Chapter 328: The Old and New Sword Gods
The two clouds drifted in different directions, one left and one right. Yet high in the sky where they floated, the wind’s direction was completely different from their movement, running perpendicular to it instead.
The only explanation for this was that the two clouds and that wind belonged to different spaces. From the wind and clouds alone, there were three overlapping layers of space!
Adding to that were the eternally dark Netherworld and the grayish Fengdu. If the skies of those two worlds appeared here, they would surely be black or gray.
Although he couldn’t see any black or gray sky, Qin Mu was certain both worlds were nearby!
In other words, at the source of the Surging River, there might be five worlds overlapping!
When night fell and darkness encroached, one world after another would appear, taking turns on this chaotic stage, making it a lively spectacle!
“When I have time, I must go to the place where the Western Lands meet the Great Ruins. The darkness surges from there, and perhaps I can uncover more secrets.”
Qin Mu descended from the air, his head aching. What exactly had triggered the historical echoes? Which worlds were connected at the source of the Surging River? And where were all these connection points?
The Great Ruins held many secrets, and this Surging River seemed to have quite a few as well.
“Some secrets are beyond my reach to touch or unravel. Forcing them open would likely cost me my life. I’d better return to the village first.”
They traveled downstream. Xiong Xiyu kept stealing glances at Qin Mu, until finally she couldn’t hold back her curiosity. “Chief Qin, are you truly someone born and raised in the Great Ruins?”
Qin Mu nodded. “Why do you ask?”
Xiong Xiyu said, “How did you survive in such a dangerous place? The Great Ruins are full of strange beasts, bizarre phenomena, and deadly perils. When night falls, darkness invades, monsters run rampant, and other worlds constantly overlap with the Great Ruins. It’s hard to imagine you’ve lived to this day!”
Qin Mu laughed. “Palace Master Sister, you’ve misunderstood! The Great Ruins are actually very safe—far safer than the outside world. The outside world is the truly dangerous place. To be honest, the first time I left the Great Ruins and entered Yancheng, I stayed at an inn by the river, and that very night, something terrible happened. The place was called Dijiang County. Everyone in the county died, and only Ling’er and I escaped. I’ve never encountered anything like that in the Great Ruins.”
Xiong Xiyu was at a loss for words. “Still, you can’t say Yancheng is more dangerous than the Great Ruins. You just happened to be there at the wrong time.”
Qin Mu’s expression was calm. “Since entering Yancheng, I’ve faced far more murderous schemes, deadly crises, and assassination attempts than I ever did in the Great Ruins. Compared to that, the Great Ruins are the safest place. The greatest dangers I’ve encountered there were all caused by outsiders barging in. The Great Ruins are the safest place.”
Xiong Xiyu was deeply puzzled, unable to understand why he thought the Great Ruins were safer than the outside world.
Dragon Qilin chuckled. “Palace Master, you don’t know—our Chief doesn’t even dare use his real name when he goes out. If he reveals his true identity, the line of people coming to kill him would stretch from Yancheng all the way to the Village of the Cripples. Those righteous types hate his guts.”
Qin Mu shot him a glare and quickly explained to Xiong Xiyu, “Our Heavenly Saint Cult is actually very upright. Don’t misunderstand. By the way, once we reach the village, I should be able to refine your poison. What are your plans after that?”
Xiong Xiyu looked lost. Return to the True Heaven Palace?
Now she only had her daughter left. Returning to fight for power and reclaim her position as Palace Master—she had no confidence in that, and she worried about Xiong Qi’er’s life.
But abandoning her ancestral legacy was something she couldn’t bear either.
Qin Mu saw the conflict in her eyes and smiled. “Once I remove the Entangling Silk Poison, your cultivation won’t recover immediately. I’ll need to help you recuperate and restore your vitality. If you can’t make a decision, I have a suggestion: come with me to Yancheng for a while. I’m a professor at the Imperial Academy, and I can recommend you to teach there.”
Xiong Xiyu’s eyes, clear as autumn water, fixed on him deeply. Unconsciously, she exuded the aura of a sacred land’s master. “I am the mistress of the True Heaven Palace, and you want me to teach at the Imperial Academy?”
Qin Mu thought for a moment and ventured, “How about teaching at my Heavenly Saint Cult’s school instead?”
Xiong Xiyu couldn’t help but smile wryly, her gaze flickering. “I’ll visit the Imperial Academy first, I suppose.”
Five days later, they finally neared the Village of the Cripples. Qin Mu first went to find Fox Ling’er. Several white foxes emerged from her house and spoke in human tongues: “Young Master, Big Sister went to Yancheng to look for you! She left months ago!”
Qin Mu questioned them closely. The lead white fox said, “The Demon Spirit King came to force a marriage. Big Sister beat him up, so he went to fetch his father. Big Sister couldn’t win, so she ran off, saying she’d go to Yancheng to find you.”
Qin Mu took his leave and led the group toward the Village of the Cripples. As the village came into sight, he grew excited and called out, “Village Chief! Grandpa Medicine! I’m back!”
Xiong Xiyu looked at the small village. At its entrance, a scruffy old man sat in a reclining chair. He had no legs or arms, his beard was a tangled mess, and his hair was disheveled.
A flock of chickens strutted proudly around the village, looking quite imposing.
“Mu’er’s back? You’ve grown taller.”
