The herbal garden beyond the village was vast, planted with the spirit herbs the Herbalist had gathered over the years in the Great Ruins. The villagers had long cast envious eyes on it, yet the Herbalist kept many dangerous little insects within its bounds, and no one dared slip in to steal a stalk. Rarely trodden by man, the Great Ruins yielded spirit herbs in profusion; year after year the Herbalist transplanted them into his garden, seldom drawing on the hoard. Now he had at last resolved to spend every last stalk on Qin Mu! Such was his eye that any one of his herbs would cause a stir—he was truly staking his all!
The bonfire slowly died. The villagers went home to rest, and Qin Mu slept in the outer chamber, soon fast asleep. Grandma Si drew the blanket over him, looked at the boy's sleeping face, and smiled tenderly.
"My Mu'er... whether you are the Supreme Body or not, you are a child I raised with my own hands. I will not let anything or anyone hurt you!" She had read much from the Village Chief's and the Herbalist's faces that night, but held her tongue, and padded into the inner chamber to sleep.
The next morning the Blind One came storming in with his bamboo staff, shouting: "Mu'er, get up at once! Dawn is here. The Herbalist—"
"I'm not even out of bed yet, and you dare to peep, Blind One!"
A tremendous crash sounded. Qin Mu opened his bleary eyes just in time to see the Blind One fly out of Grandma Si's room, arc through the air, and sail clean out of the village. "Grandpa Blind is a marvel!" Qin Mu sighed, for the Blind One was high in the air, leaning on his staff, seated cross-legged with an innocent look while being kicked off like that.
Qin Mu rose, dressed, washed, made breakfast, shared it with Grandma Si, and scrubbed the dishes. Just as he finished, the Blind One came dashing back from beyond the village, shouting: "You old crone, what a vicious kick! I almost couldn't grope my way back! Mu'er, come quickly. The Herbalist has brewed you a pill!"
Grandma Si shot him a glare. "I'm off to trade in Xianglong City. Blind One, see to Mu'er. If a single hair of his is missing when I return, you answer for it!"
Qin Mu hurried to the Herbalist's shop with the Blind One. Before he even stepped inside he caught a rich scent of herbs, then saw a huge vat hanging in midair, ringed by vermillion birds circling it with flames roaring among their feathers, scorching the vessel red while a gurgling rose from within.
"Mu'er, this is your medicine."
When the Herbalist saw him arrive, he cast in the last ingredient—a green leaf. The moment it touched the brew, the seething fluid turned extraordinarily thick and sticky. He swirled his hand; the vat spun at frightening speed, then came a clinking from within as the whole vat of medicine turned into half a vat of white pills, rolling and striking one another with a crisp, metallic ring.
The vat touched down. Qin Mu clicked his tongue: "Grandpa Herbalist, am I to eat this many pills today?"
"If you ate them all, you would die." The Herbalist spoke unhurriedly: "In this furnace I brewed only the finest spirit herbs. Humble as the Qi-Foundation Pill is—the lowest grade there is—a single one of mine outweighs a hundred from any other apothecary. Take only one or two at a time."
Qin Mu was doubtful. In the past the Herbalist had given him a whole great bowlful of strange medicine; could a single pill really be so fierce?
The Blind One was unconvinced too: "Every quack swears one pill is worth a hundred. Is yours really that strong? It smells fine, though."
The Herbalist smiled sinisterly: "Then perhaps you'd care to polish off the whole vat and see?"
"Mu'er, grab a fistful and give it a try?" coaxed the Blind One.
Qin Mu would not be tricked. He pinched up a single pill and put it in his mouth.
The moment it went down, he knew something was wrong. In his belly it was as though hundreds of fire dragons, water dragons, golden dragons, and wood dragons were churning the seas, making him swell tall then shrink short, fat then thin; now ice crusted his skin, now green smoke rose from his clothes, now his garments sprouted buds and his hides' fur shot up wildly, now his clothing turned to metal and his skin stiffened, until the whole of him seemed cast from bronze! Often every symptom burst at once, and Qin Mu suffered beyond words.
