It seemed like Qin Mu had expected it all along as he grabbed the khakkhara monk staff single-handedly and forcefully raised the devil ape along with its monk staff up before ruthlessly smashing it on the ground. With his other hand, his five fingers flicked out and a series of six explosion sounds could be heard as he shattered the curved blades made from Hu Ling'er's vital qi.
"Aaang—"
The dragon elephant suddenly exerted force in its legs. Taking advantage of the space created by the devil ape, Hu Ling'er rushed towards Qin Mu with its head lowered and made Qin Mu flew off from the collision!
The instant the dragon elephant collided into Qin Mu, its trunk suddenly grew longer and wrapped around Qin Mu who was in midair and pulled him back before raising his trunk up and smashing him into the ground.
The dragon elephant pulled him out from the ground and was ready to smash him once more. However, Qin Mu suddenly changed his leg skill and kicked the elephant trunk away before kicking the dragon elephant's face another hundred times, sending it flying.
"Young'un, down!"
A green dragon coiled around the devil ape's majestic body, smacking Qin Mu, who had just send the dragon elephant flying, onto the ground. With a roar, its thick and sturdy short leg lifted up and stepped mercilessly onto Qin Mu!
Cripple's Heaven Pilfering Leg Skill, Trample On Mount Meru!
Qin Mu who was sprawled onto the floor from the impact immediately flipped over and raised a single leg up while his body laid parallel to the ground. His other leg then came face to face with devil ape's huge feet.
He had always executed the move, Trample On Mount Meru. However, he had to change to this move in a rush so it did not have the usual standard but the power of it was astonishing nonetheless!
Devil ape grunted as it stumbled a few steps back. It then followed up by grabbing the dragon elephant's tail and smashing it towards Qin Mu. At the same time, Hu Ling'er's tail swayed and the whistling of wind sounded out as curved blades came spinning like tires towards Qin Mu!
Suddenly, sounds of breaking through the air came from the sky. Qin Mu's heart slightly jolted and immediately dodged Hu Ling'er and devil ape's attacks. Looking at the source of the sounds, he could see a hundred males and females wearing armor as they leaped through the forest and towards the upstream of the Surging River.
A few of them also noticed them and immediately stopped to take a look. One of the men saw Qin Mu, devil ape, and a white fox, and commented in astonishment, "Hunter?"
"Don't be a busybody, we need to move!"
Another person shouted softly, "The ship is almost here! We have to set up the formation on the river before the ship arrives!"
"Isn't this inappropriate? It wouldn't be good for us if words of us being spotted were to travel out."
"There are many experts hiding in seclusion in the Great Ruins. Don't cause any more trouble than necessary. Let us move, their ship is very fast and if we miss it, it would be too late for regrets!"
Wind picked up under those people's feet and they quickly vanished into the forest.
Qin Mu was bewildered and he spoke softly, "These people don't look like people from the Great Ruins. They seem to be rushing upstream and are planning to ambush somebody. The person even wanted to silence us so they don't seem like good guys… Ling'er, big fella, you see, honest people like us are always at a disadvantage, always getting silenced by people."
The little white fox immediately nodded her head in deep approval while devil ape twitched its mouth, "Believe? Ghost!"
Qin Mu was about to say something when dragon elephant suddenly sprinted back and blew him away. Devil ape flew into a rage and violently pummeled the dragon elephant, "Rest, understand?"
Dragon elephant whimpered from the beatings. Qin Mu had also wanted to give it a beating but seeing how badly devil ape had pummeled it, he let it go.
This dragon elephant was the strange beast that lived next door to the valley of Doom Suppression Palace. It also had its own territory and was extraordinary with its body full of strength. Dragon elephant and devil ape were always unable to get along and would fight frequently. Dragon elephant would always run into devil ape's territory to steal wild beasts but ever since Qin Mu became the territorial master of the valley of Doom Suppression Palace and taught devil ape how to cultivate, the dragon elephant was no longer a match for devil ape.
Devil ape would frequently seek revenge and beat it up several times. When the dragon elephant could no longer take it, it decided to surrender and become devil ape's mount, looking rather impressive.
