**Chapter 71: I'm Going to Kill Someone**
Qin Feiyue steadied himself, then addressed Black Venerable again: "The Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra—the State Preceptor has no interest in it."
Black Venerable lowered his eyelids and chuckled, his voice raspy. "The State Preceptor is uninterested, but what about General Qin? Does he perhaps have interest?"
A chill ran through Qin Feiyue's heart. He understood that no matter what he said, he could not dispel the suspicion of this murderous villain.
An elder seated below Qin Feiyue—a white-browed old man—slightly raised his eyebrows and spoke. "I am old and have few days left to live. That is precisely why I wish to witness the legendary Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra, said to grant the power to ascend to godhood or descend to demonhood. I humbly ask the Cult Master's Wife and Black Venerable to oblige!"
"Of course."
The Cult Master's Wife's beautiful eyes swept across the gathering. "Who else wishes to see the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra?"
A sallow-faced woman seated under Fu Yundi smiled. "If the Mistress does not object, I too would like a glimpse of this demon scripture that promises apotheosis."
The Cult Master's Wife turned to Fu Yundi. "And the City Lord?"
Fu Yundi threw his head back and laughed. "Please do not mistake my intentions, Mistress. I have no designs on the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra. I merely wish to see this so-called supreme technique of transcendence and compare notes. I harbor no ill will toward you—in fact, I feel a certain tenderness. The Heavenly Demon Cult has hunted you for so long, relentlessly and without mercy. You stand alone. I would gladly share your burden."
Qin Mu blinked his eyes, his gaze drifting from one formidable figure to the next. Within Zhenjiang Tower, every last person had expressed interest in the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra. And precisely because of that, none of them dared to act rashly against the Cult Master's Wife.
Even if they managed to seize the scripture from her, they would immediately become the target of everyone else!
The Cult Master's Wife looked around with elegant poise, then suddenly let out a light laugh. She opened her slender, jade-like palm, and a jade box materialized in her hand. "Inside this box is the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra. The talismans on the exterior are the seals left by successive Cult Masters."
The atmosphere within Zhenjiang Tower turned instantly heavy, as though the air itself had solidified. Qin Mu immediately felt several powerful and terrifying auras lock onto him. Ling Yuxiu let out a muffled grunt as well. These auras were not directed at them—they targeted the Cult Master's Wife standing beside them. But because the two young cultivators were so close, they were caught in the shockwave like small fish in a pond.
The Cult Master's Wife paid no heed. She opened the jade box, and a strange melody seemed to emanate from within. Then, like a living serpent, a single thread emerged from the box and slowly rose into the air.
"It is the true Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra!"
Black Venerable struck his staff against the ground with a decisive *thud*. "I must ask the Mistress to put it away at once!"
Qin Mu's expression grew peculiar. He craned his neck to peer into the jade box, and a sense of indescribable absurdity welled up inside him. What lay in the jade box was not some supreme scripture—it was plainly the spool of thread from the basket that Grandma Si always carried! He remembered that thread. Grandma Si kept it wound around a jade hairpin, and that very hairpin now sat in the box. When he was small, Grandma Si would place him inside that basket while she mended clothes. On one occasion, young Qin Mu had failed to restrain himself and left a pile of excrement in the basket, dousing the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra in a foul stench.
*She really is Grandma Si!*
The youth wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. *No wonder she refused to stay at the inn. She dressed herself up like this just to show off and have some fun...*
The Cult Master's Wife ignored Black Venerable entirely. The thread continued to rise higher and higher. Suddenly it swelled, growing thicker and thicker. When it reached the width of a bucket, every face in the tower changed. The thread was not a thread at all—it was a wondrous text composed of countless characters!
Innumerable characters formed concentric circles, each ring encasing the next, layer upon layer, so many layers that when shrunk to the limit, they no longer appeared as text but as a single silk thread.
This was the Supreme Scripture of the Heavenly Demon Cult—the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra!
"The item is genuine. Are you all now convinced?"
The countless characters suddenly contracted, transforming back into a thread that retreated into the jade box.
The Cult Master's Wife closed the box and sealed it once more with the talismans of the successive Cult Masters. Her lips curved into a smile. "However, if you wish to examine it, you must think carefully. To read the Supreme Scripture of the Heavenly Demon Cult is to become an enemy of the Heavenly Demon Cult. When that happens, they will no longer hunt me—they will hunt every one of you present here. All of you will die. So who among you will take the box?"
The expressions of the crowd shifted dramatically, and hesitation gripped every heart. The jade box sat right before them, yet not a single person dared reach for it.
