The experts of True Heaven Palace retreated swiftly and soon vanished, leaving behind a scene of devastation.
Qin Mu frowned slightly. This youth named Yu Bochuan was quite a formidable character — decisive and resolute, never one to dither. Such an outstanding young man was rarely seen.
"A remarkable youth," he thought with genuine admiration, setting the mother and daughter down.
Dragon Qilin walked over and grumbled, "Sect Master, you've gone and stirred up trouble again, haven't you? Now we've been targeted by these people. If they attack us outside the basin, all they'd need to do is turn any mountain into a Mountain Giant and we'd be crushed flat."
"This is the Great Ruins, not the Western Regions," Qin Mu shook his head. "To fight me on my own turf? They wouldn't even know how they died. Besides, the bond between mother and daughter touched my heart. If I cannot follow my own heart, wouldn't that make me a heretic?"
Dragon Qilin froze. "Following one's heart, letting nature take its course" — that was exactly a phrase from the opening principles of the Great Cultivation Heavenly Demon Scripture. And the very next line was: "That is the Dao!"
This was the Dao!
"So this is the true Sect Master of the Heavenly Saint Cult," Dragon Qilin thought with emotion.
He had never understood Qin Mu's actions, yet every move he made perfectly aligned with the teachings of the Heavenly Saint Cult: follow your heart, let nature take its course, and that is the Dao. Qin Mu had already reached this stage, walking upon his own path. No wonder the Young Ancestor had chosen him as the next Sect Master over all others, and no wonder the hall masters and elders of the Heavenly Demon Cult submitted to him.
Qin Mu examined the young woman's injuries and asked, "Lady, what exactly is your background? Why are the people of the True Heaven Palace from the Western Regions hunting you down?"
The young woman was barely alive, weakly raising her head. "I am a Nai Kui of the True Heaven Palace..."
"What does 'Nai Kui' mean?" Qin Mu turned to ask Dragon Qilin.
"It means 'Princess Mother.' Over in the Western Regions, women rule the True Heaven Palace. They practice walking marriage with men — there are evening banquets with singing and dancing, and if a man and woman take a fancy to each other, they go to the woman's home and spend the night together."
Dragon Qilin continued, "The next morning, the man must leave, and this can happen several times over a few nights. When the woman conceives and gives birth, the child is raised knowing only their mother, never their father. The Young Ancestor himself went walking marriage once — that old rogue..."
Qin Mu glared at him. "Don't speak ill of the Ancestor! Get back to the topic!"
The Young Ancestor held an enormously lofty place in his heart. Though he appeared to be a young man of roughly the same age, to Qin Mu he was a flawless figure who must never be tarnished.
"The Ancestor was always a dashing old rogue! When he was in the Western Regions, he dressed in exotic attire and flirted with women left and right — and didn't have to take any responsibility! The old rogue was absolutely delighted about it..."
Dragon Qilin noticed Qin Mu's displeasure and quickly changed the subject. "The mistress of the True Heaven Palace must also practice walking marriage. If the Palace Mistress becomes pregnant or has a child, and the child is a girl, that daughter becomes the princess and the successor of the next generation. If it's a boy, the child must be sent out of the palace. A True Heaven Palace Mistress who has borne a child is called a Princess Mother — in the Western Regions' language, a Nai Kui. However, Nai Kui are always extraordinarily powerful, since their cultivation technique is based on the principle that all things possess spirit and all things possess divinity. Women generally achieve far greater mastery in this than men."
Qin Mu knelt down, took out silver needles one by one, and inserted them into the woman's body. "If you're the True Heaven Palace Mistress, the woman in charge, how did you end up in this state? Aren't you an expert at the Divine Bridge realm?"
He took out various spirit herbs and began crafting spirit pills tailored to treat her injuries.
"Don't waste your efforts," the woman shook her head. "My injuries are beyond saving. If my cultivation were still intact, I wouldn't have fallen to this state. They poisoned me, too — the poison was crafted by the most formidable poison master, Mu Yingxue. The poison is called Entangling Silk, and she personally administered it..."
