Grandma Si pulled him eagerly toward the village center. "Stop staring, come quickly. Today is your great day! Chief! Old Ma! Everyone, come out!"
A bonfire blazed in the square. The Chief was carried out again on his stretcher, and spoke with weight. "Have you found all four spirits?"
"All four."
One-armed Old Ma dragged in an enormous snake, several spans long, a living thing of bluish-green that stank faintly of raw flesh. He gripped it by the nape with his single hand, and it could not move.
The Mute, the blacksmith, carried in a great bird, larger than he was, with wings and feet bound. When the bird struggled, sparks flew from its feathers, crackling and snapping—a fearsome sight.
Blind Grandpa dragged in a giant tortoise, its shell larger than a tabletop. No one knew how many years it had lived; its shell had turned golden. The tortoise kept all four limbs tucked inside its shell, occasionally peeking out one claw. Qin Mu watched as the claw emerged—beneath it gathered a mist of water, as if the creature could ride that vapor and flee away. But Blind Grandpa had hooked a fish-hook through the tortoise's nostrils, so it could not escape.
"The Green Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, the Black Tortoise," the Chief said. "We cannot get the true blood of the four spirits. But with a green flood-snake, an iron-boned tiger, a thunder-bird, and a golden tortoise in their place, we can refine a little spirit blood. It will be enough."
He nodded to the village butcher. The butcher grinned and crawled forward on his hands—he was a man cut off at the waist, his lower body severed cleanly away.
Four great jars were set before the snake, the tiger, the thunder-bird, and the tortoise. The butcher struck each beast once, draining its blood. In a short while, all four creatures poured out their lifeblood.
"Healer," said the Chief.
The village healer stepped forward. He had no face—the skin seemed to have been sliced away, and with it his nose and half of both lips. He was the most hideous man in the village, and yet Qin Mu thought the healer-grandfather was the kindest of them all.
The healer produced four strange red leaves, each bearing a single white egg. He dropped one leaf into each jar. The eggs split, and silkworms crawled out to drink the blood.
The worms grew as the wind touched them; the more blood they drank, the larger they swelled. Soon the blood in all four jars was gone, and in each jar sat one fat, enormous worm.
The healer sprinkled a white crystal dust like salt over the jars. To Qin Mu's wonder, the four fat worms shrank rapidly before his eyes.
After a moment the healer gathered the worms, each now no bigger than his palm. He brought out four small white cups, took a worm, and squeezed. It squealed, and from its mouth ran a cupful of amber blood, clear as glass.
He did the same with the other three, squeezing out their blood, then set the four cups before Qin Mu. "These are not true spirit beasts," he said, shaking his head. "This is all the spirit blood we can refine."
"Mu'er, within the human body lie seven great treasures—the Spirit Fetus, the Five Glows, the Six Conjunctions, the Seven Stars, the Celestial Man, the Life-Death, the Spirit Bridge. These seven treasures are closed at birth, like sealed vaults, and so they are called the Seven Divine Depositories."
The Chief's voice carried a certain authority. In the firelight his face flickered bright and dark as he spoke. "The Seven Divine Depositories are sealed. A martial artist must open them himself. The barrier that blocks the opening is called the Wall—the Spirit Fetus Wall, the Five Glows Wall, the Six Conjunctions Wall, the Seven Stars Wall, the Celestial Man Wall, the Life-Death Wall, the Spirit Bridge Wall. To shatter these seven walls is called Breaking the Walls."
One-armed Old Ma gently stroked Qin Mu's head and smiled. "If you can't break the walls, you can't cultivate. Some are blessed at birth—their Spirit Fetus Wall is already open, and their Spirit Fetus Depository is unlocked from the moment they're born. Such a body is called a Spirit Body, favored by heaven, a born seedling for cultivation. Those with a Spirit Body are more gifted than ordinary people beyond measure; cultivation comes easily, with half the effort and twice the result. The Spirit Fetus has four natures, and so there are four Spirit Bodies—the Green Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise. To test which one you are, we need the blood of the Four Spirits."
The healer spoke. "If you are a Green Dragon Spirit Body, then after drinking the dragon's blood your Green Dragon qi will awaken. Old Ma is a Green Dragon Spirit Body."
One-armed Old Ma opened his robe, bared his chest before Qin Mu, turned to show his back, and gave a low shout.
Qin Mu saw a green mist rise along Old Ma's spine from tailbone to the crown of his head. The mist shifted and became a green dragon, every scale and whisker sharp to the eye, one claw running down to Old Ma's single arm, two more claws coiling around his legs.
"This is the Green Dragon Spirit Body."
One-armed Old Ma dressed again. "Grandma Si is a White Tiger Spirit Body."
Grandma Si gave him a withering look. "I won't strip for you old fools. I'll use my qi to show Qin Mu."
Her body trembled faintly, and behind her came a muffled tiger's roar as a great white tiger with glaring eyes shimmered into being at her back.
"Everyone in this village is a Spirit Body. We were glorious once. But now we're just a pack of old, broken, useless men and women."
Grandma Si laughed. "We broken ones have nothing to give you. These four cups of Spirit Blood are the material to awaken a Spirit Body. If you're a White Tiger, the blood will stir the White Tiger qi in your Spirit Fetus. If a Vermilion Bird, the Vermilion Bird blood will wake its qi. And the Black Tortoise likewise."
