Chapter 161: Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao
The disheveled old man closed his eyes: "If you cannot find the reincarnated sacred child, you know the consequences."
The Witch Sovereign bowed, carrying the lower half of the Butcher's body as he retreated out of the sacred hall. After he stepped out of the hall, he heard chewing sounds coming from within, as if something was devouring King Jiacuo's corpse.
The corner of the Witch Sovereign's eye twitched again, and a sharp pain shot through his waist. He had only roughly placed his own body onto King Jiacuo's lower half, forcibly using his magical power to connect the two, but their flesh and blood had not yet grown together—the bones, sinews, meridians, blood, and vital energy were not linked.
He would need a secret medicine to fuse the two, turning Jiacuo's body into his own.
Ever since he had obtained the Butcher's lower half, he had believed that his lifelong achievements could finally take another step forward. He never expected that the Butcher had not died and had instead come seeking him out. And because the Great Sovereign's physical body had withered, he dared not fight the Butcher to the death, forcing him to abandon the Butcher's lower half.
Although King Jiacuo's abilities were not weak, they were still inferior to the Witch Sovereign's original body. It was unknown how long it would take to refine his way back to his former realm.
Enduring the pain, the Witch Sovereign carried the Butcher's lower half down the mountain. Qin Mu, the Butcher, and the Blind Man were already ascending the mountain, and they met him halfway.
The Witch Sovereign set down the Butcher's lower half and bowed in greeting: "Heavenly Khan."
The Butcher glanced at his own lower half, then at the Witch Sovereign's waist, and shook his head: "Why did you bother? You nurtured my body for over two hundred years, and my flesh did not die—I must thank you for that."
The corner of the Witch Sovereign's eye twitched again.
Qin Mu took out the gleaming golden lower half and said, "Witch Sovereign, I return your body to you. Keeping it would be useless to me."
The muscles on the Witch Sovereign's face twitched, and he said hoarsely, "I have no use for it."
"Then use it to refine a treasure."
Qin Mu said kindly, "I see that your body hasn't been properly reattached yet. I am quite skilled in medicine. If the Witch Sovereign trusts me, I can help you reconnect it."
"You want to take the chance to harm me?"
The Witch Sovereign snorted coldly, took his own lower half, and turned to leave.
Qin Mu shook his head and sighed: "A healer has a parent's heart. I was planning to practice on his body first, then help Grandpa Butcher reattach his... "
The Butcher laughed: "I trust your medical skills. Of course, if we could go back and find the Medicine Master to do it himself, that would be even better, but returning to the Great Ruins would take too long."
He suddenly raised his voice: "Old fellow, still alive?" His voice was loud, echoing across the entire mountain.
From the sacred hall of the Loulan Golden Palace came a hoarse, sharp voice: "Rest assured, as long as the Heavenly Blade has not died, how could I die?"
"This old ghost, still alive."
The Butcher sneered: "Sooner or later, I'll make you die! Let's go!"
Qin Mu picked up the Butcher's lower half, and the three of them descended the mountain together.
The Blind Man looked back up the mountain, lost in thought, and said, "The person inside is very strong."
The Butcher let out a breath and laughed: "Without my lower half, I probably wouldn't be his match, which is why I asked you to come with me—to deal with him. This old fellow has reincarnated seventeen times, lived eighteen lifetimes, and must be nearly ten thousand years old, yet he still won't die. I've fought him a few times; he's quite formidable."
Qin Mu exclaimed in shock: "Eighteen lifetimes? Ten thousand years of life? How is that possible?"
"How could it not be? In the Great Ruins, you should have seen gods and demons who have lived for over ten thousand years, right? In truth, there are some terrifying things in this world, but you're still young and haven't encountered such beings yet."
The Butcher said, "That old thing, though not a god or demon, is not far from it. He knows many past events, many secrets. If he weren't an enemy, I wouldn't oppose him."
The Blind Man nodded: "Indeed, there are some terrifying existences. For example, my eyes..."
He shook his head and did not elaborate.
Qin Mu's heart trembled slightly. The Blind Man's eyes had been gouged out, but who had done it, the Blind Man had never said. What secrets lay behind it?
They left the Loulan Golden Palace, met up with Ling Yuxiu, and headed to a barbarian city on the grasslands. In the city, Qin Mu purchased some medicinal herbs, took out a large cauldron from his cloth bag, and said, "Grandpa Butcher, I'll boil your lower half first to refine away the Witch Sovereign's blood and poison."
He filled the cauldron with a large vat of water, placed the herbs one by one into the water, and after it boiled, filling the air with medicinal fragrance, he put the Butcher's lower half into the water.
Fox Ling'er asked nervously, "Will it cook?"
The Blind Man said with a smile, "When you smell the meat fragrance, it'll be done."
The Butcher said angrily, "My body can't be split by gods—how could a pot of boiling water cook it?"
After boiling for a while, Qin Mu observed the color of the medicinal water, opened a medicine jar, and pinched out a few dried, red-and-black spotted toads, each only the size of a fingernail, then sprinkled them into the cauldron.
The toads had been dried, but after entering the water and absorbing it, they came back to life, scurrying around in the boiling water and absorbing the poison.
After a short time, the few toads died from the poison.
Qin Mu changed the water and repeated the process nine times, refining away all the poison. He saw that the blood in the Butcher's lower half had returned to red, and the blood seemed to come alive, flowing automatically through the vessels.
Qin Mu boiled another cauldron of water, replaced it with dozens of different herbs, and boiled the Butcher's lower half again to stimulate the vitality of the flesh and blood, simmering it until late at night.
