied his mind, then suddenly shook his body and revealed a human head and serpent body. He held a scroll of scripture in his hands, and behind him appeared the Heaven-Supporting Gate. With a flick of his tail, he immediately floated into the air, bypassing the divine statue ahead and swimming toward the ship.
The two White Bats were startled and quickly flapped their wings to fly up, curiously examining Qin Mu. They exclaimed: "Changed again, changed again! First he was an ox, then he turned into a human, and now he's turned into a snake!"
"There's something strange about this gate; I'm going in to have a look!" Fu Yuqiu said curiously, planning to push open the Heaven-Supporting Gate and peek inside.
"Inside is the Netherworld. If you want your souls to enter the Netherworld right now, go ahead and open the gate," Qin Mu said gravely.
As he said this, he suddenly felt a great shock in his mind. He stopped in midair, staring blankly at the giant gateway ahead.
The Heaven-Supporting Gate.
This gateway sealed by the honeycomb seal was actually a Heaven-Supporting Gate!
If this gateway was a Heaven-Supporting Gate, then what was this statue?
Qin Mu turned his head with difficulty to look at the divine statue.
This statue and this Heaven-Supporting Gate were exactly the same as Qin Mu's current appearance!
"This isn't a statue, but someone who has cultivated a perfect Planet Sovereign form like me!"
Qin Mu's mind buzzed. Although the Planet Sovereign form always featured a human head and serpent body, not everyone could cultivate the Heaven-Supporting Gate and the scroll in hand. Even the State Preceptor of Yankang, though called a saint who appeared once in five hundred years, had not cultivated this form.
This was the most perfect form.
Once, Qin Mu had thought this was the mark of the Tyrant Body, and it was also the reason he was confident that even the State Preceptor of Yankang could not surpass him at the same cultivation level.
And now he had encountered another existence who had cultivated the Heaven-Supporting Gate.
"Was this an ancient Tyrant Body? Why had he become petrified, why had he ended up in this state?"
Qin Mu stood silently in midair, looking at the divine statue. This was not a statue, but a divine being with a human head and serpent body in Planet Sovereign form who had been petrified. Most of his body must still be buried underground.
His Heaven-Supporting Gate had become the gateway connecting the Netherworld and the real world. But for some reason, this gateway had lost control, causing Netherworld creatures to pour out from it and wreak havoc in the real world. Therefore, ancient divine beings had to seal this gateway.
"Then, how did he become petrified, and who petrified him..."
Qin Mu was somewhat puzzled. What had this ancient Tyrant Body encountered to end up in such a state?
After he died, why hadn't the Heaven-Supporting Gate closed or disappeared? Why had it become a gateway between the Netherworld and the real world?
The White Bats said that ancient gods had opened the passage between the Netherworld and the real world—what did that mean?
Did these two White Bats know about that past event?
Qin Mu calmed his mind, clearing away the various chaotic thoughts in his head, and turned around to swim toward the ship. Before the catastrophe of the Great Ruins, many strange things had happened in the eyes of later generations. These past events had become sealed history, becoming unknown secrets waiting for future generations to uncover the truth.
He was still too weak now and did not yet have the ability to unravel the secrets of history.
Qin Mu flew toward the ship that had come from beyond the heavens, approaching cautiously. The closer he got, the more he felt the ship's massive size.
Of course, compared to the Sun Ship and Moon Ship, this ship was nothing. But compared to the State of Yankang's towered boats, this ship was much larger.
This ship did not seem like something from the mortal world. The hull was imprinted with various strange runes. Although many runes were damaged, some runes still flickered on and off. Between the flickering, the forms of the runes changed. If one looked closely, it seemed possible to deduce many mysteries from the changes in the runes.
Qin Mu had no time to observe these rune imprints. He quietly boarded the ship's stern. The treasure ship was damaged in many places, but the main structure remained intact.
The honeycomb seal left by the ancient gods did not target them. These seals should only target those Netherworld creatures and posed no threat to beings from the real world.
Qin Mu landed, and behind him, Dragon Qilin and the two White Bats also landed on the deck. The deck was covered with green slime that emitted a faint phosphorescent glow. Qin Mu accidentally swam into a pile of slime and quickly dodged away, only to find that the slime had stretched into stringy filaments.
"This should be the slime left after the viper worms died," Fu Yuqiu said, grabbing a handful of slime and sniffing it.
Dragon Qilin shook his body, and immediately balls of true fire flew out, incinerating all the slime on the deck.
Suddenly, a gust of demonic energy blew from the ship's bow direction. Dragon Qilin's true fire was instantly extinguished. Fu Yuqiu and Fu Yuchun, the two White Bats, quickly flashed forward to protect Qin Mu, opening their mouths to emit a silent shriek that collided with the demonic energy.
Boom—
An unimaginable force struck, sending the two White Bats flying backward. Qin Mu and Dragon Qilin behind them were also sent flying into the air.
They landed separately and looked forward, revealing cautious expressions.
There, darkness surged toward them like a living entity, constantly advancing. Dragon Qilin roared fiercely, shook his body, and his physical body crackled and expanded. Dragon scales crisscrossed around him, making harsh sounds. In an instant, he revealed his true form, transforming into a massive creature half dragon and half qilin. Lightning and fire blazed around him as he charged toward the ship's depths.
Dragon Qilin opened his mouth and spat out a beam of light that shot into the lightning and fire.
His strength was formidable. This strike would likely force even an expert of the Celestial Being realm to temporarily avoid its edge. However, when this strike fell into the advancing darkness, it was like a mud ox entering the sea, creating not even a ripple.
The two White Bats flapped their wings and flew up, spinning in midair. The white fine hairs on their bodies immediately flew out like rain, swoosh swoosh swoosh, like countless white needles shooting into the darkness.
All the hair on the two White Bats had been shot out. They tried to recall their white fine hairs but couldn't get them back at all. Suddenly they looked like two hairless big rats, standing there trembling.
The darkness still advanced unhurriedly. From within the darkness came a light laugh, followed by a sentence of unintelligible meaning.
It was not the divine language, nor the demonic language, nor the Buddhist mantras.
Suddenly, Qin Mu's expression shifted slightly, and he spoke the only sentence of Netherworld language he knew.
The darkness suddenly stopped and ceased advancing toward them. Instead, it rapidly retreated. Then countless fine hairs flew back, swoosh swoosh swoosh, sticking all over the two White Bats' bodies, making them look like hedgehogs.
The two White Bats were startled and uncertain. They quickly shook their bodies to retrieve the white hairs back into their pores.