Chapter 168: The Old Fellows
In the Great Wasteland, at Cripple’s Village.
The Village Chief, as usual, was sprawled in his reclining chair at the village entrance alongside the Apothecary, slowly sipping tea. Suddenly, the Apothecary turned sideways and said, “Village Chief, you’ve been lying there like that for quite a while, haven’t you? It seems you’ve been sprawled here for the past two days without moving, even when the darkness invaded. You didn’t go back to your room to sleep, did you? When I got up this morning, I saw you still lying here.”
The Village Chief, lazy and languid, squinted his eyes and said, “Apothecary, your heart is unsettled. Ever since Mu’er left, your heart has been unsettled.”
The Apothecary sneered, “My heart is unsettled? Clearly, it’s your heart that’s unsettled! Look at me—I still wash and groom myself neatly every day. But you? You’re disheveled and unkempt, barely short of dying in that reclining chair.”
The Village Chief said, “Clearly, it was you who moved me to the village entrance yesterday morning, and then at night, you forgot to take me back inside. Isn’t that your heart being unsettled? You do something every day, and suddenly you forgot to do it.”
The Apothecary laughed in exasperation: “I forgot to take you back inside? Can’t you walk back yourself? Fly back? What use is your heaven-reaching, earth-penetrating cultivation for?”
The Village Chief was silent for a moment, then said gloomily, “You know, I don’t have legs, and I don’t have hands…”
The Apothecary was furious. This damned old man had been left out in the darkness all night, and the curses and monsters of the dark hadn’t managed to kill him, yet he still had the nerve to say he had no legs.
He was about to argue further when suddenly he looked up. The Village Chief also perked up instantly, becoming much more spirited, and laughed, “Isn’t it a joy to have friends come from afar? Fellow Daoist, you seem completely at ease now.”
An old man and a young one were coming up from the lower reaches of the Surging River, arriving outside the village and walking toward it.
The Village Chief looked at the Apothecary and quickly said, “Where’s your comb? Don’t hide it—I know you always carry a comb with you, right in your bosom! Hurry and take it out. I haven’t washed or combed my hair in two days; how can I receive guests like this?”
The Apothecary sneered, unmoved.
The Village Chief smiled ingratiatingly, “It’s my fault for being too lazy to move these past two days.”
The Apothecary handed him the comb. The Village Chief used his primal energy to wield the comb, tidying his hair a bit, making it at least somewhat neat.
The Young Patriarch and the Enforcement Elder walked over, stopped, and bowed in greeting. The Village Chief laughed, “I am a cripple and cannot return the courtesy. Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist. Please, have a seat. Apothecary, serve tea.”
The Young Patriarch sat down, glanced at the Enforcement Elder standing beside him, and laughed, “I am no longer the Patriarch of the Holy Religion. There’s no need for so many formalities. Sit down too.”
The Enforcement Elder also sat down, taking off the bamboo basket on his back and setting it aside.
The Apothecary fetched the tea set, boiled a fresh pot of water, added tea leaves, let it steep for a moment, and poured tea for the two.
“Apothecary, you use the southern method of brewing tea,” the Young Patriarch remarked with a smile.
The Apothecary smiled, “I was born in the south and am used to drinking southern tea. Northern tea is accustomed to watching the tender leaves rise and fall, while southern tea has a clear, bright brew that reflects the heart. Both have their merits.”
The Young Patriarch laughed, “No wonder you two often sit here. Village Chief, I’d like to stay here for a few days. What do you think?”
Before the Village Chief could respond, the Apothecary clapped his hands and laughed, “Good, that’s wonderful! Ever since Mu’er left, this old man has nearly bored me to death, lying here lifeless every day, not talking or moving.”
The Village Chief shot him a glare and said to the Young Patriarch, “You’re free now. Staying here for a few days to clear your mind would be a pleasant thing.”
