Chapter Ninety: The Divine Eye Ball

The elder Dings stood sternly and said to Qin Yue, “Go in with Elder Mo. He will teach you what to do.”

Elder Mo was the very same elder with crane-white hair and a boyish face who had been the first to step down from the flying ark that day. At this moment he unleashed a formidable presence and looked at Qin Yue. “Come, young friend. If we pull this off, you will have no worries in the immortal realm from this day on.”

Under that old fellow’s gaze, Qin Yue felt every hair on his body stand on end, as though he had been targeted by some prehistoric beast.

He drew in a deep breath, nodded, and followed beside Elder Mo, while two paper figures silently trailed at his left and right.

“Is this to keep me from running?” Qin Yue thought, his expression unchanged, as he walked slowly through the portal in Elder Mo’s wake.

Elder Dings’ voice came from behind. “Old Mo, we only have about one hour. Success or failure, we must all come out.”

Elder Mo said nothing, only waved his hand behind him.

After entering, all that met the eye was ruined walls and broken rubble, a scene steeped in deathly stillness. The smell of decay in the air was many times stronger than before.

Everything was veiled in a faint crimson hue. Qin Yue looked up and saw, on the horizon in the far distance, a colossal spherical mass, like half a sun.

All the red light came from it.

“What is that?” Qin Yue asked.

“One of a fallen god’s eyes,” Elder Mo replied.

Qin Yue felt a chill run down his spine. Such a thing was unimaginably vast, like a gigantic sacred mountain, not even an exaggeration to call it an asteroid. To say it was a living eye seemed absurd.

“Still, there is no need to fear. By now it is but a remnant obsession. The main divine soul was long ago shattered, and that lingering thought is only in a half-slumber. As long as we do not awaken it, there will be no problem.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Qin Yue asked.

“Plant a seed,” Elder Mo said indifferently.

Qin Yue suppressed a shudder, though he asked curiously, “Can you be more specific?”

“Very simple. Take one seed from this pouch and plant it where I tell you. Wait about half an hour, and it will take root, sprout, and grow rapidly. When it bears fruit and the fruit turns deep red, pick it and bring it to me. Then the task is done.”

As he spoke, Elder Mo took from his person a golden cloth pouch covered in talismans and inscriptions, and solemnly placed it in Qin Yue’s hands.

“Since you are a successor of the Green Bamboo Garden, you naturally know how to cultivate it. Hurry and coax it into growth.”

Qin Yue took the pouch and nodded. “Understood.”

“You need not worry that we mean to harm you. The pressure on everyone is the same. But do not entertain any improper thoughts either. This fruit is not the sort of thing you imagine, something that grants immortality if eaten. Swallow it directly, and you will burst apart and die,” Elder Mo warned coolly.

Qin Yue did not believe the old man’s words.

To plant a seed in a dead god’s eye was surely to draw upon the immense power still lingering within. No one would believe the fruit was not meant for cultivation.

Elder Mo then produced a most unusual flying ark, about ten feet long and six feet wide, and had Qin Yue and the two paper figures board it before leaping up himself.

Once activated, the ark burst forth with incomparable speed and shot straight toward the blood-red eye.

The closer they drew, the more Qin Yue felt an indescribable, vast terror rising in his heart.

At that moment, in the sea of his spirit, within the chaotic world of the bronze disk, the bronze giant rat coiled at the center suddenly opened its eyes.

In Qin Yue’s perception, the rat’s eyes actually reflected that enormous blood-colored eye.

At the same time, the rat head on the bronze disk blazed with dazzling light, radiating a mysterious power that instantly calmed Qin Yue’s heart.

In no time at all, the flying ark had reached the sky above the gigantic eye.

Seen from this angle, it was even more shocking, truly like a blood-red planet half embedded in boundless earth.

Even Elder Mo wore a grave expression, beginning to form hand seals and calculate.

He soon fixed upon the location, steered the ark nearby, and pointed at a patch whose color was deepest. “There. Go plant it there.”

Qin Yue looked at him. “You are not coming with me?”

Elder Mo said lightly, “You go.”

Qin Yue said no more. He stepped down from the ark and slowly walked in that direction.

Two paper puppets followed close at his sides, one on the left and one on the right.

Even now, he could hardly believe this was really an eyeball. Walking upon it felt little different from walking on level ground.

The surface beneath his feet was hard and not smooth, somewhat like a road of crushed asphalt.

Still, that was fine. Quietly circulating his Netherworld Escape Art, he could feel that he might slip into it at any moment.

As long as this was not some utterly spell-forbidden zone, he was confident he could vanish when danger came.

Before long he reached the darkest region. Elder Mo’s voice sounded in his ear. “Good. Plant it there.”

Qin Yue drew a deep breath. Under the watch of the two paper puppets, he took from his storage ring a specialized shovel and carefully dug a hole.

It was not nearly as hard to dig as he had imagined. If this truly was an eye, then even with one shovel, he could not possibly damage more than the outermost membrane.

He opened the pouch. Inside lay a green seed, as small as a soybean.

He poured the seed into the pit, then sat cross-legged to one side and methodically took out a water flask, watered and fertilized it, covered it with soil, and at the same time formed hand seals to activate the art of hastening plant growth.

He also expanded his divine sense to its absolute limit. At the slightest disturbance, he would flee at once.

From a distance, Elder Mo nodded faintly. Judging by the technique, this was indeed the work of a true disciple of the agricultural sect.