He groaned and invoked the Supreme Body Three-Dan Art, using his primal qi to dissolve the medicine's force!
The Blind One changed color and cried: "Herbalist, this Qi-Foundation Pill is no ordinary pill!"
"Quite right. The common kind comes in four sorts: Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood-Foundation Pill."
The Herbalist smiled wickedly: "The pill nourishes the four primal-qi natures of the Four Spirit Bodies. But Mu'er's Supreme Body qi has no nature, so I packed all four attributes into one pill—who knows, it may awaken the might of his qi, and only his qi can dissolve it. Had you eaten the whole vat just now, heh..."
The Blind One shuddered; four natures of qi warring within him would cost him two or three tenths of his cultivation. A single pill, though, would harm him little.
"Herbalist, is this a tonic or a poison?" he muttered.
Suddenly Qin Mu let out a cry and bolted, gone in the blink of an eye.
The Blind One grew worried: "With four natures clashing, will Mu'er be all right?"
"He is digesting the medicine's force." Yet unease stirred in the Herbalist's heart; this was his first time brewing the improved pill and feeding it to a man, and he could not say how strong it might be or if it could kill. But he held his tongue, for Grandma Si would surely come after him tooth and nail.
From the distant forest came Qin Mu's roars, and tree after tree toppled. The Herbalist's brow twitched. "He'll be fine. Listen—he is bursting with vigor!"
The Blind One sighed: "Ah, youth is full of energy."
Deep in the woods, Qin Mu raced through the trees, fists and feet swift as lightning, battering trunk after trunk; a great tree two men could barely embrace snapped in two after only three punches and two kicks! The pill was too fierce—even invoking the Supreme Body Three-Dan Art as he ran he could not dissolve it, and his body swelled as if to burst. The only thing for it was to unleash the martial arts taught him by the Cripple and Old Ma, venting the surplus medicine! In the Spirit Womb Divine Treasury, the little humanoid Spirit Womb gulped desperate breaths too, refining the surging primal qi until this miniature Qin Mu was left gasping.
"Little one... die!"
Suddenly the mountain trembled, and a demon ape, black with rage, rose up among the woods. A fist like a small hill drove down at Qin Mu as he ravaged the forest! Addled by the medicine, he had unknowingly wandered into the ape's territory, and old foes meeting bred fury on sight—without a word it struck!
Qin Mu's eyes blazed scarlet. He looked up in a flash, the medicine exploding until his whole body was ready to detonate. With a great leap, he flung his fist against the ape's fist!
Thud—a dull, thunderous crack. Qin Mu hurtled backward, snapping several trees with his body. The demon ape bounded after him and lashed a sweeping leg at the still-landing boy.
Qin Mu bellowed and lashed out with countless kicks, hammering the joint where the ape's leg muscles met. It felt the strength drain and drove a fist down from above. Qin Mu blocked and staggered back. Now both were frantic, fists and legs splitting the air and kicking up gales; at a disadvantage the boy was unshaken, and the ape grew more furious, each blow heavier than the last. Man and ape swept through the woods, felling trees and sending broken stones flying.
Suddenly Qin Mu sprang and scampered up the ape's arm, and stood before its face. The Thousand-Hand Buddha! His two arms seemed to multiply into a hundred, a blur of afterimages as a hundred fists hammered the ape's soft, flattened nose.
The ape wept with pain and toppled backward. Its great palm swung up and slapped Qin Mu hard, sending him flying! It scrambled up, blood streaming from its nose, its slap having flattened Qin Mu into a spread-eagle embedded in the cliff. Pleased, it said: "Little one... die."
That little one stirred, braced his arms, peeled loose, and charged like a madman. The demon ape started, pounded its chest, and came leaping to meet him: "Little one! Die!"