On the bridge, two figures rose and fell, Qin Mu and Ban Gongcuo still striking at each other with lethal intent, fighting to the death.
Both simultaneously realized that since they couldn't find the entrance to the real world for the time being, they might as well eliminate the obstacle in their path first. Remove the opponent, and then they could focus entirely on controlling the treasure ship to search for the exit.
Otherwise, having such a powerful enemy watching their back, ready to stab them in the back at any moment, would be a troublesome matter, and they never knew when they might suffer a devastating setback.
Ban Gongcuo was, after all, a reincarnator whose cultivation progressed with incredible speed. Qin Mu didn't want to leave him be. The longer time dragged on, the more likely Ban Gongcuo's cultivation would surpass his own. He had to be eliminated early.
Meanwhile, Ban Gongcuo recognized the terrifying potential of this new Human Emperor. His growth potential was astonishing, and he was cunning and difficult to outwit—in fact, it was more likely that one would be outwitted by him. The longer this dragged on, the more dangerous it became, so Qin Mu had to be eliminated as soon as possible.
Both had already expended tremendous amounts of vital essence, and both possessed the strength to kill the other. Now, with their lives on the line, they burned through their vital essence even faster. Before long, both were covered in wounds, gasping for breath.
Bang!
Their final collision sent both crashing to the ground, utterly drained of vital essence and strength. Qin Mu dragged himself forward with difficulty, trying to reach a sword to stab his opponent. Flying swords littered the bridge, but with his vital essence exhausted, he couldn't summon a single one. He could only inch forward slowly.
After much struggle, he finally reached one of his flying swords and grasped the hilt. A smile spread across his face—then froze. "Si Yunxiang, I'm going to spank your backside until it splits into three pieces! You won't be able to leave bed for half a month!"
He had indeed grasped the hilt, but his flying swords were forged from mystic gold essence. Each sword weighed three hundred pounds. In his current state, he couldn't lift one—he couldn't even drag it!
The reason they were so heavy was none other than Si Yunxiang's doing!
Meanwhile, Ban Gongcuo was struggling to gather a sliver of mana, attempting to activate a flying locust to eliminate Qin Mu. But his vital essence flickered weakly, and the locust wouldn't fly. The insect crawled toward Qin Mu at a pace barely faster than an ant.
Qin Mu, in turn, had turned around and was straining to crawl toward Ban Gongcuo. He fished a handful of deadly spirit medicine from his gluttony pouch, a strange smile forming on his face.
Ban Gongcuo poured every ounce of effort into controlling the flying locust until it finally caught up to Qin Mu's calf. It latched on and bit, but with his mana so depleted, the locust's strength was negligible. After an eternity, it finally pierced through Qin Mu's pant leg, then broke through a layer of skin.
Qin Mu endured the pain and pushed forward. Ban Gongcuo's face contorted with panic as he rolled over, crawling on all fours, his chin scraping the ground as he desperately tried to distance himself from Qin Mu.
One chased from behind, the other fled ahead, both moving at a pace that was nothing short of atrocious.
After much crawling, they had covered a mere ten feet when suddenly, Ban Gongcuo managed to pull something from his gluttony pouch—a gourd containing witch poison.
Ban Gongcuo was ecstatic. This was a witch poison he had refined in a past life, incredibly potent. Eliminating Qin Mu would be child's play. He immediately stopped crawling and painfully turned himself around to face Qin Mu.
Seeing this, Qin Mu quickly tried to turn around. After a long while, he finally managed to face the right direction and strained forward. Ban Gongcuo's poison was a refined concoction, while the poison in his hand was still incomplete. In terms of toxicity, he was clearly inferior.
"You're dead, brat!" Ban Gongcuo pursued relentlessly, finally catching up to Qin Mu's legs. He excitedly tried to pull the stopper from the gourd, straining until his face turned red, but it wouldn't budge.
Qin Mu had thought himself doomed, but when he looked back, Ban Gongcuo blurted, "You're dead, brat!" hoping to scare him off.
"Little prince, have you run out of strength?"
Qin Mu thrust his foot forward, shoving it into Ban Gongcuo's mouth, trying to suffocate him. Ban Gongcuo choked, his eyes rolling back. Then he hardened his resolve: "I've reincarnated so many times—does it matter if my body is humiliated?"
He bit down hard, clamping onto Qin Mu's foot. Qin Mu yelped in pain and pulled his foot back. He sneered, smeared poison on his foot, and prepared to shove it back into Ban Gongcuo's mouth.
While Qin Mu was busy applying the poison, Ban Gongcuo crawled closer. The two wrestled, each trying to choke the other, but their hands lacked any strength.
Moreover, cultivators in the Six Harmonies realm possessed incredible stamina. After nearly an hour of strangling each other, neither had managed to kill the other—they had simply exhausted the last of their strength.
Both collapsed completely, only their fingers, toes, and eyes still moving sluggishly.
Each struggled to regulate their breathing, attempting to recover even a trickle of vital essence, hoping to eliminate the other before they regained strength.
Time trickled by. Qin Mu finally recovered a sliver of strength and applied dragon salive to his wounds, allowing the blood to flow freely. Even an iron body couldn't withstand such injuries indefinitely.
Meanwhile, Ban Gongcuo took a jade vial and swallowed a pill. Having lived for ten thousand years, he had studied extensively. He possessed deep knowledge in medicine and pharmacology, and had even developed the infamous witch poison that targeted the soul.
Qin Mu glanced at him, wariness evident in his eyes.
Ban Gongcuo was a rare polymath, proficient in many disciplines. Though none reached the pinnacle, his combined expertise was formidable. If he ever managed to integrate all his knowledge into a unified whole, the resulting breakthrough would be astonishing—though that was exceedingly difficult.
