Chapter 847: Celestial Venerable Token
"Where did you get this thing?" Qin Mu shifted his gaze away from the box and asked.
The young Xing Huan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "When the Yuan Realm broke its seal, I saw a rather ancient ruin, with divine radiance filling the sky. I went in to search and found this thing."
Chi Ming Divine Son, the Butcher, and the others stepped forward, but the box was already closed, so they couldn't see what was inside.
However, there weren't many treasures in the world that could move Qin Mu. Even ordinary Emperor Throne techniques were hard for him to get excited about. Whatever was in that box must be extraordinary.
Dragon Qilin came forward, rubbed against the box, and whispered, "Good brother, what's inside? Let me have a look?"
Fox Ling'er tried to pry open a crack, but the box was tightly sealed, refusing to show them.
"Where is the ruin where you found this thing?"
Qin Mu said in a deep voice, "This thing is of little use to me. It's that ruin that is the truly crucial place for me. If you want me to save you, then tell me where it is."
"There's a geographical map in the box."
Xing Huan said, "Save me, and the things in the box, along with the geographical map, are yours. Even, if you're not at ease, I can personally take you there."
Qin Mu gave him a deep look, nodded, and said to Ba Shan Sacrificial Wine, "Senior Brother, lend me a place. I'll perform a ritual for this fellow to reshape his soul."
Ba Shan Sacrificial Wine immediately cleared the main hall, Li Jiang Hall. Qin Mu picked up the box, walked into the hall, and placed the box beside him.
Xing Huan walked into the hall and looked at the box.
The box could walk on its own, yet Qin Mu insisted on carrying it. Clearly, the thing he had found was extremely important to Qin Mu, proving that bringing this treasure to Qin Mu was the right move.
Inside the hall, the Gate of Bearing the Heavens manifested behind Qin Mu, and he performed a ritual to gather Xing Huan's scattered soul.
Although Xing Huan was a sage born once every five hundred years of the previous era, with extraordinary intelligence, he was limited by his time and could not become a god.
Unlike Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor, a contemporary sage, who poured his heart and soul into Yan Kang's reforms and changes, fully realizing his ambitions without caring for his own life, Xing Huan poured all his heart and soul into how to prolong his own life.
He took a deviant path, killing many near-god experts and splicing together the body parts of these experts, which had been cultivated to the True God level, to keep himself young.
Later, his research went further. He even cut his own primordial spirit, and even his soul, taking the spirits and souls of others to splice together a primordial spirit.
Over time, Xing Huan became lost, no longer knowing which one was himself.
The souls and bodies of others would ultimately limit his achievements. In this era of the great explosion of Dao techniques, if he couldn't return to his true self, he would be eliminated.
For Qin Mu, reshaping his soul was a familiar task, not difficult, after all, Xing Huan wasn't a being like Earth Mother Yuan Jun or Tian Yin Empress Dowager.
Moreover, he wasn't worried that Xing Huan could learn his Soul-Pulling Art. Without the identity of the Netherworld Divine Son, one couldn't hope to truly cultivate the Gate of Bearing the Heavens.
More critically, without a good relationship with Heaven Duke and Earth Bo, stealing their power to reshape a soul would likely get him killed by these two ancient gods.
After a while, the ritual ended. Xing Huan sat in lotus position, carefully sensing his own soul, his heart filled with myriad emotions, beyond words.
Qin Mu, meanwhile, opened the box. Inside the box's space, the physical bodies of various gods stood neatly arrayed. Many of these gods were demigods who had cultivated to the divine realm.
There were also many primordial spirits fixed there by Xing Huan using a strange technique, all sorts of primordial spirits, bizarre and varied, from various races.
But what drew Qin Mu's attention wasn't Xing Huan's collection, but a jade token, a token similar to the Mu Celestial Venerable token.
The box spat out this token, which fell into Qin Mu's hand. Qin Mu turned the token over. On it was carved an ancient divine script character: "Qin."
The token of Qin Celestial Venerable.
