Chapter 7: Spirit Fetus Wall

The enraged demonic ape leaped up and pursued Qin Mu. After a few steps, its massive body proved too heavy, making its speed far inferior to Qin Mu's. The ape was utterly furious. It reached out, uprooting large trees one by one. With a sweep of its hand along each trunk, it stripped off all the branches and leaves, turning the trees into enormous, crude spears. The ape then hurled one with a flick of its wrist, screaming for the "little one" to die.

This strike was immensely powerful, utterly dominating, and astonishingly fast, though its accuracy was somewhat lacking. The spear streaked past Qin Mu by over ten yards. Even more enraged, the ape stripped another tree, preparing for a second throw, but Qin Mu had already fled too far. It pounded its chest in frustration.

Senior Brother Qu whispered that the "little devil's" cultivation and strength were far inferior to theirs, and that his injuries must be even more severe than his own, so he wouldn't get far.

He forced himself to stand but groaned in pain. His chest was excruciatingly sore; he feared many of his ribs had been fractured by the ape's blow. Yet, if even a "little devil" like Qin Mu could withstand the ape's assault, he too could certainly endure. What he didn't realize was that Qin Mu's cultivation wasn't weak at all; it was just that his vital qi lacked attributes, preventing its full power from being unleashed. In terms of pure cultivation, despite his young age, Qin Mu was no weaker than any of them, including Senior Brother Qu.

The five individuals bypassed the ape's territory and once again found Qin Mu's tracks. Indeed, as Senior Brother Qu had predicted, Qin Mu was severely injured by the ape. After escaping the ape's territory, his speed had significantly slowed, giving them an opportunity to catch up. However, as they continued their pursuit, they noticed Qin Mu's speed steadily increasing, as if his injuries were continuously healing. They concluded that the "little devil" must possess some excellent healing medicine.

A slight unease settled in the hearts of the five. Senior Brother Qu had also taken his sect's healing medicine, but its effects were not as remarkable as Qin Mu's "medicine." Judging by the significant increase in Qin Mu's speed, his injuries were clearly healing at a visible rate. This type of healing medicine filled all five of them with eager desire. Their own sect's healing medicine wasn't top-tier, and they thought that if they could obtain the formula for such superior medicine from the "little devil," their master and elders would surely be delighted and reward them handsomely.

At that moment, however, Qin Mu wasn't taking any healing medicine as they assumed. Instead, he was running while regulating his breathing and circulating his vital qi, practicing what the village chief had taught him as the "Three Forms of Overlord Body Skill." In reality, it was just the most common guiding technique, but he was unaware of this. This time, while activating the "Three Forms of Overlord Body Skill" during his desperate flight, Qin Mu suddenly made a new discovery: his vital qi became more active and circulated faster when he was running!

This was different from what the village chief had taught him. The village chief had always instructed him to practice the "Three Forms of Overlord Body Skill" by sitting still, adjusting his breath, exhaling slowly, nurturing his vital qi, circulating it, and using it to nourish his body. Qin Mu had practiced the "Three Forms of Overlord Body Skill" for over ten years according to the village chief's instructions, only now realizing that practicing it while running might yield better results.

When sprinting, the "Three Forms of Overlord Body Skill" operated faster, nurturing vital qi more quickly, and significantly accelerating the nourishment of his body! Not only that, but his vital qi also repeatedly washed over his internal organs, his limbs, and even along the fascia between his bones and muscles, wave after wave. His internal organs and bones had been injured by the ape's palm, but under the constant cleansing of his vital qi, the cracks in his internal organs and bones were continuously healing. Senior Brother Qu and the others believed he relied on superior healing medicine, never imagining he was depending on the seemingly unreliable "Three Forms of Overlord Body Skill."

Gradually, Qin Mu discovered a spot in his body, specifically the fascia between his bones and skin, that his vital qi couldn't reach: his glabella, the area between his eyebrows. This area, between his two eyebrows, was only about a finger's width. His vital qi couldn't penetrate this specific spot. While it could flow beneath his scalp, strengthening his skull, whenever it reached his glabella, it met a significant obstruction, as if an invisible wall blocked its path. As he urged his vital qi to impact this invisible wall, something even stranger occurred: he heard a mysterious sound.

The sound seemed to emanate from beyond the nine heavens, vast and distant, rising and falling, melodious and sacred, like an exalted deity proclaiming a divine decree. And each time this sound resonated, his vital qi would uncontrollably recede like a tide, flowing around his glabella. He wondered if this could be the Spirit Embryo Wall.

