Chapter 570: Ancient Military Tally
The white-haired old man’s blue clothes were washed somewhat pale. He set down the fishing net in his hands. Qin Mu felt something stirring against his chest, and then he saw the Imperial Token transform into a small dragon, crawling out from the collar of his robe.
When Jiang Miao saw that small dragon, he involuntarily reverted to his original form, also turning into a small dragon and hiding behind Qin Mu, both reverent and fearful, whispering softly, “Maha—”
This small dragon was the True Dragon Lord. It opened its tiny mouth and yawned, then slowly crawled out from Qin Mu’s collar, swam over to the white-haired old man’s hand, coiled up, and squinted its eyes, drowsy and half-asleep.
Immediately, many young men and women emerged from this small village, surrounding Qin Mu and Jiang Miao in the center. A sturdy young man asked, “Ancestor, has someone come to cause trouble?”
The white-haired old man smiled and said, “No. Don’t frighten them. Both of these guests have some connection to our village.”
Only then did the young men and women disperse their hostility, curiously sizing up Qin Mu and the small dragon Jiang Miao behind him.
Qin Mu’s heart tightened. These young men and women were all brimming with abundant vitality, each one concealing their true strength. But when they had surrounded him earlier, Qin Mu heard the youngest girl among them emit seven explosive sounds of divine apertures opening from within her body—clearly an expert at the Divine Bridge realm!
And this girl was likely the weakest in the village, because the others had positioned her in the center for protection!
In this seemingly modest village, the weakest villager was already at the Divine Bridge realm!
Qin Mu had originally thought that Cripples’ Village was the most powerful settlement in the Great Ruins, but now it seemed the Great Ruins truly was a place where dragons and tigers lay hidden.
“Aside from the Imperial Token, you also have the True Dragon Nest on you.”
The white-haired old man grew even more astonished, his gaze falling on Qin Mu’s waist. Qin Mu took down his Taotie pouch, retrieved the True Dragon Nest, and respectfully placed it before the white-haired old man, saying, “Please, senior, take a look.”
The True Dragon Lord in the white-haired old man’s hand immediately perked up, swimming into the True Dragon Nest.
When the other villagers of this settlement saw the True Dragon Nest, they too became spirited, eager and restless, as if they also wanted to burrow into the dragon nest like that small dragon.
But they held themselves back.
“Could it be that the villagers here aren’t human, but dragonkind? Is this a village made up of dragons?”
Qin Mu observed this and formed a guess in his mind. He explained to the white-haired old man, “The Imperial Token of the Ling family was stolen by my Lame Grandpa and given to me. As for the True Dragon Nest, it was refined by the Dragon Tamer Lord of the Upper Firmament. The Dragon Tamer Lord was subdued by me, and the True Dragon Nest fell into my hands. Senior, are you the divine being who forged the Imperial Token?”
The white-haired old man’s gaze rested on the dragon nest, and he said with a faint smile, “Back then, I refined the True Dragon Lord into the Imperial Token and went to the Central Plains to find a successor. I met a young man of extraordinary talent and comprehension—he was the founding ancestor of the Ling family. I saw he had the aura of a true dragon, so I gifted him the Imperial Token and taught him the dragon language and techniques inscribed on it. Unfortunately, his mind wasn’t on that; he went off chasing some girl. He caught the girl, but the dragon language and techniques I taught him were mostly forgotten. I knew then that this fellow was no True Dragon Lord.”
Qin Mu had once heard Ling Yuxiu tell this anecdote and had found it amusing at the time, never expecting it to be true!
“But I’m naturally lazy. I was entrusted by someone to do this, so I refined the True Dragon Lord to find a successor. Since the successor wasn’t up to it, I just let it be.”
The white-haired old man chuckled. “Who would have thought that the young man wouldn’t live up to expectations, but his descendants would be so promising, expanding the Yinkang Kingdom to its current achievements. Since the Imperial Token has fallen into your hands, and you’ve also obtained the True Dragon Nest and found your way here, you must be after the techniques within, right?”
Qin Mu said respectfully, “Senior, I am indeed quite intrigued by the techniques in the True Dragon Nest, but the reason I came here is because of the founding ancestor of the Heavenly Saint Sect. He is my senior brother and gave me a geographical map marked with this village, so I sought it out.”
The white-haired old man paused for a moment, then mused, “The founding ancestor of the Heavenly Saint Sect? Is that young man Wei Fengsui?”
Qin Mu hesitated; he didn’t know his senior brother’s name.
The white-haired old man noticed and smiled, “He once came to see me, asking how to achieve merit. He was quite good, with remarkable skills. The Teacher took on a fine disciple. But Wei Fengsui wanted to become a sage, and achieving merit is difficult for him. He walks the Teacher’s path, and that path is hard to tread—I couldn’t teach him either. If you’ve come to ask me how to become a sage, I can’t teach you that either.”
The “Teacher” he referred to was likely the Woodcutter Sage, who had originally been a Heavenly Master in the Kaicang Heavenly Court, responsible for teaching the princes and princesses of the Kaicang bloodline.
Qin Mu asked, “May I ask if my senior brother mentioned where he planned to go?”
The white-haired old man shook his head. “He didn’t say where he was going, but he left something behind. He had you come to me, probably for this item.”