However, dragon elephant was slightly dumber and not as intelligent as devil ape and little fox.
Qin Mu's gaze flickered as he suddenly leaped up onto the waterfall and the mountain ridge. Over the mountain ridge was Surging River that was flowing by the walls of the cliff.
The river water brought the ice blocks downstream and there was still many floating ice on the surface. At this time, there was normally no ship that would sail on the river.
And at this moment, Qin Mu saw a ship sailing from the bottom of the river. It had a very fast speed as it broke through the ice. It was very outrageous seeing how fast it was going while going upstream and against the floating ice.
Devil ape, Hu Ling'er, and dragon elephant had also climbed up and sat beside him. Devil ape plucked up a pine tree and gave some pine leaves to the little fox.
Hu Ling'er immediately shook her head, but devil ape said, "Eat, strong!"
Hu Ling'er smiled and replied, "I don't eat this."
Devil ape then brought the pine leaves to the face of dragon elephant and said, "Eat, strong!"
Dragon elephant shook its head but devil ape pressed down his head and pummeled it again in anger, "Eat!"
Dragon elephant's eyes welled up with tears and ate the pine leaves silently, appeasing devil ape who then sat down to eat its share slowly. Hu Ling'er couldn't resist speaking out, "Big fella, did you know? Dragon elephant is not a vegetarian, it eats meat as it had the nature of a dragon and not an elephant."
Dragon elephant felt moved and immediately nodded its head.
Devil ape sneered, "Vegetarian, strong! I, vegetarian, strong!"
Dragon elephant's tears flowed profusely as it continued to eat the pine leaves.
The ship sailed closer and Qin Mu immediately saw the officers and soldiers wearing armor on the ship. There was an imperial canopy and under it, was a young general sitting there in an imposing manner.
On the wide deck, there was also a few paintings. In front of every painter was a bronze mirror that was three yards in height.
At the side of the ship, there were also soldiers dressed like herders as they opened iron cages and released the golden eagles from the ship.
Awakening his Heaven's Eyes secretly, he could see pictures of green hills and clear waters that kept on changing appearances as reflected on the bronze mirrors.
Suddenly, the cries of eagles sounded out and Qin Mu raised his head to see a golden eagle flying above them.
He instantly realized what was happening, "The pictures in the bronze mirror is showing them what the golden eagle is seeing! What sorcery is this? To project what the golden eagle see into a picture on the mirror… That's it! The painters are painting a topographic map of Great Ruins!"
Releasing the golden eagles high up into the sky to look at the topography of the areas around Surging River, then projecting it onto the bronze mirror allows the painters to paint the landscape. In this way, as they sail from downstream to upstream, they could paint out the topography of Surging River.
"Who are these people? Why are they painting the topographic map of Surging River? What are they using the map for?"
Qin Mu blinked his eyes in puzzlement.
At this moment, a soldier quickly went under the canopy and knelt down on one leg as he gave a fist and palm salute, "General Qin, there's someone spying on us on the riverbank!"
The young general under the canopy raised his eyebrows and turned his head to look at Qin Mu. Qin Mu's heart leaped as the gaze of the general turned over. It was as if there were two extremely bright light shining over, dazzling his eyes and disabling him from seeing anything!
Hu Ling'er and devil ape also exclaimed in astonishment and covered their eyes with their hands. Only dragon elephant was concentrated on eating the pine leaves and didn't notice anything wrong.
"They're just normal villagers on the riverbank."
The General Qin closed his eyes to take a nap as he said, "They aren't any threat if they can't even handle my gaze, there's no need to worry about them."
"Yes, general!"
The soldier hesitated for a moment and continued, "General, seven months ago under the emperor's orders, we had searched and seized the house of Yan Zheng, the director of Board of Rites. Yan Zheng always had an honest reputation among all levels of society and frequently spoke up for the small sects. He was also from the Hua Qing Sword Sect and had a high position in all levels of society. Seeing how general had seized his house and threw him into prison with the emperor ordering his execution under general's hand, our journey won't be too smooth. The remaining of Yan Zheng's lackeys would lay their hands on us."