Qin Mu was puzzled. The village chief, Granny Si, and others had mentioned "walls" and "breaking walls" to him. They described walls as seals over various treasure vaults within the human body, and breaking a wall meant opening a seal to obtain the hidden treasures. However, the village chief, Granny Si, and the others had never told him the exact location of the Spirit Embryo Wall in the human body, nor how to open it.

What Qin Mu didn't know was that it wasn't for lack of willingness on the part of the village chief or Granny Si; rather, there simply existed no cultivation methods or techniques in the world for breaking the Spirit Embryo Wall. Ordinary people and spirit bodies were fundamentally two distinct classes of beings. As spirit bodies, their Spirit Embryo Walls were naturally open from birth, making them inherently superior. Ordinary people, whose Spirit Embryo Walls were sealed, were considered inferior, and the elevated spirit bodies rarely concerned themselves with the needs of common folk. Few ordinary people were martial artists, and as for common folk who had opened their Spirit Embryo Walls, not even the village chief or Granny Si had ever heard of such a thing. Naturally, they had no idea how to break the Spirit Embryo Wall.

As Qin Mu ran frantically, he continuously urged his vital qi to charge at the invisible wall in his glabella, again and again. The mysterious sound persisted, causing his vital qi to automatically retreat. Although he couldn't break through the wall each time, he possessed abundant patience, firmly believing that he would eventually succeed. He didn't intend to tell the village chief and the others about his discovery regarding the "Three Forms of Overlord Body Skill" just yet. He planned to wait until he successfully broke through the wall before giving them a surprise. However, for the village chief and the others, it was hard to say whether it would be more of a pleasant surprise or a fright.

Senior Brother Qu and the other four grew increasingly anxious as they pursued. The "little devil" ahead wasn't merely recovering from his injuries; his speed had actually increased beyond what it was before! This was alarming, indicating that Qin Mu's cultivation was increasing even as he fled! Although the increase was slow, it was terrifying nonetheless! Everyone's cultivation progressed step by step. Even after successfully breaking a wall, cultivation improvements were gradual; no one could achieve a breakthrough instantly. Who didn't cultivate diligently for dozens of days, months, or even years to make progress in their cultivation? Yet, this "little devil" was noticeably increasing his cultivation even while running for his life, which was truly frightening!

Fortunately, Qin Mu was originally inferior to them, and although he was improving, there was still a gap between his abilities and theirs. However, catching up to Qin Mu was proving difficult. After his earlier setback, Qin Mu had become much more cautious, actively avoiding the territories of various exotic beasts while running. The Apothecary had once told him, when taking him out to gather herbs, that the exotic beasts of the Great Ruins were highly spiritual and possessed their own distinct territories. These beasts would leave behind various marks, such as trees stripped of their bark, bones stuck in the ground, animal heads hung on stakes, urine markings, and so on. As long as one recognized these unusual signs, they could simply avoid them.

Previously, there had been fist prints on the cliff beside the demonic ape's territory, indicating its presence, but Qin Mu hadn't seen them, leading him to mistakenly enter. Now, he was much more careful and wouldn't accidentally trespass into other exotic beast territories. Nevertheless, even without trespassing, many exotic beasts still ventured out of their territories to forage, making the Great Ruins inherently dangerous.

As Qin Mu ran through a swamp, he encountered a fierce battle between two lord-level exotic beasts: a Crested Snake-Necked Snow Condor and a Marsh Venomous Dragon Python. One massive creature swooped from the sky, its wings stirring up violent winds, while the other coiled in the swamp, stirring up chaos, battling so intensely that mountains crumbled and the earth split. Before Qin Mu could even enter the swamp, he was swept away by the hurricane-force winds generated by the two colossal beasts. Upon landing, he crashed into a stampeding herd of startled wild oxen and was nearly trampled to death.

A slight heaviness settled in Qin Mu's heart; he was getting farther and farther from the village. The five pursuers remained relentless, making it impossible for him to return to the village. What was even more terrifying was that the sun was about to set! He and Granny Si had left the village in the afternoon, and now with the sun setting, darkness would soon descend. If he couldn't get back to the village before then, he feared immense danger awaited him!

Behind Qin Mu, Senior Brother Qu and the other four also noticed the setting sun. The young man who had been kicked by Qin Mu showed signs of unease, pointing out to Senior Brother Qu that it was getting dark. He stated that their master had once said the Great Ruins were a cursed land, becoming a forbidden zone after dark. They *had* to return to villages protected by stone statues, or it would be a dead end. Senior Brother Qu shook his head, saying that it was too late to go back now. They had traveled too far and couldn't possibly return to their original village before nightfall. He explained that darkness was dangerous for them, and equally dangerous for the "little devil." There was only one option left: to see where the "little devil" would hide.