State Preceptor of Yankang placed Bian Zhenyun's head aside and looked at the skeletal remains on the ground, a tremor running through his heart. He saw that Bian Zhenyun had arranged the bones of the Qingmen Pass soldiers in neat rows. For over ten days of continuous rain, this old general had braved the downpour to gather his soldiers' bodies together.
He also noticed that beside each skeleton was a wooden plaque with the soldier's name written on it.
State Preceptor of Yankang walked forward, flanked by the bones of Qingmen Pass soldiers, each with a wooden plaque bearing a name.
Bian Zhenyun had known every single soldier under his command, able to call each by name!
"You were a worthy general."
State Preceptor of Yankang stopped walking, not continuing further. He turned around, and as his robes fluttered, countless bones rose into the air, following him back toward Yankang.
In distant Yankang, their families waited for their return—some were young sons, some aging fathers, some husbands who had gone off to war, and some were beloved daughters, wives, and mothers of their households.
He would send them home.
"Loulan Golden Palace."
State Preceptor of Yankang looked westward, then turned his head and walked toward Yankang.
As night fell, another world collided with this one. Ancient ships with dim lanterns appeared, and one by one, old men emerged under the glowing lights, crafting paper figures, horses, and boats. Souls from the battlefield quietly boarded the ships without making a sound.
State Preceptor of Yankang passed by them without disturbing these messengers of the Netherworld.
These heroic spirits who died in battle, along with the pastoral nomads who perished in witchcraft poison and the great rainstorm floods, would be escorted to the mysterious Netherworld. What awaited them, no one knew.
Daoist Sect.
Qin Mu ascended Mount Yuxu in Kunlun.
This place was known as the Yuxu Grotto-Heaven, seeming not quite like the real world, with every corner resembling a divine paradise. Even the great snow disaster that shrouded the State of Yankang had not affected this place in the slightest.
Unlike the Great Thunderclap Monastery on Mount Sumeru, which towered high above with thousands of magnificent golden temples visible from afar, inspiring awe at the vastness of Buddha's law, the Yuxu Grotto-Heaven lay hidden deep within layer upon layer of mountains. Pilgrims who wished to visit this Daoist holy land had to traverse countless mountains and rivers, and even then, they might not find it.
The Daoist Sect was filled with cultivators who disliked outsiders disturbing their tranquility, and these Daoists rarely ventured out.
Dragon Qilin arrived at the foot of the mountain. Before the gates of Mount Yuxu, there were no guardian beasts—only a thatched hut where an old Daoist was starting a fire to cook.
Qin Mu leaped down from Dragon Qilin and greeted the old Daoist. "The Celestial Holy Cult Master has come to see the Daoist Master. Please inform him, Senior Brother."
The old Daoist was startled. He looked at Qin Mu, then glanced at the medicine basket on his back and the grinning Cripple. "So it's the Heavenly Demon Cult Master. The Heavenly Demon Cult Master killed quite a few of my senior brothers in the capital battle." He then looked the Cripple up and down with a puzzled expression.
Qin Mu smiled. "Daoists fear others disturbing their peace, yet they come to disrupt the world's peace. They deserve death."
The old Daoist shook his head. "For the sake of the world, Daoists must act. Heavenly Demon Cult Master, I won't argue with you. You may go up the mountain yourselves, but don't disturb my cultivation."
The Cripple laughed. "The Daoist Sect has always been lax and doesn't prohibit others from climbing the mountain. There aren't so many rules."
The old Daoist looked at the Cripple again, and suddenly his expression changed drastically. "You may go up the mountain, but this old man must stay behind! He cannot go up!"
Qin Mu was confused.
The old Daoist angrily said, "I didn't recognize him at first! Only when I heard his voice did I remember. Back then, the divine thief ran up Mount Yuxu and caused absolute chaos, nearly emptying the entire mountain!"
The Cripple muttered, "That was how many years ago? I've reformed myself long since and turned over a new leaf."
"Bah! Bah! Bah!"
The old Daoist ignored him and began calling for his dog. A large yellow dog ambled out from the outhouse and wagged its tail. The old Daoist shouted, "A dog can't stop eating shit!"
The Cripple was furious in his heart: "This old Daoist is cursing me in roundabout ways!" Though enraged, he maintained a pleasant smile that warmed everyone like a spring breeze.
Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat as he secretly prayed for the old Daoist.
He carried the Village Chief on his back and led Dragon Qilin up the mountain. Suddenly, the Cripple flickered like a ghost, his figure vanishing. "Not letting me up the mountain? Try and stop me!" he laughed.
The old Daoist hurried after him, and both disappeared into Mount Yuxu.
A moment later, Qin Mu encountered the old Daoist halfway up the mountain, stripped naked and squatting on a cliff face. When he saw Qin Mu riding Dragon Qilin up the mountain, the old Daoist hurriedly crossed his arms over his chest.
Qin Mu pretended not to see and walked past.
The old Daoist breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Qin Mu turned back and asked, "How can I see the Daoist Master?"
The old Daoist, both embarrassed and angry, replied, "Daoist Master Lin is at the Yuxu Temple on the summit!"
Qin Mu thanked him, took out a garment and tossed it to him. The old Daoist caught it gratefully and was about to thank him, but Qin Mu had already passed the cliff.
At the summit, Qin Mu saw flying waterfalls and cascading springs, with many Daoist disciples practicing swordplay beneath the waterfalls. Beside one of the waterfalls was the Fourteen Chapters of Daoist Swordplay, placed right there for anyone to view.