"Drink."
The Chief, Grandma Si, and the rest all looked at Qin Mu at once, expectation plain on their faces.
Qin Mu's heart hammered. He had been fed all manner of strange things while learning herb-gathering and medicine-brewing with the healer, but nothing like this.
He took up a white cup. The spirit blood inside was scorching hot—it was the Vermilion Bird blood. He drank it down in one go. A line of fire slipped down his throat and raced through his limbs, and he felt as though flames were roaring up inside him, his very blood about to boil.
After a time, the burning faded.
"Mute, is he a Vermilion Bird Spirit Body?" the Chief asked.
The Mute, the blacksmith, shook his head.
The Chief said, "Qin Mu, continue."
Qin Mu took the second cup. It held the White Tiger blood, and drinking it was like drinking molten copper laced with iron filings—bitter, stabbing, setting every inch of him alight with pain. Soon the pain faded.
"Not a White Tiger Spirit Body," Grandma Si said, somewhat disappointed.
"Qin Mu, the third cup," the Chief said heavily.
Qin Mu drank the third cup, the Green Dragon blood refined from the great serpent. His muscles swelled and thrummed, his blood surged and strained, his inner organs felt squeezed and uncomfortable. But the swelling, too, soon passed.
Old Ma showed his disappointment, shaking his head. "Not a Green Dragon Spirit Body."
"Then it must be a Black Tortoise Spirit Body." For once, the healer let a trace of smile cross his face, which made it look all the more ghastly.
Qin Mu drank the last cup—the Black Tortoise blood. It made his body feel light and free, as if he were floating in river water. But that feeling, too, faded quickly.
"He is not a Black Tortoise Spirit Body either," said the healer, shaking his head.
Silence fell over the elders by the fire. The butcher spoke at last. "Then he is just an ordinary man."
Suddenly Grandma Si was in tears, choking on her words. "We are all so old, so broken. If we die, he cannot survive. This place is too dangerous; he could not last a single day..."
Qin Mu took her hand and said softly, "Grandma, don't cry. You and all my grandparents are good people. None of you will die."
"Good people? Heh..." Old Ma laughed bitterly. "We broken ones were driven into the Great Ruin and have dragged out a living here ever since. The Ruin is too dangerous. Without us, Mu'er truly cannot survive. Perhaps we should send him away from the Ruin—outside, it is much safer..."
The butcher said coldly, "Send him out, and our enemies will find us. We will all die. He will die too, dragged down with us."
The Village of Broken Elders fell silent again. Then the Chief said, "Good."
Grandma Si was puzzled. "What's good?"
The Chief smiled. "I said his constitution is good. He is an excellent seedling."
The butcher, the healer, and the rest were taken aback, not understanding. The Chief laughed. "I think Mu'er has another kind of body—the Domineering Body, which combines the strengths of all four Spirit Bodies!"
"Domineering Body?" Grandma Si and the others looked puzzled. They were all people of wide knowledge, yet none had ever heard this name.
"Yes—a Domineering Body."
The Chief smiled. "Ordinary spirit blood is hard-pressed to awaken it. You would need the true blood of the four great spirit beasts to make it manifest. There are no four spirit beasts in the Great Ruin, but the descendants of spirit beasts are not hard to find. Keep hunting tigers and great snakes, refine their blood, drink it in quantity, and with time his Domineering Body will naturally emerge."
The Chief carried great authority. The maimed old men and women were overjoyed. Grandma Si laughed. "Tomorrow I'll go hunt tigers with that fool Cripple! Mu'er, sleep early. Tomorrow you'll drink more spirit blood!"
The crowd dispersed. The healer and the Mute carried the Chief back to his chambers. The Mute left, but the healer stayed. No one was listening. He lowered his voice. "There has never been a Domineering Body."
The Chief nodded. "I made that up. If I hadn't, no one in this village would have the will to live on."
The healer was stunned. Each elder of the Village of Broken Elders had his own grim history, but all had been driven into the Great Ruin, to this village, dragging out bare survival. They had cursed heaven and earth and all of creation, their grievances weighing heavy—and that they had survived this long owed something to Qin Mu as well.
It was the arrival of this whole, sound little boy that had scattered the bitterness in their hearts. They raised him and came to love him as their own closest kin. Qin Mu was what kept the fragile spirits of the village intact.
If the elders learned that Qin Mu was merely common, unable to survive alone in the Great Ruin, they would surely lose control—and there was no telling what they might do.
The healer said flatly, "But you cannot hide it forever. We will all die of age before you, and only Qin Mu will remain."
"So you must not tell him that a Domineering Body never existed. Never tell him."
The Chief's voice was heavy. "Let him believe he is the one and only Domineering Body!"
The healer stared at him a long while, studying his face. In the dim lamplight, the Chief's face had a strange force to it. He smiled. "I want to see whether an ordinary man, armed with an unmatched belief, can rise above the common lot and accomplish what even we Spirit Bodies could not! Perhaps in time he will truly open a path—the path where an ordinary body becomes a Domineering Body."
The healer was struck. "An ordinary body becomes a Domineering Body?"
The Chief nodded firmly. "So long as there is belief, an ordinary body is a Domineering Body!"