Qin Mu's eyes went wide. This unremarkable staff could buy an entire Xianglong City?
"This staff is called the Khakkhara. Four prongs, twelve rings, forged by the Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Monastery. It can serve as a weapon to strike with, and its worth should match Xianglong City."
Old Ma went on: "But its greater use is for cultivation. Grip the staff, and when your heart moves, the rings move; and when a ring moves, the idle thoughts in your heart vanish. It is a treasure for driving out heart-demons. Twelve rings can sever twelve of your random thoughts and purge twelve heart-demons. When a heart-demon breeds, a ring sounds, the demon is caught in the ring, and refined into ash. The staff has four prongs, to break the four births, think on the four truths, cultivate the four immeasurables, and enter the four dhyanas. He who cultivates with this staff in hand gains twice the results with half the effort."
Grandma Si's eyes lit at once, and she looked at the staff in Qin Mu's hands with a gleam. She laughed: "Mu'er, lend Grandma the staff a while. A great heart-demon lives in Grandma's heart, and has plagued me a long time!"
Qin Mu handed the Khakkhara staff to Grandma Si and asked, curious: "Grandma, what heart-demon lives in your heart?"
"An old fellow."
Grandma Si sighed, her brow creased with worry: "An old fellow that no amount of tempering will kill. I've slain him a thousand times over, and still he lives, dwelling in my heart to make mischief! If this staff can refine him to death this time, I'll finally breathe easy."
Qin Mu still did not know what the old demon in her heart was, and Grandma Si did not say more. The instant the staff settled in her hand, it shook with a clatter—all twelve rings jangling at once, deafening to the ear.
Grandma Si's demonic nature surged up, and a dreadful, hair-raising aura spilled from her body. This air was nothing like her—it was almost as if another person had taken her place!
Qin Mu felt a chill run down his spine. Someone else truly dwelt within Grandma Si!
The Blind One, Old Ma, the Cripple, the Herbalist and the Mute all found their hair standing on end, and each hurriedly stepped back, for this dreadful air warned them of utmost peril!
After a moment, Grandma Si slumped, and returned the staff to Qin Mu. "This thing's no use. It can't do anything to the old demon. Curses—why can't I just kill him!"
Qin Mu took the staff, meaning to stick it behind his back beside his bamboo pole. But it was too long; with it across his back he could not walk, so he had to carry it in hand.
"Throw it on the oxcart. You're no monk."
Old Ma said: "Today's fair counts as your pass. You've passed the test. There's no need to fight any more. To defeat a disciple of the Great Thunderclap Monastery is by itself no small achievement. Yet that Mingxin was not one of the Tathagata's disciples—far from it. Do you understand?"
Qin Mu casually laid that priceless staff upon the oxcart, and asked, curious: "How strong are the Tathagata's disciples?"
Old Ma said flatly: "I was one of the Tathagata's disciples in my day. It is only when you can defeat me that you are truly the Supreme Body."
Qin Mu's heart shuddered. When he and Old Ma drilled their fists each day, Old Ma used only the power of the Spirit Womb realm—and even so, Qin Mu was still beaten black and blue by him.
Mind you, Old Ma had but one arm. If both his arms were whole, how terrifyingly strong would he be?
Qin Mu knew he had a long road yet to travel in the Spirit Womb realm.
The fair at the Grandmother Temple would not end for another two days. Toward evening, many began to pack up their goods and move into the Grandmother Temple. The temple was vast, guarded by stone idols too, and most extraordinary. Hiding here, the darkness could not reach them; it was a safe spot.
Qin Mu drove the oxcart into the Grandmother Temple, and looked up to see the setting sun resting on the mountain—its rays steeping this expanse of the Heavenly Wolf Palace.
Once inside, he learned why the Heavenly Wolf Palace on the old maps was called the Grandmother Temple: in the main hall they worshipped a kindly, gentle old woman.
That old woman had gentle brows and kind eyes, like a little old granny from a neighboring village, though with a roguish gleam in her eyes. The carving was lifelike, full of spirit.
Qin Mu thought she rather resembled Grandma Si, and gave her a second look. But when he turned his Shenxiao Heavenly Eye on her, he got a mighty fright.
This gentle old woman fairly steamed with towering fury! Her divine light took the form of a colossal wolf, unimaginably huge, howling up at the sky, as if it meant to swallow the heavens whole!
