Chapter 287: The Dao Lord
Long Jiaonan’s scalp split open to both sides, the sound making one’s skin crawl. A woman was struggling to crawl out from the split human skin.
Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang screamed sharply, only then realizing they had been hugging each other. They quickly let go.
Qin Mu took his Qin jade pendant from the Taotie pouch and put it on. The pendant was tied together with the Emperor’s Disk, which Long Jiaonan had also thrown into the pouch. One of these items was tied to his origins, the other was a treasure the Cripple had given him to ward off evil.
The sight of Long Jiaonan crawling out of her own skin was too terrifying, so the Emperor’s Disk was just right for warding off evil.
After a moment, a naked woman crawled her upper body out of Long Jiaonan’s human skin, with some broken bones being squeezed out as well.
This woman was completely naked, her hair disheveled, crawling with great difficulty, coughing up blood as she moved.
“Turn around, don’t look!” Ling Yuxiu snapped out of her shock and quickly urged Qin Mu.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen it before…” Qin Mu muttered, but still turned around.
After a while longer, Long Jiaonan finally crawled out of the skin, but she was still at death’s door, without any strength. Her appearance had aged somewhat; she had been a young woman before, but now she looked like she had aged a dozen years.
Si Yunxiang fetched a piece of clothing to cover her body, and while draping it over her, she secretly pinched the woman’s body. Her eyes flickered as she whispered to Ling Yuxiu, “There are still broken bones inside, not all expelled.”
Long Jiaonan barely managed to sit up, wiped the blood from her mouth, and said weakly, “My injuries are too severe. This molting only healed the wound on my heart and repaired some bones. To fully recover, I’ll need several more molts. Each time I molt, I age several decades, greatly reducing my lifespan. You can rest assured, I don’t have the strength to threaten you now.”
Ling Yuxiu looked at the two halves of the giant red snake body on the beach and suddenly shuddered. “This big snake can also…”
Long Jiaonan’s face darkened, and she shook her head. “Little Red has been cut in two, and its head is destroyed. It can’t recover…”
“Good!” Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu both breathed a sigh of relief.
Qin Mu turned around, showing a kind smile. “Sister Long, may I ask where your father is? Where is he hiding? Who is with him? Why does he want to see me?”
Long Jiaonan remained silent.
Qin Mu smiled slightly, extended his index finger, and a wisp of primordial energy flew out, cutting a piece of snake meat to roast over the campfire. The snake meat sizzled as fat dripped onto the fire, sending up smoke.
Long Jiaonan’s gaze fell on the piece of snake meat, and her pupils contracted.
“My Heavenly Saint Sect has three hundred and sixty-one halls, one of which is called the Punishment Hall. It has always enforced strict laws, with thousands of methods to make people confess.”
Qin Mu’s face flickered in the firelight, alternating between light and dark. “The Yan Kingdom has a Ministry of Justice. You should have heard of their methods. The Minister of Justice is the Emperor’s man, while the Vice Minister is the hall master of my Heavenly Saint Sect’s Punishment Hall. If I want to learn these things from you, I only need to trouble him to act personally. Will you speak willingly, or shall we resort to torture?”
Long Jiaonan sneered. “The Yan Kingdom is so deeply entangled with the Heavenly Demon Sect, truly ruling by demonic means. Sect Leader Qin, although I invited you this time with threats, it was still a form of courtesy, wasn’t it? I didn’t make things difficult for you. Otherwise, cutting off the Sect Leader’s legs, severing the Princess’s hands, or blinding the Saintess’s eyes would have been easy for me. Now the tables have turned, and I’ve fallen into your hands. I hope to receive the same courtesy.”
Qin Mu shook his head. “On the road, I can treat you with courtesy, and I won’t make things difficult for you. But you started a rebellion, and handing you over to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation is only natural. You once held an official position, so sending you to the Grand Court for investigation is also possible, but there are people from my Heavenly Saint Sect in the Grand Court too.”
Long Jiaonan’s face shifted between uncertainty and anger, but she said nothing.
Unable to get anything out of her, Qin Mu flicked his fingers repeatedly, using the Creation Demon Heavenly Art to seal her soul within her body. He said to the two women, “Fan Yunxiao’s ship is fast. Finding us here shouldn’t be too hard. At the earliest tomorrow, at the latest three to five days, they’ll find us. Let’s stay on the island for a few days and see if these yellow essence can come back to life.”
