Chapter 321: Acting According to One's Nature
Those true Heavenly Palace experts swiftly retreated, vanishing in the blink of an eye, leaving a scene of chaos behind.
Qin Mu furrowed his brow slightly. This youth named Yu Bochuan was indeed a ruthless character—decisive and resolute, never dragging things out. He hadn't seen such an outstanding young man in a long time.
"A very remarkable youth." He felt quite appreciative inwardly as he set the mother and daughter down.
Dragon Qilin walked over, complaining, "Chief, you've stirred up trouble again, haven't you? Now we're being watched. If those fellows attack us outside the basin, they could turn any mountain into a stone giant and crush us to death."
"This is the Great Ruin, not the Western Lands."
Qin Mu shook his head. "If they try to fight me on my own turf, they won't even know how they died. Besides, the bond between mother and daughter touched my heart. If I couldn't act according to my nature, wouldn't that make me a heretic?"
Dragon Qilin was taken aback. "Acting according to one's nature, following the natural course"—that was a line from the general outline of the Great Nurturing Demon Sutra. And the next line was, "That is the Way!"
This was the Way!
"This is the true Heavenly Saint Cult Leader," Dragon Qilin mused with emotion.
He couldn't quite understand Qin Mu's actions, yet every move he made aligned perfectly with the teachings of the Heavenly Saint Cult. Acting according to one's nature, following the natural course—that was the Way. Qin Mu had already reached this point, walking his own path. No wonder the young founder had chosen him as the next cult leader instead of anyone else, and no wonder the hall masters and elders of the Demon Cult submitted to him.
Qin Mu examined the young woman's injuries and asked, "Madam, what exactly is your background? Why are people from the Western Lands' True Heavenly Palace hunting you down?"
The young woman was already at death's door. She lifted her head weakly and said, "I am Naikui of the True Heavenly Palace..."
"What does 'Naikui' mean?" Qin Mu turned to ask Dragon Qilin.
"It means 'Princess Mother.' In the Western Lands' True Heavenly Palace, women are in charge. They practice walking marriages—at night, there are banquets with singing and dancing. If a man and woman take a liking to each other, they go to the woman's home to consummate the relationship."
Dragon Qilin explained, "The next morning, the man must leave. This repeats several times. When the woman becomes pregnant and gives birth, she raises the child alone. Children often know only their mother, not their father. The founder also participated in walking marriages—that old scoundrel..."
Qin Mu shot him a glare. "Don't speak ill of the founder! Stick to the point!"
The young founder held an extremely lofty place in Qin Mu's heart. Although he appeared to be a young man around Qin Mu's age, to Qin Mu, he was a flawless figure, not to be tarnished in any way.
"The founder was always a dashing old scoundrel. When he was in the Western Lands, he'd wear exotic clothes and flirt with women, without any responsibility! The old scoundrel was overjoyed, strutting around like a peacock..."
Seeing Qin Mu displeased, Dragon Qilin quickly changed the subject. "The mistress of the True Heavenly Palace also needs to practice walking marriages. If the palace master becomes pregnant or has a child, and the child is a girl, she becomes a princess—the next heir. If it's a boy, he is sent out of the palace. A True Heavenly Palace master who has given birth is called a Princess Mother, which in the Western Lands' language is 'Naikui.' However, Naikui are usually extremely powerful, since their cultivation method is 'All Things Have Spirits, All Things Have Gods,' and women often achieve greater mastery in this than men."
Qin Mu crouched down, took out a set of silver needles, and inserted them into the young woman's body. Curiously, he asked, "Since you are the True Heavenly Palace master, its mistress, how did you end up in this state? Aren't you an expert at the Divine Bridge realm?"
He also took out some medicinal herbs, tailored them to her condition, and began refining pills to heal her injuries.
"Don't waste your effort."
The woman shook her head. "My injuries are beyond saving. If my cultivation were still intact, I wouldn't have fallen to this state. They also poisoned me—the poison was refined by the most formidable poison master, Mu Yingxue. It's called 'Binding Silk,' and she administered it herself..."