He stood up, entered the thatched hut, and after a moment came out holding a red box, which he handed to Qin Mu.
Qin Mu opened the red box. Inside was a palm-sized token, stamped with the image of a fierce beast.
Qin Mu turned it over several times but couldn’t understand it, so he humbly sought guidance: “Senior, what is the purpose of this token?”
“It’s a kind of military tally, used to command troops. The tally contains a formation—a divine-position formation—but it’s extremely ancient. It’s probably useless now.”
The white-haired old man said, “There are some runes on it that even I don’t recognize. It might be a military tally from the era of the Upper Emperor or even earlier.”
He took the tally and activated it with his own power. Stars rose from the tally, spinning around them, and he said, “These stars are the divine positions. Once the deities take their places, this formation can be used to face enemies and engage in battle.”
Qin Mu looked up and saw that the stars flying out of the tally weren’t real stars but projections. However, there were an enormous number of them—likely several thousand stars. His heart trembled, and he murmured, “Several thousand deities forming a great formation… What kind of war would require mobilizing thousands of gods and demons at once?”
“Your experience is too shallow.”
The white-haired old man withdrew his power, and the star projections vanished. He smiled, “During the Kaicang era, battles of this scale were not uncommon. The formation in this tally is of little use now. It’s decent as a collector’s item.”
Qin Mu asked, puzzled, “How can a formation be useless?”
The white-haired old man handed the tally back to him and said, “Perhaps the great Dao of heaven and earth has changed. The formation in the tally no longer aligns with the Dao, so it has lost its power. This item is very ancient and out of sync with the Dao. It’s likely something from hundreds of thousands of years ago. As for which specific era, that’s beyond my knowledge.”
Qin Mu placed the tally back in the red box and stored the box in his Taotie pouch.
Since the founding ancestor Wei Fengsui had left this red box and tally with the white-haired old man, it must be extremely important. His sending Qin Mu here was likely for the tally in the box.
Qin Mu said, “I’ve been presumptuous, senior. I haven’t yet asked your name.”
The white-haired old man smiled, “I thought the descendants of the Qin family would already know my identity, but it seems you don’t. I originally attained the Dao from a dragon vein, cultivating into a true dragon. In those days, I followed your ancestor. Since I had just been born and couldn’t speak, only able to say ‘Maha,’ your ancestor gave me a name: Ma Haqing, to mock me.”
Qin Mu’s expression twisted oddly. “Ma Haqing…”
Jiang Miao poked his head out from behind Qin Mu and said timidly, “Maha—”
The white-haired old man continued, “Later, I served in your ancestor’s heavenly court. The court had four great heavenly palaces, and I presided over the Azure Dragon Palace. The sixty star divisions of the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace were under my command, and I was honored as the Azure Emperor. I found that title too domineering, so I changed it to Qinghuang. Now that the Kaicang Heavenly Court has fallen and the Azure Dragon Palace no longer exists, you may call me Old Man Qinghuang.”
Qin Mu bowed again, saying, “Qin Mu, the 107th generation descendant of the Qin clan, pays respects to Old Man Qinghuang.”
Old Man Qinghuang quickly said, “Please rise. When I saw you arrive, I immediately recognized your bloodline and guessed you were a descendant of the Kaicang Emperor. Do you wish to learn the dragon language in this True Dragon Nest? I can teach you.”
Qin Mu was overjoyed and bowed again in thanks, saying, “I am indebted to you, senior.”
Old Man Qinghuang led him into the True Dragon Nest and said, “I see that your techniques and divine abilities have already achieved some success, and you seem to cultivate both divine and demonic paths, having opened both divine and demonic divine apertures. That’s quite peculiar. It seems you’ve already found your own path. Learning my dragon clan’s techniques will only be icing on the cake for you. But this little dragon will likely gain a great deal.”
Jiang Miao, still in his small dragon form, crept cautiously behind Qin Mu. Hearing this, he shrank his head and said, “Maha…”
Old Man Qinghuang chuckled, “No need to thank me. Thank him instead. By the way, Qin Mu, I sense a very strange item on you, hanging around your neck. It’s like a jade pendant, containing a powerful sealing force.”
“Senior, are you referring to this jade pendant?”
Qin Mu took out the jade pendant and said, “This was refined by Tu Bo to seal my demonic nature. I was born in the Nether Realm and invaded by wandering demonic nature there, so Tu Bo crafted this. As long as I wear it, it can suppress the demonic nature.”
Old Man Qinghuang examined the jade pendant and sneered, “Tu Bo sealing your demonic nature? What good intentions could he have? Give me the pendant—I’ll help you break the seal!”
“Well…”
Qin Mu showed a troubled expression and said quietly, “Senior, Yan Wang once tried to undo it and was cursed by the pendant. Even the demon Futuri tried to break the seal and was also cursed, ending up in a miserable state. My master and Yan Wang both said it’s best not to undo the seal in the pendant, and that the pendant must never leave my body, or something terrible might happen…”
“What fear is there of a mere curse?”
Old Man Qinghuang smiled. “But since even the Teacher said so, there must be a reason. Come, let me interpret the true dragon techniques in the nest for you!”
—Well, there will be an update after midnight! It’s mid-month, so I’m asking for your monthly votes!