In his current state, Ban Gongcuo had no hope of such integration. Though brilliant, his fighting spirit had been worn down over countless lifetimes. He had lost the drive to push forward.
Ban Gongcuo did not continue attacking. Having lived through so many lives, he still couldn't gain the upper hand against Qin Mu.
The first time they met, Qin Mu had beaten him into a near-death situation. This time, the result was once again mutual destruction—a truly humbling outcome.
Within him lurked the power of his past lives, but it couldn't be easily accessed. He needed to continuously strengthen this body, tempering his foundation until it could withstand greater power.
His past-life strength was terrifying. A moment's carelessness could cause his current body to explode. But once this body reached sufficient strength, his cultivation would instantly peak at its highest possible level—which was why his cultivation speed still surpassed Qin Mu's.
Yet five months had passed since their last encounter. By all rights, his cultivation should have left Qin Mu far behind. He hadn't expected them to remain evenly matched.
Neither spoke. They simply gazed out the porthole.
The Underworld realm had no concept of up or down, no seasons, no visible earth or sun or moon, and thus no directions. Any other world possessed the Six Harmonies of spatial distinction—only this place did not.
The desolate Underworld. The treasure ship drifted aimlessly through the darkness.
The farther they drifted, the harder it would be to return to the real world. In such solitude, madness would claim them before long.
Outside, in the dark expanse of the Underworld, a light suddenly flashed—some creature of the Underworld, glowing in the darkness to lure prey into its grasp.
Yet strangely, since the treasure ship had entered the Underworld, no terrifying Underworld creatures had approached.
Qin Mu and Ban Gongcuo suddenly realized the key implication, their hearts tightening: "There must be something even more terrifying on this ship—that's why the Underworld creatures won't come near!"
The terrifying presence obviously wasn't them. It was something else hidden aboard.
Qin Mu recalled the demonic energy that had surged when he first boarded. Now he was certain—the ship wasn't occupied by just the two of them. Something else was concealed within.
"Hearts of men are truly vicious. This world is so cruel—one wrong step and you'll be devoured without even a bone left."
He swayed to his feet. Ban Gongcuo tensed, immediately adopting a defensive posture. But Qin Mu didn't attack. Instead, he removed the gluttony pouch from his back, opened it, and stored his flying swords inside.
Ban Gongcuo relaxed slightly and recalled his flying locust. "Cult Master Qin, there are unpredictable dangers on this ship. We should work together to weather this storm, rather than continue fighting to the death. What do you say?"
Qin Mu narrowed his eyes. "I was thinking the same thing. But if we cooperate, I'll have a hard time trusting you."
Ban Gongcuo's gaze flickered. "And I won't trust you either. Cult Master Qin, we are adversaries. I underestimated you before, but I never will again. This time nothing went as planned—we stumbled into the Underworld realm blindly, the ship holds secrets, and something terrifying lurks aboard. We must set aside our grudges and cooperate if we hope to leave alive. If we continue fighting, we'll both die here!"
Qin Mu appeared to reluctantly agree. "Very well. Then we'll cooperate only on this ship. Once we leave, we remain enemies."
Ban Gongcuo smiled and nodded. "Agreed!"
"Agreed!"
Qin Mu hesitated. "Should we seal it with the Earth Count's pact?"
Ban Gongcuo smiled dismissively. "No need for such formality. This is only a temporary alliance."
Qin Mu nodded. "That does make sense."
Ban Gongcuo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "This new Human Emperor is still young after all—he still can't outmatch me. If I were to sign the Earth Count's pact with you, I'd be bound to work with you. Where would I find the opportunity to eliminate you?"
Each harbored their own scheming thoughts. Ban Gongcuo said, "We need to find our subordinates and gather together. Only then will we have the strength to protect ourselves."
Qin Mu nodded. "The Great Sovereign speaks wisely. I'll follow your lead. Oh, and Great Sovereign—this silver helmet..." He produced the silver helmet with red plumes, a look of difficulty on his face.
Ban Gongcuo wanted it back, but feared that the moment he put it on, Qin Mu would launch a sneak attack. He shook his head. "Since we're cooperating in full, we naturally must trust each other. Keep it for now. Follow me this time—I've already deduced the secret of this ship's rooms. It uses the matching-wheel technique."
Qin Mu expressed genuine admiration. "The Great Sovereign is wise!"
The two tidied themselves and walked out of the cabin. The ship was silent and empty. No one else was in sight—not a single living thing. Only some glowing green slime was scattered across the deck.
The treasure ship was massive. The white bats, the dragon qilin, the great shaman and shaman kings Ban Gongcuo had brought, and the warriors of the Man Di kingdom were likely still trapped within those rooms.
Both took some spirit pills and strove to recover their cultivation. Walking side by side, they entered the room they had come from. Qin Mu activated the Hegemon Body Three Pill Technique to catalyze the medicine's effects. His cultivation recovered by twenty to thirty percent, and the wounds on his body, coated with dragon salive, began to scab and heal.
Ban Gongcuo's injuries also improved considerably. His spirit medicine was no less effective than Qin Mu's.
Suddenly, Qin Mu caught sight of the old man from the painting flickering across the wall. His heart stirred, and he immediately gave chase.
Ban Gongcuo shouted urgently, "That's the wrong way!"
But Qin Mu had already opened another door and burst into the room!
Ban Gongcuo gritted his teeth and followed, fury burning inside: "If I didn't still have use for you, I would have killed you long ago! Brat, when you fall into my hands, I won't let you die easily!"
Ban Gongcuo gritted his teeth and followed, fury burning inside: "If I didn't still have use for you, I would have killed you long ago! Brat, when you fall into my hands, I won't let you die easily!"