The dragon qilin drank his fill of water, then looked at Qin Mu. “I’m still a little hungry...”
“I’ll take you to refine some pills.”
Qin Mu led the dragon qilin toward the Treasury Office, planning to buy medicinal herbs for refining Red Fire Spirit Pills first. Across Jade Dragon Lake, a Daoist was peering this way. Watching Qin Mu’s retreating back as he led the dragon qilin away, the Daoist muttered, “Did that dragon-lion in front of the mountain gate come alive? Why did it run to Jade Dragon Lake to drink water? Who is that young man? Could he not know that the water of Jade Dragon Lake is offered to the imperial court? Never mind. As long as he doesn’t jump into the lake to bathe, there’s no need to bother. A few mouthfuls of water are nothing.”
When Qin Mu passed the Imperial Princes’ Garden, he saw many scholars gathered there, and bursts of cheers rang out.
He glanced over from a distance. Even the scholars from the Scholars’ Residence had gone over, and quite a few divine arts practitioners from the Divine Arts Residence had come as well. They had surrounded the entrance to the Imperial Princes’ Garden so tightly that not even water could pass through.
Suddenly, there was a thunderous boom. A figure was sent flying into the air and plunged headfirst into the ground. Someone shouted, “That’s another one down!”
Qin Mu was startled. The person driven headfirst into the ground was a young prince of the Imperial Princes’ Garden. A young prince was the son of a prince—who dared to strike with such vicious force?
“I’ll take you on!”
A girl’s voice came from the crowd. Qin Mu had already walked some distance away when he suddenly heard another loud boom. A girl in green flew backward and crashed through the wall of the Hall of Contained Light not far ahead of him with a crack, leaving only a pair of long, slender legs sticking out.
“Sounds like a princess...”
Qin Mu turned to look at the crowd and thought, “This style of combat is somewhat familiar. It’s Senior Brother Bashan’s martial-and-spell technique.”
Libationer Bashan had pioneered a supreme martial-and-spell technique, combining the moves of martial-skill practitioners with spells and divine arts. Its power was greater than that of pure martial skills or pure spells. This pioneering achievement had elevated Libationer Bashan into the ranks of Cult Master-level experts. In the world today, no one surpassed his attainments in martial-and-spell techniques.
The only flaw of martial-and-spell techniques was that their moves were not as flexible and varied as those of pure martial skills or spells. That was also why, despite reaching the height of a Cult Master-level expert, Libationer Bashan had been unable to advance any further.
“Could that be Sister Yuxiu? Why has she started fighting the young princes and princesses?”
The dragon qilin’s steps were unsteady from hunger, and his belly was sunken. Qin Mu suppressed his urge to watch the battle and continued toward the Treasury Office, where he bought the herbs. The Treasury Office herbalist handed him the medicinal materials, then finally noticed the enormous creature behind Qin Mu and stared in astonishment.
Qin Mu led the dragon qilin back the way they had come. Along the road, he analyzed the medicinal power of the herbs and refined them into a batch of Red Fire Spirit Pills.
The dragon qilin hurriedly ate them. One batch did not fill him, and he gazed at Qin Mu with pleading eyes. Qin Mu had no choice but to refine another batch. At last, he managed to fill the enormous creature’s belly.
The dragon qilin was full of energy again. Following beside Qin Mu, he put on a fawning smile and said, “Whenever you have trouble in the future, just say the word. I’m very good at fighting.”
Qin Mu shook his head and walked toward the Imperial Princes’ Garden. Hu Ling’er sneered, “You don’t even dare fight an ox, yet you claim you’re good at fighting?”
The dragon qilin immediately wilted.
There were still seas of people before the Imperial Princes’ Garden, and the crowd had grown even larger. Qin Mu heard a scholar say, “Is there really no one in the Imperial Princes’ Garden who can defeat her? Ever since the Seventh Princess returned from her travels outside, she seems like a different person. Her abilities have improved at an astonishing speed.”
“Combining spells with martial skills, along with the imperial Nine-Dragons Imperial Art, the Seventh Princess can basically sweep through the Imperial Princes’ Garden. I wonder whether she can go block the entrances of the Scholars’ Residence and the Divine Arts Residence?”