General Qin smiled coldly, "It was the emperor's order to search and seize his house, it was also the emperor's order to execute him so what does it have to do with me? Yan Zheng angled for fame and actually accused that Imperial Preceptor had intentions of mutiny, wanting the emperor to immediately execute the Imperial Preceptor. How preposterous! For just a slight moment of fame, he would dare to drive a wedge between the emperor and Imperial Preceptor's friendship. He deserves death due to his impure intentions so who else should be killed if not him?"
He rubbed his temple and sighed, "The emperor wanted me to seize his house and execute him because I'm Imperial Preceptor's disciple and was promoted by him. It's also to tell all levels of society that the emperor has had the utmost trust in Imperial Preceptor and for the rest of the treacherous court officials to give up these thoughts! What a pity that some people couldn't see the current politics clearly and could not understand the meaning behind them, sending themselves to death."
The soldier continued, "However, there might be people angling for fame waiting to ambush us…"
General Qin waved his hand and said indifferently, "I'm exactly trying to bait the remaining lackeys of Yan Zheng out and capture all the rebels in one swoop!"
Standing up, he walked to the head of the ship and looked at the churning river bringing the floating ice downstream. Looking at the mountain range and cliff, he said indifferently, "Imperial Preceptor had ordered me to enter Great Ruins to draft out the topographic map of Surging River for the empire so to incorporate Great Ruins into our Empire's territory. These rebels not only have a lack of understanding towards the hard work of Imperial Preceptor, they even want to kill me? Aren't they worthy of death for trying to create chaos in the lands of Eternal Peace Empire?"
At this moment, a young master walked out from the ship's cabin. He wasn't fat but he had a little baby fat on his face. With a dot of red on the heart of his brow and a folding fan, he laughed, "I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that this kind of person carries the title of an honest and faithful official! This kind of faithful official and honesty should just be exterminated!"
General Qin immediately turned around and greeted, "Seventh young master."
The seventh young master raised his head and looked up the mountain. From the mountain, the shadow of Qin Mu and devil ape projected down and shrouded the sailing ship.
"General Qin, I've heard that the aboriginals in Great Ruins are all people abandoned by gods, am I right?" Seventh young master asked.
It seemed like Qin Mu had expected it all along as he grabbed the khakkhara monk staff single-handedly and forcefully raised the devil ape along with its monk staff up before ruthlessly smashing it on the ground. With his other hand, his five fingers flicked out and a series of six explosion sounds could be heard as he shattered the curved blades made from Hu Ling'er's vital qi.
"Aaang—"
The dragon elephant suddenly exerted force in its legs. Taking advantage of the space created by the devil ape, Hu Ling'er rushed towards Qin Mu with its head lowered and made Qin Mu flew off from the collision!
The instant the dragon elephant collided into Qin Mu, its trunk suddenly grew longer and wrapped around Qin Mu who was in midair and pulled him back before raising his trunk up and smashing him into the ground.
The dragon elephant pulled him out from the ground and was ready to smash him once more. However, Qin Mu suddenly changed his leg skill and kicked the elephant trunk away before kicking the dragon elephant's face another hundred times, sending it flying.
"Young'un, down!"
A green dragon coiled around the devil ape's majestic body, smacking Qin Mu, who had just send the dragon elephant flying, onto the ground. With a roar, its thick and sturdy short leg lifted up and stepped mercilessly onto Qin Mu!
Cripple's Heaven Pilfering Leg Skill, Trample On Mount Meru!
Qin Mu who was sprawled onto the floor from the impact immediately flipped over and raised a single leg up while his body laid parallel to the ground. His other leg then came face to face with devil ape's huge feet.
He had always executed the move, Trample On Mount Meru. However, he had to change to this move in a rush so it did not have the usual standard but the power of it was astonishing nonetheless!
Devil ape grunted as it stumbled a few steps back. It then followed up by grabbing the dragon elephant's tail and smashing it towards Qin Mu. At the same time, Hu Ling'er's tail swayed and the whistling of wind sounded out as curved blades came spinning like tires towards Qin Mu!
Suddenly, sounds of breaking through the air came from the sky. Qin Mu's heart slightly jolted and immediately dodged Hu Ling'er and devil ape's attacks. Looking at the source of the sounds, he could see a hundred males and females wearing armor as they leaped through the forest and towards the upstream of the Surging River.
