Chapter 456: The Old Schemer
That night, in the dead of night, He Yiyi heard a tapping at her window. Her heart fluttered with nervousness as she quickly pushed the window open, only to see Qin Mu climbing in through it. He smiled and said, "Sister Yiyi, I saw no one around, so I climbed in."
He Yiyi's heart pounded wildly. In the candlelight, the more she looked at her beloved, the more her mind wandered and her heart grew unsettled.
And so, the two of them spent the entire night discussing formations.
By early the next morning, before the sun had even risen, Qin Mu quietly slipped back out through the window. According to Western Earth custom, a visiting husband must not meet his wife's family.
Before Qin Mu even reached the ground floor, he encountered a few early-rising women. They quickly turned their faces away, pretending not to have seen him. Only after Qin Mu landed and walked some distance away did they break into low, suppressed laughter.
When the sun was high in the sky, He Yiyi led her people in reluctantly seeing Qin Mu off from Sword River Valley. She said, "The He family alone is not enough to deal with True Heaven Palace. The Sect Leader will go see the Poison Master, and I will go meet with the other leading families of Western Earth to discuss the great matter."
Qin Mu took his leave and departed.
He Yiyi watched him go, a hint of loss in her heart.
A girl beside her chuckled softly, "Did Sister and Brother-in-law Qin get together last night? A few people saw Brother-in-law climbing the window, and someone else saw him coming down from upstairs early this morning."
He Yiyi, sleepy-eyed and a bit low on energy, said irritably, "Get together? We talked about formations all night."
The other girls crowded around, chattering noisily. "Talking about formations is just an excuse, isn't it? Last night was a long night, perfect for mandarin ducks nesting together and butterflies flying in pairs!"
He Yiyi ground her teeth, making a grating sound.
The girls were startled. "Did you really talk about formations all night with Brother-in-law?"
He Yiyi said helplessly, "He was so enthusiastic, what else could I do? Use force? What would happen to the He family's reputation? If I really used force, wouldn't it have caused a huge commotion and torn down this Bamboo City? I had no choice but to discuss formations with him all night. Fortunately, his insights and knowledge were extraordinary. We were so absorbed in exploring the path of formations that we forgot about romance and pleasure, feeling only that the night was too short. But now that I think about it, I feel we could have done something first before exploring the path of formations and exchanging ideas."
The girls exchanged glances. A man and a woman alone in a room, and they really did talk about formations all night: "What a beast... worse than a beast!"
"Then why did Sister still tell Brother-in-law Qin to go see that little vixen Poison Master?"
A girl plucked up the courage to ask, "What if Mu Yingxue isn't as reserved as Sister and snatches Brother-in-law away?"
He Yiyi sneered, "Unless that Mu girl uses force, no one can take advantage of him. Ever since she lost to him in battle, that girl has been unable to forget him, her heart all aflutter. She's always competing with me. If I fail, she'll definitely laugh at me if she finds out. So I might as well let her fail too, to shut her mouth first!"
The girls were deeply impressed. "Sister is wise!"
Qin Mu, with Xiong Qi'er, sat on the back of the Dragon Qilin as they headed toward Thunder Mountain City, where the Poison Master Mu Yingxue resided.
"Big brother, aren't we going to True Heaven Palace?" Xiong Qi'er asked curiously.
"I originally planned to go to True Heaven Palace, but there's still no news of the National Teacher or your mother. I suspect..."
Qin Mu's eye twitched, and he sneered, "That sly old fox, the National Teacher, has never shown his face. I know what he's up to! He's just waiting for me to stir up a huge mess in Western Earth, to draw True Heaven Palace's attention and main fighting force, and then he'll seize victory from the chaos! That old schemer... I said, why did he take the initiative to come to my Heavenly Saint Academy, invite your mother to Western Earth, and then invite me as well?"
He looked up and surveyed the surroundings. Seeing a few white clouds following them persistently, he said to the Dragon Qilin, "Fat Dragon, we're being watched again."
The Dragon Qilin's heart tightened, and he quickly quickened his pace.
The white clouds also suddenly sped up, but after chasing for a while, they were left far behind by the Dragon Qilin.
Qin Mu noticed that not only were the white clouds chasing them, but the great waters of the Sword River below had also reversed their flow, the waves moving like a hidden dragon, though they still couldn't catch up.
Qin Mu looked puzzled. The cultivators chasing them should be experts from True Heaven Palace. True Heaven Palace's tracking methods were indeed unmatched in the world; once they had you in their sights, it was very hard to shake them off.
But how did that sly fox, the National Teacher, know that entering Western Earth would attract so much attention and draw True Heaven Palace's forces?
He had been very low-key and discreet. How did the National Teacher know he might become True Heaven Palace's biggest target?
"The National Teacher is still an old fox..."
Qin Mu looked at Xiong Qi'er and immediately knew where the target came from.
From what he had learned in the past few days, Western Earth placed great importance on the Little Princess. The True Heaven Palace Lord needed a Little Princess to secure his position. And by bringing Xiong Qi'er, the former Little Princess, he had naturally become True Heaven Palace's primary target!
Xiong Xiyu was not a concern; Xiong Qi'er was the real target of the True Heaven Palace Lord!
In the past, Yu Bochuan and his men had not been targeting Xiong Xiyu, but Xiong Qi'er!
Qin Mu remembered that the reason he had intervened to save Xiong Xiyu and her daughter was because he saw Yu Bochuan and the others attacking a four- or five-year-old girl like Xiong Qi'er, and his conscience wouldn't allow him to stand by, so he risked his life to save them.
Now that he thought about it, Yu Bochuan's desire to kill Xiong Qi'er was not without reason.
"Why does True Heaven Palace care so much about the Little Princess?"