Besides the main hall, there was a front hall and two side halls, and beyond them a wide garden and a pond. But there were no flowers left in the garden, and the pond had gone dry; at the bottom of it lay a few bones.
Qin Mu went close and glanced—they were fish bones, surely, but enormous, some six or seven zhang long. The strange thing was that this fish's skeleton wore a dragon-shaped skull!
The Herbalist called him back and took out salve to dress his wounds, while the Blind One and the Mute set to frying eggs. Their chicken-dragon had laid an egg the size of a coconut and was clucking "cluck, cluck, cluck" about it.
In the Grandmother Temple, the other villagers also began to light fires and cook. The sun was sinking beyond the western hills, and after supper they would all sleep.
Just then, a young man burst into the temple, his face full of urgency, calling out at the top of his voice: "Midwife! Is there a midwife here? My wife is about to give birth!"
Everyone in the temple stood up and turned to look at him, but no one spoke.
Grandma Si rose, and said in a trembling voice: "I've delivered children before, and I'm good with it. Can your lady wait a while? It's nearly dark. If she can hold on till tomorrow, this old woman will make the trip—"
The young man dropped to his knees with a thud, knocking his head against the ground again and again: "We can't wait! I beg the midwife's skillful hand to save us! The babe is stuck, and no village midwife can deliver it!"
Grandma Si looked at the setting sun, her face filled with reluctance.
"Save them! Save them!"
The young man knocked his forehead bloody and wept aloud: "My wife has carried several children these past years, and every one of them died at the birthing—born dead! If this one is lost too, my family is done for!"
Grandma Si was taken aback: "They all died in the birthing?"
The young man nodded again and again. Grandma Si said, suspicious: "If a child can grow in the womb and come to term, it cannot simply die at birth. There's something strange here. Is your village far from here?"
"Not far! Less than twenty li from the Grandmother Temple!"
Grandma Si glanced at the setting sun and let out a breath. "Under twenty li? You're from Zhang Village Stockade. Zhang Village Stockade isn't far; we can make it before dark. Blind One, Mu'er, you'll come with me. There's something odd about this."
Qin Mu was amazed. Grandma Si was usually a peculiar-tempered soul, yet here she was so warm-hearted.
The young man scrambled to his feet at once and sprinted off toward Zhang Village Stockade. He was plainly a martial artist, for he ran fast, afraid of running out of time. He was about to turn his head to hurry them on when he saw Grandma Si and the Blind One following close and steady at his heels—and even that boy of eleven or twelve had kept up.
"Your steps are too slow."
The Blind One said with calm confidence: "Mu'er, carry him. Be quick about it, before the sun sets."
Qin Mu dashed forward at once, and without a word hoisted the young man onto his back, saying: "Mind the blade at my back—don't cut yourself."
The young man hastened to say: "Put me down! Carrying me, you can't run fast—"
Before he could finish, a gale roared in his ears. Qin Mu sprang up, vaulting over the forest, and with the man on his back dashed off, his feet treading on the leaves!
The young man was terrified. The wind in his ears grew louder and louder, and he felt the boy bearing him quicken his stride more and more. His heart shook with wonder: "How did this young master train? He's far stronger than me!"
As he ran at full speed, Qin Mu had a feeling of stepping on the wind, and his heart stirred: "Grandpa the Cripple said that when he tempered his body, he did it in the Spirit Womb realm, treading on Wind's Crest to ride the wind. If I could find Wind's Crest, couldn't I ride the wind too? But what exactly is Wind's Crest?"
He had no time to ponder it as he ran. Behind him, the young man was still worrying whether Grandma Si and that blind man could keep up, when suddenly he saw the two ancients seated cross-legged in midair, following at Qin Mu's back—they were being borne along by the whirlwind that Qin Mu's headlong dash stirred up, moving not a whit slower than he!
"What manner of technique is this?"
His mind went blank. At last the sun sank behind the western hills, and darkness came rolling in from the west, covering sky and earth, swallowing everything in its path.
Qin Mu was swift in the extreme. Far ahead he caught sight of Zhang Village Stockade and rushed toward it, and just before the dark could catch him, he burst into the village!
Whoosh—
Though he halted, the great wind at his back went roaring onward still. Grandma Si and the Blind One sat at their ease in the wind, drifting more than ten zhang ahead before finally stretching out their legs and standing firm upon the ground.
Qin Mu stood stock-still, joy flooding his heart: "Wind's Crest—so this is Wind's Crest!"