Chapter 926 — The Third Eye's Mutation

The nine-headed phoenix rose from the ship, its wings spanning the heavens, sheltering the whole vessel and taking that blow head-on. It was Qi Xiayu's power, transmitted from the Yuan World, that had saved them.

Everyone who had flown up from the deck crashed into the phoenix's wings, soft as they were, and none was hurt.

The Heavenly Bell's shockwaves only grew fiercer, rocking the Phoenix Ship so that it lurched and careened wildly through the Blood-Rust Belt.

The ship grazed those continents, struck broken star after broken star, smashed into the continents themselves—and there, all through the Blood-Rust Belt, upon every ancient, shattered continent, the prehistoric ruins suddenly blazed bright, light after light flaring until a sight appeared that made the scalp go numb. On continent after continent, from ruins beyond counting, light erupted, and one terrifying phantom of an ancient god after another came seething up out of those lands! The Blood-Rust Belt was terrifying in its length, a whole expanse of dark-red stars and shattered continents, yet now points of light lit it up.

The nine-phoenix phantom strove to steer the Phoenix Ship through, dodging one dreadful attack after another, and from the mouth of one phoenix head came Qi Xiayu's furious voice: "How perilous is the Blood-Rust Belt?

Even in the Heavenly Court it counts as a forbidden zone!

Which of you made this mess? " The six thousand and more gods aboard all turned their heads as one to look at Shen Mu, arm after arm rising to point at him. Yan'er raised a wing too and pointed at Shen Mu.

Long Qilin hesitated, and did not point at Shen Mu.

But from his ear the little Tubo stepped out of the ear hole, lifted a hand, and pointed at Shen Mu, solemn-faced: "Moo—" Long Qilin whispered hastily, "Don't talk nonsense.

The spirit pills are all refined by the Cult Master.

Point around like that and the Cult Master won't give you any food.

" Little Tubo lowered his hand, bowed his head, turned, and went back into the ear hole, as though he had done something wrong.

Shen Mu was at once overcome by a sense of being utterly alone; his face betrayed nothing as he stood there, but inwardly he was full of dread, afraid that the enraged crowd would throw him off the ship.

"Mu Tianzun, I will help you this once and only once. Don't expect me to save you again!

" The nine-phoenix phantom drove the Phoenix Ship to its utmost, and the Blood-Rust Belt was like a pot of boiling porridge; amid countless lights that spanned heaven and earth, grotesque gods and demons—strange beyond all description, yet each bearing some likeness to the ancient gods—struck out one after another, setting the whole belt fairly seething as they reached for the Phoenix Ship.

Everyone aboard scrambled for something to hold on to, lest the pitching Phoenix Ship fling them out into the void. The nine-phoenix phantom piloted the ship in a desperate dash, but the Blood-Rust Belt was long and the starry sky stretched on without end; there was no escaping this place in a moment. What was more, the figures above the altars of those continents threw the Blood-Rust Belt into disorder, rousing the altars in yet more ruins ahead, so that ever more ancient god spirit bodies came flying out before them.

These spirit bodies were mighty in divine power indeed; every art they wielded was plainly a grand dao art of the ancient gods, and their might was extreme.

One against one, Qi Xiayu would have feared no one, even steering the Phoenix Ship from the Yuan World; but here the ancient god spirit bodies were far too many.

She could only drive the ship with all her strength, dodging the assaults of one giant spirit body after another by the narrowest of margins, doing all she could to keep those aboard safe and flee this place. The Phoenix Ship wove up and down; when it truly could not dodge, it shrank its hull and charged straight at the ancient god spirit bodies, plunging through their very forms, valiant beyond measure.

Yet every collision was a strain Qi Xiayu could scarce sustain—she had not come in person, after all, and steering the Phoenix Ship from the Yuan World left her slow to react, her power somewhat wanting, so that the phantom of the nine-headed phoenix grew dimmer and dimmer.

At last, when her power was nearly spent, the Phoenix Ship flew clear of that dreadful Blood-Rust Belt, and everyone aboard breathed out.

The phantom of the nine-headed phoenix all but vanished; plainly Qi Xiayu had been drained enormously—saving them all had left her utterly spent. "Take him to the Heavenly Court and dump him in front of the Southern Heavenly Gate, then sail the ship back to me at once.

Don't let me see him again! " With that, the nine phoenixes dispersed.

Shen Mu said nothing, sullen. Qi Jiuyi shot him a glance: "Cult Master Shen, I told you the Blood-Rust Belt was extremely dangerous, and you wouldn't believe me.

This is a forbidden zone; even beings of the Imperial Throne realm hardly dare set foot here lightly, let alone the rest of us.

Guards!

Help Cult Master Shen to his cabin to rest! " Several gods came forward; two took Shen Mu by the arms, left and right, and several more followed behind as they escorted him into the cabin.

Still uneasy, worried that he might break out, Qi Jiuyi ordered layer upon layer of seals laid down, saying, "Cult Master Shen, there are several more perilous ruins along the way.

Bear with it a few days; we'll let you out when we reach the Heavenly Court. " Yan'er asked curiously, "There are more dangerous places on the way? How do they compare with the Blood-Rust Belt?

" Qi Jiuyi said, "No less terrible.

Two days further on lies the place where the Ming Emperor fell; the Ming Emperor died in battle there, and it is more dangerous by far than this place. " Yan'er said gravely, "Then the gods under your command cannot hold the young master.

He is a master of every art of breaking seals; your gods may be his superiors in cultivation, but he can undo your seals with ease.

I must be the one to lay the seals, or he will break through. " With that, she laid layer upon layer of seals on the cabin door, so that Shen Mu might not escape and make more trouble.

From within came Shen Mu's furious voice: "Sister Yan'er, you've turned traitor! " Long Qilin said hastily, "Cult Master, Sister Yan'er means well—she doesn't want you to get into trouble again. If the Red Emperor hadn't come to the rescue next time, you'd truly be dead!

" Shen Mu raged, "Fat Long, you've turned traitor too—when the New Year comes, I'll slaughter you and serve you up on the table!

" The Phoenix Ship sped up and pressed on.

In the cabin, Shen Mu took out that red Creation Godstone; he had not yet examined this treasure closely since he came by it.

The Godstone was not large; it was most likely a fragment of a whole one, and Wei Suifeng had probably found it while searching the ruins of the Blood-Rust Belt.

Wei Suifeng knew many secrets, and this eldest senior brother would go to any lengths to earn merit; he must have had deep reasons for leaving this Creation Godstone to Shen Mu.

Shen Mu placed the Godstone at the center of his brow, emptied his mind, and let his divine consciousness flow into it—and that was when the anomaly struck!

The little lump at his brow suddenly stirred; a terrifying energy surged in, sweeping up all his qi and blood and driving every drop of it toward the center of his brow! Shen Mu was startled, his face turning ghastly pale in an instant; the blood from every part of his body was rushing to his brow, and in a moment he had grown frightfully thin, like a mummy of skin and bone!

"Damn it! " He was about to rouse his primordial qi to control the qi and blood flowing to his brow, but it was well enough while he did not use it—the moment he did, his primordial qi too ran out of control and streamed toward his brow!