The Young Patriarch said, “I have great admiration for you, Brother Dao. The Holy Lord received such cultivation from all of you, making him truly extraordinary and remarkable. That’s why I’ve come to seek your advice. The Holy Lord was born with a Tyrant’s Physique and cultivates the Tyrant’s Three-Dantian Art, making his skills truly exceptional. My knowledge is shallow; I didn’t know such a thing as a Tyrant’s Physique existed in this world. These past few days, I’d like to learn from you…”
“Tyrant’s Physique!”
The Village Chief and the Apothecary exchanged a glance, then suddenly burst out laughing. The two old men, both quite advanced in age, laughed with their mouths wide open, tears and snot streaming down, laughing until they couldn’t breathe.
“Tyrant’s Physique… hahaha!”
The Village Chief laughed so hard he fell off his reclining chair and rolled onto the ground. The Apothecary also laughed so hard he tumbled off his chair, pounding the ground with his hands, unable to get up.
The Young Patriarch and the Enforcement Elder were baffled by their laughter. The Enforcement Elder thought to himself, “How bored are these two on a daily basis? There’s nothing funny at all, yet they’re laughing so hard they can barely breathe. If the Patriarch and I stay here too long, will we end up as crazy as them?”
The Village Chief quieted down for a moment, lying on the ground gasping for air. The Apothecary pointed at the Young Patriarch and laughed, “We even fooled the Patriarch of the Demon Cult! Hahahaha!”
The Village Chief burst into wild laughter again, and the Apothecary resumed pounding the ground.
After a long while, the Village Chief floated up and landed back in his reclining chair, using his primal energy to wield the comb and tidy his messy hair. The Apothecary walked a bit farther away, brushed the dust off his clothes, washed his face, then pulled another small comb from his bosom, tidied himself up, and returned. He sat down properly and said apologetically, “Two Fellow Daoists, there are only the two of us left in the village. We’re bored to death every day. Even the chicken-dragon ran off to mate with a male, hatched a nest, and produced a bunch of little chicken-dragons. It’s rare for someone to tell us a joke, so we couldn’t help but lose our composure a bit.”
The Young Patriarch looked behind them and saw a chicken-dragon, taller than a person, leading a group of little chicken-dragons as they strolled through the village. The hen flapped its wings, stirring up a gust of wind.
“What exactly is the Tyrant’s Physique all about?”
The Young Patriarch asked humbly, “Please, enlighten me. My perspective is indeed a bit narrow…”
“Say no more.”
The Village Chief suppressed his laughter. “I’ll tell you.”
After a moment, the Young Patriarch and the Enforcement Elder, having learned the truth, were stunned, as if struck by a hundred thunderbolts and trampled by a hundred herds of wild bulls. It took them a long time to recover.
The most powerful Tyrant’s Physique turned out to be an ordinary person’s body! The most powerful Tyrant’s Three-Dantian Art turned out to be a common guidance technique that ordinary people used to strengthen their bodies!
But Qin Mu had still cultivated this technique and believed himself to be a Tyrant’s Physique.
That wasn’t even the key point. The key was that Qin Mu, with unwavering faith in his ordinary body and guidance technique, had beaten other talents, geniuses, and prodigies into a bloody mess, acting like a true Tyrant’s Physique!
The Village Chief and the Apothecary exchanged a smug glance. The Village Chief whispered, “Look at their expressions—exactly what I imagined.”
The Young Patriarch let out a turbid breath, his expression strange. “So that’s how it is… So that’s how it is… But the Tyrant’s Three-Dantian Art does have issues; it’s quite extraordinary.”
“Although the Tyrant’s Three-Dantian Art is a common guidance technique, it indeed has problems. However, those who can cultivate this technique to Mu’er’s level are extremely rare—in fact, I’d say only Mu’er himself has done it.”
The Village Chief said seriously, “At least, I’ve never seen anyone else. I suspect this technique might be from before the Great Wasteland became the Great Wasteland. It shouldn’t be bad, but somehow it was passed down and became the most ordinary guidance technique. I’m not certain, though. No one would have thought that someone could actually master it one day.”
