Chapter 676: The Old Man Fishing by the Cold Pool
"The Emperor has sent the Sun Guardian to the Grand Heavenly Court. It seems I'll have to make a personal trip to the Herd Sun Tribe."
Qin Mu left the imperial palace, summoned the Dragon Qilin, and headed straight for the Great Ruins. Six days later, he arrived at the Sun Well and met Yan Jingjing.
A few years had passed, and the girl had grown up, blossoming into a striking young woman. Seeing Qin Mu arrive, she immediately rushed out, laughing, "Cowherd big brother, look at my legs—they're completely healed!"
Qin Mu's gaze fell on her. The girl wore relatively loose clothing: a ceremonial dress with floral hairpins, a light green outer robe, and an embroidered three-legged crow undershirt beneath it.
Her outer robe was very long, almost touching the ground, hiding her legs from view.
Judging by the craftsmanship, it should have been made by Yu Zhaoqing. The Herd Sun Tribe had shown kindness to Yu Zhaoqing and the Heavenly Feather Tribe, and since the Heavenly Feather Tribe settled in Eternal Peace, the two families often visited each other.
Yan Jingjing tilted her waist, lifting one side of her skirt to reveal a leg. The girl's leg was very slender, and since she wasn't wearing trousers underneath, her skin was as white as snow, quite eye-catching.
Qin Mu felt a flicker of unusual thoughts but quickly suppressed them. He had examined Yan Jingjing's legs before, touching them more than once, so he still had some self-control.
"Show me your other leg too, so I can check if both legs are the same length," Qin Mu said.
Yan Jingjing held one side of her skirt with one hand, tilted her waist, and lifted the other side of her skirt with her other hand, holding it against her chest.
Qin Mu crouched down to examine her. The girl's legs were pressed tightly together with almost no gap. He smiled and said, "They really are fully healed."
The Herd Sun Tribe chieftain walked over, coughing repeatedly. "Ahem, ahem, Sun Guardian, put your skirt down in front of outsiders."
Yan Jingjing quickly lowered her skirt, her face slightly flushed. Qin Mu hastily stood up, only then noticing that behind the Herd Sun Tribe chieftain stood the Woodcutter Sage. Because the chieftain's body was massive, far larger than an ordinary person, he hadn't seen him earlier.
The Woodcutter Sage looked at him with a knowing smile. Qin Mu's expression remained unchanged as he said, "Teacher, why have you come?"
"The Sun Ship was my design."
The Woodcutter Sage laughed. "I came this time to retrieve the Sun Ship blueprints left here and give them to Eternal Peace, so their master craftsmen can build a few Sun Ships and Moon Ships."
Qin Mu smiled. "I originally came to dismantle the Herd Sun Tribe's Sun Ship, make detailed drawings, and rebuild a few Sun Ships. Luckily, Teacher arrived first; otherwise, if I had gotten here first, the Sun Ship would have been taken apart by me."
The Herd Sun Tribe chieftain's red face instantly turned black, as if the sun had gone out. He thought to himself, "Dismantle the ship? Last time you came, you dismantled our sun! Luckily, we fished another one back, and now you want to dismantle our ship..."
The Woodcutter Sage walked toward the Sun Well, saying, "The Sun Ship isn't too troublesome, but with Eternal Peace's current foundation, they can't design such a behemoth—it's a matter of depth. I designed the Sun Ship and Moon Ship, but the pinnacle of master craftsmanship in the Kaihuang Era wasn't me—it was someone else!"
Qin Mu's heart stirred. "Could this person be a Buddha?"
The Woodcutter Sage arrived at the edge of the Sun Well, leaned over to look down, and said, "When I was teaching, he wasn't a monk yet. Later, troubled by love, he entered the Buddhist path and became the junior brother of the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha. Carefree Village was his design... There are still plenty of suns in the well; we can build a few more Sun Ships."
Qin Mu smiled. "I've met the Emperor Shakti Heavenly King Buddha. He's currently being hunted down by the Southern Heavenly Red Emperor, Qi Xiayu."
The Woodcutter Sage said in surprise, "Hunted? Serves him right. But if he hides in the Buddhist realm, the Red Emperor wouldn't strike at him. Why is she chasing him now?"