A few of them also noticed them and immediately stopped to take a look. One of the men saw Qin Mu, devil ape, and a white fox, and commented in astonishment, "Hunter?"
"Don't be a busybody, we need to move!"
Another person shouted softly, "The ship is almost here! We have to set up the formation on the river before the ship arrives!"
"Isn't this inappropriate? It wouldn't be good for us if words of us being spotted were to travel out."
"There are many experts hiding in seclusion in the Great Ruins. Don't cause any more trouble than necessary. Let us move, their ship is very fast and if we miss it, it would be too late for regrets!"
Wind picked up under those people's feet and they quickly vanished into the forest.
Qin Mu was bewildered and he spoke softly, "These people don't look like people from the Great Ruins. They seem to be rushing upstream and are planning to ambush somebody. The person even wanted to silence us so they don't seem like good guys… Ling'er, big fella, you see, honest people like us are always at a disadvantage, always getting silenced by people."
The little white fox immediately nodded her head in deep approval while devil ape twitched its mouth, "Believe? Ghost!"
Qin Mu was about to say something when dragon elephant suddenly sprinted back and blew him away. Devil ape flew into a rage and violently pummeled the dragon elephant, "Rest, understand?"
Dragon elephant whimpered from the beatings. Qin Mu had also wanted to give it a beating but seeing how badly devil ape had pummeled it, he let it go.
This dragon elephant was the strange beast that lived next door to the valley of Doom Suppression Palace. It also had its own territory and was extraordinary with its body full of strength. Dragon elephant and devil ape were always unable to get along and would fight frequently. Dragon elephant would always run into devil ape's territory to steal wild beasts but ever since Qin Mu became the territorial master of the valley of Doom Suppression Palace and taught devil ape how to cultivate, the dragon elephant was no longer a match for devil ape.
Devil ape would frequently seek revenge and beat it up several times. When the dragon elephant could no longer take it, it decided to surrender and become devil ape's mount, looking rather impressive.
However, dragon elephant was slightly dumber and not as intelligent as devil ape and little fox.
Qin Mu's gaze flickered as he suddenly leaped up onto the waterfall and the mountain ridge. Over the mountain ridge was Surging River that was flowing by the walls of the cliff.
The river water brought the ice blocks downstream and there was still many floating ice on the surface. At this time, there was normally no ship that would sail on the river.
And at this moment, Qin Mu saw a ship sailing from the bottom of the river. It had a very fast speed as it broke through the ice. It was very outrageous seeing how fast it was going while going upstream and against the floating ice.
Devil ape, Hu Ling'er, and dragon elephant had also climbed up and sat beside him. Devil ape plucked up a pine tree and gave some pine leaves to the little fox.
Hu Ling'er immediately shook her head, but devil ape said, "Eat, strong!"
Hu Ling'er smiled and replied, "I don't eat this."
Devil ape then brought the pine leaves to the face of dragon elephant and said, "Eat, strong!"
Dragon elephant shook its head but devil ape pressed down his head and pummeled it again in anger, "Eat!"
Dragon elephant's eyes welled up with tears and ate the pine leaves silently, appeasing devil ape who then sat down to eat its share slowly. Hu Ling'er couldn't resist speaking out, "Big fella, did you know? Dragon elephant is not a vegetarian, it eats meat as it had the nature of a dragon and not an elephant."
Dragon elephant felt moved and immediately nodded its head.
Devil ape sneered, "Vegetarian, strong! I, vegetarian, strong!"
Dragon elephant's tears flowed profusely as it continued to eat the pine leaves.
The ship sailed closer and Qin Mu immediately saw the officers and soldiers wearing armor on the ship. There was an imperial canopy and under it, was a young general sitting there in an imposing manner.
On the wide deck, there was also a few paintings. In front of every painter was a bronze mirror that was three yards in height.
At the side of the ship, there were also soldiers dressed like herders as they opened iron cages and released the golden eagles from the ship.
Awakening his Heaven's Eyes secretly, he could see pictures of green hills and clear waters that kept on changing appearances as reflected on the bronze mirrors.