Ling Yuxiu and the little fox had already fallen asleep, and the Green Ox had also gone to sleep. The Blind Man sat on the ground, leaning on his bamboo staff and dozing off. Only Qin Mu and the Butcher remained by the cauldron.
Qin Mu drew his Shaobao Sword and handed it to the Butcher, saying, "Grandpa Butcher, I can't cut your body. You'll need to do it yourself—cut off the membrane that has grown over the wound on your upper half."
"No need for your sword; I'll use my knife."
The Butcher drew his butcher knife, gritted his teeth, and cut a slice under his own body, removing the membrane that had formed over the wound. His cultivation was powerful, and he immediately used his primal energy to seal the wound, preventing it from bleeding.
Qin Mu fished the lower half out of the cauldron. The wound on the lower half was still fresh, so no further cutting was needed. Qin Mu took out several jade bottles and carefully applied dragon saliva to the cross-sections of both the lower and upper halves.
As soon as the dragon saliva was applied, countless tiny flesh buds began to grow rapidly, wriggling like little red worms.
He did not immediately join the two halves together. Instead, he turned his primal energy into threads, picking out the sinews and nerves one by one, connecting the sinews and linking the nerves.
More and more threads of primal energy surged from his fingers and palms, connecting the flesh buds, the membranes, the intestines, and the spine. The Butcher's body gradually came together, though the skin around his waist had not yet grown.
Finally, Qin Mu applied dragon saliva to the wound, and the skin grew, sealing the injury.
He gathered his spirits, lifted the Butcher, and placed him into the medicinal cauldron. He poured the last packet of herbs into the cauldron, lit the fire, and slowly simmered.
In the large cauldron, the Butcher rested his arms on the edge and suddenly said, "Mu'er, you've worked hard."
Qin Mu shook his head and smiled: "I studied medicine with Grandpa Medicine Master for many years. All my skills were taught by him, so it's not hard work."
"I hope you won't end up with a reputation as bad as the Medicine Master's."
The water gradually began to boil, and the Butcher let out a comfortable puff of white mist, saying, "By the way, I noticed you kept pulling things out of that little cloth bag earlier. That cauldron came from it too. That bag of yours is strange—let me have a look."
Qin Mu handed the cloth bag over and said, "I picked this bag up from the treasure vault of the Loulan Golden Palace. Somehow, the inside of the bag is about an acre in size, so I use it to store things."
The Butcher opened the bag and looked inside, his expression turning strange: "Mu'er, you picked up quite a lot of things from the Golden Palace's treasure vault."
Qin Mu's face reddened slightly.
"You can learn from the Cripple, but don't get addicted."
The Butcher sighed and said, "In truth, everyone in our village has their own flaws. The Cripple likes to steal, the Medicine Master is always poisoning people and leaves a trail of lovers everywhere. As for me, I was too arrogant in the past, drawing my blade against the gods. The Blind Man looks down on everyone and is overly sentimental. The Deaf Man is too proud, the Mute Man has too many ideas of his own and tells no one. Don't even get me started on the Village Chief—he always acts profound and unfathomable. And Granny is a troublemaker by nature. I'm afraid you might pick up all our bad habits."
Qin Mu said solemnly, "Grandpa Butcher, rest assured. Since leaving the village, I have never caused any trouble. The Patriarch is very satisfied with me!"
"That's good. You can cause trouble, but you must be able to handle it."
The Butcher shook the cloth bag and laughed: "I've seen bags like this before. They're called Taotie bags, refined from the skin of a Taotie. There should be pure-blooded Taotie in the Great Ruins, but even our whole village together might barely be able to take one down. The skin used for your Taotie bag isn't from a pure-blooded Taotie, but its bloodline is still quite high. The Taotie bags I've seen before were only about a square zhang in size and couldn't hold much. They were probably made from the hide of a beast with Taotie bloodline."
"I see."
Qin Mu was surprised and quickly asked, "I've seen some houses that look small from the outside but have huge spaces inside. What's the reason for that?"
"Simple. Use the bones of a beast with Taotie bloodline, grind them into powder, mix them into the stone or use them as paint. That way, the internal space becomes larger."
The Butcher said, "The Taotie is a divine beast, a type of dragon. This divine beast only eats and never excretes, so its stomach space is vast. Its skin is used to make Taotie bags, and its bones are used to build houses—both are very useful. But pure-blooded ones are too rare."
Qin Mu stayed by his side, and the two chatted as time passed. Unbeknownst to him, Qin Mu fell asleep sitting up.
When he woke up, the fire under the cauldron had gone out. Just as he was about to add more fuel, the Butcher's voice came from beside him: "Mu'er, no need. I feel that my body is mostly fine now."
Qin Mu quickly turned around and saw that the Butcher was already fully dressed, wearing a new pair of pants. Qin Mu had bought the fabric while purchasing medicine and had sewn the pants in advance. The old man wore a loose robe on his upper body, and his messy beard had been shaved clean, making him look neat and imposing.
The Butcher looked him up and down, nodding repeatedly: "You've grown up. In the past, we helped you, and now you can help us. Very good, very good..."
The Blind Man's voice came from outside: "Butcher, if you keep talking, you won't be able to leave. That disciple of yours has caught up."
The Butcher walked outside and said, "There's a divine hand bone in your Taotie bag. I'll keep it for you for now. You can't take it yet—that god is still alive. If you keep it, it will only bring disaster upon yourself."
Qin Mu was startled: "The owner of that hand bone is still alive?"