Chapter 49: A Heart of Pure Devotion
Qin Mu thought for a moment. The Lijiang Sect’s leader, Mo Beifeng, was a Second-Rank official, while this old man named Gu Linuan was a First-Rank official—he must be even more formidable!
“This senior’s words are true,” he said to Hu Ling’er.
Hu Ling’er asked in confusion, “How do you know what he said is true?”
“The mist is exhaled by the dragon soul.”
Qin Mu pointed at the mother dragon’s soul drifting through the hall. Wherever the dragon soul passed, the mist gradually thickened, and wherever the mist spread, the dried corpses stood up again, as if they could sniff out Qin Mu’s location and actively float toward him.
“This mist keeps these corpses in a state between life and death. It’s a method to protect her son, and also a method to protect this hall,” Qin Mu analyzed.
Hu Ling’er also noticed this. When the mist exhaled by the mother dragon’s soul dispersed, the dried corpses would fall to the ground and lie motionless. However, when the mist enveloped them again, the corpses would reanimate and try to attack anyone who entered.
These dried corpses seemed to be the guardians of this hall, protecting it to prevent anyone from stealing the dragon pearl and interfering with the young dragon’s “healing.”
The source of these dried corpses was likely, as the old man had said, the dragon pearl’s mischief. It drained all the blood and qi from any martial artist who broke into this dragon palace, using their life force to sustain the young dragon frozen in the ice.
Qin Mu looked troubled. “Senior Gu, I do have the desire to help, but my strength is too meager. I’m afraid I have the will but not the power.”
Gu Linuan chuckled warmly. “Of course, you don’t have enough strength to dissolve the dragon pearl’s mystical ice. But I do. As long as you follow my instructions, you can free me! Once I’m free, you can have whatever you want!”
His words carried a hint of pride, clearly indicating the high status of the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian.
“Although this old man is trapped in the mystical ice, my cultivation is still intact. This ice can’t freeze me to death.”
Gu Linuan continued, “I’ll use the last of my cultivation to move the sword at my waist outside the ice. You take the sword and cut down the mother dragon’s soul! Once the mother dragon’s soul is severed, the dragon pearl can no longer trap me! After I break free, I can even give you this dragon pearl as a gift!”
Qin Mu was startled and exclaimed, “Cut down the mother dragon’s soul? Senior, I’ve only just reached the Spirit Embryo realm. I’m just an insignificant martial artist. How could I possibly slay the mother dragon’s soul?”
Gu Linuan sneered coldly. “Naturally, you can’t. But once you use my sword, you will! This sword of mine is no ordinary object, nor is it that cheap piece of junk you carry on your back. This sword is a First-Rank official sword of the imperial court! It was forged by the Yan’gang Empire, gathering the finest craftsmen from across the land and using the highest-grade treasures! In the Yan’gang Kingdom, there are only sixteen First-Rank official positions, and only sixteen such swords exist, each with its own name! My sword is called the Junior Guardian Sword!”
Qin Mu hesitated and asked, “How does this sword compare to the staff in my hand?”
Gu Linuan scoffed. “The old monk’s Khakkhara is certainly good, and the Great Thunderclap Monastery is one of the few renowned sects under heaven. But how can a treasure forged by the strength of a single sect compare to one forged by the strength of an entire nation? In the Yan’gang Kingdom, there are still two or three sects as famous as the Great Thunderclap Monastery.”
Qin Mu’s heart trembled slightly, but he was also puzzled. “Senior, since you possess such a treasure, why didn’t you cut down the mother dragon’s soul yourself?”
Gu Linuan was silent for a moment, then said, “I didn’t think of the key point at first. When I saw the dragon pearl, I planned to eliminate this threat for future generations. I let my guard down and fell into the trap. By the time I realized I couldn’t escape the ice, it was too late! After being frozen, I could only guard my primal energy and keep myself from freezing to death. Controlling this sword became too difficult. Do you know how many years I’ve been sealed here?”
He sighed deeply. “Two hundred years! For two hundred years, I’ve been trapped here. It’s already a great feat that I’ve managed to survive until now!”
Qin Mu felt deep sympathy. “Two hundred years of being frozen—if it were me, I’d probably have gone mad. It’s truly remarkable that you’ve held on, Senior.”
Gu Linuan sighed. “Fortunately, you’ve come. I’ll use the last of my primal energy to send this Junior Guardian Sword out of the mystical ice. You kill the mother dragon’s soul for me and free me!”
Qin Mu nodded solemnly. “Junior will do his utmost!”
Gu Linuan stirred the last of his primal energy. The sword at his waist slowly moved within the ice, but the progress was very slow. After more than an hour, only the hilt of the Junior Guardian Sword had barely emerged.
After another period of time, the entire hilt was exposed, but the scabbard remained sealed in the mystical ice.
Gu Linuan appeared somewhat exhausted, his voice hoarse. “My primal energy is almost depleted, young man. Kill the mother dragon as quickly as possible!”
