The Herbalist examined the Village Chief and grumbled, "You're old — don't show off with your bones and sinews. Besides, you've practically got no bones left. You just had to play the hero, and now how do you feel?"
The Village Chief gasped, "He's more hurt than I am. I've fought practically every powerhouse from the Upper Realm."
"Look at you, so full of yourself."
The Herbalist first used acupuncture needles to stabilize his injuries, shaking his head. "And weren't your limbs severed by someone wielding a sword?"
"When I passed the position of Human Emperor to Mu'er, I knew this day would come — that people from the Upper Realm would come looking for him."
The Village Chief's gaze grew distant. "The Upper Realm will never tolerate a Human Emperor's existence. I'm old, crippled, disabled — they don't care about me. But a new Human Emperor? They will definitely eliminate him. Star Lord Qiao is one of the very best in the Upper Realm. This time I blocked him and made him retreat. This way, whoever goes after Mu'er won't be a powerhouse of his caliber. He has to follow the rules. If they don't follow the rules, then I'll force them to follow the rules."
The Herbalist prepared his medicine. "And what about after you're dead? Will they still follow the rules?"
The Village Chief was silent for a moment, then suddenly broke into a smile. "In life, be a Human Emperor; in death, a ghostly hero. This life may be extinguished, but the will to fight shall remain evergreen. You should probably go out and walk around too."
The Herbalist shuddered, shaking his head. "I'm not going out. Whoever wants to go can go."
---
The Sacred Mountains of the Western Lands.
Star Lord Qiao's carriage arrived at the mountaintop. The Star Lord rallied his cultivation, about to return to the Upper Realm, when suddenly he vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed in the carriage. The wounds on his body instantly split open. He laboriously raised his hand toward the four maids. "Light the incense..."
The four maids were startled. The girl in green hurriedly took out three sticks of incense and lit them on the altar. Wisps of smoke curled upward, and after a moment, a face appeared in the sky, looking down with lowered eyes.
"I encountered the old Human Emperor."
Star Lord Qiao gasped. "Though he's old and crippled, he's still alive — and his strength has increased considerably. He wounded me. His meaning is clear: if the older generation goes after the new Human Emperor, he will definitely intervene. But for the younger generation, he won't meddle."
"He's still alive?"
The face in the sky showed a look of surprise. A voice drifted from beyond the heavens: "Star Lord, who in the Upper Realm do you plan to send to eliminate the new Human Emperor?"
Star Lord Qiao said, "Xu Shenghua — Young Master Xu."
The face in the sky grew somewhat grave. "You intend to deploy Young Master Xu?"
Star Lord Qiao nodded. "That old man is dying. The new Human Emperor is still young, not yet fully grown. Eliminate the new Human Emperor now, and we can eradicate this threat forever."
A beam of light descended from the sky, falling upon Star Lord Qiao and forming a path made of pure radiance. The face in the sky spoke: "Young Master Xu may not be willing to come out of seclusion. You'll have to go speak with him personally."
Star Lord Qiao turned to the four maids. "Jade, Green, Yao, Jing — you will stay behind and carry my four treasures to assist Young Master Xu in killing the new Human Emperor. I will return to the Upper Realm. It won't be long before Young Master Xu descends."
The four maids acknowledged. They stepped down from the carriage, and two Suanni drew the battered treasure carriage up along the path of light, returning to the Upper Realm.
After the light faded, the four maids exchanged glances. Yuliu said, "The master's orders are for us to follow Young Master Xu to kill the new Human Emperor, but we still don't know who the new Human Emperor is."
Jingyan said, "The news came from the Loulan Golden Palace this time. We'll need to make a trip there. Qingying, Yaohua — you two go to the Golden Palace. Yuliu and I will wait here for Young Master Xu to descend."
The other two girls nodded and went down the mountain. They didn't enter the Great Ruins, but instead crossed the Western Lands, the Flame Desert, and the Snow Mountain Plateau, heading straight for the Loulan Golden Palace.
Without Star Lord Qiao present, they dared not set foot directly into the Great Ruins.
---
The Eastern Sea.
Qin Mu drifted across the great ocean with Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu. At night, the sea surface suddenly shimmered with light — countless luminous fish had risen to the surface, casting the sea in the glow of gemstones.
Qin Mu rode the waves forward. The glowing fish leaped one after another from the waves, and as the waves surged ahead, the fish followed along with them. It was quite a sight.
Some of the fish had two whiskers on their foreheads, each tipped with a transparent fleshy orb the size of a fist, like lanterns. Every night they would emit a soft, ethereal glow, which was why they were called lantern fish.
The lantern fish also had wing-like fins. When they burst from the waves, they would flutter all four fins, flying through the air for dozens of zhang before landing back in the water.
These strange fish would sometimes swim alongside them, fluttering their fins and floating at their sides, lighting the road across the sea for them.
Occasionally, larger fish would appear — one or two zhang long — fluttering their fins and watching them with curiosity.
Si Yunxiang, ever playful, noticed that these larger lantern fish had developed a glimmer of intelligence and wanted to tease them. She taught them to speak, word by word, and to her surprise, one of the big fish actually managed to speak, learning a sentence or two.
They also passed through the territory of the sea clans. Many sea clan girls emerged from the water, their tails swishing as they followed their waves, swimming all around them while singing beautiful love songs. The songs told of two maidens falling in love with a young man — the full range of a girl's feelings and thoughts. Accompanying them were several enlightened giant clam spirits and other shell spirits, clapping their shells in rhythm with a booming beat.
Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang, riding atop the waves, blushed at the sea clan girls' singing and stole glances at the young man beside them. A flicker of irritation rose in their hearts.
They noticed that Qin Mu was not fully focused on the journey. He was lost in thought — his mind was neither on the voyage nor on the sea clan girls' beautiful songs, but immersed in his own comprehension of the Dao.
