Chapter 200: The Mural

Stone path, three figures walked. To be precise, there was also a strange thing following behind them.

Qin Mu looked at Aunt Lu and Senior Chu ahead. They didn’t seem to have noticed anything following them. Should he warn them?

As if guessing Qin Mu’s thoughts, the Divine Dragon spoke up.
“Kid, don’t make a fuss. If you startle that thing, it could get tricky.”

“Tricky? Divine Dragon Senior, is it that strong?”

No way. Aunt Lu and Senior Chu were Transcendence Stage Great Powers. Couldn’t they handle it?

“It’s not that strong. Those two girls up ahead can definitely handle it. But you, kid, even with my power backing you up, if a fight breaks out, I can’t guarantee you’ll come out unscathed.”

Ah, so it wasn’t that the thing was too strong, but that he was too weak.

Accepting this reality, Qin Mu shed tears.
I’m a weakling, what can I do…

Fortunately, after a moment, the feeling of being watched from behind disappeared. Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief.

If that staring had continued, he couldn’t have taken it. It was like being watched while using the restroom. Uncomfortable all over.

As the strange sensation behind them faded, Qin Mu and the others finally saw the end of the road.

Before them was a cave. Pitch black inside.

A flame sprouted from Lu Qian’s fingertip. With a flick, the flame flew into the cave.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Lu Qian called for the others to enter the cave.

Illuminated by the firelight, the entire cave was lit up. Glancing at the interior, it didn’t look naturally formed. The surrounding stone walls were extremely smooth, like a mirror’s surface.

As they walked, Qin Mu noticed murals appearing on the walls around them.

The murals were painted in color. Qin Mu looked at the murals around him. The style was somewhat abstract.

Still, the general content could be inferred. The white parts were probably clouds, the green was forest. A pitch-black thing was likely a mountain, with a signature beam of light at its peak.

The only difference was that on the trees in the forest, there were brown things. Clumps of them. The painting was so abstract, it was impossible to tell what species they were.

Qin Mu was focusing intently when suddenly, the murals disappeared.

“Huh? Why did it just end?”

Qin Mu hadn’t quite understood it yet. This feeling of seeing only half of something was really frustrating.

Whoosh, whoosh—

After the murals vanished, a fierce wind blew through the cave, forcing Qin Mu’s eyes shut.

“Mu’er, come here.”

Lu Qian grasped Qin Mu’s small hand and pulled him close.

Once near Aunt Lu, Qin Mu instantly felt the howling wind that had been at his ears disappear.

“Aunt Lu, the murals from before…”

“Murals?”

Before Qin Mu could finish, Lu Qian turned and asked.
“Mu’er, you really saw murals just now?”

Hearing Aunt Lu’s tone, Qin Mu’s heart sank. Could it be… Aunt Lu hadn’t seen them?

Qin Mu’s gaze shifted to Senior Chu. Chu Jiujiu sensed his look and shook her head.
“Young Master Qin, I didn’t see any murals just now either.”

As Chu Jiujiu had advanced through the cave earlier, she’d also glanced around. But aside from bare stone walls, there was nothing else.

Qin Mu’s heart weighed heavy. A sense of dread grew stronger within him.

First, an unknown thing following behind. Now, murals that only he could see.

“Divine Dragon Senior, did you see the murals just now?”

Qin Mu asked aloud. If even the Divine Dragon Senior hadn’t seen them, he’d truly be disheartened.

Fortunately, the Divine Dragon Senior’s answer put Qin Mu somewhat at ease.

“Kid, I did indeed see the murals from before. As for why those two young girls didn’t see them, it’s very possible that this place is related to me.”

“Related to you, Divine Dragon Senior?”

Qin Mu’s heart sank. Sure enough, at this rate, he might be dragging himself into serious trouble.

The reason? His fate was probably like that certain death-bringing elementary school kid’s. Trouble followed wherever he went.

If he could, Qin Mu would want to escape right now. But given his current situation, fleeing wasn’t an option.

“This place… I have a feeling, but I can’t recall what it is. Still, this feeling is very familiar.” The Divine Dragon said.

Good grief. So even you, Divine Dragon Senior, are an old riddler. You said something, but it’s like saying nothing at all.

“Then let’s just keep going. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

That being the case, what could Qin Mu do? Nothing!

He was just a Qi Refining Stage cultivator. If he were a Qi Refining Stage cultivator who’d trained for five thousand years, maybe he could solve this with a wave of his hand. Unfortunately, his time in Qi Refining Stage probably only amounted to a fraction of that five thousand years.

The cave wasn’t particularly long. After walking for about half an hour, Qin Mu stepped out.

Before him stood a ruin. Its exterior resembled a Maya Temple.

At the temple’s entrance were two stone statues over ten meters tall. Human heads, serpent bodies, holding spears.

The temple gate wasn’t tightly shut but half open, giving off an urge to lure people inside for a look.

A beam of light shot out from the temple’s top. Looking up, there was a large hole above. It seemed the beam at the mountaintop originated from here.

“Let’s go, Mu’er. Stay close to me.”

Lu Qian held Qin Mu’s hand with one hand, stepping step by step toward the temple interior.

Pushing open the gate, a long stone path lay before them.

“High Priest, are the things in here from the Wildlands?”

Lu Qian looked at the strange stone statues on the surrounding walls. Based on the Demonic Beasts in her memory, none of them matched.

Chu Jiujiu’s gaze swept over these stone statues one by one.
“They don’t look like Wildlands Demonic Beasts. Some statues bear a slight resemblance, about thirty to forty percent, but upon closer inspection, they aren’t.”

“If that’s the case, it’s strange. Such a Little World, without any Restriction sealing it, should have been discovered long ago by all rights.”

As a Transcendence Stage cultivator, Lu Qian had some understanding of these Little Worlds. If one was man-made, it being hard to discover made sense, since the original owner would set up Restrictions to prevent discovery.

But if naturally formed, while the probability was small, it wasn’t impossible. Many Secret Realms within major Sects were either self-created or naturally formed ones found by chance.

The biggest difference between a self-created Secret Realm and a naturally formed one was that the contents of a self-created one were almost all the original owner’s personal Treasures.

But a naturally formed Little World was sure to contain secret Treasures. The Lingqi would also be abundant. Who knows, there might even be Treasures from the Ancient Era.

After all, the great war of the Ancient Era was fought with heaven-shaking, earth-shattering force. Normally, energy in the Void had to reach a certain level for a Little World to be born. But with so many Great Powers fighting, the energy in the Void was excessive, thus forming many Little Worlds.