Suddenly, the cries of eagles sounded out and Qin Mu raised his head to see a golden eagle flying above them.
He instantly realized what was happening, "The pictures in the bronze mirror is showing them what the golden eagle is seeing! What sorcery is this? To project what the golden eagle see into a picture on the mirror… That's it! The painters are painting a topographic map of Great Ruins!"
Releasing the golden eagles high up into the sky to look at the topography of the areas around Surging River, then projecting it onto the bronze mirror allows the painters to paint the landscape. In this way, as they sail from downstream to upstream, they could paint out the topography of Surging River.
"Who are these people? Why are they painting the topographic map of Surging River? What are they using the map for?"
Qin Mu blinked his eyes in puzzlement.
At this moment, a soldier quickly went under the canopy and knelt down on one leg as he gave a fist and palm salute, "General Qin, there's someone spying on us on the riverbank!"
The young general under the canopy raised his eyebrows and turned his head to look at Qin Mu. Qin Mu's heart leaped as the gaze of the general turned over. It was as if there were two extremely bright light shining over, dazzling his eyes and disabling him from seeing anything!
Hu Ling'er and devil ape also exclaimed in astonishment and covered their eyes with their hands. Only dragon elephant was concentrated on eating the pine leaves and didn't notice anything wrong.
"They're just normal villagers on the riverbank."
The General Qin closed his eyes to take a nap as he said, "They aren't any threat if they can't even handle my gaze, there's no need to worry about them."
"Yes, general!"
The soldier hesitated for a moment and continued, "General, seven months ago under the emperor's orders, we had searched and seized the house of Yan Zheng, the director of Board of Rites. Yan Zheng always had an honest reputation among all levels of society and frequently spoke up for the small sects. He was also from the Hua Qing Sword Sect and had a high position in all levels of society. Seeing how general had seized his house and threw him into prison with the emperor ordering his execution under general's hand, our journey won't be too smooth. The remaining of Yan Zheng's lackeys would lay their hands on us."
General Qin smiled coldly, "It was the emperor's order to search and seize his house, it was also the emperor's order to execute him so what does it have to do with me? Yan Zheng angled for fame and actually accused that Imperial Preceptor had intentions of mutiny, wanting the emperor to immediately execute the Imperial Preceptor. How preposterous! For just a slight moment of fame, he would dare to drive a wedge between the emperor and Imperial Preceptor's friendship. He deserves death due to his impure intentions so who else should be killed if not him?"
He rubbed his temple and sighed, "The emperor wanted me to seize his house and execute him because I'm Imperial Preceptor's disciple and was promoted by him. It's also to tell all levels of society that the emperor has had the utmost trust in Imperial Preceptor and for the rest of the treacherous court officials to give up these thoughts! What a pity that some people couldn't see the current politics clearly and could not understand the meaning behind them, sending themselves to death."
The soldier continued, "However, there might be people angling for fame waiting to ambush us…"
General Qin waved his hand and said indifferently, "I'm exactly trying to bait the remaining lackeys of Yan Zheng out and capture all the rebels in one swoop!"
Standing up, he walked to the head of the ship and looked at the churning river bringing the floating ice downstream. Looking at the mountain range and cliff, he said indifferently, "Imperial Preceptor had ordered me to enter Great Ruins to draft out the topographic map of Surging River for the empire so to incorporate Great Ruins into our Empire's territory. These rebels not only have a lack of understanding towards the hard work of Imperial Preceptor, they even want to kill me? Aren't they worthy of death for trying to create chaos in the lands of Eternal Peace Empire?"
At this moment, a young master walked out from the ship's cabin. He wasn't fat but he had a little baby fat on his face. With a dot of red on the heart of his brow and a folding fan, he laughed, "I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that this kind of person carries the title of an honest and faithful official! This kind of faithful official and honesty should just be exterminated!"
General Qin immediately turned around and greeted, "Seventh young master."
The seventh young master raised his head and looked up the mountain. From the mountain, the shadow of Qin Mu and devil ape projected down and shrouded the sailing ship.
"General Qin, I've heard that the aboriginals in Great Ruins are all people abandoned by gods, am I right?" Seventh young master asked.