Dragon Qilin snickered. "Rest assured — if the Sect Master doesn't want you to die, not even Tu Bo could take your soul away!"
Qin Mu's hands moved with practiced ease as he expertly refined the spirit pill. "Don't boast. Be humble. Besides, my medical skills aren't the best in the world — only second best. And as for poisons, I'm at most third best. That little Poison King fellow is still better than me."
The young woman felt her body become more comfortable under his needlework and was secretly astonished. "It was my mother who was the Palace Mistress. After she passed away, the True Heaven Palace elected me as successor. My cultivation was adequate — I could barely manage to take the role. But during the coronation ceremony, disaster struck. Mu Yingxue poisoned me, and almost all of my cultivation was destroyed. Nearly everyone in our Xiong family was poisoned, their cultivation crippled. The Yu family seized the opportunity to exterminate my family, leaving only me and my daughter..."
Qin Mu processed the medicinal essence with a sigh. "Your True Heaven Palace must have been governing improperly."
The woman felt a flash of anger. "What do you mean, improperly?"
Qin Mu fused the medicinal powers, condensing them into a pill. "In Yan Kang, there are three great sacred sites: the Great Thunder Temple, the Dao Sect, and my Heavenly Saint Cult. I am the Sect Master of the Heavenly Saint Cult. When I took over, I was only at the Five Luminaries realm. No one staged a rebellion against me. The new Dao Master of the Dao Sect, Lin Xuan, has cultivation similar to mine, and no one in the Dao Sect overthrew him either. And now that the old Buddha of the Great Thunder Temple has departed, the seat of Buddha remains empty, yet all is peaceful — no blood has been shed over the position. Our Heavenly Saint Cult is called the 'Heavenly Demon Cult' in Yan Kang, the very epitome of wickedness, yet we still maintain orderly succession. Compared to your True Heaven Palace, you fall far short. That's why I say you've been governing improperly."
The young woman was stunned, wanting to retort but unable to find a valid argument.
Qin Mu pried open her mouth and fed her the spirit pill. His two fingers slid down from her throat, his fingertip yuan qi guiding the pill down into her stomach. Then he flicked his fingers repeatedly, catalyzing the pill's medicinal power.
His sleeves swept through the air, and the woman involuntarily rose off the ground. Qin Mu's ten fingers danced and his sleeves fluttered, and in the blink of an eye he had tapped countless points on her body, fully absorbing the medicine's power.
Qin Mu withdrew his hands, and the woman landed, stumbling slightly, though both her internal and external injuries were rapidly healing.
Qin Mu turned to check on the little girl. The child was adorable, only four or five years old, with two small braids, and adorned with gold, silver, and jade ornaments — all of which were fine spiritual weapons.
He examined her and found she had only minor scrapes and scratches, nothing serious. A dab of dragon's balm would do.
"Little lady, what's your name?" Qin Mu asked.
The little girl blinked her dark, bright eyes and answered in a crisp voice, "Xiong Qier! My mother's name is Xiong Xiyu."
Qin Mu smiled. "Your mother is the True Heaven Palace Mistress, so I can't address her directly — I must call her 'Palace Mistress.' But for you, I can call you Qier. My name is Qin Mu."
The young woman, Xiong Xiyu, quickly said, "Call him Uncle Qin!"
Qin Mu's face turned blue. "I'm only fifteen. Just call me Brother."
Xiong Xiyu hesitated. "Brother Qin..."
Qin Mu hastily clarified, "I meant Qier should call me Brother, not you."
Xiong Xiyu's face flushed crimson.
Qin Mu laughed it off, had her extend her hand, pricked her finger, and drew a single drop of blood. He spread his hands apart, and the drop of blood expanded ten-thousandfold, transforming into a massive blood sphere.
Four formation lines materialized in Qin Mu's pupils, forming the Azure Sky Eye. He studied it carefully. "So it's a poison that targets yuan qi — it doesn't do much damage to the body itself. Palace Mistress, forgive my intrusion, but I must enter your body to examine your Spirit Repository."
