The voice came suddenly, full of strength, ringing from a distance, yet it seemed to sound right in their ears—so loud that the ears of Qin Mu, now turned into a moose-deer, buzzed and rang.
He looked toward the sound. Several figures stood on a distant cliff. From the mountain's foot to the cliff was a stretch of six or seven li, and Qin Mu could no longer make out their faces—but to carry a voice so far, yet so clear, they could not be ordinary people.
Grandma Si carried her basket and laughed: "Demon? What demon? This old woman is merely an ordinary person by the river, and this little deer is an ordinary deer that I raised myself…"
"Mu'er, run!"
At the sound of Grandma Si's voice Qin Mu's heart gave a start. He wanted to speak, but no words came out. He did not want to leave, afraid that Grandma Si would come to harm.
"An ordinary person by the river? With vital force so full that the voice carries clearly to our ears, an ordinary old woman could never manage that."
On the cliff, an aged yet resounding voice sneered: "Besides, the Demon Art of Creation—the Five Elders of the Li River could never mistake that. Flaying the skin to make clothes, a thousand changes and ten thousand transformations—we have seen this vicious craft with our own eyes, and you still try to quibble?"
Another elder on the cliff spoke heavily: "The Demon Art of Creation turns people into cattle and sheep, drags them to market to be butchered and sold. How often have you not done such things? Many seniors of our righteous sects have even been turned into cattle and sheep by your kind, plowing fields and eating grass their whole lives! Your tricks cannot fool us!"
Another elder's voice carried pity: "A deer is also a life, and this one you have refined—skin and soul alike—into some evil thing. If we do not slay you, who knows how many more lives will end by your hand. If we do not kill you, whom should we kill?"
Grandma Si pinched the brow of the deer that was Qin Mu, pulled out a silver needle, and said in a low voice: "These old hags can do nothing to Grandma, but with you at my side I shall have to divide my attention to protect you. Run—run back to the village!"
Qin Mu hesitated no longer. He turned and fled. He had been turned into a deer and had expected to move clumsily; only as he ran did he realize he had been wrong. From human to deer he felt not the least discomfort; instead he ran swift as the wind, as though he had been born a deer.
"You little demon whelp, still trying to escape? Should we let you go, would you not bring calamity upon the world? Disciples of the Li River—this time I have brought you out to sharpen yourselves, and that deer yonder is your target. Slay it and bring me its head!"
"Yes!" Five crisp voices, male and female together, answered as one.
The figures on the cliff flashed into motion. They leapt down, ran along the cliff face, faster than galloping horses; at the cliff's base a deep pool had been scoured by the mountain waterfall and streams, and the five crossed it walking upon the water—feet treading the surface all the way—as they raced toward the moose-deer that was Qin Mu.
Grandma Si's heart sank: "Spirit Bodies! Their Spirit Fetus Depository is no small accomplishment. Mu'er's speed cannot match them; he will surely be caught!"
She moved to block them, but four figures descended from the sky and in an instant landed around her on all sides, while one man remained standing on the cliff, proud and still, and did not come down.
"The Five Elders of the Li River are notorious figures of the south. What business have you in the Great Ruin?" Grandma Si's eyes rolled this way and that as she took in the four old men surrounding her, and she chuckled: "This Great Ruin is a dangerous place. Are you not afraid of losing your lives here?"
The black-bearded one of the five elders said coldly: "They say the Great Ruin harbors filth, that all the demons and monsters who cannot survive elsewhere hide here. And so we Five Elders brought our disciples specially to vanquish demons and destroy evil."
"Who is a demon, and who a monster, and who vanquishes whom, and who destroys what—that is not yet decided."
Grandma Si held her basket in one hand, drew a pair of scissors from it with the other, and put on the look of one whose eyes were failing her, laughing: "It has been a long while since this old woman stretched her muscles, but luckily I have not let all my old skills go to waste. You five old ghosts—do you too wish to be made into clothes?"
"Villain! Before us, you dare to make so bold? You are not fit to be bold!"
The Four Elders of the Li River roared, their bodies shifting, and crossing one another they charged at Grandma Si.
At that very moment, Qin Mu, running with all his might toward the Village of Broken Elders, heard thunder rolling from behind—thunder that carried lightning, and a blinding white glow that lit up the wild mountain brighter than sunlight many times over!
