"This is not the Nether Valley."
Fu Yuchun looked around. Both white bats were a bit reserved; it was their first time leaving the Nether Valley, wanting to hang upside down but feeling shy.
Qin Mu looked up at the dilapidated grand hall and eaves, and said: "You two can hang under the eaves, rest for the night, and don't disturb anyone. Tomorrow I'll take you back to the Nether Valley, and once we're back, I'll give you the antidote."
Both white bats breathed a sigh of relief, flew up silently, and hung under the eaves, arms crossed over their chests.
Fu Yuchun opened one eye and whispered: "That kid is lying to us. We were never poisoned."
Fu Yuqiu was shocked: "Not poisoned? Impossible! When our poison acted up, it hurt a lot!"
Fu Yuchun rolled his eye: "Maybe the poison was already cured. The first time he gave us the antidote, he cured the poison. The rest was just to scare us. Otherwise, we would have died of poison long ago in these two months."
Fu Yuqiu was furious: "That kid tricked us into working for him! Let's roast him medium rare and eat him!"
"Forget it, forget it."
Fu Yuchun said: "Even if we didn't team up with him, that little brat Ban Gongcuo would still be chasing us with his people, wouldn't let us go. By teaming up with him, we actually survived. Not a bad deal. This time we also have him to thank for letting us know our ancestors are still alive. Now our white bat divine tribe won't go extinct. After we go back, we'll awaken the two ancestors and let them have a baby girl."
Fu Yuqiu was excited: "Have two females! No, no, have a litter of females, I want to hold one in each arm... Wait a minute! Brother, we are descendants of the ancestors countless generations ago. Even if the ancestors have two baby girls, by seniority they would be our great-great-great-grandmothers. This seniority..."
The two white bats looked troubled and couldn't fall asleep.
In the ruins, Qin Mu sat down and leaned against Dragon Qilin to rest. This ruin was guarded by more than ten divine statues, their light illuminating the area. He still didn't know where in the Great Ruins this place was. He would have to wait until dawn and fly high to observe the surrounding geography to confirm his location.
Ban Gongcuo glanced at him and also sat down. The surviving dozen or so Great Witches, Witch Kings, and a handful of Man Di Kingdom soldiers surrounded him in the center.
Qin Mu looked around. There were many strange beasts in this ruin, including some extremely powerful ones, much larger than Dragon Qilin at full size.
"Hmm, these people are interesting..."
His pupils narrowed slightly as his gaze fell on the passersby in the ruins. These people were divided into three groups. One group consisted of three big monks, with fleshy faces but gentle eyes, yet carrying strong demonic aura.
"Monks from the Little Thunderclap Monastery!"
Qin Mu sensed the demonic aura on them and understood. The Little Thunderclap Monastery was also a sacred place, but for the demon race. Their leader was revered as the Little Tathagata, a fellow disciple of the Old Tathagata, with extraordinary abilities that also reached the Tathagata realm.
The Little Thunderclap Monastery was called the Little Western Heaven, even further west than the Great Thunderclap Monastery on Mount Sumeru, located at the far west of the Great Ruins.
"To see demon monks from the Little Thunderclap Monastery here... are we in the west of the Great Ruins?"
Qin Mu's heart sank slightly. This was the first time he had come so far. The Great Ruins were vast; this place was probably even farther than the Loulan Golden Palace.
The second group had only two people, a man and a woman, both looking quite young, like a young couple, with no apparent danger.
They were also dressed in foreign attire. The man had white cloth wrapped around his head, with black hair showing on top. The woman wore gold and silver, with many small gold, silver, and jade ornaments on her body. She tied her hair with a black scarf, which hung together with her hair down to her slightly protruding chest. A small red flower was tied at the ends of her hair.
Her hands were fair, with sleeves slightly short, revealing most of her forearm. Her arms were not thick, but at her wrists she wore about ten gold, silver, and jade bracelets of varying thickness.
They were guarding a jeweled carriage, which had a peculiar shape.
Qin Mu had seen some jeweled carriages before, most of them quite square. Some had dome-shaped round roofs, some had octagonal square roofs. The dome-shaped round roofs symbolized heaven is round and earth is square, while the octagonal square roofs represented the eight directions. Both were symbols of status.
But this carriage was round—round bottom, round top. The decorations hanging around the carriage also had a foreign feel.
The third group consisted of about a hundred spirit masters, also dressed in foreign attire, with blue eyes. But Qin Mu couldn't tell what country they were from.
These spirit masters had killing intent in their eyes, occasionally glancing toward the young couple and the carriage.
"Cult Master, something's not right."
Dragon Qilin secretly opened his eyes and whispered to Qin Mu: "That woman has too many spirit weapons on her, and those spirit masters are all very strong!"
Qin Mu raised his eyebrows. Dragon Qilin's eye was indeed good. The gold, silver, necklaces, ornaments, and jade pieces hanging on the woman were all spirit weapons.
Just now, Qin Mu had swept a glance with his Azure Sky Eye. The spiritual light emanating from each spirit weapon was blinding, clearly indicating great power.
Hanging so many spirit weapons, her strength must be considerable.
On the other side, Ban Gongcuo also noticed these people, whispering instructions to two Great Witches. One Great Witch immediately went to the young couple, greeted them, asked a few questions, then came back and reported: "They said they are from the True Heaven Palace in the Western Lands. Asking if we can help them."
"The True Heaven Palace from the Western Lands?"
Ban Gongcuo said: "Since they are cultivators from the True Heaven Palace of the Western Lands, they have nothing to do with us. No need to guard against them. As for their affairs, we won't help."
The other Great Witch also came back after inquiring: "Those spirit masters are from the True Heaven Palace, hoping we can both stay neutral."
"All from the True Heaven Palace?"
