"How could I be here?"
Grandma Si stepped out of the thatched hut, her voice choked with tears. "I slogged and toiled to raise you, and you ran off following that fox spirit, leaving your granny all alone. Now that you have a fox, you no longer want your granny! Little fox wench, how would you like to die?"
Qin Mu hurriedly smiled. "Granny, you mistake me. I ran into Hu Ling'er by chance, and when she told me of the Dragon Palace of the Yong River, I went to have a look and lost myself contemplating the true dragon."
"Four days! And you were contemplating the true dragon?" Grandma Si was astounded. "The little fox wench didn't drain you?"
Hu Ling'er shrank behind Qin Mu, shy and fearful.
Qin Mu urged his qi into motion. "Granny, pray look!"
A low dragon's groan came up. His qi surged forth as a great dragon that coiled about him; two dragon claws merged with his arms. He threw a punch — BOOM! — thunder burst out, its voice rolling across the ravine without cease!
"Green Dragon qi!"
Grandma Si was shaken to the core. She knew Old Ma had not passed on to Qin Mu the Tathagata Great Vehicle Sutra; without the heart-method befitting the Eight Thunder Moves, his attainment there could never run deep. Yet here he had struck out thunder, only the crack of lightning itself still wanting — almost impossible at the Spirit Womb realm without the matching heart-method.
More crucial still: moments before, a green dragon had coiled about Qin Mu — exactly the Green Dragon qi unique to the Green Dragon Spirit Body, first of the four great spirit bodies. This was already the third attribute his Supreme Body qi had gained, after the water of Black Tortoise qi and the fire of Vermilion Bird qi.
"Could the boy have drained the little fox and surged ahead? No — I never taught him such demonic arts... And he says he saw a true dragon." Grandma Si was baffled.
Qin Mu drew in with his stance, and the green dragon slipped back into his body, living as any true divine dragon. He, too, was both frightened and glad. Little Monk Mingxin's thunder had made him envious — though he could have matched it through the costly Seal of the Demonic Deity's Mighty Power, the Eight Thunder Moves, wedded to the Supreme Body Three-Dan Art that suited cultivation in battle, cost him almost nothing. To strike out thunder was to leap forward in his prowess!
He told of all that had met him in the dragon palace, and Grandma Si listened in rapt delight; but at the officials' skeletons and the dried corpses a light flickered across her gaze. "Two manners of death — something strange there. When you go in, keep your guard."
When he spoke of the dragonling sealed in mystic ice and of Gu Linuan, Grandma Si clapped and laughed. "That old rogue Gu Linuan is queer indeed. Those officials' skeletons must all have died at his hand — he ate them! Men of the court have always eaten men without spitting out a bone. How did you hoodwink him?"
Hu Ling'er was struck with admiration. This old woman had seen nothing with her own eyes, yet from a bare telling she had reached the very judgment Qin Mu had reached.
Qin Mu related how Gu Linuan had taught him the Dan Xin Jue, then brought out the Shao Bao Sword. Grandma Si took it, examined it, and praised it. "The Shao Bao Sword is indeed a treasure rarely found under heaven. The State of Yankang, pouring out its kingdom's strength, forged sixteen first-rank swords — among them the Shao Bao, Tai Bao, Tai Fu, Shao Fu, Tai Shi, Shao Shi, San Si, Piao Qi, Si Wang, Jun Wang, Guo Gong, Tai Wei, Si Kong, and Tian Ce — bestowed in turn upon the Guardian of the Hereditary Prince, the Grand Guardian, the Grand Tutor, the Tutors and Guardians of the Heir's house, the one who opens a mansion equal to the Three Excellencies, the Grand General of Agile Cavalry, the Hereditary Prince, the Commandery Prince, the Duke of State, the Grand Commandant, the Minister of Works, and the Strategist of Celestial Command. The Shao Bao Sword, though not the match of the true first-rank blades, would serve well as any other sect's lineage-treasured relic."