Si Yunxiang hesitated. “Sect Leader, you pity these yellow essence’s lives, but if Long Jiaonan escapes, she might come back here and ruin them again. Sect Leader, don’t be swayed by her beauty and covet her looks…”
“Covet her looks?”
Qin Mu looked at Long Jiaonan, puzzled. “She’s not pretty, so what beauty is there?”
Si Yunxiang was surprised. Although Long Jiaonan had a strange temperament, she was still a beauty in the making. After this molt, she had aged a bit, but she was still a lovely woman. The Heavenly Saint Sect’s Holy Sect Leader actually thought she wasn’t pretty—was he a bit too dense?
She probed, “Sect Leader, what do you consider pretty?”
“Someone who looks like Grandma.”
Qin Mu said without hesitation. “Or someone like Sister Yuxiu, who’s plump—those are pretty. Grandma said plump girls look good, but you have to watch out for vixens.”
Ling Yuxiu was quite pleased and glanced at Si Yunxiang, feeling that the cowherd was a kindred spirit.
Si Yunxiang was unwilling to give up. “I’m from the same family as the former Sect Leader’s wife. By seniority, I call her aunt. Sect Leader, do you think I’m pretty?”
“You’re too thin, and you’re still young. You’re even younger than me, right?”
Qin Mu looked Si Yunxiang up and down and shook his head. “Grandma said thin girls aren’t pretty. Plump is better—they can bear children. Grandpa Medicine also said plump girls are good, but the villagers called him an old lecher. Don’t be sad. If you eat more and get plump, you’ll be pretty, but don’t get too fat. Grandpa Medicine said too fat isn’t good either.”
Si Yunxiang was dumbfounded. According to Qin Mu’s aesthetic, Long Jiaonan indeed wasn’t pretty, and even she herself wasn’t. No wonder he hadn’t given her a second glance when she was down to her undergarments—he had been led astray by the old lecher in his village!
Their young Holy Sect Leader was good at everything—wisdom, talent, aptitude, and even boldness—all outstanding. It was just that his aesthetic sense was somehow off.
Qin Mu didn’t lower his voice deliberately. “I’m keeping Sister Long here mainly to lure the Dragon King out. The Dragon King is very skilled and has raised a flood dragon. After all, he’s a sect leader. If I don’t eliminate him, I’ll be uneasy. I’d have to worry about being killed every time I go shopping. After handing Sister Long over to the Crown Prince, I’ll invite the Left and Right Protectors and a few guardian elders. As long as the Dragon King dares to come, he’ll die without a whole corpse.”
His expression turned serious. “He must die without a whole corpse, and his head must be smashed to pieces, or who knows if he’ll come back to life! By the way, I wonder what the Dragon King wants with me… But it doesn’t matter. What matters is killing him!”
Long Jiaonan shivered several times. Qin Mu’s plan was too vicious. If the Dragon King came to rescue her, he would surely die, unable to defeat the Heavenly Demon Sect’s Protectors and guardian elders!
“Sect Leader Qin, my father invited you for a reason!” she suddenly spoke.
Qin Mu looked at her and smiled. “Sister Long is willing to talk?”
Long Jiaonan sighed. “This time, someone came to my father, saying he couldn’t show himself but wanted to meet Sect Leader Qin to discuss peace.”
Qin Mu was surprised. “May I ask who this person is?”
“The Dao Lord.”
Long Jiaonan said. “The so-called Three Religions and Nine Schools—the Dao Sect, the Great Thunderclap Monastery, and the Heavenly Demon Sect are the Three Religions. Our Dragon Gate Sect is just a minor school of the Nine Schools. The Sect Leader is too formidable. Not only did you rescue the Emperor, but you also killed so many experts from the Dao Sect and the Great Thunderclap Monastery at the Imperial City’s Altar of Heaven. The Dao Lord is a bit panicked. He fears that Emperor Yanfeng and the Yan Kingdom’s National Teacher will ally with the Heavenly Demon Sect to attack the Dao Sect. He didn’t want to meet you in person, to avoid causing misunderstandings between you and the Emperor. So he sought out my father, asking him to invite you to Dragon Island for a meeting.”
