**Chapter 121: The Many Rules of the Capital**
The Young Ancestor also took a fish bone and drew on the ground the Five Planets cultivation diagram he had seen in the ruins, though it too was incomplete. "This is all I saw. The diagram was too damaged, so I didn't carve it in the Qingyang Hall."
Qin Mu's heart stirred. He drew the incomplete Five Planets cultivation diagram he had seen in the Suppressing Calamity Palace and compared it with the Young Ancestor's. The missing portions of the two incomplete diagrams differed in many places—overlapped, they could补 up a fair amount!
Qin Mu drew a new diagram beside them. This new diagram had only one remaining gap: the left shoulder, at the collarbone.
But even without the left shoulder cultivation method, he could still fully power the Barrier Body Three Elixir Art and continue cultivating.
The Young Ancestor studied the new diagram carefully, pondered for a long while, then used the fish bone to sketch a few lines on the left shoulder area. "I've补全 the diagram as best I understand it, but my reconstruction may well be wrong and will certainly differ from the original. When you fight and circulate your yuan qi, there will likely still be a slight flaw at your left shoulder. If your opponent's skill is ordinary, they won't spot it. But if their eye is sharp, that shoulder will become your fatal weakness."
Qin Mu felt a chill. "Ancestor—how sharp would an opponent's eye need to be to see through it?"
The Young Ancestor considered. "A Celestial, or someone at the realm of Life and Death."
Qin Mu relaxed and smiled. "Why would I ever provoke such powerful figures?"
"There are also young people whose cultivation isn't high but whose eye is keen," the Young Ancestor said calmly. "At the Tai Academy, for instance. Don't think too highly of yourself—this is no longer an era where one or two techniques handed down from the ancestors can shake the world. If the Dao and divine arts don't advance and you rely only on what your forebears left behind, heh, sooner or later someone will destroy you. Do you know why I became the Grand Sacrificial of the Tai Academy? To see all the learning under heaven and to witness a new era."
A trace of sorrow flickered in his eyes. "It's a pity... I'm afraid I won't live to see it."
He had made peace with life and death, untroubled by his own approaching end. What grieved him was that he could not witness the dawn of a new era—an era he himself had helped to usher in.
"It doesn't matter if I can't see it," the Young Ancestor said, rallying. "But you can. Young Cult Master, don't be narrow-minded. Keep your vision broad and your heart open."
Qin Mu took his leave. This old man left a different impression from the others in the village.
The villagers of the Ruin Elder Village struck one as a group of kindly old gentlemen. Fierce-looking as they were, get close and you'd find they were genuinely kind-hearted. They taught Qin Mu how to be a man, how to survive.
The Young Ancestor taught him none of that. Instead, he used gentle persuasion, urging Qin Mu to stand higher and see the world from a greater vantage.
The height at which you stand determines the world you see.
Chickens and sparrows fly low, seeing only coops and thatched huts, pecking bugs and grain from the dirt.
The eagle spreads its wings and sees a thousand li—the whole expanse its hunting ground.
To become the Holy Cult Master of the Celestial Demon Sect, one must have the vision to command a thousand li.
For Qin Mu, the most practical gain was the Five Planets cultivation diagram for the Barrier Body Three Elixir Art. With it he could continue to cultivate; without it, his progress would stall at the Five Planets realm.
He returned to the scholars' residence and tried activating the Barrier Body Three Elixir Art, channeling his yuan qi along the newly assembled diagram. The Five Planets path was far more complex than before—it layered a new cultivation route on top of the Guidance Art and the Spirit Sealing realm techniques.
Qin Mu had studied every art within the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra. Many were extraordinary, but few could compare with the Five Planets pathway of the Barrier Body Three Elixir Art. It was like simultaneously driving three layers of technique: the simplest Guidance Art, which in turn drove the Spirit Sealing route, which then drove the Five Planets route—remarkably intricate.
This time, his yuan qi surged powerfully. Following the diagram, his consciousness split into five parts and, together with the roaring yuan qi, poured into the Five Planets Divine Storage.
Inside the treasury, the five great stars blazed with sudden radiance.
But there was no clash of the five elements annihilating each other this time. Instead, a beam of starlight shot down from the Metal Star, merging with one shard of his consciousness to form the image of a Metal God—snake upon its left ear, twin dragons beneath its feet, tiger claws and white fur, a bronze battle-axe in hand.
Qin Mu carefully circulated his yuan qi, letting the Metal God phantom continuously draw upon the Metal Star's light. This composed starlight was called star power—the power of the stars.
At the same time, a beam from the Wood Star descended and fused with another piece of his consciousness, forming a Wood God—human-headed with bird body and feet, treading twin dragons, wielding a willow whip.
A beam from the Water Star merged with his third consciousness, becoming a Water God phantom—human-headed, red-haired, snake-bodied, holding a trident.