Back then, he and Niu San Duo had returned to the early Long Han Era, met Kai Huang on the Heavenly River, and had a great battle at the Yao Chi Gathering, shocking the Heavenly Court.
Yu Celestial Venerable saw that their divine abilities were extraordinary, surpassing the humans of the time, surpassing the ancient gods and demigods, so he memorialized the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor to request rewards for them.
Thus, the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor enfeoffed them as Celestial Venerables. Qin Mu used the alias Mu Qing, so his title was Mu Celestial Venerable. Kai Huang Qin Ye used the alias Qin Kai, so his title was Qin Celestial Venerable.
Qin Mu and Kai Huang were listed alongside the Seven Celestial Venerables, known as the Nine Celestial Venerables.
When the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor bestowed the titles, there were imperial edicts and tokens. Each of them had one.
This was why, upon seeing this token, he immediately agreed to reshape Xing Huan's soul!
Qin Mu examined the Qin Celestial Venerable token back and forth a few times, then put it into his Taotie pouch. He looked at Xing Huan. At this moment, due to the soul reshaping, Xing Huan's soul was weak, and he was circulating his profound arts to strengthen it.
Qin Mu took out the geographical map from the box and examined it. This geographical map was of the current Yuan Realm, with too many unfamiliar places. He could barely make any sense of it.
"Even with the geographical map, I still need Xing Huan to accompany me there."
Qin Mu put away the geographical map and walked out of Li Jiang Hall.
Outside the hall, the Butcher transformed into a streak of saber light and flew elsewhere, laughing, "Mu'er, aren't you going to learn the achievements of the Li Jiang Academy's reforms? I'll be waiting for you at the Heavenly Saber Academy!"
Qin Mu set aside his thoughts and laughed, "Grandpa Butcher, you're going to get beaten to death by me."
The Butcher laughed heartily, and the saber light landed in a palace within the academy, which was the Heavenly Saber Academy.
Chi Ming Divine Son flicked his purple robe and vanished, his voice echoing, "Netherworld Divine Son, I await your arrival at the Creation Academy!"
The Old Farmer walked out, saying calmly, "Martial Arts Academy. Come find me and get beaten!"
Qin Mu's face darkened. Yu Zhao Qing said with a smile, "Natural Academy. This humble woman awaits the Sect Leader's arrival."
Ban Gong Cuo was suddenly filled with heroic spirit, laughing heartily, "Sect Leader Qin, I'll await your instruction at the Sorcery Heavenly Academy!"
...
In front of Li Jiang Hall, many experts returned to their respective academies, waiting for Qin Mu's challenge. Fox Ling'er also got excited, riding a gust of demon wind and leaving, chirping, "Young Master, I'll be waiting for your challenge at the Demon Academy!"
Qin Mu scratched his head. "Ling'er seems to have misunderstood. I came to learn divine abilities. I can't even learn demon arts... But since she's so enthusiastic, after I finish with the other academies, I'll go sit with her for a bit, so the little girl won't be sad. However, these academies of Li Jiang Academy all seem to be tough nuts to crack. Except for Da Zun, of course..."
Li Jiang Academy had over twenty academies: the Sword Dao Academy, the Demon Dao Academy, the Divine Dao Academy, and so on, each with its own strengths. Qin Mu challenged them one by one.
His goal was to learn the achievements of the Li Jiang reforms, so he used the techniques and divine abilities of Li Jiang Academy to duel with each academy. He had both wins and losses. His worst loss was to Ban Gong Cuo's Sorcery Heavenly Academy. Qin Mu competed with Ban Gong Cuo in escape techniques and was utterly defeated.
Qin Mu couldn't save face and wanted to compete with him in sorcery, but Ban Gong Cuo refused to compete with him. After winning, he fled and disappeared without a trace.
His easiest win was against Chi Ming Divine Son's Creation Academy. In the art of creation, Chi Ming Divine Son was indeed inferior to him, even though Chi Ming Divine Son's cultivation and strength far surpassed his by an unknown amount.