Qin Mu acknowledged and sent out a thick strand of primal energy, which coiled around the sword hilt. With a sharp clang, the Junior Guardian Sword was drawn from its scabbard, and cold light burst forth in all directions!
Qin Mu and Hu Ling’er felt a sharp pain in their eyes, as if the sword’s light had injured them. After a while, their vision returned to normal, and they could see clearly again.
“What are you doing?”
When Gu Linuan saw Qin Mu’s incredibly thick strand of primal energy wrapping around the Junior Guardian Sword and chasing after the mother dragon’s soul, slashing wildly but missing every time, he was both amused and exasperated. “What are you doing? Is this how you control a sword with qi? Who taught you sword control? Who taught you swordsmanship?”
Qin Mu stopped, looking embarrassed. “I don’t know sword control, and I’ve never learned swordsmanship.”
Gu Linuan was half-dead with anger, his head throbbing. He roared, “If you don’t know sword control and can’t use a sword, why are you carrying a sword pouch on your back?”
Qin Mu said shamefacedly, “The sword pouch is very heavy. I carry it on my back as a form of training…”
Gu Linuan nearly spat blood. Such clumsy swordsmanship made him wish he could jump out of the mystical ice.
“Fine. I’ll teach you the art of controlling a sword with qi and some swordsmanship.”
He suppressed his anger and said, “Once you learn it, you can kill the mother dragon.”
Qin Mu shook his head. “I won’t learn.”
Gu Linuan was so furious that his three corpses leaped in rage. If he weren’t sealed in the mystical ice, he would have jumped out and given this brat a good beating.
“My grandmother said that someone will teach me better swordsmanship. If I learn from someone else, that person won’t teach me anymore.”
Gu Linuan choked with rage and laughed bitterly. “Better swordsmanship? Do you know that the best swordsmanship under heaven is the swordsmanship of the Yan’gang Kingdom! The Imperial Preceptor has gathered all the sword techniques from across the land, assembled the world’s sword masters, and jointly created a swordsmanship! The wisdom of all the world’s sword masters combined—isn’t that the best swordsmanship? Isn’t it far superior to those so-called sect founders who groped in the dark and created their own techniques? Those so-called sword sects are just living off their ancestors’ legacy, complacent and thinking they’re invincible, not realizing they’ve been left in the dust by thousands of miles!”
Qin Mu was stunned, feeling that his words were indeed very reasonable and impossible to refute.
Because of the Lijiang Sword Sect incident, he actually didn’t have much goodwill toward the Yan’gang Imperial Preceptor in his heart. However, the Imperial Preceptor’s magnanimity also impressed him.
To have such boldness, to set aside sectarian biases, ignore school differences, gather wisdom from all sources, and bring the world’s sword masters together in the Yan’gang Kingdom to create a unified swordsmanship—such a person could not help but be admired.
“I won’t learn,” Qin Mu shook his head.
Gu Linuan wished he could shatter the mystical ice, rush out, hang him up, and spank his bottom hard. He had pleaded and reasoned, yet the boy still refused to learn—truly deserving of a beating.
After a moment, Gu Linuan suddenly laughed. “Fine, I won’t teach you swordsmanship. I’ll teach you sword control. Sword control isn’t swordsmanship. Once you learn it, it won’t interfere with learning someone else’s swordsmanship later.”
Qin Mu’s heart stirred, and he reluctantly nodded.
“It seems you’re not completely rotten wood that can’t be carved. You know what’s good for you. This sword control technique is called the Heart of Devotion Technique. It teaches you how to control a sword, not swordsmanship.”
Gu Linuan’s spirits lifted. “What is the Heart of Devotion? Devotion is red, it is flawless jade, it is the nine-cycled elixir. The Heart of Devotion is a sincere heart, a flawless and translucent heart, a pure heart with not a single distracting thought after nine cycles. This sword control technique emphasizes a pure mind, the heart of a child. With the heart of a child controlling the sword, the mind and the sword move as one, and nothing can stop you! Among all the sword control methods under heaven, none surpass this! The first step in cultivating the Heart of Devotion: The heart is like fire, the furnace is in the field. The heart-fire refines the true essence. Plow the furnace field into paths, plant the fire seeds on the ridges! Dare to make ten suns rise from the yang spirit, let the blazing sun’s holy fire illuminate the burning heart…”
Qin Mu quickly committed it to memory. The Heart of Devotion Technique’s sword control method was profound in its subtle words. Without a master explaining its mysteries, one could not understand how to cultivate it.
Gu Linuan recited the entire Heart of Devotion Technique, then explained the mysteries of its practice word by word. Qin Mu’s heart felt like a spiritual monkey scratching its ears and cheeks, jumping up and down with excitement.
After a long time, Gu Linuan finished explaining the Heart of Devotion Technique and said, “First, practice this, then control the sword. In as little as two days, at most ten, you’ll be able to use qi to control the Junior Guardian Sword and kill the mother dragon’s soul! The little fox in your arms has also received your blessing, learning the best sword control technique under heaven. That’s quite an opportunity for her.”