If Grandma Si or the Village Chief had been here, they would surely have scolded him for gambling with his own life. The divine sound that arose when breaking the wall was not the same as the one the maidens in the ruins sent forth, and pitting the demonic sound against it was like giving the wrong medicine; worse, if the two sounds ran into some strange change, it might end in the shattering of his very soul.
But Qin Mu had no one to guide him and did not grasp the peril. The moment he learned the demonic sound, he set at once to testing it.
When his vital qi reached the point between his brows, that divine sound, wafting as if from beyond the ninth heaven, began again as promised. His vital qi met it and fell back of its own accord. Qin Mu recited the demonic sound silently, and at once divine sound and demonic sound clung fast together, colliding and battling.
Seizing the chance, he urged his vital qi toward the Spirit Fetus Wall. Still, from time to time the divine sound broke through his demonic sound and drove his qi back again.
Failure after failure, yet he was not the least discouraged. After several hundred failures, his vital qi at last struck the Spirit Fetus Wall.
Only, the wall was still there, unbroken.
"I was disturbed by the divine sound and could not gather all my qi to strike with full force, hence I could not break the wall."
He summed up his error and charged into the next attempt, and after another run of failures managed, for the second time, to send his vital qi against the wall. This time likewise he failed.
Then a third attempt, a fourth, a fifth…
When he had studied alchemy under the pharmacist, he had built an excellent patience. Refining pills tests patience, wisdom, keenness of eye, and technique, and of these patience was paramount; without it, one could never in a thousand attempts produce a single good medicine.
After who knew how many failures, at last Qin Mu heard a crack, a light sound, from between his brows.
That one light sound was as sweet as fairy music, and even his strong composure could not repress the surge of excitement in his heart.
A crack had appeared in the Spirit Fetus Wall—a crack shaped like a bolt of lightning.
The wall was without form, something you could not see, only feel; yet when the crack appeared, Qin Mu sensed a ray of light shining out between his brows, like a lightning symbol.
Close your eyes and all before you is darkness. You cannot see between your brows, nor the Spirit Fetus Treasury, nor the Spirit Fetus Wall. But when the wall is struck with a crack by vital qi, a bolt-shaped light bursts through the darkness, and at last you see the wall.
Qin Mu not only saw the wall, but through the crack he could also see the Spirit Fetus Treasury.
Within it, light pooled and swirled—dazzling golden light—and rich vital qi spilled out through the cracking seam, ceaselessly merging with his own.
The Treasury's vital qi was purer and stronger, yet like his own cultivated qi it bore no attribute at all. Qin Mu firmly believed his cultivation was the Overlord's sole vital qi, and so paid the matter no further heed.
The Treasury held not only vital qi but far more wondrous things hidden within; only, he had struck open but a single crack and could not see what else lay inside.
That crack slowly healed, and his heart sank a little. The Spirit Fetus Wall had form but no substance, like viscous syrup; even pierced with a hole, it could mend again. Unless he could break the whole wall in a single unbroken surge, only then could he throw open the Treasury!
"My vital qi is not yet strong enough, but opening a crack can make it soar! Before long, it will crack the wall wide open!"
Qin Mu roused his spirits, when by his ear came a cock's crow. His heart stirred, and he opened his eyes.
Among the savage creatures sheltering in the ruins were several bald-necked roosters of mighty bearing, taller than a man, with splendid wings, their necks bare of feathers. The crowing just now had come from them.
"Dawn is near."
The eastern sky already showed a dim whitening. He now had no time to burst through the Spirit Fetus Wall completely. Still, he had grasped how to break the wall; so long as he escaped from Senior Brother Qu and Junior Sister Qing, he would have ample time to break through.
And though he had not fully broken the wall, merely cracking it had raised his cultivation greatly, giving him ample confidence to slip free of them both.
"Dawn is near." Senior Brother Qu spoke with significant meaning.
Junior Sister Qing said coldly: "Our three junior brothers died to slay the demon. If this little demon whelp escapes, would that not betray their spirits in heaven?"
Qin Mu let the words pass unheard. He rose and limbered his limbs.
In the plaza, the maidens were still locked in struggle against the darkness, exchange for exchange, neither side yielding. Before long another cock-crow came, and the darkness grew fretful, its voice vast and deep, while the maidens' divine sound grew stirring and clear. Holy light and darkness clashed needle for needle, in a scene of utter awe.
Suddenly a third crow rang out, and a thread of sunlight pierced the eastern dark, falling upon the tallest peak.
At its touch, the darkness black as ink receded like a tide, swiftly drawing back, faster and faster, until it vanished beyond the horizon.
Morning light streamed across the gorge. Before the sunlight yet reached the ruins within, the lofty pearl overhead slowly fell, and the riot of rainbow light that filled the plaza poured back into it.
The glow faded, and the maidens in the plaza once more became skeletons seated cross-legged, unmoving, as though that nightlong struggle had been but a gaudy dream.
Qin Mu had long heard the villagers speak of the strange happenings in the Great Ruin, matters queer beyond all comprehension. But to live through them oneself was far more shattering. Each night the darkness invaded—the faces in the dark, the mysterious demonic sound, the pink skeletons that turned into maidens—all mysteries awaiting the probing of people.
Qin Mu hid his body amid the moving horde and slipped away. The herd clearly kept an unwritten rule: within the ruins, none might strike. But outside, it would surely turn into a deadly danger of its own.
On the other side, Senior Brother Qu shot a glance at Junior Sister Qing, and the two blended into the herd, drawing nearer to Qin Mu.
Suddenly a beam of sword-light came silently up behind him. He twisted aside, and the treasured sword very nearly stabbed a savage beast.
That creature roared in fretful fury.
"Junior Sister, do not loose your sword, lest it harm the beasts and drive the herd mad—then we all die here!"
At Senior Brother Qu's voice, Junior Sister Qing drew back her sword and, turning in a single bound, leapt from beast to beast, swiftly closing on Qin Mu. He watched, his heart burning with envy. To gather qi into a thread and command a sword to slay an enemy scores of zhang away—such skill, while not so astonishing as the butcher's divine arts, was still quite impressive.
Junior Sister Qing's steps were light, her skirt spinning like a pink lotus, and beneath the lotus her toe struck at Qin Mu like a pointed knife!
Her leg-work was fierce; every kick was a great hammer laden with sharp barbs, shaking the air with a dreary hum. It could easily kick a great boulder to dust, pierce walls of bronze and iron!
But Qin Mu's eyes lit up as he met her whirlwind of leg-work!
The Cripple had once told him that the Heaven-Stealing Leg Work he had taught him had never feared any other's leg-work!