Chapter 34: The Grandmother Temple
The Cripple’s heart trembled slightly.
Could it be that the Yan’an National Teacher and the Yan’an Kingdom truly had the audacity to set foot in such a bizarre and terrifying place as the Great Ruins, and even seek to annex it?
However, Master Ma was not wrong in one thing: the Yan’an Kingdom was indeed a sect disguised as a nation!
The Yan’an Kingdom established itself through martial arts and governed by martial arts. Its officials were divided into nine ranks and eighteen grades, from the top-first-rank National Teacher and Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent, down to the bottom-ninth-rank General Attendant, Ritual Master, and Erudite (not the modern sense of a doctoral degree, but referring to broadly learned individuals; the bottom-ninth-rank included Erudites of Calligraphy, Medicine, Mathematics, Divination, and other offices). All were martial artists by origin, and some were outright sect leaders, patriarchs, or grandmasters of other schools.
As for the soldiers of this kingdom, they too were all martial artists, skilled in warfare—able to conquer cities and territories abroad, and suppress rebellions at home. It was undoubtedly an immensely terrifying force.
When a sect disguises itself as a nation, governing its territory with the methods of a state, unifying resources, subjugating other sects, centrally managing the martial artists and divine ability users within its borders, and turning all the sects in its domain to its own use—how powerful and how terrifying would such a nation be?
In recent years, the Yan’an Kingdom had been expanding continuously, its territory growing wider and larger. It had annexed sects like the Li River Sect and swallowed up small states one after another.
Now, the Yan’an Kingdom’s territory had reached the edge of the Great Ruins, blocked by this vast wasteland.
What stood in the way of this kingdom was the darkness and strangeness of the Great Ruins. When night fell, bizarre events of dark invasion would occur, and entering the darkness meant certain death. This kept the Yan’an Kingdom from daring to enter the Great Ruins.
But the dangers of the Great Ruins did not end there. The place was teeming with strange beasts, frequented by odd occurrences, and fraught with ill omens everywhere. For the Yan’an National Teacher and the Yan’an Kingdom to march into the Great Ruins was no simple matter.
However, the perils of the Great Ruins would not deter the Yan’an National Teacher. The Cripple knew this man and had some understanding of his character—after all, his own leg had been severed by him.
No terror could intimidate him, no danger could stop this man!
He would definitely enter the Great Ruins!
Perhaps, even now, that man was already gazing from afar at the vast, unfathomable, and unpredictable Great Ruins!
The village soon returned to calm. The water from the collapse of the mini Li River was quickly absorbed by the soil, and by the next day, the ground was dried hard by the scorching sun.
Qin Mu had obtained a sword pouch this time, the one belonging to Qiuqiu, the disciple of the Li River Sect. The sword pouch was six feet long, not very large, made from the skin of a small crocodile. It had a belt for cinching the waist and two shoulder straps, allowing it to be worn on the back.
When vital energy entered the sword pouch, the crocodile’s mouth would open, and from it would emerge a scabbard and a sword hilt.
A martial artist could refine vital energy into threads; by wrapping a thread of vital energy around the sword hilt, they could draw the sword and control it with their energy.
After the first sword was drawn, another hilt would appear in the scabbard. Drawing the second sword would reveal a third. This was the principle behind the name “sword pouch.”
The Li River Sect was a sword sect from the Southern Frontier, and the swords they forged had unique qualities. Within this sword pouch was hidden a mother sword, which could not be used, as it had fused with the small crocodile skin.
The swords drawn from the pouch were all child swords. Qin Mu tested it and found he could draw a total of twenty-eight child swords. Adding the seven he had cut with his butcher knife, that made thirty-five in all.
As for how the Li River Sword Sect managed to hide thirty-five swords in such a small pouch, he had no idea about the trick.
The twenty-eight swords were not heavy for Qin Mu. He usually carried many iron ingots on him, wore iron shoes, and had iron ingots hidden on his chest and waist, totaling over a hundred jin in weight—roughly the same as the sword pouch.
Qin Mu considered carrying the sword pouch as a form of training. It allowed him to forgo the iron shoes and other heavy items, making movement more convenient. However, he could not yet control the swords with his vital energy. The Li River sword techniques were delicate and vicious, and his sword-control skills were far from that level.
“If only I could learn the Li River sword techniques,” Qin Mu sighed to himself.
The Li River sword techniques were exquisite, especially the linked swordplay, which was exceptionally brilliant. In the village, Master Ma, the Butcher, the Cripple, the Physician, and the Blind Man were not skilled in swordsmanship. The Mute had a box of items that looked like sword pellets, and Granny Si also had similar silver pellets. If those silver pellets were sword pellets, then they should be proficient in swordsmanship as well.