Ban Gongcuo was surprised, then laughed: "Probably an internal conflict. Ignore it. Those three demon monks are from the Little Thunderclap Monastery, and have grievances with our Golden Palace. We need to be cautious."
The Loulan Golden Palace often captured humans and demons for cultivation, and had many conflicts with the Little Thunderclap Monastery. The Golden Palace had also captured many demon monks from the Little Thunderclap Monastery to refine their souls.
The three monks also recognized Ban Gongcuo's group. They exchanged glances but didn't make a move.
Ban Gongcuo whispered: "Encountering people from the Little Thunderclap Monastery and the Western Lands here means we are in the west of the Great Ruins. Probably very close to the Little Thunderclap Monastery. We can't leave these three monks alive. After sunrise, eliminate them immediately!"
Everyone whispered in agreement.
"As for Cult Master Qin..."
He looked toward Qin Mu, who was examining a Glutton Bag. Sensing his gaze, Qin Mu looked up and smiled brightly, like a sunny young boy.
The Glutton Bag Qin Mu was holding was his. He took out items one by one from the bag, examining each carefully.
"What a big hammer!"
He pulled out a white bone hammer from the Glutton Bag, gave it a light shake, and countless skulls flew out from the large skull at the top, spewing soul fire everywhere.
Qin Mu shook it again, and the large skull's mouth opened, sucking the small skulls back in.
"There's even a Sword Pellet!"
Qin Mu stuffed the white bone hammer back into the Glutton Bag, then took out a Sword Pellet. With a gentle activation, countless hair-thin fine swords danced around his palm.
"Refined to such a fine degree... great skill! Is this the Daoist sect's Dao Sword technique? Doesn't seem quite right."
Qin Mu shook his head: "Dao Sword only needs one sword. Brother Ban, your cultivation is lacking. No wonder your Dao Sword is mediocre, not comparable to the Dao Master."
Ban Gongcuo snorted coldly: "The Glutton Bag you stole is just a drop in the ocean of my wealth accumulated over many lives."
He lowered his voice and instructed those beside him: "Tomorrow, you Witch Kings will eliminate the two white bats and that fat cat. The rest will attack together to kill that one named Qin!"
Qin Mu finished examining everything in the Glutton Bag, then stood up and walked directly to the three demon monks. He greeted them: "Brothers."
The three demon monks were meditating. They quickly stood up and returned the greeting: "Brothers!"
These three monks wore wide robes. Although their robes were large, they couldn't cover their legs, revealing sharp claws and thick, feathered bird legs.
"Are you three from the Little Thunderclap Monastery?"
Qin Mu asked: "Is the Little Tathagata's disciple a demon ape with the dharma name Kong?"
The three demon monks were surprised and quickly nodded: "Brother, the Tathagata bestowed him the dharma name Zhankong. He is indeed a Tathagata disciple. May we ask how you know Zhankong?"
Qin Mu smiled: "I am the Heavenly Saint Cult Master. He is my sworn brother, so naturally I know him."
"So that's how it is."
The three demon monks let down their guard and smiled: "My dharma name is Dingjue. These are my worldly brothers, Dingzhi and Dingming. Greetings to the Heavenly Saint Cult Master."
Qin Mu glanced at Ban Gongcuo: "That young man is the Great Venerable of the Loulan Golden Palace. The three Witch Kings beside him—two are in the Celestial Being realm, one is in the Life and Death realm."
The three monks were startled, their faces turning pale: "What shall we do? We are not yet in the Celestial Being realm. We can't fight them!"
Qin Mu smiled: "Don't worry, I'm here. Tomorrow, I'll lead you out. Follow me, come rest over there."
The three monks felt relieved and followed him to Dragon Qilin's side. They quickly greeted the Dragon Qilin: "Brother."
Dragon Qilin had fallen asleep and ignored them.
These three demon monks had good temperaments and didn't take it to heart. They greeted the two white bats hanging under the eaves: "Brothers."
The two white bats returned the greeting with arms crossed: "Brothers."
The three demon monks then continued meditating.
Seeing this, Ban Gongcuo's face turned somewhat green, and he snorted.
Qin Mu said amiably: "Have you three heard of the Heavenly Saint Cult?"
Dingjue shook his head: "We only operate in the Great Ruins, haven't heard of it."
Qin Mu was about to speak when suddenly the turbaned man spirit master guarding the jeweled carriage stepped forward and bowed: "Brother..."
Qin Mu stood up to return the greeting and shook his head: "Please don't speak."
The foreign spirit master was surprised: "Why do you say that?"
"You're being chased by these powerful people and fled to the Great Ruins. I won't team up with you."
Qin Mu shook his head: "There are too many of them, and each is very strong. It's hard for me to protect myself, let alone team up with you. That would be seeking death. Please go back."
The man looked disappointed and returned to the carriage, whispering something to it.
From inside the carriage came a little girl's voice: "Mother, that big brother doesn't want to help us?"
Then came a very pleasant voice from the carriage, sighing: "There are no righteous ones in the Great Ruins. No one can save us mother and daughter..."
Qin Mu raised an eyebrow: "Righteous ones? I'm no righteous one. I'm the Heavenly Devil Cult Master. If I don't do bad things, people are already overjoyed. You think I'd be a righteous one? Hmph, when I was young, I might have rushed in to do good deeds, but now that I've grown up..."
The night seemed to pass slowly. Everyone in the ruins had their own thoughts. After an unknown amount of time, a chicken-dragon from the group of strange beasts flapped its wings and flew up, landing on the roof of a dilapidated grand hall. It raised its head and crowed toward the sky.
Immediately, darkness rapidly receded. A ray of sunlight came from the east, landing on the mountain peak outside the ruins, illuminating it.