At the entrance to the abyss, Ban Gongcuo and a group of great witches and witch kings arrived. Of the hundreds of Mandyi Kingdom's sorcerers, fewer than a hundred remained, while the others had perished in the bizarre and unpredictable Ming Valley forest.
Even though many waves of great witches from Loulan Golden Palace had explored this place before, this large-scale exploration had still resulted in heavy casualties.
For Ban Gongcuo, the number of deaths was irrelevant, as long as it wasn't his own life. These soldiers and great witches, even the witch kings, were always expendable. His purpose in bringing them was to have them protect him, using their corpses to pave a path to the center of Ming Valley.
As a monster who had lived for ten thousand years, he could disregard anyone else's life. The only thing he cherished was his own.
"Finally, we've arrived here."
Ban Gongcuo stood at the edge of the abyss, gazing down with a somewhat entranced expression. Sixteen years ago, Ming Valley had come into his sight. That extraterrestrial flying ship incident, where extraterrestrial visitors crashed into Ming Valley with their treasure ship, had caught the attention of three factions.
Loulan Golden Palace, the Heavenly Demon Cult, and the Great Thunderclap Monastery had all focused their attention here. At that time, the Heavenly Demon Cult had no master, and the Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Monastery knew some secrets and didn't explore deeply.
And he himself had already grown old then. Concerned about preserving his life, he hadn't come personally but had hidden in the Golden Palace waiting for his reincarnated saint child. However, the broken sword brought back from Ming Valley by Loulan Golden Palace's witch kings had made him realize that this extraterrestrial flying ship was no ordinary matter.
Now that he had successfully reincarnated, he could finally come here. Besides, Khan Luandi was preparing to use military force against Yankang Kingdom, so he could借 Khan Luandi's forces to enter this place.
"Gongmu, do you feel it?" Ban Gongcuo whispered. "This place is filled with the power of souls. The power contained in broken souls has nurtured these strange lives. This is the perfect sacred ground for us great witches to cultivate."
Beside him, these great witches and witch kings felt waves of stirring in their souls. The aura here made their souls and primordial spirits surge with excitement.
This place was filled with spiritual and soul power, so abundant that it far exceeded even Loulan Golden Palace!
Along the way, they had witnessed the peculiar life forms of Ming Valley. For the soldiers of the Mandyi Kingdom, these Ming Valley creatures were nightmarish existences, but for them great witches, they were like walking miracle pills—though somewhat dangerous ones.
Great witches themselves cultivated by using other beings' souls!
Witch King Gongmu greedily breathed in the aura rising from the abyss, where the spiritual and soul power was even stronger, and praised: "If our Golden Palace could establish itself here, it could greatly enhance our strength. Cultivating here would yield twice the result with half the effort! The spiritual and soul power here would be immensely beneficial for improving our primordial spirits!"
Loulan Golden Palace was already strong in soul and primordial spirit cultivation. Their attainments in these areas were profound. Other sacred grounds, even the Great Thunderclap Monastery, were slightly inferior in primordial spirit cultivation.
It was just that their cultivation methods were bizarre—using other beings' souls for cultivation—which drew much criticism. If they could occupy this place and use its spiritual and soul power for cultivation, Loulan Golden Palace would inevitably grow to heights previously unimaginable!
The rise of this grassland sacred ground would surely allow them to challenge the Central Plains and overwhelm the Central Plains' sacred grounds in one fell swoop!
"The most important thing in Ming Valley isn't this, but that extraterrestrial flying ship."
Ban Gongcuo's gaze was somewhat entranced as he said softly: "What attracts me isn't how to use the spiritual and soul power here for cultivation, but how to break through—the boundary between humans and gods. This ship should have what I want. It came from beyond the heavens..."
He said no more and leaped down. The other great witches, witch kings, and the remaining Mandyi Kingdom soldiers also leaped down, surrounding and protecting him.
Ban Gongcuo, having lived for ten thousand years, knew many secrets. Other sacred grounds like the Great Thunderclap Monastery and the Daoist sects relied on texts recorded in their institutions, which might be biased.
He relied on memory to record history, having experienced many things.
Moreover, although his lifespan wasn't as long as the histories of the Great Thunderclap Monastery and the Daoist sects, Ban Gongcuo had once become a high-ranking member of both the Daoist sects and the Great Thunderclap Monastery, and had even visited Xiaoyujing, seeing the secrets recorded there.
"This ship might have come from that mysterious place. That place is likely the only place in the world where one can become a god. No matter what, I must obtain this ship and go there!" he thought to himself.
In midair, they were attacked again by various strange creatures from the abyss. The soldiers, great witches, and witch kings each took action, doing everything possible to protect Ban Gongcuo, leaving behind over a dozen more corpses before finally reaching the bottom of the abyss.
On the treasure ship, Qin Mu looked at the continuously retreating demonic energy, feeling somewhat hesitant.
There was definitely a terrifying existence within this demonic energy. He wasn't sure if it was a creature from the Netherworld, but its strength was extremely formidable—even surpassing the two white bats. Merely with Qin Mu's words in the Netherworld language, this existence had retreated. There seemed to be something odd about this.
After the demonic energy retreated, the agonized screams that had lingered here suddenly disappeared, and the surroundings became incredibly quiet. Those strange creatures that had surged from the Netherworld world were now all gone.
Because of the silence, it became even more eerie.
"That terrifying existence that exhausted the two high monks has probably already come onto this ship!"
Qin Mu frowned. Now the ship was quiet in a somewhat frightening way.
"Dragon-Fatty, Yuchun, Yuqiu, let's go in and have a look. If we encounter danger, we retreat immediately!" Qin Mu said in a deep voice, stepping forward first.
