Qin Mu's gluttony bag always contained various medicinal herbs, precisely for emergencies, so that he wouldn't be unable to treat his own injuries. Of course, as a legendary doctor, keeping some poisons in the gluttony bag was also a common occurrence.
And even without poison, he could produce highly toxic substances using only spiritual herbs alone.
The two white bats stood upright. Qin Mu stepped forward to examine their injuries, frowning slightly. The physical injuries of these two white bats weren't particularly severe—rather, it was their souls that had been gravely damaged by the Shaman King.
The great shamans of the Loulan Golden Palace used the souls of other living beings, including humans, to cultivate. Although their magical techniques and divine abilities were all-encompassing, their attainments in soul arts were the strongest, while their combat techniques were somewhat inferior to their soul arts.
When Ban Gongcu fought Qin Mu, he hadn't employed his most proficient soul arts, but instead used the techniques and divine abilities of various sacred sites like the Dao Sword and Small Jade Capital to duel with Qin Mu. As a result, he lost the initiative and was beaten into a sorry state by Qin Mu.
Had he used soul-type techniques, the outcome would have been uncertain. Qin Mu couldn't be sure whether the Creation Heavenly Demon Art could withstand his soul arts.
The Loulan Golden Palace's soul arts were called Shaman Dharma techniques. They had reached the ultimate perfection in shamanic cultivation, and thus were known as the sacred site of the grasslands.
The two white bats had been hit by the Shaman King's shamanic arts multiple times. The Shaman King's cultivation level was at minimum at the Celestial Being realm. That several shamanic attacks hadn't killed these two white bats showed that the descendants of gods were indeed extraordinary.
"If they're this strong, I'll need to use strong medicine..." Qin Mu murmured thoughtfully.
The two white bats immediately became alert: "What did you say?"
"I said your injuries are severe and require strong medicine. How should I address you two, fellow daoists?"
In order to counter Ban Gongcu and the Loulan Golden Palace's shamanic arts, Qin Mu had studied pharmacology and nourishment of the soul. The pharmacology passed down to him by the Herbalist contained little knowledge about soul-type shamanic poisons and wasn't very detailed. Though the Herbalist was the Poison King, he usually operated in the central regions and rarely ventured into the grasslands, so he had limited understanding of shamanic poisons and soul injuries.
However, after many encounters with the Loulan Golden Palace, Qin Mu had gradually developed his own ideas.
He combined the Seven Creation Chapters from the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra to develop a treatment method that used both medicine and techniques.
"My name is Fu Yuqiu, and this is my elder brother Fu Yuchun," said the white bat with the longer ears.
The two white bats watched him refine pills and medicine. Without using a pill furnace, he extracted the medicinal essence from the herbs using only his hands and yuan energy. The principles of monarch, minister, assistant, and guide, and the generation and restraint of pharmacology were all accomplished through hand techniques alone. They couldn't help but exclaim: "The Ox-Head Doctor is truly remarkable. We're dazzled watching!"
Before long, Qin Mu refined the first batch of spirit pills.
The white bat with the shorter ears, Fu Yuchun, didn't take a spirit pill immediately. Alertly, he said: "Ox Pharmacist, you take one first!"
Qin Mu laughed: "You brothers are quite alert. I'm not surnamed Ox. My surname is Qin, given name Mu." With that, he picked up a spirit pill and swallowed it.
Only then did the two white bats relax and take the spirit pills. Qin Mu then used the Creation Ghost-God Art and Creation Earth Origin Art to pat and slap the two white bats, catalyzing the medicine's effects and consolidating their souls. Both white bats felt much more comfortable, and their injuries indeed improved considerably.
Qin Mu refined another batch of spirit pills. Fu Yuchun still made him swallow one first—this white bat was much more cautious than his younger brother Fu Yuqiu.
Qin Mu obediently took the spirit pill, and only then did the two white bats eat. Their injuries improved further.
Just then, several great shamans caught up to them. Without a word, they attacked directly. The two white bats' injuries were still quite severe, and their external wounds hadn't healed. Qin Mu extended a finger and thrust with a single sword. The Carefree Sword pierced toward those great shamans.
Those great shamans saw an easy target and burst out laughing: "The Heavenly Demon Cult's Cult Master Qin is so desperately poor—at the Six Harmonies realm, he still only has a single spirit sword. This will let us brothers claim a great merit!"
Before the words had faded, behind Qin Mu, a vast expanse of white sword rain appeared. Eight thousand swords burst forth simultaneously from the gluttony bag, soaring into the sky before arcing down and rushing toward them. With a whoosh, those great shamans were engulfed.
Qin Mu hooked his index finger upward. The Carefree Sword flew back and landed in its scabbard. The other seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine swords also flew back at great speed, returning to the gluttony bag.
Where the swords had pierced the ground, no complete corpses could be seen.
The two white bats stared wide-eyed, too stunned to speak.
The warriors of the Mandy Kingdom had activated their blade pearls, sending countless crescent blades sweeping through the air toward their enemies—a spectacular sight. But this Ox-Head Doctor was essentially an army of a hundred men all by himself. Those swords flew over directly, and each of those great shamans had been pierced by who knew how many swords, dying most unjustly.
"If these great shamans found us here, the Shaman King will likely find us soon too. We shouldn't stay long!"
Qin Mu's eyes flashed as he said to the two white bats: "Fellow daoists, let's move quickly."
The two white bats followed him. They exchanged a glance, and Fu Yuqiu laughed: "Those people just now said you're the Heavenly Demon Cult's Cult Master Qin?"