Her face turned cold. “I treated you with courtesy along the way. Do you really think I didn’t want to kill you? At Tianbo City, you killed countless disciples of my Dragon Gate Sect, and the Emperor raided and exterminated my clan. My hatred for you is deeper than the sea! But the Dao Lord has a favor with my father—he saved his life. I dare not disobey his words.”
Qin Mu pondered, stroking his chin, where a few more whiskers had annoyingly sprouted.
“The Dao Lord wants to see me, probably to mediate. The Dao Sect wants to make peace with my Heavenly Saint Sect, but not with the Yan Kingdom.”
He mused. “The Dao Lord is worried that my Heavenly Saint Sect will join forces with the Yan Kingdom to attack the Dao Sect. And he’s already old, with only a few years left. Making peace now can still preserve the Dao Sect. Otherwise, after he dies, the Dao Sect will be wiped out.”
The snake meat was fragrant, and the fish was good too, but Long Jiaonan only ate a few pieces of fish and didn’t touch the snake meat. Qin Mu politely invited her twice, but seeing she truly wouldn’t eat it, he gave up.
The next day, Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu got up early and saw Qin Mu constantly walking around the island, never stopping. Sometimes he walked on the beach, sometimes on the sea, and then leaped into the clouds.
“His talent and aptitude are higher than others, and he works harder too!”
Si Yunxiang gritted her teeth. “Isn’t it just to not give me a chance to kill you? Do you have to work this hard?”
Qin Mu was completely focused. As he walked, he activated the Dominator Body Three-Dan Art, circulating his technique, trying to integrate various techniques into one, comprehending the unified technique of the Six Harmonies realm.
Si Yunxiang was wrong. In others’ eyes, Qin Mu’s talent was at the lowest level. Back then, the people of Cripple’s Village had tested him and found he wasn’t even a spiritual body—just an ordinary person.
Qin Mu should have lived an ordinary life, but the Village Chief insisted on calling him the Dominator Body, which not only ignited Qin Mu’s fighting spirit but also inspired the villagers. They piled all kinds of miraculous medicines and heavenly treasures on him.
And Qin Mu was indeed hardworking, perhaps the most diligent cultivator in the world. He also had an unshakable belief that he was the Dominator Body, surpassing others. If he fell short, it must be because he wasn’t working hard enough.
His current cultivation and strength weren’t solely due to the Village Chief, Grandpa Medicine, Grandma Si, and others’ nurturing, nor were they just luck. They came mostly from his own efforts.
An ordinary person, if willing to use their mind and work hard, could hardly imagine their own potential.
Successful people, before their success, no one saw their efforts and thought them extraordinary. Only after success did others find them remarkable, mythologizing them while ignoring their hard work.
Seeing this, Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu also began to cultivate diligently, each practicing on their own without disturbing the other. Long Jiaonan lay under a tree, breathing and trying to molt again, but her injuries were too severe and her consumption too great; she couldn’t shed her skin.
If she molted again, she would become a middle-aged woman. A few more molts, and she might turn into an old crone.
By mid-morning, Qin Mu returned to the spiritual spring, intending to fetch some water to irrigate the yellow essence planted by the spring. Suddenly, he stopped. By the spring, an old Daoist in a washed-out gray Daoist robe was carefully walking through the yellow essence field with a leaf full of water, watering the plants. A young man was helping too.
The old Daoist saw a yellow essence sprouting a leaf from its head. His wrinkled face broke into a smile. He crouched down and gently stroked the leaf. “These yellow essence can regenerate after death. Isn’t life wonderful, Sect Leader Qin?”
Every move he made followed the natural principles, as if he were one with the sea, the island, the spring, the sky, and the yellow essence, inseparable.
“Senior Brother speaks truly.”
Qin Mu stepped forward. “I just don’t know if these yellow essence, after coming back to life, are still the same as before. The Heavenly Saint Sect’s Sect Leader greets the Dao Lord.”
The old Daoist hurriedly returned the greeting. “This is our first meeting. This old Daoist offers his respects. Lin Xuan, quickly greet the current Human Sovereign!”
Lin Xuan, the Dao Son, was surprised but didn’t ask questions. He performed a disciple’s salute to Qin Mu and bowed. “The Dao Son greets the Human Sovereign.”