Dragon Qilin chuckled, "Don't worry. If the Chief doesn't want you to die, even Lord Tu Bo can't take your soul away!"
Qin Mu's hands moved skillfully as he refined the pills, shaking his head. "Stop bragging. Be humble. Besides, my medical skills aren't the best in the world—only second best. As for poison, at most I'm third best. That Little Poison King is still a bit stronger than me."
The young woman felt her body ease as he worked with the needles, surprised. She said, "My mother was the true palace master. After she passed away, the True Heavenly Palace elected me to succeed her. My cultivation realm was adequate, so I could barely take over. But during the succession ceremony, something went wrong. Mu Yingxue poisoned me, draining most of my cultivation. Almost everyone in our Xiong family was poisoned, their cultivation crippled. The Yu family took the opportunity to massacre my family, leaving only me and my daughter..."
Qin Mu extracted the medicinal essence and sighed, "Your True Heavenly Palace doesn't act righteously."
The young woman felt a surge of anger. "How are we not righteous?"
Qin Mu fused the medicinal essence, concentrating it into pills. "The Yan Kingdom has three great sacred lands: the Great Thunderclap Monastery, the Daoist Sect, and my Heavenly Saint Cult. I am the cult leader of the Heavenly Saint Cult. When I succeeded, I was only at the Five Elements realm, and no one rebelled against me. As for the new Dao Lord of the Daoist Sect, Lin Xuan, his cultivation realm is about the same as mine, and no one in the Daoist Sect rose up to overthrow him when he became Dao Lord. Now, the old Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Monastery has departed, and the Tathagata seat is vacant, but everything is peaceful—no one has started a bloody struggle for the position. My Heavenly Saint Cult is called the Demon Cult in Yan Kingdom, notorious for its evil, yet our succession is orderly. Compare that to your True Heavenly Palace—you're far behind. That's why I say your actions aren't righteous."
The young woman was taken aback. She wanted to argue but couldn't find a reason.
Qin Mu pried open her mouth and fed her the pill. His two fingers slid down her throat, his primal energy guiding the pill all the way into her stomach. Then he flicked his fingers repeatedly to catalyze the pill's medicinal power.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the young woman floated up involuntarily. Qin Mu's ten fingers flew, his sleeves fluttering, as he tapped countless acupoints on her body in an instant, fully refining the medicinal power into her system.
He withdrew his hands, and the young woman landed, stumbling slightly, but both her internal and external injuries were rapidly healing.
Qin Mu turned to look at the little girl. She was adorable, only about four or five years old, with two little braids and adorned with many gold, silver, and jade ornaments—all decent spirit weapons.
He examined her and found only minor scrapes, nothing serious. A bit of dragon saliva would suffice.
"Little sister, what's your name?" Qin Mu asked.
The little girl blinked her big, dark eyes and said crisply, "Xiong Qier! My mother is Xiong Xiyu."
Qin Mu smiled. "Your mother is the True Heavenly Palace master, so I can't call her by name—I'll address her as Palace Master. But you, I can call Qier. My name is Qin Mu."
The young woman, Xiong Xiyu, quickly said, "Call him Uncle Qin!"
Qin Mu's face immediately darkened. He said to Xiong Xiyu, "I'm only fifteen. Call me big brother."
Xiong Xiyu looked troubled. "Brother Qin..."
Qin Mu quickly interjected, "I meant for Qier to call me big brother, not you."
Xiong Xiyu's face flushed bright red.
Qin Mu laughed it off, had her extend her hand, pricked her finger to draw a drop of blood, and then spread his hands apart. That single drop of blood expanded thousands of times, forming a massive blood sphere.
In Qin Mu's pupils, four array patterns emerged, forming the Azure Sky Divine Eye. He examined it carefully and said, "So it's a poison that targets primal energy, with little effect on the body itself. Palace Master, forgive my intrusion, but I need to enter your body to inspect your divine repositories."
