Chapter 444: Bane

As the sun set in the west, the flaming desert was colored fiery red. Qin Mu rode on the dragon qilin’s head, having transformed his vital qi into Vermillion Bird Vital Qi to refine each and every one of his flying swords. He was deepening the rune markings on them.

He lowered his head and saw that Xiong Qi’er had already fallen asleep in the dragon qilin’s ear. There was no wind there, and the dragon qilin also used his ear to cover its inside to protect the little girl with utmost care.

‘Fatty Dragon is really not bad,’ Qin Mu praised in his heart. ‘This fatty is actually quite meticulous. The taste of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills and Fire Element Divine Vitality Pills is indeed not that good; I should improve it for him once we find a place to land.’

“Cult Master, there’s an oasis ahead!” the dragon qilin suddenly said

Qin Mu looked ahead of them, and he indeed saw an oasis. “I wonder if there’s water there. I can endure another day without water, but I’m afraid for Qi’er.”

The flaming desert was incomparably scorching, and there was no moisture in the air. Qin Mu couldn’t get any water even when he changed to Black Tortoise Vital Qi. He had never had to worry about the problem of water supply before, but now with Xiong Qi’er by his side, he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

After a moment, the dragon qilin reached the oasis, and they saw a couple snow white goatskin tents built beside the lake. People wearing West Earth’s clothing were raising fire to cook their meals. The dragon qilin looked around cautiously and said, “I wonder if Pangong Tso escaped here. Cult Master be careful. He’s severely injured so he couldn’t have run far.”

Qin Mu jumped down and opened up the dragon qilin’s ear, from which he took out the sleeping Xiong Qi’er with a smile. “Don’t worry. Since I’m here, even if he’s nearby, he won’t dare to come out. If he decides to show up, it will just make it more convenient for me to get rid of him.”

The tribesmen of West Earth wore embroidered headbands. When they saw the newcomers, their faces changed drastically, but they didn’t dare to make a sound.

Qin Mu looked around and saw that there were a lot more men than women in the camp, and under the daily hardships, their faces were red from the sun. There were also some two-legged yellow gazelles in the oasis along with some commodities. The group was most likely traveling merchants.

Even though the speed of the two-legged gazelles was fast and their ability to carry weight was also great, riding them was a very bumpy experience. Because of that, only merchants chose to use this kind of strange beast.

Even it was bumpy riding the two-legged gazelles, they could deliver more goods.

Qin Mu came to an elderly merchant and said, “Elder, my little sister is asleep. Could I borrow a tent?”

The elderly merchant immediately nodded and said, “Help yourself.”

Qin Mu gave his thanks and sent the girl into a tent. The night in the desert was very cold, so it was lucky to get a goatskin tent to keep her warm. On top of that, there were some thick goat fur blankets inside. Qin Mu tucked in Xiong Qi’er who was still in a daze. Her tiny hands grabbed onto the blanket and she smacked her lips twice. She had to be hungry, but she didn’t wake up.

Qin Mu walked out of the tent to see that the sun had already set.

With the crackle of the bonfire beside him, he asked, “Elder, you guys are merchants from West Earth?”

Everyone looked at Qin Mu’s face and didn’t dare to speak. Only the elderly merchant in charge dared to open his mouth. “We are from West Earth and are going to Great Ruins to do business. Is big brother from Great Ruins?”

Qin Mu was speechless at first, then broke into laughter. Even though he had grown quite tall, it wasn’t even close to him being worthy to be called big brother. The fearfulness of the merchants had to be because of the flame markings on his face.

From them, they could deduce that he came from Great Ruins.

“I’m indeed from Great Ruins and I plan to go to West Earth.” Qin Mu took out some fresh beef and fruit from his taotie sack and gifted it to the other party with a smile. “Elder, thank you for letting my little sister have a place to rest. If elder doesn’t mind, you can just call me Little Qin.”