Whether Qin Yue truly was a successor of the Green Bamboo Garden did not matter. Before coming, they had already carried out countless calculations and could basically determine success, though they still dared not guarantee it absolutely.

They had heard that the Bright Sun Sect had produced a formidable “Master Qin,” and that both the sect master and the deputy sect master attached the greatest importance to him. So they had formed their own plan.

If they could have this kind of cultivator plant it, then if all went well, everyone would be happy. If anything unexpected happened, it would not harm themselves.

Qin Yue watched as the seed rapidly sprouted, first sending down countless fine roots that plunged deep into the “eyeball.”

Under his spiritual perception, in an instant it had grown more than three feet long, and continued extending downward at great speed, madly drawing nourishment.

Then the embryo began to grow upward, breaking through the soil at equally astonishing speed.

Elder Mo’s eyes lit up with excitement. Unable to restrain himself, he took a few steps forward, evidently feeling there was no danger and wanting a closer look at the process.

But just then, a violent tremor suddenly surged through the “earth” beneath them, as though an earthquake were about to break out.

At the same time, the crimson hue of heaven and earth instantly grew incomparably dense, and terrifying red light burst from the surface of that huge sphere.

A strange droning chant followed, like countless monks reciting scriptures, the sound gathering together as though an ancient bell had been struck.

Even the void began to distort, and countless remaining relics in that silent world shattered one after another.

In that instant, the bronze rat in Qin Yue’s sea of spirit opened its eyes, and the small cauldron also instantly released a surge of power, shielding his body.

This dispelled his impulse to immediately burrow underground and run.

The two paper puppets beside him were not so fortunate. Right before his eyes, they burst apart with a pop.

Not far away, Elder Mo erupted with a powerful protective radiance, countless inscriptions flashing brilliantly across it.

He also summoned several defensive artifacts. One of them, at the same moment the two paper puppets exploded, appeared above Qin Yue’s head.

Yet it was not there to protect Qin Yue, but to shield the rapidly growing plant.

Seeing that Qin Yue sat there unharmed, Elder Mo’s eyes flickered with surprise. This boy’s spiritual power was rather strong!

As the legends said, cultivators of the agricultural sect were formidable in the spiritual realm. It seemed indeed to be true.

Qin Yue cast a sidelong glance toward Elder Mo and put on a slightly panicked look.

“Elder Mo, what is happening?”

“Stay where you are and do not move! Do not leave that area! Otherwise no one can protect you!” Elder Mo shouted in a low voice.

Since Qin Yue had not died at once, he might as well offer a reminder. If the boy did not obey and stepped outside the range of the artifacts, then it would have nothing to do with him.

The “earthquake” continued. This eyeball seemed to be suffering greatly, trembling violently.

Meanwhile, the rapidly growing plant became ever more lush and radiant, its branches and leaves shining with brilliant luminescence.

From blossoming to fruiting, it all happened in a very short time. Two green fruits, each only the size of a pea, hung there.

The droning chant that echoed in this place grew ever more vast and deafening, while the sound of shattering was incessant. Vast numbers of ancient ruins had already been ground into dust.

Elder Mo was clearly under tremendous pressure. He wanted to approach Qin Yue and take the fruit at once, but he could barely move an inch, and could not help feeling a trace of regret.

This was the result of being too cautious. Had he stayed beside the plant, he would not have suffered so much.

He shouted urgently to Qin Yue, “You must keep track of the time. Once the fruit turns dark red, you must immediately pick it and bring it over. I will shield you with my artifacts…”

His voice was swallowed by the droning chant, while the ground continued to shake violently. Even fluctuations of divine sense could hardly travel far.

There was a decayed god here. If they used force recklessly and awakened such an existence, then none of them would leave alive.

Qin Yue acted as though he heard nothing, focusing intently on the plant before him. Though he did not know what species it was, he could tell from the way it had grown, flowered, and borne fruit.

From its form, he had already made a rough judgment.

In the mortal cultivation world, there was a plant similar to this great medicine, called Spirit Mulberry, a precious Dao-stage herb that enhanced spiritual power.

But this one was clearly of far higher grade, already radiating astonishing spiritual fluctuations. In particular, those two fruits, in Qin Yue’s spiritual world, were like two intense sources of light.

Dazzling beyond measure.

Qin Yue guessed that this was probably a rare wonder capable of being used within the spiritual world.

Their ambition was enormous, and their methods astonishing. They had actually cultivated it using the immortal eyeball of a dead god.

By now the droning chant had become even more terrifying, and the entire blood-red world was filled with that sound.

Even Elder Dings and the others stationed outside the portal were affected, and had to summon a great number of defensive artifacts to resist it.

Two of the younger sect disciples could no longer hold on and began to retreat outward, while the paper puppets exploded one after another.

Protected by the small cauldron in his spiritual world, Qin Yue remained perfectly safe, his eyes fixed all along on the changes in the two fruits.

He prepared at any moment to use his stolen-sky exchange, planning to steal away the essence contained in those two fruits.

Elder Mo was also becoming anxious. He was not worried that Qin Yue would swallow the two crimson fruits; he was worried that once the fruit matured and was picked, even with the protection of artifacts, he could not be certain Qin Yue would be able to live long enough to walk back.

Just as he tried to invoke third-realm means and force his way closer, intending to take the two fruits himself at that very moment, a figure with loose gray-white long hair appeared before him without warning.