Chapter 9: Red Powder Skull

"There really is a ruin ahead!"

Qin Mu sprinted with the beast horde, suddenly seeing the terrain dip into a canyon. Within the canyon, many ancient structures remained, including scattered palaces, spacious plazas, and towering buildings. In front of these ruins stood a colossal gateway, connecting both ends of the canyon, adorned with massive, dragon-entwined ornamental pillars. The beasts were charging directly towards this gateway, heading into the ruins.

"The darkness is coming!" Qin Mu looked up, his scalp tingling. He saw darkness, like ink, flowing down the cliff faces from above the canyon, pouring into it. This darkness would soon reach and engulf the gateway to the ruins. The beast horde grew even more frantic, surging madly towards the gateway. The stampede became extremely perilous, with monstrous beasts colliding and trampling, threatening to crush anything in their path. But there was no time to consider the danger; failing to enter the ruins before the darkness arrived meant an even worse death.

Qin Mu dashed forward, seizing the tail of a colossal beast. The beast was immense, like a rapidly moving black mountain, knocking other monstrous creatures aside and flattening them as it passed. Surprisingly, the beasts lagging behind also leaped up, grabbing the giant's tail, allowing it to pull them into the ruins.

Qin Mu looked down. Below him, monstrous beasts that were usually ferocious now trembled, clinging desperately to the giant beast's tail, paralyzed with fear. He glanced back and saw Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and the other three pursuers also rushing frantically towards the ruins, not far behind him.

Finally, just before the darkness engulfed the gateway, the colossal beast surged through the massive entrance. At the same instant, the ink-like darkness swallowed the portal. Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and the others rushed forward. However, only Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and one other youth made it through the gateway before the darkness submerged it. Of the two remaining youths, one was a step too late, with only an arm extending into the portal. The other youth's face, chest, legs, half his abdomen, and one arm entered the gateway, while the rest of his body was caught by the darkness.

Upon entering the gateway, Senior Brother Qu immediately reached out to grab his two junior brothers. He seized one's hand and, with a powerful tug, pulled a gleaming white skeleton from the darkness. Before Senior Brother Qu's other hand could reach the second youth, that boy stumbled and fell to the ground. Senior Brother Qu and Senior Sister Qing were horrified. The boy's front was perfectly intact, but his back was entirely devoid of flesh, as if something in the darkness had completely devoured it!

"What *is* that thing in the darkness? How can something like this exist?" Senior Sister Qing shrieked. Senior Brother Qu composed himself, exhaled a shaky breath, and stated solemnly, "Life is fleeting like a candle flame. Our two junior brothers died defending justice and eradicating evil; their deaths were righteous and heroic. That little demon spawn deliberately came to these ruins at the last moment before the darkness, surely intending to use it to kill us!"

The other youth, filled with righteous indignation, spat, "He's also in these ruins, surrounded by darkness, with nowhere to run! We'll find him, tear him to pieces, and avenge our two junior brothers!"

"He's over there!" Senior Sister Qing spotted Qin Mu dismounting from the colossal beast's tail and immediately shrieked, "You little demon spawn, you killed my two junior brothers, and now you think you can escape?"

Qin Mu was exasperated. "You were the ones chasing me relentlessly for no reason, pursuing me until dark, and then got yourselves killed! How is that my fault? I never provoked you, yet you tried to kill me. How innocent am I?"

Senior Sister Qing gritted her teeth. "The little demon spawn dares to quibble..."

"Demon your *ancestors*!" Qin Mu retorted angrily, "Grandma and I only killed one deer for clothes, and you called us demons. But you've killed an entire *herd* of deer, and you still dare to call *us* demons?"

Senior Brother Qu's face darkened. He stepped forward. "This little demon spawn is good at swaying people's minds. There's no need to waste words with him; just kill him directly!"

As the three were about to act, deep roars suddenly echoed. They startled, looking around to see a thousand or so monstrous beasts gathered in the ruins, including several lord-level creatures. All of them glared at the trio with hostile, fierce eyes. Senior Brother Qu realized the grim situation and subtly took a step back. When the beasts saw that the trio did not initiate a fight, they also quieted down, making no further moves.

Qin Mu clicked his tongue in wonder. These monstrous beasts, usually prone to fighting over territory and prey, were now strangely peaceful. "Could it be that these beasts have established a rule against fighting within the ruins?" Qin Mu blinked. Many of these creatures were natural enemies, locked in endless conflict, yet they were coexisting peacefully, suggesting his guess was correct. The villagers often said monstrous beasts had spirits. The demonic ape Qin Mu had encountered could even speak, calling him "little one," implying these beasts might indeed have rules established here.

Senior Brother Qu also realized this and let out a sigh of relief. He whispered, "Let's not act tonight. When dawn breaks, we'll kill him immediately!" Senior Sister Qing and the other youth nodded.

Qin Mu looked around. The ruins were vast, like a city nestled in the canyon, teeming with monstrous beasts everywhere except the plaza. The plaza was covered only in skeletons—human bones, numbering perhaps two or three hundred. They had died there for unknown reasons, still dressed in opulent clothing. "These people are all women."

Strangely, all these female skeletons were seated cross-legged in neat rows—fifteen rows, with fifteen skeletons in each. It appeared a catastrophe had struck suddenly while they were meditating, leaving them no time to escape, instantly turning them into desiccated bones. He approached the plaza and examined them closely. These female skeletons even had a leader, seated cross-legged at the front of the skeletal formation. Both the skeletons and their leader faced the enormous gateway, all oriented in the same direction.

"Brother, look!" Senior Sister Qing's eyes lit up. She gestured towards the skeletons in the plaza and whispered, "These skeletons are holding treasures! Every single one has something!" Senior Brother Qu's gaze swept over them, and his heart began to pound. The skeletons clutched various items: some held precious swords, others whisk brooms, jade pendants, or treasure vases—all sorts of weapons. These artifacts still shone brightly, as if newly forged, clearly extraordinary treasures! Most striking was the luminous pearl held in the skeletal leader's palm, floating there. Within the pearl, mist seemed to swirl. This place, unbelievably, was a vast treasure trove!

"If only we could get our hands on these treasures..." Senior Sister Qing murmured, her breath quickening. Even the treasure vault of the Five Elders of Lijiang paled in comparison to a fraction of this! With these treasures, they could likely establish their own sect! Senior Brother Qu's eyes gleamed. He smiled and said, "Heaven has been kind to us! Junior Brother Wu, go fetch these treasures."

Junior Brother Wu stepped forward. The moment he entered the plaza, he suddenly saw the whisk broom in a female skeleton's hand. Its filaments gently stirred, growing slowly like living threads. One filament extended towards Junior Brother Wu. The filament resembled an incredibly tiny spirit snake, raising its head to observe him.

"Senior Brother Qu..." Junior Brother Wu's voice trembled slightly, and he dared not turn his head.

Senior Brother Qu stated calmly, "These treasures are inanimate, ownerless. Don't worry..."

Before he finished speaking, that filament shot out like lightning, burrowing into Junior Brother Wu's eye. Other filaments from the whisk broom whistled through the air, piercing into both of his eyes. Junior Brother Wu opened his mouth to scream but no sound emerged. From a distance, Qin Mu watched as the youth shriveled before his eyes, visibly shrinking until he instantly became a dried corpse! The whisk broom continued to entwine him. Soon, the dried corpse's skin dissolved, followed by its bones, leaving only a few pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes on the ground.