The elder couldn’t reject and had to accept. “I don’t dare to be called elder. The position of us men in West Earth is slightly lower, only senior women are deserved to be called elders. Brother Qin, you are a person of Great Ruins so it is not really good for you to go to West Earth. This flame desert stretches for tens of thousands of miles and there is blazing fire all along the way. Also, this fire poses numerous dangers to the people of Great Ruins, so it’d be best for you to return.”

Qin Mu shook his head. “I’ve made a promise to go to West Earth so how can I break it? Women are the ones who call the shots in West Earth? Eternal Peace Empire also has women generals and officials. Back when Imperial Preceptor was pushing for equality between men and women, he met quite some opposition, so I would have never expected you guys to be even more open than Eternal Peace.”

The old merchant’s face changed and he immediately said, “Shush! You can’t say equality between men and women or you will be executed! How can men and women be equal? Women can give birth, men can’t give birth, so of course, the men are a class lower!”

Qin Mu was stunned.

The old merchant glanced around and said softly, “When you reach West Earth don’t say this kind of muddle-headed words. Of course, that’s if you can survive your journey there…”

Qin Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“When you reach West Earth, don’t say you are from Great Ruins,” the old merchant also added solemnly. “If you say you are from Great Ruins, you will soon be removed.”

Qin Mu frowned and asked, “Why so?”

The old merchant wasn’t willing to go into detail, and Qin Mu didn’t force him. He continued to use his vital qi to refine his flying swords. When his cultivation got half-exhausted, he would consume a few spirit pills. The flying swords became smaller and smaller from his refinement.

“I’m still lacking compared to Grandpa Mute, able to refine swords into flowing water.”

Qin Mu grabbed a flying sword and rubbed it with his hands. It became a small sword pellet, but there were still some protrusions. He executed Carefree Sword and eight thousand swords collided, transforming into a sword pellet. Even though it was much smaller than before, it was still a square of two feet.

Only when he refined the sword pellet to the size of a thumb could his refinement technique be considered improved. At that point, he could refine swords into flowing water.

Qin Mu dispersed his sword pellet and grabbed Carefree Sword. Nearly eight thousand flying swords came swooshing over one after another, fusing with the mother sword.

Carefree Sword became heavier and heavier, and when the last one fused into it, Qin Mu’s hand trembled. The sword was way too heavy, but he could at least lift it.

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He tried to swing it, and even though it moved very slowly, crackling sounds from an explosion and humming from tremors came from the sky. It was like the descent of a huge mountain!

The explosion noise came from the heaviness of the sword due to the compressed space!

Qin Mu swung Carefree Sword twice and his arms were already sore. He immediately dispersed the child swords and no longer tormented himself with it. ‘Those dragon language writings on Emperor’s Disk and the true dragon’s nest are really not bad. The Nine Dragons Monarch Technique on them is improving my corporeal body at an extremely fast speed! I’d had no chance to lift this sword in the past! What a pity I still can’t figure out many parts of the dragon language on them.’

In the last couple days, he’d been trying to fuse Nine Dragons Monarch Technique with Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique, and his corporeal body was improving at a godly speed. In the past, he had only cultivated the body refinement techniques in Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures so just the pure power his corporeal body alone was stronger than the divine arts of most divine arts practitioners.

If he executed battle techniques like Thunderclap Eight Strikes and Pig Slaughter Knife, their power would be multiplied several times!

The power of the corporeal body had an extraordinary impact on battle techniques!

The merchants of West Earth went into their tents to sleep while Qin Mu sat beside the lake. The dragon qilin had shrunk his size and asked Qin Mu for Dragon Rearing Scriptures. He lay down beside him and used the flames of the desert to read.

‘Fatty Dragon, this fellow has started to put in effort like Ling’er!’ Qin Mu was glad.

The dragon qilin licked his claws and flipped open Dragon Rearing Scriptures to read through it carefully. He thought to himself, ‘Dragon Rearing Sovereign wrote Dragon Rearing Scriptures so I also want to write my own Human Rearing Scriptures…’

Not long later, Qin Mu lay down on the dragon qilin and fell asleep. The dragon qilin also put his head down to rest. Even though the desert was filled with flames at night, the temperature was very low. The surface of the lake had frozen up, but the dragon qilin’s body was very warm. Flames would puff out from his nostrils from time to time.