Fu Yuchun and Fu Yuqiu quickly stepped forward, flapping their wings to fly. The two white bats flew silently, hanging upside down ahead of Qin Mu. Dragon-Qilin followed behind Qin Mu, ready for battle.
They advanced from the left side of the treasure ship. When they reached the center of the ship, they encountered the honeycomb seal. The honeycomb seal here was still very tight, with only faint demonic energy seeping through the cracks.
Suddenly, the nearby building made creaking sounds, and a door creaked open, with dim light coming from inside.
The two white bats quickly moved, hanging upside down on either side of the doorway, peering into the room.
This room was one of the buildings on the deck of the treasure ship. The room was about seven zhang in length and width, with a screen and jade table. The candlestick on the jade table still held a lit candle, and a bronze crane held a censer in its beak, with curling smoke drifting from it.
There was no one in the room, but from the candlestick and censer, it seemed someone had been there just moments ago.
"This place is safe!" Fu Yuchun said.
Qin Mu opened his Azure Heaven Eye to look but didn't see any problems. He then scanned again with his Dan Heaven Eye, still finding nothing amiss.
They entered the room and looked around. Fu Yuqiu said: "Strange. This door has never opened before. Why did it open today..."
"Never opened before?" Qin Mu was slightly startled.
The two white bats nodded: "The doors on this ship can't be opened. No matter how much force we use, they won't budge. Very strange."
There weren't many things in this room. The screen was embroidered with green mountains and flowing water, with a small boat in the middle of the river and an old man sitting at the bow fishing. One white bat came to the jade table, wanting to pick up a candlestick for light, but couldn't move it at all, so gave up.
Qin Mu looked around the room, vaguely feeling as if something was watching them, but he couldn't sense the source of the gaze. He became secretly vigilant.
He scanned the surroundings, and the feeling of being watched persisted. Qin Mu suddenly turned his head but still saw nothing.
His vital energy surged out, forming a mirror that reflected the surroundings. Suddenly, he saw the old man who was fishing in the painting on the screen quietly turn his head to peek at them.
Qin Mu quickly turned and lunged toward the screen. The fishing old man panicked, quickly dropping his fishing rod, hopping and jumping with remarkable agility, escaping from the painting onto the wall, then scurrying along the wall into another doorway.
Qin Mu immediately chased after him, opening the door and rushing in. Suddenly, he heard a door slam shut behind him. Startled, he quickly retreated. The Wuyou Sword behind him leaped into the air, transforming into the Cloud Sword stance to protect his body, while he reached back to push open the door behind him, saying in a deep voice: "Fu brothers, Dragon-Fatty, come in quickly! Fu brothers..."
Qin Mu turned to look and was slightly stunned. The door that opened wasn't the room he had come from, but another room. This room seemed to be a woman's boudoir!
And the room he had just entered had vanished!
The two white bats and Dragon-Qilin also quickly pushed open the door, but didn't see Qin Mu. Their faces changed dramatically as they hurriedly opened other doors, but still couldn't find him.
"That's not right!"
Dragon-Qilin used his claws to push open the door behind him, peered in, and exclaimed: "This isn't the room we entered from! The rooms on this ship are strange!"
The two white bats closed the door, and when they opened it again, the room had changed to another one. This happened repeatedly. Every time they closed and opened the door, the room was different!
"We're done for!"
Fu Yuchun's face turned ashen as he said tremblingly: "If we don't find him, when the poison erupts, our white bat race will be extinct!"
"Don't panic," Dragon-Qilin said. "There must be a fixed number of rooms here. They can't be infinite. As long as we find the same room, we can figure out the pattern. By the way, how are your skills in mathematics?"
Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat. He immediately walked into this boudoir, closed the door behind him, and looked around, thinking: "I came in through this door. Coming in and out through the same door, how did I end up in a different room? They must be using some spatial folding technique. Although this ship is large, the rooms in the buildings can't be infinite—they must be limited. As long as the number of rooms is limited, we can find the pattern."
He calmed himself and looked around. This boudoir had wall lamps lit, with several women's embroideries hanging on the wall. Below was a desk, with a handkerchief depicting a dragon playing with a phoenix on one side.
The writing desk was at a lower level, with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone on it. Below was a cushion for sitting. The ink on the paper hadn't dried yet: "The dew moistens delicate yellow, the wind sways the green. The evening beauty of the mortal world is not without intention, the immortal's light makeup is heaven-given beauty. Who can compare?"
The writing stopped abruptly here, probably because something urgent happened and they couldn't finish.
Qin Mu examined the handwriting and secretly admired: "The brushwork is no inferior to mine, just a bit more delicate."
Just then, the fishing old man suddenly popped out of the painting in front of him and winked at him. Qin Mu smiled coldly and raised his brush to抹 it out, but the old man quickly jumped onto the desk, ran to the wall, and escaped through another doorway.
Qin Mu immediately grabbed his brush and chased after him. The old man in the painting disappeared into another room, hiding who knew where.
Qin Mu entered this room and looked around. This room was a study with very ancient books. Qin Mu pulled down a book to open it but couldn't manage to open it at all.
Suddenly, the old man in the painting jumped out of his book and into another book.
Qin Mu quickly pulled out that book. This time he could open it. He flipped through and found it was a genealogy.
"First generation: Kaihuang Qin, given name Ye, ruler of the world..."
Qin Mu was stunned: "Kaihuang, whose sword opened up the bloody ocean? This Kaihuang also has the surname Qin, the same as me."
This genealogy was thick, recording the lives and marriages of various Qin-surnamed individuals in just a few words. Qin Mu quickly flipped through, looking for the old man in the painting. When he reached the last page, he saw: "One hundred and seventh generation: son of Hanzhen, Fengqing."
The genealogy ended here.