“We can’t say about the Divine Arts Residence, but she probably won’t manage it at the Scholars’ Residence. After all, there’s that demon there.”
“That’s right. No one has seen that demon for three months. He probably died outside. It counts as removing a great scourge from our Scholars’ Residence.”
“That demon’s abilities might not be enough to defeat the Seventh Princess.”
...
“Out of the way! Everyone, out of the way!”
The scholars felt a commotion coming from behind them. When they turned around, their eyes went blank. A gigantic creature that was half dragon and half qilin was forcing its way forward, pushing the scholars blocking the path aside. Some scholars were shoved just once by the dragon qilin and lost their footing, flying out of the crowd from the impact.
The enormous creature shoved the crowd aside and pushed all the way to the entrance of the Imperial Princes’ Garden, opening a path. The sight left the scholars stunned, and fear began to rise in their hearts.
Even the imperial clansmen inside the Imperial Princes’ Garden had seen much of the world, but when they saw the majestic dragon qilin, they could not help staring, unable to move their eyes away.
The dragon qilin shook his body and ruffled his fur. Turning back with a fawning smile, he said, “Young Master, these fools have already cleared a path. Please, go on in.”
Qin Mu stepped up to the entrance of the Imperial Princes’ Garden and scolded him, “That was far too showy, far too showy! Don’t do that again! Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, please forgive me, please forgive me.”
The expressions on everyone’s faces froze.
Qin Mu looked into the Imperial Princes’ Garden and saw Ling Yuxiu sealing the Five Luminaries Divine Treasure while exchanging blows with Young Prince Minyue. Young Prince Minyue was another scholar chosen by Libationer Bashan. After only a few exchanges, he could no longer withstand Ling Yuxiu’s astonishing explosive strength and was sent flying.
Ling Yuxiu burst open the Five Luminaries Divine Treasure. Nine dragons coiled before and behind her, making her look valiant and spirited, her presence soaring.
Qin Mu secretly praised her. After her journey to the Loulan Golden Palace, Ling Yuxiu’s cultivation and strength had advanced at an astonishing speed. In just three months, she had gained an overwhelming advantage over the other scholars.
Clearly, after blocking the entrance of the Golden Palace, she had trained diligently and refined the Nine-Dragons Imperial Art to even greater depth, making up for the weakness of her unstable foundation.
Libationer Bashan taught according to each student’s aptitude. Unlike the lessons taught by the Imperial Academy’s Erudites, he had cultivated Ling Yuxiu specifically according to her weaknesses, finally allowing her to achieve tremendous growth.
However, when Qin Mu looked at the Imperial Princes’ Garden, he saw that this princess had wrecked nearly half of it. He had no idea who she had learned such violence from.
“The cowherd!”
When Ling Yuxiu saw Qin Mu, her large eyes lit up. She waved to the imperial youths in the Imperial Princes’ Garden and laughed, “We’ll stop for today and settle the victor another day.” With that, she walked toward Qin Mu.
Qin Mu praised her. “Sister Yuxiu, we haven’t seen each other for a little over a month, and your abilities have become even more impressive.”
Ling Yuxiu complained a little, “Where have you been all this time? You had me terribly worried.”
She quickly added, “Teacher Bashan was worried about you too! You probably don’t know that the Grand Libationer resigned and left. The new Grand Libationer isn’t Libationer Bashan. He’s the one who was sealed in mystic ice—the man Little General Qin and I rescued from the Dragon Palace of the Yong River in the Great Ruins.”
“The man sealed in mystic ice?”
Qin Mu’s heart stirred. Could it be Gu Linuan?
Ling Yuxiu saw that the place was still packed with people, all of them watching the two of them. She was still shy, after all, and said in a low voice, “There are too many people here. Let’s go to my room and talk.”
Qin Mu followed her and nodded. The two of them walked into the Imperial Princes’ Garden. Suddenly, a figure flashed, and a handsome young man appeared beside them. With a dark expression, he said, “Seventh Sister, how can a girl let a man enter her room so casually? Come to my room instead.”
Ling Yuxiu’s face flushed slightly, and she said softly that she understood.
Ling Yushu put on a dark expression. “Scholar Qin, please.”