Near midnight, among the flames outside the oasis, Pangong Tso dug out from underground. He looked at the sleeping Qin Mu and hesitated for a moment. He wondered if he should close in to kill that fellow now.

Qin Mu breathed calmly, having no idea what was happening around him.

Pangong Tso hesitated one last time before deciding to land a fatal blow when he saw dragon qi flying out from taotie sack as Qin Mu breathed. They were like fine slithering dragons around him.

Pangong Tso saw Qin Mu’s hand in the taotie sack, and his heart trembled. He suddenly changed his mind and turned around to sink back into the ground.

“He noticed?”

Qin Mu opened one eye and looked around before shutting it again. He took out the hand he had placed in his taotie sack and continued to guide the dragon in the true dragon’s nest while he snored. This time he had really fallen asleep.

Traces of true dragon qi were absorbed by his body, improving his vital qi and raising his cultivation.

Qin Mu had relied on the true dragon’s nest and Emperor’s Disk to cultivate the last few months, because of which his cultivation had been able to raise that fast. Even Pangong Tso who had reincarnated over ten times couldn’t get ahead of him.

Of course, the most crucial point was still his frequent dual cultivation of primordial spirit with Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang. It benefitted him a lot, and his cultivation didn’t fall behind that of Pangong Tso who had entered Seven Stars Realm.

When day broke, Xiong Qi’er woke up and whined that she was starving. Qin Mu used some minced lean meat and vegetables to cook her porridge. He also made some pastries before refining a few improve spirit pills for the dragon qilin.

‘My Human Rearing Scriptures will definitely succeed!’ The dragon qilin was full of confidence. “Cult Master thought he succeeded in cultivating Dragon Rearing Scriptures, but he has no idea that he’s in the grasp of my Human Rearing Scriptures!’

When the caravan was ready to set off, the old merchant bade farewell to Qin Mu and warned him again, “Brother Qin must never say that you are from Great Ruins; otherwise, there will be great trouble!”

Qin Mu thanked him and got on the dragon qilin’s forehead to rush towards the west. Behind him came the bells ringing on the gazelles’ necks as they carried the goods to toward Great Ruins in the east.

The dragon qilin’s speed was fast, but they still couldn’t reach West Earth even running all the way to the evening.

When they passed by a huge mountain, Qin Mu took a few glances at it, but the dragon qilin ran past it the next moment. Qin Mu then said, “Fatty Dragon, go back!”

The dragon qilin was puzzled, but immediately did as asked.

Qin Mu examined the mountain and saw that it was extremely majestic. There were no flames on it, so Qin Mu quickly went to its peak. It was vast and covered in broken fences and dilapidated walls. Qin Mu could imagine the majestic sight back when everything was still standing.

There were some dried up corpses buried in the sand, and Qin Mu examined them. They showed up to be giants that had abnormally tall and sturdy bodies.

He came to a pillar and touched it. Beside it lay some thick chains.

“Cult Master, what’s with this mountain?” The dragon qilin flew over on fire clouds.

Qin Mu raised his finger to point at the desert far away. “Look over there.”

The dragon qilin looked in the pointed direction and saw a pitch black ball which let the wind and sand caress it.

“It’s Sun Ship, a dead Sun Ship.” Qin Mu disembarked from the ship, expressionless. “Let’s go.”

The dragon qilin looked at his face and didn’t dare to say anything more. Instead, he continued to carry him to the west. Soon after, they encountered a second huge ship. It was a shattered Moon Ship.

After that, they encountered a third huge ship buried in the desert. That Moon Ship had suffered in an extremely fierce battle and was exceptionally ruined.

Qin Mu suddenly came to realization. “Ten Thousand Spirit Nature Technique is the bane of Sun Ship and Moon Ship!”