They were two gazes. Their owner was flying through the sky, surveying the grassland. The two beams of sight descended, shining with golden light and illuminating the prairie. They swept past the small village beside the hillside, then continued into the distance.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. He opened the door and looked up at the sky, only to see the two great stars casting pillars of light downward, enveloping an area six or seven li across as they moved farther and farther away.
“I wonder how Senior Brother Bashan is doing…”
He was genuinely worried.
The one who had just passed by should have been a powerhouse from Loulan Golden Palace, an existence at the level of a Shaman King. He had searched all the way here. The Azure Ox had left no trace, and this village was hidden among the mountains and forests. Everyone in the village was old, and they went to bed early without lighting lamps, so the Shaman King had not discovered it.
But the fact that this Shaman King had flown here searching for them meant that Priest Bashan had failed to stop him. It was highly possible that Priest Bashan had been wounded or had fallen under siege.
“Go to sleep!”
Qin Mu tossed Ling Yuxiu a small jade bottle and said firmly, “Girl, dragon saliva is highly effective on your injuries. Apply it to your body first, then go straight to sleep once you’re done. We’ll set off first thing tomorrow morning!”
Ling Yuxiu nodded and went inside. After a while, the girl opened the door and poked her head out. Her glossy black hair fell over her chest, revealing half of a smooth shoulder, while the rest of her body remained hidden behind the door. She said shyly, “Herd Boy, there are places I can’t see, so it’s inconvenient to apply it…”
“I’ll help you!”
Hu Ling’er ran over excitedly and laughed. “I’ll help you apply it. There’s no need to trouble Young Master!”
The night passed without incident.
The next day, before dawn had fully broken, Qin Mu was already up. He stretched his limbs, and several of the village elders rose as well. The sounds of feeding chickens and driving sheep out of their pens drifted over, along with the elders’ greetings. For a moment, Qin Mu was almost convinced he had returned to the Village of Broken Elders in the Great Ruins.
“Little couple, are you up? Breakfast is ready. Come eat at my house!” The old granny’s voice came from outside.
Qin Mu answered, woke Ling Yuxiu and the Azure Ox, then hauled Hu Ling’er out of the bedding and walked out of the dilapidated house.
Just then, a voice came from outside the village. “There’s a village here. Let’s go ask for directions.”
“Ask what for? It’s impossible for me to get lost!”
A fiery voice let out a cold laugh. “I’ve been there before, and I even held the place off for a hundred days. How could I possibly get lost?”
Qin Mu froze, an expression of disbelief appearing on his face. He hurried toward the village entrance.
“There’s no harm in asking for directions. You said you remembered the way, yet you’ve led me around the grassland for so long. I’m not that bastard the Cripple, who can run so fast…”
Qin Mu quickly reached the entrance. He saw the Blind One approaching with a bamboo staff, tapping and poking at the ground, accompanied by a disheveled old half-bodied man. Two butcher’s knives were stuck into the man’s back, and he looked ferocious.
Qin Mu was both startled and delighted. He rushed over, picked up the half-bodied old man without a word, and squeezed him in a tight embrace. Then he tossed the half-bodied old man aside and hugged the skinny, dried-up old Blind One just as tightly.
“Butcher, I told you we’d taken the wrong road again, didn’t I?”
The Blind One hastily turned his head away from Qin Mu and struggled toward the Butcher, who had been thrown into the corner and was staring blankly. “You took me beyond the frontier, and what happened? You led me all the way back to the Great Ruins, back to our village! Mu’er, let go. You’re about to strangle me! Where’s the Village Chief? Has Grandma come back too? Herbalist, Herbalist, stop hiding. I can see you!”
After a while, the Blind One and the Butcher paid their respects to the village elders. When the elders saw that the two men were even older and more crippled than they were, they were filled with admiration and secretly praised them for remaining unyielding despite their age.
Ling Yuxiu came out of the house just after washing her hair. She jumped when she saw the two old men and hurried back inside, her heart pounding. “They’re the two old men who frightened me and Little General Qin on the Yong River that day!”
Qin Mu avoided the village elders, took the cloth bag from his waist, lifted its bottom, and reached inside to rummage around. After a while, he pulled out two legs, then dragged out half a torso. “Grandpa Butcher, is this the golden lower half you lost?”
“No. This isn’t my body.”
The Butcher examined the gleaming golden lower half. After a moment, he drew his knife across one of the legs and touched the golden blood that flowed out. Suspicion crept into his voice. “This body seems to belong to a Venerable Shaman. I fought that old brat once, so I know his blood well. Most of this lower half is already dead. It’s no longer usable.”
Qin Mu also stepped forward and touched the golden blood. It had already half-congealed, yet threads of heat still lay hidden within it. One drop even crawled along his fingertip, trying to burrow into his body.
Qin Mu hurriedly circulated his qi, transformed it into Vermilion Bird qi, and burned it relentlessly. It took considerable effort to dry up the drop of blood. He said, “Since this is the Venerable Shaman’s lower half, Grandpa Butcher’s lower half must be on the Martial Venerable.”
“That old brat admires me so much that he took it to this extent?”
The Butcher stroked his beard, looking smug. “Then is the son he had his son or my son?”
His stubble was as hard as steel spikes. When his hand passed over it, it made a rasping sound.
The more he thought about it, the prouder he became, until he could not help laughing loudly.
The Blind One said unhurriedly, “If he really gave birth to a son for you—or even a whole litter of sons—would you acknowledge them or not?”
The Butcher stared blankly. Then his face fell, and all his earlier pride vanished.
