Chapter 372: Setting Fire
Wang Muran and the others were quite puzzled. Qin Mu was clearly riding the Dragon Qilin very slowly, yet he had still managed to get ahead of them. Could it be that this fat Dragon Qilin had been hiding its true strength, playing the pig to eat the tiger?
The three of them came forward to exchange pleasantries. Long Yu looked much better than a few days ago—no longer manic, and with some color returning to his face.
"This is our blacksmith, Grandpa Mute," Qin Mu introduced to everyone.
The mute grinned, showing his teeth, and handed the wooden box to Wang Muran. Qin Mu quickly said, "Don't take it!"
Wang Muran was startled and didn't reach out. The mute curled his lip, babbling "Ah ba, ah ba" as he complained, grumbling that Qin Mu didn't know how to respect his elders.
Qin Mu didn't explain. He knew all too well how heavy the mute's box was. If Wang Muran had taken it, he would definitely have been crushed straight down to the center of the earth.
If the village were to hold an election for the worst old man, Qin Mu would absolutely cast his vote for the mute!
Although Qin Mu had been tricked out of all his candied hawthorn sticks by Cripple since he was a child, Cripple was just playing with him—after biting off two, he would return the rest to a teary-eyed Qin Mu.
But the mute was the one in the village who was truly rotten to the core, his belly brimming with malicious schemes. From childhood to adulthood, the mute had tricked Qin Mu countless times.
"A couple of days ago, the battle suddenly stopped. We don't know what happened."
Wang Muran said, "We were traveling when we suddenly couldn't feel the aura of those divine beings clashing anymore. But based on the direction, the fighting should have been somewhere between Shuzhou and Bazhou."
He took out a map of the Yan Kingdom, found Shuzhou and Bazhou, and marked a spot in the middle.
Qin Mu was slightly startled. That was exactly where Granny Si lived!
"The place where those gods fought isn't far from Granny. She might be in danger!"
He felt a bit uneasy, but the Village Chief, Qingyou Shanren, and the others had already headed there first. With their faster speed, they should have arrived long ago.
Mu Qingdai said, "We're not far from there now—less than a thousand miles away. We can make it in half a day!"
Qin Mu took out the golden flute, blew into it with his primal energy, and said, "It won't take half a day."
A flood dragon responded to Qin Mu's spiritual resonance, immediately shaking its body and transforming into a massive creature dozens of zhang long. Qin Mu leaped onto its back, and the Dragon Qilin jumped up as well.
"Come up. At most, a little over half an hour, and we'll be there," Qin Mu said.
Wang Muran and the others, astonished and uncertain, all jumped onto the flood dragon's back. The great stag also leaped up, eyeing the flood dragon suspiciously, then casting a dubious glance at the Dragon Qilin standing beside it.
The Dragon Qilin kept its eyes fixed on its nose, looking down at its own snout, completely ignoring the stag's contemptuous gaze.
The mute, carrying his box, also jumped on. The flood dragon, which had just been fierce and imposing, was instantly crushed to the ground like a dead snake. Its four claws flailed about, gouging trenches into the earth, but it couldn't get up.
"Grandpa Mute, get off, get off!"
Qin Mu quickly said, "You're going to crush him to death!"
The mute grumbled and jumped down, gesturing with his hands. Qin Mu's face turned red. "Grandpa Mute, why are you cursing? It's not that I'm disrespecting you—it's that your box is too heavy... There you go, cursing again!"
Wang Muran and the other two exchanged bewildered looks.
Qin Mu blew the golden flute, and over a dozen flood dragons flew over, joining forces to lift the mute into the air. Only then was the mute satisfied. These dozen or so flood dragons were extremely powerful, equivalent to top-tier sect masters carrying the mute through the air, so their speed was naturally not slow.
The group sped forward at tremendous speed. The trees on either side blurred past, barely visible, and mountain peaks whizzed by in an instant. On the dragon's back, the great stag continued staring at the Dragon Qilin, its contempt even more pronounced. It snorted repeatedly, as if mocking this fat creature.
The Dragon Qilin's tail drooped, and it lowered its head to stare at its own nose.
Qin Mu felt quite gratified. "Dragon Fatty still has a sense of shame—he's not completely hopeless. Tomorrow, when I feed him the Fire Element Divine Essence Pill, he probably won't spit it out."
Suddenly, several black, slender flood dragons emerged. Some clung to treetops, others flew through the air, craning their necks to watch the procession of flood dragons escorting Qin Mu and the others past.
Qin Mu caught a fleeting glimpse and was startled.
Mu Qingdai said in surprise, "Flood dragons are extremely rare. How come they're everywhere now?"
Those black flood dragons rose into the air, craning their necks and letting out strange cries of "Maha, maha!" The group looked back to see a dark, dense swarm of thousands of black flood dragons flying toward them, covering an entire mountain peak like a black cloud.
Then, the thousands of black flood dragons leaped, slithered, and flew, chasing after them.
Qin Mu withdrew his gaze and turned around.
"The only one with this kind of skill is Lord Dragon Tamer! Most of Lord Dragon Tamer's flood dragons are with me. Where did these black ones come from? They don't seem like real flood dragons."
He opened Lord Dragon Tamer's gluttonous sack, took out the Dragon Taming Sutra, and flipped through it carefully. One passage mentioned nourishing the body with dragon qi.
