Qin Mu's heart was full of gratitude, and he made a deep, sweeping bow. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior. Your junior will hold it in his heart forever."
Gu Linuan smiled. "If you know gratitude, cultivate quickly and cut down the dragon mother's soul. If you meet any difficulty, do not hesitate to ask."
Qin Mu at once set the Dan Xin Jue in motion. The art required one to regard the dantian as a field, to plow it and sow seeds of fire within, then to make ten suns rise above it, nurturing the seeds until they swelled into a furnace burning with holy fire. Only a little success could be called the loyal heart first formed; and with even the least of it, one could control a sword, the blade following the mind.
It was simple to say but hard to do; holy fire was no easy thing to raise, and the art was divided into nine cycles. Qin Mu had only to refine the first, and his driving of the sword would far surpass what it had been.
"Eh! Your foundations are excellent!" Gu Linuan was astonished. In a short span Qin Mu had already plowed the field, planted fire seeds, and set the ten suns to nurturing them — a show of deep cultivation. An ordinary martial artist, let alone raising ten suns, could barely plant the seeds without a steady diet of elixirs. Qin Mu needed none; such cultivation among the Spirit Womb realm was all but unheard of.
"At his pace, he may not need ten days, nor two — by tomorrow he'll perfect the first cycle, slay the dragon mother, and free me!" Gu Linuan's gaze flickered. "A boy genius so outstanding — truly I would rather not kill him." And he sighed in his heart: "But the Great Ruins are forsaken by the gods — even an insect born here is guilty and must die. And besides, I am hungry. It has been fifty years and more since I ate..."
The time Qin Mu needed was even shorter than imagined. Night had fallen, and the light outside was brightening; it filtered through the Yong River's waters onto the sunken dragon palace.
Qin Mu stood, his mind stirring, and primal qi coiled about the Shao Bao Sword. With a sharp whistle it pierced the layered fog, coming and going like light, like lightning, swift beyond telling! Whisk whisk whisk — in the blink of an eye he drove the treasure through a hundred thrusts. Though he knew no swordplay and used only the single movement of the thrust, he was more terrifying than Qianqiu, that heir of a sword sect like the Li River Sect. This Dan Xin Jue was truly something!
Once more Qin Mu bowed and thanked him, most sincerely. Gu Linuan laughed aloud. "You also have exceptional talent, to fathom it all so soon. The little fox at your side has not cultivated so fast. Now up — drive your sword, and cut down the dragon mother!"
He was overjoyed; deliverance was near at hand, and even a master of his caliber could not help a flutter of anxiety. "This boy saved me, and his talent is so great I am loath to kill him..."
But at that very moment Qin Mu turned and walked away, the Shao Bao Sword in hand, his figure vanishing into the thick fog. Before Gu Linuan could gather his wits, Qin Mu, sword and fox by his side, had already passed out of the dragon palace and walked on without a pause.
"Come back here!" Gu Linuan's roar rang out. "Wretched boy, you've gone back on your word! I taught you the art and gave you the sword — why have you not cut down the dragon mother?"
From outside, Qin Mu's voice drifted away. "Senior, the dragon mother did use the dragon pearl to slay many who entered, true — but the pearl only turns them into dried corpses, walking husks. Yet there are many skeletons in this palace that did not die beneath the pearl. They did not become dried corpses — they became skeletons."
Gu Linuan was taken aback. "When did you notice?"
"The moment I stepped inside."
Gu Linuan gnashed his teeth. "Are you truly only twelve? Can a boy of twelve see such things, work them out, and play along with my scheme without a sign?"
"Your junior turns twelve only in the autumn. Right now I am but eleven..." His voice trailed away and was heard no more.
From within the palace burst a stream of curses, drifting to the two who had walked far away.
Hu Ling'er poked her head out of his arms. "Master Qin, how did you know he meant you harm?"
"When we first came, I used the Khakkhara to force back the fog, and many dried corpses dropped from the air. Did you notice the many heaps of bare bones besides them?"
Hu Ling'er nodded. "The clothes on those skeletons were official robes," Qin Mu went on. "Gu Linuan says his disciples were killed by the dragon pearl. But those the pearl kills are drained to dried corpses, not skeletons. So how did they die?"
Hu Ling'er saw it at once. "In his other hand he leaned on a black banner, most sinister! Him being sealed was a drawn-out affair; surely he used the banner to kill them."
"He knew he'd be trapped here a long while. His disciples, though named disciples, were all officials — jockeying for his post, they'd never petition the court to save him; an empty seat of Guardian of the Hereditary Prince would suit everyone. So he struck first, draining their blood and qi completely rather than starve in the ice. But his means must be stranger than the pearl's, for he absorbed even their flesh and blood, leaving skeletons. Do you remember how my Khakkhara would not stop ringing when we entered?"
Hu Ling'er recalled crouching on his trouser leg, shivering. "I thought the dried corpses' lingering thoughts troubled the staff — but they are dead and have none. I thought it the dragon mother's stray thoughts; yet when I came to Gu Linuan, the staff fell silent. Plainly it was his tangled thoughts, not hers. When he resolved to act, the staff rang no more. Shielded by the Khakkhara, he could not eat us, so he chose to borrow our hands to get free."
Hu Ling'er was struck speechless. "Master Qin, are you really only twelve?"
"I'll be twelve after autumn." Qin Mu smiled an honest smile.
"Then you must be a fox spirit too — a male fox become a spirit, and the sly clever kind!"
Qin Mu held forth on his woes: "You don't know how I grew up, swindled by a pack of old men and old women! Just before I came out to hunt, Grandma conned me into the chicken coop for eggs. That was a chicken-dragon — it chased me round the field and I couldn't beat it at all! And Grandma slipped over and gathered the eggs herself!"
They skirted the pool and came out of the Dragon King Temple. Hu Ling'er summoned a demon wind, and Qin Mu rode it, soaring to the thatched hut by the waterfall. Setting off at once, he took his leave — but Hu Ling'er laughed. "You are all filth and stink; why hurry back? There's a pool beside my waterfall. Bathe, and I'll wash your clothes; when they're dry you'll be fresh and clean. And I have a few doubts about cultivation to ask you."
Qin Mu hesitated, and was about to speak, when from within the hut came Grandma Si's cold laughter: "Bathe? Cultivate? Is this to steal yin to repay yang, or steal yang to repay yin?"
"Grandma?" Qin Mu was startled and overjoyed. "How do you come to be here?"