But when Qin Mu asked Granny Si, she was unwilling to teach him. The Mute also waved his hands repeatedly, as if restrained by some concern. The Mute quietly used sign language to tell him that if he didn’t learn now, a better sword technique would await him. If he learned now, it would be lost, and that person wouldn’t teach him anymore.
Qin Mu didn’t know who “that person” was, so he had to let it go.
He had not yet fully mastered the wonders of circulating vital energy. For example, with Master Ma’s fist techniques, he still couldn’t fully channel vital energy throughout his body during an attack.
When vital energy circulates throughout the body, it can maximize the improvement of all physical attributes—strength, agility, speed, and reaction—all reaching their peak!
The Thunderclap Eight Forms, when cultivated to a high level, could produce thunderclap sounds from the palm and strike with lightning force from the fist. He could only achieve palm thunder through the Divine Demon’s Mighty Seal, but he couldn’t yet do it with the Thunderclap Eight Forms.
If he could reach that level, then when facing a martial artist like Qiuqiu again, he could catch the sword with his bare hands without getting his palm cut!
“You lack practical combat experience.”
Master Ma came to Qin Mu’s side and said calmly, “Your cultivation level surpasses that disciple of the Li River Sect. The fist techniques, leg techniques, blade techniques, and staff techniques you’ve learned are all superior to his Li River sword techniques. Yet when you fought him, you were constrained and couldn’t fully unleash your skills.”
Qin Mu nodded repeatedly. He had also felt it. Qiuqiu’s sword techniques were exquisite, and his linked swordplay was surprising, but his own reactions were somewhat lacking—he had even directly grabbed the sword.
Thinking back now, Qiuqiu’s strength wasn’t actually that great. Qin Mu had cut through seven of his swords with one strike and used the Heavenly Demon’s Free Seal to pull his soul into his palm. This showed that Qin Mu’s vital energy cultivation far exceeded his!
Master Ma continued, “Without the tempering of real combat, it’s hard for you to bring out your true strength. That’s why the Five Elders of the Li River Sect brought their disciples into the Great Ruins for training. Secluding yourself in bitter practice, training alone, won’t make you a true expert. So…”
Qin Mu’s eyes lit up with anticipation. He had been waiting for Master Ma, Granny Si, and the others to allow him to go out hunting. Now, the opportunity had finally come!
“So, after discussing it with Granny Si, the Blind Man, and the others, we’ve made a decision.”
Master Ma said with great solemnity, “You can come with us to the temple fair.”
“Going to the temple fair market?”
Qin Mu’s face fell, and he muttered, “Can’t I go hunting instead?”
Master Ma smiled and patted his small shoulder. “Going to the market is also a test. Once you pass it, you can go out of the village to hunt on your own. Do your best!”
Qin Mu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. The temple fair was a grand gathering of nearby villages. He had heard Granny Si mention it. The temple fair days were usually on the first and fifteenth of the month. Villages within a radius of one to two hundred li would go to the fair, bringing goods from their villages to trade and exchange.
On temple fair days, Master Ma, the Butcher, the Blind Man, the Mute, Granny Si, the Deaf Man, and the Physician would all go to the Grandmother Temple, twenty li away. But they had never allowed Qin Mu to go to the Grandmother Temple fair. Every time, they made him stay behind with the Village Chief and the Cripple.
And the Cripple was worse off than him. Granny Si said the Cripple had sticky fingers and was strictly forbidden from going to the temple fair, for fear he wouldn’t be able to resist stealing everything clean.
Compared to going to the temple fair, Qin Mu actually preferred to go hunting.
There were still two days until the temple fair on the first of the month. Qin Mu continued his training, occasionally running to the Central Suppression Palace valley to spar with the demon ape. In his spare time, he helped out at the Physician’s shop and learned to refine Solidify Origin Pills. The Physician kept a few birds that were covered in flames. When he was refining medicine, these birds would fly in from the window to help.
After ruining over a dozen batches of medicinal pills, the Physician’s face turned a bit green. Fortunately, Qin Mu finally succeeded in producing one batch of spirit embryos, which eased the Physician’s expression a little.
Qin Mu immediately took this batch of Solidify Origin Pills, which were meant to enhance Azure Dragon vital energy, and rushed excitedly to the Central Suppression Palace valley. The Physician wanted to remind him to first check if the pills would kill someone, but after a moment’s thought, he stopped himself.
“Last time I made Solidify Origin Pills for Mu’er, I also forgot to check if the medicinal power would kill anyone…” the Physician thought to himself. “The demon ape is a big fellow, anyway, it probably won’t die… It should be fine. Let him go. But Mu’er’s pills this time are each the size of a fist. Will the demon ape really not die?”