"Absorb dragon qi, refine the body into a dragon, practice the transformation—muscles, skin, hair—all can be transformed."
Qin Mu was slightly stunned. He looked back at the crazily pursuing black flood dragons. "Then these black flood dragons must be from Lord Dragon Tamer's body. With so many, they can only be his hair. No wonder they're so numerous. Since they're hair, they must be afraid of fire..."
He blinked, and the flute's melody shifted slightly. One of the fire flood dragons carrying the mute slowed down, suddenly diving into the forest below.
Qin Mu continued driving the other dragons forward, while behind them, the dark mass of black flood dragons chased madly, like a black cloud.
When the black cloud passed over the spot where the fire flood dragon had hidden, suddenly, terrifying true fire erupted from below, instantly enveloping the sky for dozens of miles. Countless black flood dragons writhed and burned in the flood dragon's true fire, black smoke billowing through the air. In just a few moments, the black flood dragons formed from Lord Dragon Tamer's hair were completely incinerated by the fire flood dragon Qin Mu had controlled.
The fire flood dragon, having burned away the black dragons, shook its head and tail and chased after them, quickly catching up and continuing to carry the mute.
The mute showed an approving expression and gave Qin Mu a thumbs-up. Qin Mu smiled shyly and waved his hand. "Grandpa Mute, don't praise me so much..."
Wang Muran, Mu Qingdai, and Long Yu stared wide-eyed at each other, watching the thousands of burning black flood dragons turn to black ash and drift down. Each of them shuddered.
"Muran, you're a good kid. Stay a little farther away from the Human Sovereign."
Long Yu whispered, "This person is too sinister!"
Wang Muran hesitated. "Senior Brother, when you were going mad, I formed an alliance with him—the Heavenly Alliance. I'm one of its four leaders. Now I'm in the same boat as him..."
Long Yu's eyes bulged. After a moment, he sighed. "He'll lead you astray and corrupt you."
A little while later, Lord Dragon Tamer, stepping on two flood dragons, arrived at the place where Qin Mu had burned the black dragons. His face ashen, he stared at the black ash covering the mountains and fields, his hands and feet trembling with rage. "That honest-looking brat... that honest-looking brat..."
Only a few curly strands of hair remained on his head, trembling in fear as if they had a life of their own.
"I will never let you go! Even if you ascend to heaven or burrow into the earth, I will find you! Dismember you! Chop you into tiny pieces!"
He tore off the remaining few strands of hair. The black hairs squeaked and squirmed in his hand, struggling to burrow back into his pores. Clearly, the fate of their kind had filled them with dread as well.
Lord Dragon Tamer's face darkened. He blew a breath of dragon qi, and the few strands of hair immediately transformed, landing as black flood dragons. They sniffed around, catching the scent left by other flood dragons, but dared not pursue.
"What use are you?!"
Lord Dragon Tamer flew into a rage. He shook his head, and the black flood dragons turned back into hair, flying to his scalp and plunging into his pores.
Lord Dragon Tamer cut his wrist, splashing out a pool of blood. Each drop of blood hit the ground and instantly transformed into blood flood dragons, which continued to search for Qin Mu's trail.
"Ahead is the place where Granny lives in seclusion."
Qin Mu stopped playing the flute and looked ahead, stunned.
Granny Si lived at the foot of the mountain between Bazhou and Shuzhou, beside a clear lake—a very secluded spot, but desolate and uninhabited, quite barren. Because Li Tianxing was always causing trouble, she had chosen this place far from the mundane world.
But now, what appeared before Qin Mu and the others was not a desolate wilderness, but an extravagantly luxurious, resplendent complex of palaces!
Palaces like those of immortals stood one after another, transforming this remote backwater into a divine paradise. Tall ornamental pillars were carved with dragons and phoenixes, smooth white marble paved the ground, and massive golden columns supported the magnificent halls!
The surrounding mountains had also been remodeled, with strange rocks, peculiar pines, spiritual herbs everywhere, flowers more splendid than brocade, and all kinds of bizarre beasts and birds roaming freely. Gardens large and small dotted the landscape, planted with spiritual medicines that even Qin Mu didn't recognize.
Spiritual springs, waterfalls, winding paths, streams, and small rivers composed a landscape painting of thick and thin ink strokes.
Although they all came from famous and prestigious sects and were accustomed to luxury, walking into such a sacred place made Qin Mu and the others feel a bit shabby, afraid of dirtying the ground or disturbing the arrangement.
The mute looked puzzled and gestured a few times. Qin Mu said blankly, "I don't know either. It wasn't like this when I came here before... Granny! Granny!"
He called out twice, but no one answered. Only a few large fish leaped out of the water, transforming into beautiful women with human upper bodies and fish tails, leaning languidly against a rockery in the lake, singing softly on the water's surface in a very seductive voice.
The mute let out two "Ah, ah" sounds. Qin Mu nodded. "It really is too luxurious. I don't know how Granny got all this..."
They arrived at a divine hall. The decoration was so exquisite that they stepped in and immediately backed out, afraid of dirtying it. But the mute strode in boldly and set down his wooden box.
"Granny isn't here."
Qin Mu was puzzled and said to Wang Muran and the others, "Granny must have gone out. Let's wait here for a while. If she hasn't returned by nightfall, we'll leave immediately without a moment's delay! When it gets dark, the one coming back won't be Granny—it'll be the old demon!"