These Daoist disciples practiced swordplay in a peculiar manner. First, they used various calculating tools to work out calculations. Qin Mu saw that they had refined tools like the Wuji Diagram, Taiji Diagram, Four Symbols Diagram, Five Elements Diagram, and Eight Trigrams Diagram into treasures, combining them into three-dimensional spatial calculation tools for continuous computation.
"These Daoists look like geomancers," Qin Mu thought.
Once a result was calculated, the disciples would leap up, their flying swords flashing with remarkable swordsmanship.
Qin Mu couldn't help but stop and watch for a while, sighing in admiration: "The Daoist Sect truly lives up to its reputation as a holy land. The academic atmosphere is strong."
A young Daoist nun was struggling with a calculation, scratching her head in frustration. Suddenly spotting Qin Mu, she hurried over and bowed. "Senior Brother, who are you looking for?"
Qin Mu jumped down. "Is Daoist Master Lin Xuan here? My name is Qin Mu, and I have business with him."
"The Daoist Master is at the Yuxu Temple. He only returned from Xiaoyujing two days ago," the young nun said, pointing to a nearby Daoist temple.
Qin Mu glanced at her calculation tool and extended a finger, flicking her Eight Trigrams Disc twice. "The sixty-four hexagrams celestial phenomena calculation can be solved this way."
The young nun hurriedly looked at the Eight Trigrams Disc, stunned for a moment before beaming with joy.
An elderly nun nearby asked, "Who is that?"
"He said his name is Qin Mu, looking for Daoist Master Lin."
The young nun smiled. "He even solved this celestial phenomena calculation problem for me on the spot! This is what I use to calculate the Galactic Star number!"
The elderly nun was shocked. "Qin Mu? That's the Heavenly Demon Cult Master! This old demon has killed so many of our Daoist brothers, yet he dares to come to our Daoist Sect!"
The young nun jumped in fright. "The Heavenly Demon Cult Master? Is he here to kill the Daoist Master? What should we do?"
The elderly nun laughed. "The Yuxu Temple is filled with our sect's masters. If he acts rashly, we'll need a new Heavenly Demon Cult Master. Let's continue practicing and ignore him."
Inside the Yuxu Temple, Qin Mu saw a group of old Daoists and nuns. Some squatted in the garden, intently watching a flower bloom; others lay on the ground observing ants fighting; some leisurely drank tea and played chess; others sat by pavilions playing flutes; still others shuffled about in worn-out shoes, toes peeking through the holes.
Qin Mu stepped back out and looked up at the plaque above the temple—it indeed read "Yuxu Temple." He went back in and asked an old Daoist, "Where is Daoist Master Lin Xuan?"
"Daoist Master!"
The old Daoist turned his head and called out loudly, "Someone is looking for you!"
From deep within the Yuxu Temple, Daoist Master Lin Xuan's voice came: "Oh, I know! I'll be right out! You entertain him first—I'm at a critical point in my pill refining!"
The old Daoist turned back to Qin Mu and said, "Make yourself at home."
Qin Mu relaxed and waited for a moment. Then came a tremendous boom, and a mushroom cloud slowly rose from where Lin Xuan's voice had come from. The group of old Daoists and nuns chuckled: "The Daoist Master's furnace exploded again during pill refining!"
Daoist Master Lin Xuan emerged looking disheveled, his face blackened with soot. "If you hadn't shouted, Senior Brother, the furnace wouldn't have exploded... Cult Master Qin!"
Seeing Qin Mu, Lin Xuan was startled. He hurriedly raised his sleeve to wipe the soot from his face and said solemnly, "Why has the Heavenly Demon Cult Master come to our Daoist Sect?"
"Heavenly Demon Cult Master?"
At these words, all the old Daoists and nuns in the Yuxu Temple turned to look at Qin Mu, and he immediately felt killing intent in their gazes!
The grudge between the Daoist Sect and the Heavenly Demon Cult stretched back ten or twenty thousand years. The conflict between the two was almost etched into their bones. Moreover, Qin Mu had killed nearly half of the Daoist masters during the capital battle to quell Ling Yuxia's rebellion—no wonder these Daoist experts harbored killing intent!
Qin Mu's expression didn't change. At that moment, a white head poked out from the medicine basket on his back.
The Village Chief emerged from the basket, casting a glance around. Wherever his gaze fell, the old Daoists and nuns would avert their eyes, refusing to meet his stare, and return to their own activities.
The Village Chief slowly retreated back into the basket.
Qin Mu took out the Golden Book and smiled. "The old Daoist Master allowed me to read the Fourteen Chapters of Daoist Swordplay, and I've always been grateful. Now that you've become the Daoist Master, I've come to show you this book. I'll give you three days."
Daoist Master Lin Xuan laughed. "You also let me read the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra, so you don't owe our Daoist Sect anything. This book..."
His gaze fell on the first page of the Golden Book that Qin Mu had opened, and he couldn't look away. He involuntarily took out numerous rulers and began measuring the diagrams repeatedly.
He measured while calculating, muttering different calculation formulas under his breath.
The old Daoists and nuns in the Yuxu Temple heard his formulas and initially paid no attention, but as Lin Xuan's formulas grew increasingly profound and complex, their curiosity was piqued.
An old Daoist walked over, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the pattern on the Golden Book.
Soon, more and more old Daoists and nuns gathered around the Golden Book, all calculating and measuring.
They were so engrossed in their calculations that they lost track of time. Suddenly, a hand reached in and pulled the Golden Book away. Qin Mu's voice startled everyone: "Daoist Master, Senior Brothers, three days are up."
"Three days already?" Lin Xuan and the others were startled.
Qin Mu smiled. "I'll take my leave." With that, he turned to go.
"Wait!"
"Cult Master Qin, please wait!"
Qin Mu turned around with a smile.