"He got into trouble."
Qin Mu acted as if this had nothing to do with him. "He caused a ruckus in the Buddhist realm, nearly wiping out the spies the Heavenly Court had planted there, and created a small Netherworld in the highest heaven of Buddhism. The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha expelled him from the Buddhist realm and cast him out. So the Red Emperor seized the opportunity to chase him down."
"I see. He was young and handsome, a famous beauty of the Kaihuang Era. No wonder the Red Emperor took a liking to him. It's all the trouble caused by a beautiful face."
The Woodcutter Sage stood up, summoned the Black Tiger God, and handed him a thick stack of blueprints. "Send these to the Eternal Peace capital and give them to the Emperor."
The Black Tiger God acknowledged the order and sped away with a roar.
The Woodcutter Sage glanced at Qin Mu and said, "'A beautiful face brings disaster'—that saying is true. He was too handsome, so many women liked him. You should be careful too."
Qin Mu felt secretly pleased. "That means I'm quite handsome too..."
"You look so-so, barely not ugly, but you leave a trail of romantic entanglements everywhere."
The Woodcutter Sage poured cold water on him. "With the Emperor Shakti Heavenly King Buddha and your village's Medicine Master as cautionary tales, you should be careful. Girl, let's go find someone who fishes for suns."
Yan Jingjing responded and followed him. Qin Mu also came along.
The Woodcutter Sage led them out of the Sun Well. Outside, the sun was high in the sky, but it was blocked by the Luofu Heaven, making the sky somewhat dim.
"The Emperor Shakti Heavenly King Buddha's secular name was Li Youran. Later, love turned to hate with the Red Emperor, so he became a lay disciple of Buddhism, showing great spiritual insight. The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha gave him the name Emperor Shakti. When the Kaihuang Era fell, he originally planned to build a great ship to take the Heavenly Craftsman Divine Tribe to take refuge in Carefree Village. The Red Emperor chased after him. Worried she would harm his people, he chose to lure her away alone. However..."
The Woodcutter Sage paused for a moment, then sighed. "When he returned, he found the ship destroyed and everyone dead. Believing the Red Emperor was responsible, he fell into despair. The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha came to guide him, and so he followed him to the Great Brahma Heaven. The Red Emperor, hearing he had become a Buddha in the Buddhist realm, said she would take his life the moment he left it. That ship is called the Ark of the Other Shore, and it lies in the Great Ruins."
Qin Mu and Yan Jingjing listened intently. Suddenly, Yan Jingjing asked, "Then was it the Red Emperor who slaughtered his people?"
"I don't know."
The Woodcutter Sage shook his head. "In the chaos of war, who knows?"
Qin Mu said, "I've been to the Ark of the Other Shore. I once thought it was Carefree Village. But when I got there, I realized it wasn't. The ark was sealed, trapping the remnants of the Heavenly Craftsman Divine Tribe inside. It took them nearly twenty thousand years to break the seal, and only a child a few years old managed to walk out alive."
The Woodcutter Sage took over, saying, "That was Li Youran's fault. At the time, he didn't investigate thoroughly and just followed the Great Brahma Heaven away. Later, that child who left the ark grew up, struggled through life, was deceived countless times, and revealed many secrets. Heartbroken, he made a ruthless decision and cut off his own tongue, afraid he would talk too much."
Qin Mu fell silent.
The Woodcutter Sage continued, "He was the last Heavenly Craftsman. Even after cutting off his tongue, he was still tricked, so he hid in the Great Ruins and became a blacksmith."
Qin Mu was silent for a while, then smiled. "Now he's cultivated the Flawless Creation Mystic Scripture, and his tongue has grown back."
The Woodcutter Sage led them over mountains and valleys at great speed, saying, "I hope he can resist talking, or he'll end up cutting off his tongue again."
Qin Mu said, "He talks very little now, but his sign language for cursing is incredibly fast—much faster than speaking."
Yan Jingjing laughed. "I know who you're talking about—it's that blacksmith grandpa. His two hands move really fast when gesturing, but he still needs that Iron-Ear grandpa to translate what he says."
Qin Mu said, "When he makes gestures, it's mostly cursing."