The most relaxed was Fox Ling'er's Demon Academy. Qin Mu played around with Fox Ling'er for a while, then got dead drunk with Fox Immortal and a group of demons.
The worst beating was at the Old Farmer's Martial Arts Academy. As soon as he entered the Martial Arts Academy, Qin Mu started getting beaten until he couldn't stand up.
And the most heartwarming was still the Heavenly Saber Academy. The two of them, grandfather and grandson, fought and stopped, with the Butcher earnestly guiding his saber technique cultivation, hoping he could enter the Dao through the saber. It made Qin Mu feel as if he had returned to the days of the Crippled Elderly Village, very warm.
The Butcher, when not crazy, had a kind of elder's warmth.
One day, Xing Huan walked out of Li Jiang Hall and said to Qin Mu, "Sect Leader Qin, we can set off."
Qin Mu bid farewell to everyone and said to the Butcher, "Grandpa Butcher, this trip of mine will likely be fraught with danger. Leave Lan Yu Tian here for now, let him learn the Dao techniques of Li Jiang. You must take good care of him. Don't teach him techniques, but also urge him to cultivate."
The Butcher glanced at Xing Huan. "I don't trust Little Huan Zi. This guy is ruthless. Traveling alone with him, he might make a move on you. Mu'er, a dog can't change its nature. The way he looks at you is off. I suspect he really wants your body!"
Qin Mu said calmly, "Xing Huan can't do anything to me."
The Butcher was still a bit uneasy.
Qin Mu called for Dragon Qilin and Yan'er, and set off with Xing Huan.
Xing Huan took a dragon from his box and blew a breath. The divine dragon immediately came to life, soaring through clouds and mist at great speed.
Qin Mu sat on Dragon Qilin's head. Dragon Qilin rode fire clouds, running at full speed to catch up with the divine dragon.
"Sect Leader Qin's lazy beast isn't slow in its cultivation."
Xing Huan looked back, quite surprised, and said, "Sect Leader Qin is traveling with me this time without bringing any experts. You seem quite at ease with me."
Qin Mu said leisurely, "Xing Huan, you were once so brilliantly talented. In the battle at Heavenly Sage Academy, my Crippled Elderly Village and the experts of Yan Kang Kingdom were almost completely wiped out. But times have changed. Your skills are no longer as stunning as before. Traveling with you, I don't need other experts."
Xing Huan said calmly, "You underestimate me. Although I realize my path was wrong, there are still few among my peers in the world who can be my match. Even if Su Jian Shen encountered me, he would be a step or two behind. You should have called a few experts, because you are very attractive to me. Seeing the collection in my box, you should know that I haven't completely abandoned my old path."
Qin Mu laughed heartily. Yan'er, taking advantage of his open mouth, fed him a Crimson Fire Spirit Pill.
Qin Mu's face darkened. He was about to spit it out, but found the Crimson Fire Spirit Pill tasted surprisingly good. He ate it against his better judgment. "No wonder Fatty Long always likes eating Crimson Fire Spirit Pills. So they taste this good... Ptooey, ptooey, this is for Fatty Long!"
With Yan'er by his side, he felt full of courage.
Even with Dragon Qilin running at full speed, traveling day and night, it took them two months to reach the ancient ruin Xing Huan had mentioned.
Dragon Qilin descended. The divine dragon under Xing Huan's feet also slowly landed, shrinking and flying into the opened box.
Xing Huan carried the box and said softly, "This is the place. I barely escaped with my life here, nine deaths to one."
Qin Mu looked ahead. Intense divine radiance was spewing from a stretch of broken divine mountains, dazzling and brilliant.
There was a moving light within that divine radiance. Just as he was about to look closely, a round, bright light flew out from within the radiance, and sword light erupted from that light, stretching for dozens of miles!
"Is it similar to your sword technique?"
Beside Qin Mu, Xing Huan said, "It was here that I found the token with the Qin character, and also saw a sword technique similar to yours. That's why I thought this treasure could move you."
Qin Mu's heart trembled slightly. The Carefree Sword was humming softly again.