Xiong Xiyu was about to speak when Qin Mu transformed into a shadow in a flash and slipped into the space between her brows.
Xiong Xiyu felt a strange pressure in her brow, then in her heart, as if a tiny figure were moving about inside her body.
Qin Mu examined the Spirit Embryo Spirit Repository all the way to the Celestial Spirit Repository, then arrived at the Life and Death Spirit Repository and was surprised to find that this Palace Mistress's Life and Death Spirit Repository was also open!
"Is she an expert at the Life and Death realm?"
He became a shadow and entered Xiong Xiyu's Divine Bridge Spirit Repository, and his heart shook violently — this woman's Divine Bridge Spirit Repository was also open!
"I saved a sect-master-level female expert, and she actually wants me to call her brother..."
Qin Mu felt a bit dizzy. He steadied himself and exited Xiong Xiyu's body. No wonder she could become the mistress of a great sacred site — she was an existence at the Divine Bridge realm.
The strange sensation inside Xiong Xiyu's body vanished, and she quickly asked, "Sect Master Qin, my poison..."
"A poison that targets yuan qi. It has followed your yuan qi's circulation and entered your Spirit Repository, contaminating it."
Qin Mu pondered for a moment. "If you had closed your Spirit Repository immediately at the time, the poisoning wouldn't have been too deep, and it could have been easily purged. Now that the poison has entered your Spirit Repository, removing it will be rather difficult."
Xiong Xiyu's expression darkened. "Mu Yingxue's Entangling Silk poison is unmatched in the world. The longer it lingers, the more yuan qi I lose and the weaker my cultivation becomes. Before long, I'll likely become a cripple..."
"Unmatched in the world?" Qin Mu laughed. "I only dare claim to be third best in poison usage, and she dares claim first? Rest assured, I can temporarily suppress the poison and prevent it from continuing to drain your cultivation. It's just that I don't have enough spirit herbs on hand — I'll need to gather some."
Hope stirred again in Xiong Xiyu's heart. She struggled to her feet and took her daughter's hand. "Thank you, Sect Master Qin! What I said last night — those words were just desperation speaking, meant to provoke you..."
Qin Mu waved it off, unconcerned. "A righteous man? I'm not, to be honest. My reputation among the orthodox sects of Yan Kang is rather poor. If you told them that Sect Master Qin of the Heavenly Saint Cult was a righteous man, they'd laugh their teeth out."
He picked up Xiong Qier and placed her on Dragon Qilin's back. "Let's go."
Xiong Xiyu quickly asked, "What about Yu Bochuan and the others?"
"This is the Great Ruins, not the Western Regions," Qin Mu said with a leisurely tone. "Once you've reached the Great Ruins, you've reached my home. In my home, they can't pull any tricks."
Xiong Xiyu was anxious but could only follow him. Strangely enough, in the time they'd been talking, her injuries had improved even further, and her steps gradually became lighter.
By the time they left the basin, her injuries had completely healed.
Meanwhile, Qin Mu was looking around in all directions, searching for spirit herbs. Whenever he spotted medicinal plants, he went up to pick them. By the time they emerged from the basin, he had already gathered dozens of varieties. He picked and refined medicines as they walked, and Xiong Xiyu wondered inwardly — Qin Mu had already refined dozens of batches of medicine during this time, all stuffed into his Taotie Pouch, though she had no idea what kind he was making.
They arrived at a hilly region. Qin Mu frowned slightly. The scenery here was lovely — lush mountains and clear waters, pleasant landscapes — yet there were no signs of exotic beasts, and even birds were exceedingly scarce.
"Something's strange."
Just then, they heard singing drifting from ahead — sensuous and melodious, the voice tugging at one's heartstrings.
Qin Mu signaled the two white bats with a glance. The bats silently took flight and headed toward the source of the singing. After a short while, they returned and reported, "There's a lake ahead, with many bare girls bathing in it."