Qin Mu sat on the Dragon Qilin's back, still refining spirit pills. "That's right. But we call ourselves the Heavenly Sacred Cult."
Fu Yuqiu said: "We once met people who called themselves the Heavenly Sacred Cult and also entered this place. Another group of golden, radiant people called them the Heavenly Sacred Cult. You're a human Cult Master—could it be you're not from the Ying Huo clan?"
Qin Mu dispersed his Ying Huo Star Lord form, reverting to his original appearance, and smiled: "That's right. I was originally human. I just used the Heavenly Sacred Cult's divine transformation state to take on the Ying Huo form."
The two white bats drooled profusely, their thoughts in sync: "Once our injuries heal, we'll eat him!"
"Roasted to one-tense doneness!"
...
Qin Mu finished refining the spirit pills but didn't give them to the two white bats. Instead, he ate them himself. After eating, he didn't hand over the remaining two pills either. Fu Yuchun asked in bewilderment: "Cult Master Qin, why don't you give us the spirit pills?"
Qin Mu smiled: "This batch of spirit pills is for detoxification. No need to give them to you two."
"Detoxification?"
Fu Yuchun shuddered and stammered: "Detoxifying what poison?"
Qin Mu replied matter-of-factly: "Naturally, the poison from the two batches of spirit pills you just took."
The two white bats' faces immediately darkened. They were about to leap at him when suddenly their souls went numb, their bodies spasming in pain. Plop, plop—they collapsed on the ground, convulsing uncontrollably.
The Dragon Qilin chuckled: "Two foolish birds dared to take the Cult Master's spirit pills. They really don't know what death looks like."
The two white bats were furious, lying on the ground and saying in unison: "You fat fool! You're the real foolish bird!"
"Long Pang, not everything with wings is a bird. They're not avian."
Qin Mu picked up the two white bats and placed them on the Dragon Qilin's back. "Fellow daoists—"
"Pah!" The two white bats were quite defiant.
"This poison has only infiltrated your souls. It's a new soul poison I've developed. This is only your first episode. After ten episodes, your souls will tear apart with excruciating pain!"
Qin Mu said with a smile: "Soul poison is different. It multiplies within the soul. Each episode increases the toxicity by one-tenth. I have the antidote, and each time I'll give you exactly one-tenth of the amount—just enough to counteract the additional one-tenth of toxicity."
He took out the two spirit pills he had just refined, cut a small piece from each, and stuffed them into the two white bats' mouths. Then he casually slapped them, shattering the remaining pills to powder.
Not keeping the antidote on his person was a precaution against these two white bats suddenly attacking him to seize it. Only when the soul poison in the white bats was about to flare would he refine more antidote—that way, he could maintain control.
The soul poison within the two white bats was suppressed by the antidote, and the excruciating pain vanished. They stood up, their expressions shifting between dark and light.
After a moment, Fu Yuchun sighed: "We admit defeat. But we'll only protect you within the Nether Valley. Once you leave the Nether Valley, we go our separate ways!"
"Deal!"
Qin Mu agreed readily. With that, he refined another batch of pills, tossed them to the two white bats, and threw over a bottle of dragon saliva for treating their external wounds. "Apply the dragon saliva externally, take the pills orally, and your injuries should basically heal."
The two white bats took the pills and applied the dragon saliva to their wounds. Indeed, their injuries were essentially healed.
"Be careful—there are soul worms underground! Fat One, don't let your feet touch the ground!" Fu Yuqiu's ears twitched as he warned.
The Dragon Qilin hurriedly summoned clouds of fire beneath his feet, lifting himself off the ground. Qin Mu looked down and saw some snow-white tendrils emerging from underground, waving gently.
This wondrous creature was quite bizarre. Suddenly, distorted faces appeared on the snow-white tendrils, opening their mouths to emit piercing screams that assaulted their souls.
The two white bats shrieked in unison. Silent sound waves blasted underground, causing violent tremors. Suddenly the earth cracked open, and a large tentacled worm emerged from below—half above ground, half below—killed by the sound waves of the two white bats.
The worm rapidly dissolved, quickly becoming a puddle of liquid absorbed by the soil. As it dissolved, many small human figures crawled out from within its body, their faces contorted as they ran in all directions, quickly turning into wisps of blue smoke that dissipated.
Qin Mu was stunned. What manner of strange life was this?
"The Nether Valley has very ancient origins. I heard from our ancestors that this place once bordered the Youdu. In ancient times, gods opened passage to another world—the world of Youdu."
Fu Yuchun continued: "As a result, some things from Youdu escaped through. It took tremendous effort to seal this place. Later, our White Bat God clan was entrusted with guarding it, preventing the Youdu creatures from breaking through the world barrier and entering this place. But by this generation, our White Bat God clan has dwindled to just us brothers."
The two white bats exchanged a glance, both showing bitter expressions. Their two faces crumpled like two dried-out tangerines.
They were both male. How to reproduce had become their greatest problem.
Qin Mu was stunned for a moment. "I never expected you two fellow daoists to be guardians of this world. But you're brothers, and both male. After you grow old and die, who will guard the Nether Valley—"
"Stop talking!" the two white bats said in unison.
"Alright."
Qin Mu dropped the subject. "Do you remember what happened sixteen years ago? Was there a streak of fire that fell from beyond the sky and landed here?"
"There was indeed such an event. It blasted through the seal left by our White Bat God ancestors."
Fu Yuqiu said: "We went to check. It was extremely dangerous. Then some people arrived. We ate a few of them, but some others broke through. Only a handful came out alive."
Qin Mu's spirits soared. "What exactly fell from the sky?"
"A ship. Half embedded in Youdu, half remaining underground."