He turned his head. At the place where Grandma Si had stood, surging waves of air were bursting forth, hurling up grass and stray stones, while boulders weighing a thousand jin were caught by the sudden gales and flung outward with a roar, moving with terrible speed!
"Will Grandma be safe…?"
Qin Mu's heart went cold. Then he heard the splashing of water on the river, and saw a young man and a young woman running across the current with all their speed!
That pair trod upon the river water, yet their bodies did not sink; their feet rose and fell so swiftly that they were even faster than his own running, and the river had no time to cover their insteps before the two had vanished in a cloud of spray!
"These two have achieved the walking-on-waves that Cripple Grandpa spoke of. I cannot do such a thing yet—they are stronger than me!"
The pair crossed the river's heart, soon overtaking Qin Mu, and turned from the water toward the bank—they meant, it seemed, to cut him off ahead.
Qin Mu looked back. One more was closing in behind him, while the other two wove swiftly among the ridges on his left, their figures leaping up now and then from the dense trees, running across the treetops with a whistle. But they could not keep it up for long, and soon had to drop down to catch their breath.
Even so, they would soon overtake him and rush ahead of him.
"I cannot let them cut me off! I must reach the village a step faster, and let Cripple Grandpa and Grandpa Ma go and rescue Grandma!"
Qin Mu gritted his teeth, swerved away from the riverbank, and dashed at an angle into the woods.
To keep running along the bank would surely see him blocked. The two at the river's heart were far too fast, while the two running through the woods were somewhat slower; so plunging into the forest was the only path of escape.
"You little demon whelp! You and that demon killed a deer to refine into evil things—do not think you can escape!"
The moment Qin Mu burst into the woods, one of the two men intercepting him suddenly surged ahead of the other—but he was a step too late, and the moose-deer that was Qin Mu rushed past before him.
"Do not worry, he cannot escape!"
Ahead, the young man and woman wore calm faces. The woman laughed softly, her sleeves fluttering, and suddenly quickened her pace, leaping among the treetops like a bird, chasing the deer in the forest. The other man took his ease, directing the remaining three in a pincer, hurrying toward Qin Mu.
Qin Mu ran like a mad thing, but no matter how he tried, he could not throw off the five. He could not shake them at all, and worse, they were forcing him farther and farther from the Village of Broken Elders, deeper and deeper into the Great Ruin.
He had lived in the Village of Broken Elders for fourteen or fifteen years, and the farthest he had ever gone from the village was a mere ten-odd li. Now he had gone far too far; the paths around him grew stranger and more desolate with every step, until at last there was no path at all.
Suddenly Qin Mu saw a valley ahead blanketed in peach blossoms, and a herd of deer living in the peach forest. He rushed over at once and melted into the herd.
Whoosh—
A fragrant wind swept past. The woman landed, robes fluttering, and looked at the herd of deer before her with a frown.
"Senior Sister, where has that little demon whelp gone?" A figure dropped down, and a youth of much the same age as Qin Mu asked.
The woman pursed her lips: "He has mixed himself into the deer herd."
"Kill all these deer!"
Several youths rushed into the herd, drew their blades and swords, and fell upon the moose-deer without mercy. Fast as the deer were, they were not faster than these Spirit Bodies who had trained long and hard.
These five youths were all Spirit Bodies, and all of them were already martial artists of no small skill; even though the herd scattered in every direction, they could not escape the chase. Soon, one by one, the deer fell to their blades.
"Did you not say that the deer are also lives?" Suddenly, from amid the chaos of the herd, a human voice rang out: "Grandma killed but a single deer, yet you have killed a whole herd. Why then do you still call us demonic?"
"There!"
The woman's eyes lit up. She gathered her qi and drove her sword, and a white-tiger qi poured into the blade, golden light shooting forth in every direction. The sword flew from her hand, slashing at Qin Mu amid the fleeing herd!
Qin Mu swerved and ran, and the sword too swerved of a sudden, following and stabbing at him!
"What martial art is this?" Qin Mu's mind spun: "Could it be a Divine Skill? It does not seem so. Grandpa Butcher said a Divine Skill is martial arts cultivated to the very utmost, and this woman's martial arts fall far short of Grandpa Butcher's…"
The sword came slaying from behind. The moose-deer that was Qin Mu nearly leaned itself flat against the ground to turn, and only just dodged it. In that instant, by a swift glance, he saw a fine thread on the sword's hilt—one end of the thread bound to the sword, the other in the woman's hand.
That thread was fine as silk, and all but impossible to notice.