They arrived at a remote canyon, surrounded by dense, lush trees. In the canyon was a deep pool with no visible bottom. Qin Mu and Yan Jingjing saw that by this deep pool stood a stone statue—an old man wearing a bamboo hat, sitting by the pool, holding a fishing rod with the line cast into the water.
The old man rested his chin on one hand, and a fish basket sat at his feet.
This old man had completely turned to stone. Strangely, his fishing rod and line had also petrified, and even the fish basket had become stone.
Qin Mu looked into the fish basket and saw something even stranger: inside the basket were two stone fish!
"Even the fish turned to stone! Could these two fish be deities? If they were deities, how could they have taken the bait?"
He was quite puzzled.
The Woodcutter Sage walked over to the stone statue of the old fisherman, took out an incense stick, lit it, and inserted it beside the stone statue. "Senior brother, it's time to wake up."
The incense smoke curled up like a spirit snake, drilling into the stone statue's nostrils.
After a moment, the statue's nostrils gradually changed from stone to flesh, and the transformation spread outward from the nostrils. Soon, the stone quality on the old fisherman's body receded, and his flesh, skin, and even his clothes became vibrant again.
The fishing rod in his hand also shed its stone quality, and the transformation extended from the rod to the line, which straightened out!
Then, the fish basket at his feet by the pool also shed its stone quality. With two splashes, the two fish inside the basket came to life, bright red, flipping around in the basket.
Qin Mu and Yan Jingjing watched in fascination as the old fisherman stretched his waist, shifted his small stool, and said, "Slept well. Woodcutter, why did you wake me?"
The Woodcutter Sage smiled. "To fish for suns and moons."
The old fisherman took off his bamboo hat, blew off the dust, put it back on, and said, "The suns in the Sun Well? The moons in the Moon Well? With your skills, fishing them out isn't hard. Why bother waking me?"
"I have other things to do and can't be distracted, so I had to wake you, senior brother."
The Woodcutter Sage sighed. "Twenty thousand years have passed, and a new era has come. Senior brother shouldn't be sleeping anymore."
The old fisherman stood up, picked up the fish basket and slung it over his back, reeled in his line, and held his rod. He turned to face Qin Mu, Yan Jingjing, and the others.
His head was large, making his neck look very short. The bamboo hat on his head just barely caught his topknot. His face looked much older than the Woodcutter's, covered in horizontal wrinkles, but his eyes were very big.
Qin Mu and Yan Jingjing bowed in greeting. The old fisherman said, "These two little ones are..."
"The boy is a Qin from Carefree Village; the girl is the current Sun Guardian."
The Woodcutter said, "Mu'er, this is the Fisherman Heavenly Master, one of the four Heavenly Masters of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court back then."
The old fisherman waved his hand and laughed. "The Kaihuang Era ended twenty thousand years ago—what Heavenly Master? Woodcutter, I'm not as shameless as you, still clinging to the title of Heavenly Master. A Qin from Carefree Village comes to the Great Ruins—does Kaihuang plan to counterattack?"
The Woodcutter Sage's expression darkened.
The old fisherman saw this and shook his head. "Carefree Village has become a nest of comfort. Kaihuang's heart has probably grown old; he won't leave that nest. Let's go. We'll fish for suns!"
The Woodcutter Sage said to Qin Mu, "Mu'er, accompany him. I have other matters to attend to." With that, he turned and left, quickly disappearing.
The old fisherman packed up his small stool and strode out of the canyon, saying, "You two little ones, follow me."
Qin Mu and Yan Jingjing quickly caught up. Yan Jingjing whispered, "There are two fish in the basket..."
Just as she said this, one of the bright red fish used its two front fins to grip the edge of the basket, poked its fish head out, looked at them with its two eyes, and said, "Are you two a married couple?"
Yan Jingjing's face flushed red, and she shyly lowered her head. "Not yet..."
Another red fish also gripped the basket's edge and poked its head out, speaking in a female voice: "We are." With that, the two red fish touched their mouths together and kissed.
Yan Jingjing's face turned even redder. She quietly tugged at Qin Mu's sleeve. Qin Mu was lost in thought and only snapped out of it after she tugged him. He muttered, "They'd taste better in a soup... Sister Jing, what is it?"
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