"Worth so much?" Qin Mu was startled. "How does it stand against the Khakkhara staff?"
"About the same," said Grandma Si. "The Khakkhara carries the Tathagata's blessing; the Shao Bao Sword, as the bearing-sword of a first-rank minister, draws on the State of Yankang's fortune at arms."
"Gu Linuan said the State of Yankang's sword arts are the finest under heaven. I only learned the sword-control arts of the Dan Xin Jue, not his swordplay. Was that the right choice?"
"Not learning was right. The State Preceptor's arts are fine, but Gu Linuan was in his day a man of my demonic path — his swordsmanship need not have reached that level. Swordsmanship looks to the man; if the master teaches ill, holes show up everywhere. Look at Little Monk Mingxin — he cultivated the Eight Thunder Moves, but his master taught ill and left him a flaw at the throat. So, in sword arts, take only the very best master."
Qin Mu was puzzled. A first-rank magnate and a Guardian of the Hereditary Prince — was Gu Linuan, then, a half-schooled master as well?
"Little fox, I shan't kill you after all." Grandma Si laughed. "Mu'er, let's go home. The villagers will be nearly dead with worry, thinking some exotic beast swallowed you on your first hunt. Only your clever granny knew you had been lured off by the little fox, so I have been waiting here all along. Oh yes, little fox — those ancient scrolls of yours: I turned their pages and wrote annotations in the margins. Read them yourself, and you'll keep clear of many a blind alley."
"I... I cannot read..." Hu Ling'er hung her head.
Grandma Si was surprised, then laughed. "Now there's an honest fox. And since you never laid a hand on my boy, why, I won't deceive you after all. For if you cultivated by my annotations, you would turn your qi astray and die most miserably. Who told you to go seducing my child?"
Hu Ling'er shuddered. "Master Mu was right — the old folk of his village are past masters of the con, every one. Old foxes come to spirit!"
Before long they reached the Village of Broken Elders, and Qin Mu blinked. Beside it a whole new settlement had appeared, no one knew when — a plainly new-built village, far larger than their own and of extraordinary magnificence, towers and pavilions hinting at lavish splendor. Beside it, the Village of Broken Elders, with its leaking thatched roofs, looked pinched and shabby.
Grandma Si's face darkened. Without a word she led Qin Mu on, and from that new village one queer figure after another filed out to the roadside. At each one she passed, the fellow would bow and say, with great respect, "Mistress." Even gray-haired ancients stooped, murmuring the word with deepest humility. Grandma Si said not a word, while Qin Mu heard "Mistress" several hundred times.
At the village mouth, the Village Chief and the Herbalist were taking tea. Across from them sat a youth, drinking his own tea at leisure, and beside him stood an old man. "Mistress," the old man bowed.
The youth raised his head, and his voice was strangely aged. With an unhurried air he said, "Youyou, when you see the Ancestor, have you no greeting?"
Grandma Si's body went stiff. She bowed. "Greetings to the Ancestor."
The Elder of Discipline glanced at Qin Mu, beaming till his eyes nearly shut. "Mistress, is this your son?"
Grandma Si glared at him. "Say another word and I'll tear your mouth apart! Mu'er is a child I took in — he is not my son!" The Elder of Discipline wore an air of knowing it all, which set her teeth on edge.
The Herbalist smiled. "Granny, the good friends of the Heavenly Demon Cult have been here several days. Only, they have not yet seen you, so they are loath to leave."
Grandma Si's face darkened. "Mu'er, go back into the village first."
"Granny, you come back too," said the Village Chief calmly. "Since you have passed through the gate of our Village of Broken Elders, you are a woman of our village. Your affair — the Broken Elders will shoulder it."
The youth opposite took a sip of tea and smiled. "Elder Brother, you are as overbearing as ever. Yet this touches on our Cult's Cult Master, our Cult Master's Wife, and our Holy Sutra. The Broken Elders may be willing to shoulder it, but I fear you shall not bear it up."