They couldn't tell what he was contemplating. Though a smile lingered on his face, his thoughts were not on the beautiful scenery before him, nor on the girl beside him.
All along this journey, Qin Mu had been trying to comprehend a unified cultivation art for the Six Directions realm. In recent days, he had reached a critical juncture.
"Idiot! He deserves to be single for the rest of his life!" Both girls thought bitterly in unison.
Dao Master had granted Qin Mu fourteen days to contemplate the Dao Sword, which had yielded rich rewards. Though the Dao Sword was a sword technique, the mathematical and sword principles contained within seemed adaptable to many cultivation arts and were well worth studying.
Half an hour later, Qin Mu's vital energy gradually waned. The waves slowed, and the crests shrank. Ling Yuxiu immediately took over, casting a spell to summon a water dragon that carried the three of them forward.
Qin Mu relaxed, standing on the water dragon and letting Ling Yuxiu guide the way.
The Six Directions Divine Repository represented an enormous leap for cultivators. Whether spells, swordsmanship, or combat techniques, everything was elevated to the level of divine abilities, doubling in power.
At this realm, a cultivation art had to connect the Spirit Embryo, Five Planets, and Six Directions — three great repositories — fully mobilizing the energy of all three. Qin Mu's Overlord Body Three Pills Art had techniques but lacked methods. The Lumberjack's Scripture had methods but lacked a path. The Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra encompassed all things but lacked unity. Yet all three could be combined into a cohesive whole.
But Qin Mu wanted more. He yearned to incorporate the variability of the Nine Dragons Imperial Art, the stability of the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra, and the mathematics of the Dao Sword into his own cultivation art.
The Nine Dragons Imperial Art excelled in variability. Emperor Yanfeng had passed this art to him and guided his practice. Despite his short training period, Qin Mu had already grasped the essence of this art's variable nature.
The variability of the Nine Dragons Imperial Art could be described as the application of techniques governed by the heart. A divine dragon is ever-changing — through the Nine Dragons transformations, one could execute the sword techniques, spells, and combat arts of other schools, ranging from utterly ferocious to supremely gentle.
The Tathagata Mahayana Sutra excelled in stability. The old Tathagata had not personally taught Qin Mu this art, but allowed him to enter the Hall of Myriad Heavens to contemplate. After reviewing all twenty halls, Qin Mu had mastered the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra.
The Twenty Heavens of the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra, each blessed by heavenly deities and demons, provided stability beyond compare — immovable as Mount Sumeru.
The Dao Sword excelled in mathematics, using mathematical principles to explain the workings of heaven and earth and the great Dao. By the fourteenth sword, it was already the Dao Sword itself — approaching the Dao itself.
If he could unify these three arts, merging them into a single furnace and selecting their strengths to fuse with a grand unified cultivation art, his progress would surely be tremendous!
Yet despite his recent efforts, he had gained little. The arts he wished to merge were all supremely profound — each one comprehensive and boundless, the pinnacle of their respective schools, supreme arts of the sacred grounds.
If such a fusion were truly possible, would it not produce the greatest cultivation art under heaven?
"I'm being too greedy."
Qin Mu suddenly realized he was overthinking it. These arts were already near-perfect. To truly merge them required a breadth of vision and insight that he simply did not yet possess.
If that was the case, why make it so complicated?
"What I seek is the principles within these arts. If that's the case, why merge the arts? Would merging the principles not be far simpler?"
Amid the beautiful sea night, a sudden flash of enlightenment came to him. His mind felt lighter, and the ocean before him and the girl beside him suddenly seemed all the more captivating.
Merging the arts was something he could not yet accomplish, and it was chasing the branch while losing the root. But merging principles rather than arts — that was much simpler.
Having realized this, he stopped forcing it and instead let nature take its course, cultivating in whatever way felt most natural.
After passing through the sea clan's territory, the ocean grew much quieter. A great sea turtle surfaced, offering to carry them on their journey.
This old sea turtle had cultivated to a remarkable level. Floating on the sea surface like a small island, it swam westward while asking them questions about cultivation difficulties.
Qin Mu and the two girls answered candidly, resolving many of the old turtle's doubts. The old sea turtle was delighted and invited them to visit. Qin Mu curiously asked, "Sir, where is your home? Where shall we visit?"
"I make my home across the four seas. Though I roam everywhere, some of my children still live upon my back."
As the old sea turtle spoke, many more turtles rose from the water, paddling through the waves and leaping onto the old turtle's back.
"Light the lamps!" the old sea turtle laughed.
Then, one by one, massive luminous pearls beneath the shell on its back blazed to life, illuminating the turtle-back island in brilliant light.
The turtles on the old turtle's back stood up on their hind legs and danced and sang around Qin Mu, Ling Yuxiu, and Si Yunxiang, patting their own bellies and shells, making merry with song and dance.
Si Yunxiang pulled Qin Mu into the dancing on the turtle-back island. After reveling for a while, Qin Mu then pulled Ling Yuxiu up. The princess was somewhat reserved at first, but quickly blended into the festivities.
The revelry passed quickly. When dawn broke, the old sea turtle said, "The land approaches. Farewell to the three of you!"
Qin Mu looked ahead and saw the land not far away — a city and its harbor shrouded in the mist of an early spring morning.
They jumped down from the turtle's back, landing on the dock.
"Goodbye!" The turtles on the old turtle's back waved at them.
"Goodbye!" Qin Mu waved back. Only after the old sea turtle had disappeared did they walk into Hezhou City.
"The sea is enchanting," Ling Yuxiu said softly.
Si Yunxiang's eyes were dreamy. "An enchanting sea night... yet the moment we set foot ashore, we step once more into the mortal world..."