Qin Mu was puzzled. He did not know how he had offended this imperial prince; the way Ling Yushu looked at him was as if he wanted to eat him alive.
They arrived at Ling Yushu’s residence in the Imperial Princes’ Garden. It was laid out like an elegant garden from Jiangnan. Though its artificial hills were not as tall as real mountains, streams wound through them; though its garden was not as vast as a forest, its twisting paths led into secluded beauty. Compared with the Scholars’ Residence, it was incomparably better.
The place resembled a small imperial palace. Palace maids moved back and forth, waiting on them attentively.
Most of these palace maids were divine arts practitioners. They were not only beautiful but also extremely strong.
Ling Yushu led them beneath a pavilion. The scenery was lovely, and the terrain open. A palace maid carried a censer forward, set it beside the pavilion, inserted incense, and lit it. Fragrant smoke curled upward.
Music from a zither drifted over from somewhere in the distance. The melody was slow and the notes lingering, like two old men leisurely playing a game of chess. Only after a long interval would one or two notes sound, making it easy for the listener’s heart to grow peaceful.
“Second Prince, you certainly know how to enjoy yourself,” Qin Mu praised.
Ling Yushu’s expression eased slightly. “I must thank Scholar Qin for taking care of Seventh Sister during her journey beyond the frontier. Seventh Sister has told me what happened to you all in the Loulan Golden Palace, and I know that you saved my sister more than once. I am endlessly grateful.”
Ling Yuxiu laughed. “The cowherd is amazing. I thought he had died, and I even cried in front of the shamans at the Golden Palace.”
The corner of Ling Yushu’s eye twitched. Cried? She had never mentioned that.
“It was nothing, merely the affection between classmates. My sister once had a cat die, and she cried over that too,” Ling Yushu thought.
“We also met two of the cowherd’s elders. They praised me for being sensible and were very pleased with me,” Ling Yuxiu said with a smile.
The corner of Ling Yushu’s eye twitched again. She had already met his elders? Seventh Sister had never mentioned that either!
Ling Yuxiu said excitedly, “Second Brother, Libationer Bashan really is amazing. Taking us out this time made me much stronger—you saw it yourself. If Libationer Bashan could take the cowherd and me on a few more journeys, you wouldn’t be able to beat me either!”
Ling Yushu shook his head. “I’ve made inquiries. The next time Libationer Bashan travels far, he’ll take several other backup scholars.”
Ling Yuxiu looked disappointed.
Ling Yushu looked at Qin Mu. “Father has appointed Gu Linuan as Grand Libationer. I hear that you and Gu Linuan have a grudge between you. After becoming Grand Libationer, Gu Linuan also asked the Imperial Academy’s Erudites about you.”
Ling Yuxiu laughed. “I know about their grudge. The Shao Bao Sword was tricked away from Gu Linuan by the cowherd, so he holds a grudge.”
Ling Yushu said, “Scholar Qin, you’d better return the Shao Bao Sword to Gu Linuan. He comes from the demon path and is a grandmaster of that path. He has always been petty. I cannot say anything about Father appointing him Grand Libationer, but his magnanimity is far inferior to that of the previous Grand Libationer. It’s hard to guarantee that he won’t make things difficult for you. I can host a meeting between you and him to resolve your grudge. I expect he’ll give me that much face.”
Qin Mu shook his head. “The rules of the Great Ruins say that things obtained through trickery need not be returned.”
Ling Yushu smiled faintly. “But this isn’t the Great Ruins. He is the Grand Libationer. If he wants to make things difficult for you, it will be easy.”
Qin Mu thought for a moment. “I heard Gu Linuan say that he is the Guardian of the Hereditary Prince. The Guardian of the Hereditary Prince should be the hereditary prince’s tutor from childhood, right? Second Prince, do you think Gu Linuan will give you face?”
Ling Yushu’s heart jolted.
Qin Mu continued, “Second Prince, if he is willing to resolve the grudge, then I don’t mind breaking the rules of the Great Ruins and returning the Shao Bao Sword to him. But I feel that even if I return the Shao Bao Sword, he won’t give you face or resolve the grudge. Besides, Second Prince, why aren’t you worried that he’ll make things difficult for you?”