Chapter 59: The Third Awakening
At the entrance of the Crippled Village, the village chief, Master Ma, Deafy, Blindman, and the others stared blankly at the grand ceremony taking place in the neighboring village. Their hearts stirred with emotion. Who could have imagined that the Celestial Demon Cult, the number one cult of the demonic path, the renowned and fearsome Celestial Demon Cult, would welcome their future cult master in this remote and impoverished corner of the world? A young cult master who had not yet even turned twelve?
They had witnessed this event, and it felt like watching a legendary tale unfold. Even the bright, sunny light seemed to take on a strange and surreal quality.
Granny Si suddenly shed tears, sobbing: "He will leave us..."
"This is a good thing, Granny."
The Medicine Master said with a gentle smile: "A fledgling bird always has the day it grows up. It must always fly out to see the wider world beyond, must always brave the wind and waves, must always leave home to witness the dangers of the outside world. We cannot possibly keep him by our side, us old cripples, for the rest of his life."
Blindman's face was calm, and he said leisurely: "The legend begins from the moment he takes his first step out of the village."
Dumbface wore a smile, gesturing with his hands and making "ah ah" sounds. Deafy laughed and said: "You're right. Mu'er's future will definitely be far more colorful and exciting than ours."
Yong River, the riverbank.
Splendid and luxurious towering ships sailed in one after another, docking at the riverbank. Many villagers of the Celestial Demon Village gradually left the village. Some soared directly into the sky, some departed aboard the towering ships, others transformed into strange beasts and slipped into the mountains and forests, some turned into streaks of fire and flew away, and still others escaped by diving into the water.
Each of them had their own unique abilities. Qin Mu watched with dazzled eyes. Although he had defeated them at the Spiritual Fetus realm, he did not possess these people's strange and wondrous tricks.
"Young Cult Master, farewell!" A woman waved at him, then leaned backward and fell into the river, turning into a splash of water that flowed downstream.
Qin Mu waved back at them. He didn't know whether they were good people or bad people. He only knew that he had become their Young Cult Master just like that. When he walked out of the Great Ruins, would he encounter them again?
"Our Holy Cult spent forty years infiltrating the Great Ruins, searching for the whereabouts of the Cult Master's wife, and now our mission is finally complete. Fellow Daoist, Cult Master's wife, you should know that our Holy Cult has not stirred for forty years. We have had no Cult Master to hold the fort, no backbone to lead us. Now the Holy Cult is in dire straits."
The young Patriarch also rose to take his leave. He said to the village chief, Granny Si, and the others: "Selecting a Young Cult Master now is merely a temporary measure to stabilize morale, but it won't hold for long. The State Preceptor of Yankang has his eyes fixed greedily on our Holy Cult, wanting to subdue us and use us for his own purposes. While I am still alive, I can buy a few more years. Therefore, once the Young Cult Master comes of age, he must leave the Great Ruins and formally become the Cult Master of the Holy Cult."
The village chief looked at Granny Si. Granny Si nodded and said: "Patriarch, rest assured. I killed one Holy Cult Master, so I will certainly return one to you. He will go to the Holy Cult when he comes of age, take control of the great power, just as you wish!"
The young Patriarch summoned the Law Enforcement Elder, bowed to everyone, turned, and walked toward the Yong River. This old man and young man, dressed in coarse cloth and straw sandals, leaning on their staffs, stepped onto the river and drifted away.
Blindman, leaning on his bamboo staff with both hands, burst into loud song. His desolate and distant voice echoed back and forth across both banks of the Yong River.
"One straw cloak, one bamboo hat, one flat boat; one zhang of silk line, one inch of hook; one song sung aloud, one jug of wine; one man alone fishes an entire autumn river! Demon Cult Patriarch, you and I are both old now. I wonder if we shall ever meet again. Farewell!"
In the middle of the river, the young Patriarch stopped, turned around, and waved to everyone: "Everyone, farewell! Haha!"