He couldn't help but wonder. He crouched down, took Xiong Qi'er by the shoulders, and turned her over a few times to look, but he couldn't see anything special about her. He became even more puzzled.
The True Heaven Palace Lord was Nai Kui, and Nai Kui meant "mother of the princess," while the princess's father was called Ba Gou. Both names originated from the Little Princess, indicating that True Heaven Palace placed special importance on the Little Princess, and there must be a specific reason for it!
Xiong Qi'er blinked her big eyes at him, innocent and pure, not seeming to possess any special abilities.
Suddenly, Qin Mu noticed Xiong Qi'er's small backpack. His heart stirred. Xiong Qi'er had been carrying this small backpack ever since they left Heavenly Saint Academy. He had assumed it contained the girl's spare clothes and had never paid it any attention.
Now, however, he felt curious about it.
"Qi'er, what's in your backpack?" Qin Mu asked.
Xiong Qi'er took off the backpack and opened it. A green light spilled onto Qin Mu's face.
Qin Mu sighed. "Just as I thought. That old schemer, the National Teacher..."
The Azure Dragon Pearl lay quietly in the backpack. This dragon pearl was green like jade, crystal clear, with a dragon soul gently swimming inside. When Qin Mu's hand grasped the pearl, the Azure Dragon Soul showed a disdainful expression. But when Qin Mu placed Xiong Qi'er's hand on the Azure Dragon Pearl, the dragon soul appeared very comfortable, gently touching Xiong Qi'er's hand through the pearl.
"A child's pure and untainted nature is indeed the best material for cultivating the Myriad Spirits Natural Art."
Qin Mu sighed with emotion. The reason True Heaven Palace needed a Little Princess was primarily because the Little Princess was pure and untainted, without any other distracting thoughts, able to control treasures like the Azure Dragon Pearl and unleash their full power.
In True Heaven Palace, besides the Azure Dragon Pearl, there were three other treasures representing the Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger. The only one who could unleash the full power of these treasures was the Little Princess of True Heaven Palace!
True Heaven Palace's strongest combat power was never the Palace Lord or Nai Kui, nor any other expert, but the defenseless Little Princess.
The National Teacher and Xiong Xiyu had entered Western Earth ahead of them, and leaving the Azure Dragon Pearl with Xiong Qi'er was definitely not Xiong Xiyu's idea, but the National Teacher's.
Xiong Xiyu thought the National Teacher was unreliable and had Qin Mu bring Xiong Qi'er into Western Earth, not realizing she had fallen right into the National Teacher's trap. Instead, it made Qin Mu, Xiong Qi'er, and their group the target of True Heaven Palace, while the National Teacher and she could use Qin Mu and the others as cover to act in secret.
"The National Teacher deserves a spanking. After all, he's a Heavenly King of my Heavenly Saint Sect, and he dares to scheme against his own Sect Leader."
Qin Mu sighed and perked up. Just then, the Dragon Qilin suddenly stopped and said, "Sect Leader, there's something."
Qin Mu looked ahead and saw a stretch of rolling mountains. Black coffins hung from the cliffs on either side. The Dragon Qilin was flying between two mountains, and the coffins hanging from the cliffs on both sides almost covered the rock faces, turning the mountains black.
He quickly counted. There must have been three to five thousand coffins here.
"This place is... a corpse-nurturing ground!"
He opened his Danxia Heavenly Eye and saw gusts of yin wind and a gloomy, miserable atmosphere shrouding the mountains.
This place was indeed suitable for nurturing corpses.
According to the geographical map of Western Earth, this should be the Lower Prefecture, about eight hundred li east of Thunder Mountain City. The Lower Prefecture was the territory of the Liu family of Western Earth.
"A corpse-nurturing ground is the Liu family's territory? Are these corpses raised by the Liu family of Western Earth?"
It suddenly occurred to him that corpses had no spirit and no soul. Weren't they perfect materials for Western Earth cultivators to summon spirits and souls? A cultivator's body, tempered through countless refinements, was even stronger than a spirit weapon. And with limbs, they could even use techniques in battle, making them more useful than spirit weapons!
"Promotion and wealth!"
Suddenly, a loud shout came. Qin Mu followed the sound and saw several turbaned men retrieving a coffin, chanting phrases like "promotion and wealth" as they activated Western Earth techniques. The black coffin suddenly grew legs, scurried down the cliff like the wind, and landed with a loud crash.
Creak.
The coffin lid opened a crack, and a woman jumped stiffly out, turning her neck rigidly to look at Qin Mu. "Could you be the Demon Sect Leader from the Central Lands?"
Qin Mu was surprised. He couldn't tell whether the woman in the coffin was alive or dead. "I am Qin. And you are?"
"Liu Ruyin of the Liu family."
The woman leaped out of the coffin and landed on the ground. "I heard the Sect Leader has brought the Little Princess into our Western Earth. Where is the Little Princess?"
Qin Mu took Xiong Qi'er's hand and smiled. "The Little Princess is here."
Liu Ruyin looked at Xiong Qi'er, and a brilliant light flashed in her eyes. Instantly, corpse energy surged into the sky. The black coffins on the cliffs sprouted legs on their own and rapidly descended from the cliffs. Some coffins even floated in the air, their lids opening with endless creaking sounds. One after another, "corpses" that seemed neither alive nor dead sat up from their coffins, all turning to look at Xiong Qi'er!
Qin Mu reached out, took the Azure Dragon Pearl from Xiong Qi'er's small backpack, and placed it in her hand. He said calmly, "Liu Ruyin, it seems the Liu family has ill intentions."
When Liu Ruyin saw the Azure Dragon Pearl, she immediately raised her sleeve to cover her face, let out a piercing scream, and said in terror, "Don't do anything rash!"