Qin Feiyue's face flickered between shadow and light. Others feared the Heavenly Demon Cult, but he did not. No matter how powerful the Cult was, it could not oppose the entire Yankang Kingdom. Yet if he took the box, he would immediately become the center of attention—and whether he could walk out of the City Lord's Manor alive was far from certain.
The others shared the same thought. Even Fu Yundi hesitated, unable to make up his mind.
The Cult Master's Wife watched their expressions with undisguised amusement. She thoroughly enjoyed watching these so-called formidable experts grow troubled—it was one of her favorite pastimes.
Silence blanketed the tower. Just then, Qin Mu stretched his arms wide, yawned, and stood up. "I'm full! Yuxiu, thank you for bringing me here for a wonderful meal. City Lord, is there a charge for eating at your place?"
His voice shattered the silence, and the tension eased somewhat. Everyone turned to look at him, half-smiling. This boy was clearly a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. He had come here to mooch a free meal, and now that he was full, he was asking Fu Yundi if there was a bill.
Fu Yundi coughed once to dissolve the awkwardness. "Those who come are my guests. Since I invited everyone, even though you were not on the list, I will not charge you."
Qin Mu broke into a bright, sunny smile. "The City Lord won't charge me, but I cannot refuse to pay. I don't have much money on me—would a hundred dragon coins suffice? Wait a moment, City Lord. I'm going to kill someone, and after I've won the money, I'll pay you back."
Fu Yundi frowned. Before he could answer, Qin Mu walked down from Zhenjiang Tower, took a single step onto the lake, and strode toward the platform in the center, his voice ringing clear across the water. "Young Master Tingyue, I hear that Outcasts compete on this stage, and the winner receives a hundred dragon coins. I am an Outcast, so I have come to try."
His pace was unhurried, yet in a few strides he arrived on the platform and fixed his gaze on the youth across from him.
On the platform, the blood of the Outcast youth killed by Fu Tingyue was still wet and crimson. Slaves were hauling the boy's body into the lake and washing the platform clean.
In the lake, large fish churned the water into froth, tearing at the remains of the corpse.
Qin Mu planted his feet firmly on the ground and looked at the youth before him. Fu Tingyue was the same age as he, yet his eyes held the ferocity of one who had killed without count.
The young man studied him, his gaze carrying the feral intent of a beast.
Within Zhenjiang Tower, the atmosphere fell silent once more. These were renowned experts, possessed of great powers and vast experience—yet none had anticipated that Qin Mu would challenge the one widely regarded as the foremost cultivator in the Spirit Embryo Realm, Fu Tingyue, all for the sake of earning a hundred dragon coins to pay for a meal.
"What audacity..."
Hundred Goods Elder sighed. "A youth this bold rarely lives to adulthood. They usually die at precisely this age."
Fu Yundi smiled. "The fate of the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra has yet to be decided, and now this unexpected turn of events has appeared. Why don't we watch this little spectacle first? Once it is over, we can determine the scripture's ownership. What do you think, Cult Master's Wife?"
The Cult Master's Wife smiled. "I am but a frail woman. What opinion could I possibly have?"
Ling Yuxiu bit her lip in frustration, wanting to stand and call Qin Mu back. But Qin Feiyue let out a low cough, his voice carrying a note of warning. She had no choice but to sit back down.
---
On the platform in the lake.
A middle-aged man approached, bearing a tray upon which sat a pouch of coins. Fu Tingyue raised an eyebrow. "That pouch contains a hundred dragon coins. If you defeat me, you take it. In three years, at least a thousand challengers have come, and not one has walked away with those coins."
Qin Mu thought for a moment. "Are you the foremost martial artist in Xianglong City?"
Fu Tingyue smiled with undisguised pride and nodded. "Unanimously recognized as the first. Within a thousand li of Xianglong City, no martial artist surpasses me. The warriors I have killed are beyond counting—I killed them in duels, not by relying on my father's name. Anyone who loses to me does not survive."
Qin Mu nodded gently. "Do you use a weapon?"
Fu Tingyue clasped his hands behind his back and smiled. "You may use a weapon. I am indifferent. When I wish to use one, I can do so at any moment."
*Clang!* A clear ring echoed through the air as the pig-slaughter knife soared upward and fell into Qin Mu's hand.
This feat was achieved not through the technique of condensing qi into threads, but through a form of spiritual resonance. His yuan qi and the blade resonated with one another, drawn together like twin magnets!
His yuan qi surged, growing increasingly wild and turbulent. The image of the strike that had slain the great serpent was reenacted within him!
The greater his fury, the more violent his yuan qi became, the stronger the resonance, and the sharper the blade!
Yet Qin Mu's expression remained utterly calm. A placid exterior concealing a tempestuous, untamed heart!