The Fire Star's radiance joined his fourth consciousness to form a Fire God phantom—beast body, human face, twin dragons underfoot, a fire gourd in hand.
Finally, the Earth Star's light merged with his last consciousness into an Earth God phantom—human-headed, snake-bodied, with two great doors behind its back. Characters were inscribed upon the doors, but as a phantom the text was too blurry to read.
His yuan qi fused with all five divine phantoms, and the yuan qi and star power began slowly transforming into each other—a puzzling phenomenon.
"Yuan qi becoming star power, star power becoming yuan qi... could this mutual transformation produce some kind of change?"
Qin Mu observed carefully. He noticed nothing different, only that when yuan qi converted to star power, he vaguely sensed some indescribable force stirring in the starry sky—something he could not identify.
When star power converted back to yuan qi, he felt his cultivation rise slightly.
"Not a bad thing."
He breathed a long, thorough sigh of relief. Though the Five Planets diagram still harbored a small flaw, it was workable now. He would no longer suffer qi deviation at the drop of a hat.
"There's still some time before classes start at the Tai Academy. I should return to the Listening Rain Pavilion and bring Hu Ling'er here. And I promised to keep treating the people of Flower Street."
Qin Mu walked out of his quarters and headed outside. He ran head-on into a group of scholars approaching.
The area where he lived was separated from the divine ability users—this was the district for Spirit Sealing and Five Planets scholars. Everyone below the Six Harmonies realm stayed here. With the Tai Academy reopening, many scholars from earlier cohorts had returned from across the land. They had enrolled years before Qin Mu and possessed deeper cultivation, but so long as they hadn't broken through to Six Harmonies, they remained in this district.
The Tai Academy granted ten spots each year to elementary scholars. For those students to break through to Six Harmonies within three to five years was extremely difficult, so elementary scholars were not a rarity.
These scholars passed by Qin Mu. One of them looked him over. "Fellow student, I've heard an outcast from the Great Ruins has come to the academy. Do you know where he lives?"
Qin Mu paused. "What business does senior brother have with the outcast?"
The scholar said, "Outcasts—lowly people fit only to be slaves. Yet the Emperor actually allowed one to become a scholar at our Tai Academy. It's an insult to us. When we heard, we were outraged. We plan to make him leave on his own. If he stays, what face do we have?"
Qin Mu's eyes flickered. "I see. I've actually met that outcast before. He lives nearby. Shall I take you there?"
The dozen scholars were delighted and bowed with smiles. "Much obliged, brother!"
"Think nothing of it." Qin Mu said, "I come from a distinguished family myself—nobility and influence. Yet here I study alongside an outcast. I'm so ashamed I could dig a hole and crawl in. Oh, by the way—the surname is Qin."
"Qin?" The scholars were surprised. One of them said politely, "So you're from the Qin family. The capital's Qin clan is indeed a prestigious house. Studying alongside an outcast must be truly humiliating. The Qin family has produced many fine generals, loyal and righteous to the core. I may have enrolled two years before you, but I wouldn't dare call myself your senior—let us address each other as brothers."
Another scholar laughed. "My father runs a mining operation at Tiger Walk Mountain. Every year we bring in several hundred outcasts, bought from the border—several hundred die each year and have to be replaced. Heh, to think I'd end up studying in the same academy as an outcast. When my father hears, he'll be furious—say I'm consorting with slaves."
A woman spoke up. "I've heard about this too. The Emperor used this to pressure the court—that's why he let the outcast into the Tai Academy. But it's also a way to absorb the Great Ruins. If he acknowledges the outcasts as citizens of Yan Kang, doesn't that mean the Great Ruins is also Yan Kang territory? It's just that the Emperor didn't think it through. Putting an outcast in the Tai Academy without considering how we scholars feel..."
Qin Mu walked with them to the far end of the scholars' district, chatting all the way. Near the end, there was only one courtyard, quite secluded. Qin Mu smiled. "Gentlemen, this is where that outcast lives. Please wait a moment."
He stepped forward and knocked. After a moment, the gate opened and a round face peered out. Seeing Qin Mu, the face broke into a grin. "Brother Qin—"
Qin Mu pushed the door open and strode inside. The others filed in after him, crowding the plump scholar to the center of the courtyard.
Qin Mu closed the gate and dropped the bolt. His expression was calm as still water. "By the way—does the Tai Academy allow killing?"
The scholars stared. One laughed incredulously. "Brother Qin, we just want to teach the outcast a lesson and drive him out. Killing? If we killed him, we'd all be expelled. Just a beating will do!"
Qin Mu looked displeased. "The rules of this capital are really something—can't even kill people casually. Back in the Great Ruins, killing a dozen or so wouldn't raise an eyebrow..."