A single sentence from the Blind One left the Butcher utterly dejected. The Blind One turned to Qin Mu and asked, “Mu’er, how did you end up here?”
Qin Mu explained everything that had happened. The Blind One cried out, “You actually went to Loulan Golden Palace to blockade its gates? What nerve. I’m accompanying the Butcher this time for the same destination, Loulan Golden Palace. We found out that the Butcher’s lower half was seized by Loulan Golden Palace. He says he’s going to retrieve it, but I don’t know whether it can still be attached.”
Qin Mu smiled. “If the lower half is dead, it definitely can’t be attached. But since Grandpa Butcher’s lower half is on the Venerable Shaman, the Venerable Shaman must have attached it while it was still alive. As long as we find the Venerable Shaman and cut off his lower half, I can help Grandpa Butcher reattach his body!”
The Blind One smiled. “That’s a small matter. This bastard the Butcher will finally be complete. Before, he didn’t even have a bird.”
The Butcher flew into a rage. “I can use qi to manifest a body, so how could I not have a bird? I can piss and shit just fine!”
The two began arguing again, and the quarrel gave Qin Mu a headache.
Qin Mu hurriedly said, “Senior Brother Bashan is still trapped in Loulan Golden Palace, and his life or death remains unknown. You two grandpas…”
The Butcher shook his head. “Don’t bother with that bastard. He has no restraint over his mouth and tells everyone everything, chattering on and on. When I encountered him in Yankang, he still hadn’t been beaten to death for saying the wrong thing. I hate talkative people and feared he’d latch on to me, so I left.”
Despite saying that, he wanted to set off at once for Loulan Golden Palace. Clearly, he was still worried about Priest Bashan’s safety.
Hu Ling’er and Ling Yuxiu had already packed their bundles. Ling Yuxiu went to the old granny’s house and the old man’s home and left several gold ingots behind. They had stayed there only one night, yet the village elders had cared for them. The elders were all advanced in years, and there were no young people in the village, so leaving them some money would at least help them through their later years.
The Butcher glanced at Ling Yuxiu. He clearly did not remember the Seventh Young Master, and he said with a laugh, “That brat has pretty good taste. The girl isn’t bad-looking.”
Ling Yuxiu bravely stepped forward and paid her respects to him and the Blind One. “The Azure Ox ran out to graze this morning and hasn’t returned yet.”
“Let’s go find him.”
Everyone left the village. They saw a gigantic Azure Ox chewing grass on the prairie, tears pouring down its face as it muttered, “Ever since I followed Master, I’ve always eaten vegetables. I’ve never eaten grass before. Master even built me a vegetable plot several mu in size and planted flowers for me…”
Hu Ling’er ran over. “Niu Er, stop crying. Your master’s master has arrived. Your master can be saved!”
When the Azure Ox saw the Blind One and the Butcher, who had only his upper half left, its ox face trembled. It seemed doubtful of the two men’s abilities.
Everyone climbed onto the ox’s back. Qin Mu said, “Azure Ox, don’t worry. They’re both incredibly powerful. Let’s get to Loulan Golden Palace as quickly as possible and rescue Senior Brother Bashan.”
The Azure Ox had no choice but to run back the way they had come. Ling Yuxiu looked behind her from the ox’s back and saw the little mountain village sinking into the forests until it disappeared from sight.
“The elders said that several khans beyond the frontier are killing one another—striking at each other and being struck in return. That means the frontier has also begun to feel threatened by the rise of the State of Yankang.”
Ling Yuxiu composed herself and said, “They also want to establish a unified empire, gather all their strength, and contend with Yankang. This khan of the Barbarian Di State should be an ambitious and formidable ruler. If he unifies the frontier, I fear the State of Yankang will be in danger. Right now, internal disorder is breaking out repeatedly in Yankang…”
Qin Mu nodded. “Loulan Golden Palace must be directing matters from behind the scenes. After all, Loulan Golden Palace is a sacred ground. If it supports the khan of the Barbarian Di State, unifying the frontier would not be difficult. I suspect Loulan Golden Palace is hesitating as well, worried that it might raise another Yankang and lose control of the frontier. That is why the Barbarian Di State still hasn’t unified the frontier.”
Ling Yuxiu considered it and found that it made perfect sense.
However, the three sacred grounds within the State of Yankang—the Dao Sect, the Great Thunderclap Monastery, and the Heavenly Demon Cult—did not support Yankang. Not only did they refuse to support it, some of their sects even fomented unrest.
If the Barbarian Di State received the Golden Palace’s full support, it might well gain the power to attack Yankang.
The Azure Ox galloped on for half a day. Suddenly, the Blind One said, “Stop.”
The Azure Ox hurriedly halted. The Blind One pointed southwest. “Go that way. I saw people fighting over there.”
The Azure Ox was bewildered. The Blind One had seen people fighting over there? How had he seen them?
But he did not dare ask and could only turn around and run southwest.
Ling Yuxiu was puzzled as well. She looked at Qin Mu, who explained, “Grandpa Blind has the best eyesight in our village.”
The Blind One looked pleased with himself. Ling Yuxiu stared at his “eyes” and saw nothing but empty sockets. She wondered, “Why does the Blind One have the best eyesight? What kind of logic is that…?”
The Azure Ox had not run far when it suddenly saw, in the distant mountains, sword rays crisscrossing over a peak. The distance was so great that it could only make out faint glimmers of light. Only then did it feel profound admiration for the Blind One.
Ling Yuxiu was astonished and uncertain. “Is he really blind?”
The Butcher praised him as well. “The Blind One’s eyesight really is excellent.”