The Young Patriarch’s eyes flickered. “Perhaps it could be said that before the Great Wasteland became the Great Wasteland, ordinary people could also cultivate. The Tyrant’s Three-Dantian Art was the cultivation method for ordinary people back then. But due to a great upheaval, ordinary people could no longer cultivate, and the Four Spiritual Physiques emerged afterward, becoming the mainstream.”
The Apothecary’s heart stirred. “If ordinary people can’t cultivate, how could Mu’er? Saying it’s just because he works a hundred times harder than others doesn’t hold up—there must be others in the world who work even harder. Saying he consumes a hundred times more resources than other ordinary people also doesn’t hold up—someone might be willing to spend such vast resources to awaken an ordinary body. So, there must be something different about him compared to other ordinary people.”
The Village Chief’s heart skipped a beat. “Perhaps he is an ordinary person from before the Great Wasteland became the Great Wasteland.”
The three exchanged glances, each agreeing with this idea. The Young Patriarch said, “Then, where did this ordinary person from before the cataclysm come from?”
The Village Chief and the Apothecary said in unison, “Carefree Village!” After saying this, they looked at each other, both feeling a tremor in their hearts.
Only the Enforcement Elder’s mind wasn’t as quick as theirs; he was completely lost and couldn’t get a word in.
“I feel like my thinking can’t keep up with them…” The Enforcement Elder had a natural sense of being left out.
“Carefree Village?”
The Young Patriarch’s heart stirred. “May I ask where Carefree Village is located?”
The Village Chief smiled faintly. “I don’t know. But if you’re interested, Fellow Daoist, we can leave the village tonight and go look for it.”
“Leave the village?”
The Young Patriarch turned his head to look at the vast, boundless Great Wasteland. His heart suddenly felt a bit tense, yet also a bit expectant.
I came to the right place, he thought to himself.
It had been a long time since he’d felt this excited and thrilled. The old rascals of Cripple’s Village had rekindled the adventurous and impulsive spirit of his youth.
Two old men with one foot in the grave, plus another old man and the middle-aged Apothecary, venturing together into the mysterious depths of the Great Wasteland—and in the darkness, no less. Just thinking about it was exhilarating.
At Holy Proclamation Mountain, Qin Mu instructed, “Ling’er, although this mountain is the sacred ground of my Heavenly Saint Religion, this is my first time here. I don’t know what other dangers lurk in this place. Don’t wander off. Once I master the teleportation technique on this wall, I’ll take you out.”
Fox Ling’er acknowledged and turned to run out of the hall.
Qin Mu sat down in front of the wall, carefully examining the teleportation technique inscribed on it.
The teleportation technique on this wall was a method for refining treasures. The various runes, formations, and divine abilities within it could not be used individually; they had to be refined into a treasure to activate the teleportation effect.
This was why many high-ranking members of the Demon Cult had refined teleportation flags and teleportation robes.
With a roll of the teleportation flag, everything covered by the large flag could be teleported away, allowing multiple people to be moved. A teleportation robe, covering the body, could teleport the wearer alone.
Qin Mu delved deeply into the mysteries of the teleportation technique. After a day, he had fully comprehended the teleportation technique on the wall, but he began to ponder.
The Demon Cult’s teleportation technique relied on runes to activate formations, and formations to drive divine abilities. Because it was too complex, it was difficult to directly manifest the divine ability, necessitating the refinement of treasures to perform teleportation.
If the divine ability could be directly executed, it would also have a teleportation effect, certainly more flexible than treasures like teleportation flags and robes.
Moreover, after studying it for so long, Qin Mu discovered that the teleportation technique actually required advanced calculation skills. A higher level of proficiency in algorithms was needed to master the teleportation divine ability more quickly.
“I need more advanced mathematical texts!”
—Three updates today, no fourth update, brothers, don’t wait for a fourth one.