The old man rocked in his chair, basking in the sun. He glanced at Xiong Xiyu and the two white bats, a hint of surprise in his eyes. “This girl is very pretty and has strong cultivation, but she’s poisoned. Those two white bats are interesting.”
The two white bats swooped down from a tree above his head, hanging upside down, and studied the Village Chief curiously. “You’re pretty strong too!”
Qin Mu frowned, looked the Village Chief over, then went into the village to fetch a butcher knife. He found a bolt of white cloth in Granny Si’s room and tucked it under the Village Chief’s chin. He heated a basin of water, soaked a towel, and covered the old man’s face with it for a while.
Qin Mu removed the towel and began scraping away the Village Chief’s beard with the butcher knife, making a scraping sound. “Village Chief, where is everyone? Where’s Grandpa Medicine? He’s not in the village? Look, your beard is almost dragging on the ground.”
“Medicine ran off.”
The Village Chief sighed. “A few women came here looking for him, scared him away, and left me behind. I don’t have hands or feet—I can’t even crawl back into the house.”
Qin Mu was startled. “Village Chief, how long have you been sitting at the village entrance?”
“Almost two months.”
Qin Mu was speechless. This old man hadn’t moved in two months, just sitting at the entrance, motionless, enduring wind, rain, and the darkness’s invasion!
That was a whole new level of laziness!
Xiong Xiyu, however, was shocked. From the layout of the stone statues in the village, their light couldn’t possibly reach this spot at night. Yet this scruffy old man had lain at the entrance for nearly two months without dying in the darkness. Was he a god?
Or did the darkness’s horrors simply have no interest in him?
Qin Mu finished shaving the Village Chief’s beard, washed his face, then trimmed his messy white hair and combed it neatly. He picked up the old man, carried him into the house, changed his clothes, and washed the old ones.
Then he brought the old man back out to the reclining chair, brewed a pot of tea, and asked, “Hasn’t Grandpa Ma come back either?”
The Village Chief said, “Ma came back once. The Old Tathagata and the Dao Lord sought him out and told him he was no longer the Tathagata. The Old Tathagata cut off one of his own arms and said he couldn’t give it back to Ma’s children, but he could give it back to Ma as an arm.”
Qin Mu exclaimed, “The Old Tathagata cut off his own arm?”
“Yes. That arm was carried off by a chicken-dragon, and it’s in the chicken coop now. Those chicken-dragons can’t eat it.”
The Village Chief sighed. “Old Man Ma looks cold and full of hatred, but when the Old Tathagata cut off his arm and gave it to him, he was moved. He cried and then went to the Great Thunderclap Monastery to take charge. He said he’d come back when the new Tathagata arrived. But I don’t think he’ll return. He’s waiting for the new Tathagata, but when he sits on the Tathagata’s seat, he’ll realize he is the Tathagata.”
Qin Mu was lost in thought. “I need to go to the Nether Valley anyway, so I can stop by the Great Thunderclap Monastery to see him. What about Grandpa Lame? Isn’t he inseparable from Grandpa Ma?”
“Lame is inseparable from Old Man Ma, so of course he went to the Great Thunderclap Monastery as a guest. He said he was afraid Old Man Ma would be taken advantage of.”
The Village Chief looked worried. “I’m afraid that after Old Man Ma becomes the Tathagata, he’ll find the entire mountain monastery empty of everything.”
Qin Mu didn’t see the Butcher, the Blind Man, or the Mute either. He asked again and learned that the Blind Man, the Butcher, the Old Dao Lord, and the Tathagata had all run off together, saying they were going to visit Little Jade Capital. The Mute had stayed in the village, but the day before Medicine fled, he suddenly went mad, grabbed his belongings, and charged into the darkness, chasing after something. He hadn’t returned since.
Granny Si hadn’t come back either, likely still in Yancheng, suppressing her heart demon and tempering her mind.
Qin Mu tidied up the village, packing various treasures and suspicious items into two Glutton Pouches. He then went to the medicinal herb garden at the village entrance. Pointing his finger, flying swords shot into the ground around the garden, slicing through the earth underground.
Qin Mu raised his hands and lifted the entire garden into the air, then stored it in Bango Cuo’s Glutton Pouch.
Bango Cuo’s pouch was better than his own, with a larger internal space, big enough to hold a garden.
Qin Mu slung Medicine’s medicine basket over his back and placed the Village Chief inside it. The old man roared, “Brat, what are you doing? Put me down!”
“I can’t leave you here.”
Qin Mu tightened the basket straps. “If something happens to you, who would know? From now on, wherever I go, Village Chief, you go with me!”
The Village Chief fell silent, touched. He laughed and said, “Put me down. Silly child, I’m old and can’t roam anymore. Besides, I’ve promised the King of Hell that after I die, I’ll go to his Realm of the Dead. When I die, a bird god will come to fetch me.”
Qin Mu suddenly felt the basket become incredibly heavy, as if he were carrying a mountain on his back. He knew the Village Chief didn’t want to leave the Great Ruins. He blinked and said, “Village Chief, don’t you want to meet the Yancheng National Master? Don’t you, the old Sword God, want to meet the new Sword God? The Yancheng National Master is hailed as a sage born once in five hundred years. He’s worth seeing.”
The basket on his back instantly grew lighter. The Village Chief’s voice carried a hint of pride. “The new generation Sword God? Fine. It would be good to see him before I die. Let’s go! Let’s go meet the Yancheng National Master!”
—Second chapter has arrived!