Before Xiong Xiyu could respond, Qin Mu transformed into a streak of black shadow and slipped into her brow.
Xiong Xiyu felt a swelling sensation in her brow, followed by a similar feeling in her chest, as if a tiny person was crawling around inside her.
Qin Mu inspected from the Spirit Embryo Divine Repository all the way to the Heavenly Being Divine Repository, then stopped before the Life and Death Divine Repository. He was surprised—this palace master's Life and Death Divine Repository was actually open!
"Could she be a grandmaster at the Life and Death realm?"
He transformed into a black shadow and arrived at Xiong Xiyu's Divine Bridge Divine Repository. Suddenly, his mind shook violently—this woman's Divine Bridge Divine Repository was also open!
"I've saved a female expert at the cult leader level, and she was still calling me 'big brother'..."
Qin Mu felt a bit dizzy. He steadied himself and left Xiong Xiyu's body. No wonder she could become the palace master of a great sacred land—she was an existence at the Divine Bridge realm.
The strange sensation inside Xiong Xiyu faded, and she quickly asked, "Chief Qin, the poison in my body..."
"It targets primal energy and has already spread through your primal energy into your divine repositories, contaminating them."
Qin Mu calculated for a moment and said, "If you had closed your divine repositories immediately back then, you wouldn't have been poisoned so deeply, and it would have been easy to remove. But now the poison has entered your repositories, making it somewhat difficult to refine away."
Xiong Xiyu looked dejected. "Poison Master Mu Yingxue's Binding Silk poison is unrivaled under heaven. The longer time drags on, the more my primal energy is depleted, the lower my cultivation becomes. Soon, I'll be a cripple..."
"Unrivaled under heaven?"
Qin Mu smiled. "I only dare to claim I'm third best at poisoning, and he dares to call himself first? Rest assured, I can temporarily suppress the poison for you. It won't continue draining your cultivation. However, I don't have enough medicinal herbs here—I'll need to gather some."
A glimmer of hope rekindled in Xiong Xiyu's heart. She struggled to her feet, took her daughter's hand, and said, "Thank you, Chief Qin! What I said last night was just desperation—I was grasping at straws, trying to provoke you..."
Qin Mu waved his hand dismissively, unconcerned. He smiled and said, "A righteous man? I'm not. To be honest, my reputation among the orthodox factions of the Yan Kingdom isn't good. If you told them that Chief Qin of the Heavenly Saint Cult was a righteous man, they'd laugh their heads off."
He picked up Xiong Qier and placed her on Dragon Qilin's back. "Let's go."
Xiong Xiyu quickly said, "Yu Bochuan and his men..."
"This is the Great Ruin, not the Western Lands."
Qin Mu said leisurely, "Once you're in the Great Ruin, you're at my home. In my home, they can't pull any tricks."
Xiong Xiyu felt uneasy but had no choice but to follow him. Strangely enough, in the time it took to speak, her injuries had improved further, and her steps grew lighter.
By the time they left the basin, her wounds had fully healed.
Qin Mu, meanwhile, was looking around, searching for medicinal herbs. Whenever he spotted one, he would go up and pick it. By the time they emerged from the basin, he had already gathered over a hundred types of herbs. As he picked, he refined them into medicine. Xiong Xiyu was puzzled—Qin Mu had refined dozens of batches of medicine in that time, all stuffed into his Taotie pouch. She had no idea what kind of medicine he was making.
They arrived at a hilly area. Qin Mu frowned slightly. The scenery here was picturesque, with beautiful mountains and clear waters, yet there was no trace of any strange beasts. Even birds were scarce.
"Something's off."
Just then, they heard singing coming from ahead—a sweet, melodious tune that tugged at the heartstrings.
Qin Mu shot a glance at the two white bats. They immediately flew up silently toward the source of the singing. After a moment, the two bats returned and reported, "There's a lake ahead, with many bare-skinned girls bathing in it."
—There will be a third chapter tonight, around ten o'clock.