He sang in a loud voice: "Eight hundred old men idle away their sorrows; this life's ambitions fulfilled, content and at ease; after death, elated above the clouds; clouds fly high on their own, water flows on its own!"
Blindman praised: "Worthy of the Demon Cult Patriarch. He has seen through life and death, feels his life is complete, and after death he will still laugh from the heavens at the changing winds and clouds of the mortal world!"
The village chief said leisurely: "This is what a Grandmaster is. Blindman, you are not far from this state of mind."
"Still just being sentimental."
Deafy laughed: "Blindman is just spouting random poetry, complete nonsense. It neither fits the occasion nor the mood. Now the Demon Cult Patriarch's poem fits both the occasion and the mood, and it doesn't lack boldness either."
Blindman stammered: "You don't understand poetry! You only understand base survival!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Qin Mu also wore a smile, looking at these optimistic people. Although they all had some disability or another, their spirits were incomparably strong and sound.
"My family..."
Suddenly, he felt a surging power gushing out from between his brows. Qin Mu's heart stirred. He quickly looked inward at his Spiritual Fetus Divine Treasury and was slightly startled: "My Spiritual Fetus has awakened again!"
His Spiritual Fetus had already awakened three times. The first time was when it merged with his consciousness, and the Spiritual Fetus awakened. The second time was at the blacksmith shop, observing fire and water, when the Spiritual Fetus fell into slumber and then awakened for the second time.
And this time, after undergoing the tempering of the three hundred and sixty rooms, his Spiritual Fetus had once again absorbed the golden light within the Divine Treasury and fallen silent once more.
It was just that this period of silence had been rather long. Only now, at this moment, had it finally awakened!
What changes would this awakening bring to him?
"It awakened again?"
Everyone's expressions turned strange. When Qin Mu told them about his Spiritual Fetus's third awakening, the faces of the village chief, the Medicine Master, Master Ma, and the others became very peculiar indeed. Other people's Spiritual Fetuses only needed to awaken once. Why did Qin Mu's Spiritual Fetus keep playing at slumbering and then awakening again?
"Do the Four Great Spiritual Bodies also undergo a third awakening?" Qin Mu asked.
Everyone exchanged glances, each shaking their head, then all looked at the village chief in unison.
The village chief's head began to ache. He muttered inwardly. It would have been one thing if Qin Mu had awakened once, but he kept awakening again and again. Now with the third awakening, even he found it baffling.
"It's the Tyrant Body."
The village chief coughed once and directly shoved everything he didn't understand or know onto the Tyrant Body. He said flatly: "You people simply lack experience. What is the Tyrant Body's cultivation technique called? The Tyrant Body Three Elixirs Art! What does Three Elixirs mean? The first awakening is the first elixir, the second awakening is the second elixir, and the third awakening is the third elixir. Now that Mu'er has awakened for the third time, it shows that his Tyrant Body Three Elixirs Art has achieved some success. Mu'er, don't get proud!"
Qin Mu quickly nodded: "I definitely won't get proud."
The Medicine Master said with a half-smile: "What if Mu'er awakens a fourth time? Would that make it four elixirs?"
The village chief was so embarrassed he turned angry, wishing he could pounce on him and stab two knives into his ribs.
But the Medicine Master wasn't wrong either. What if this kid's Spiritual Fetus really did awaken a fourth time?
How would he cover up this lie then?
"Ahem, Mu'er, now that your Spiritual Fetus has awakened for the third time, what is different about it?" The village chief changed the subject and asked.
Qin Mu carefully examined his Spiritual Fetus. It seemed no different from before. The only difference was that the golden sea of light within his Spiritual Fetus Divine Treasury had become much thinner.
Now the golden sea was very sparse. The golden light in the sea didn't seem to regenerate on its own. Every bit absorbed by the Spiritual Fetus was a bit lost forever.
Qin Mu channeled his primordial energy, and his Spiritual Fetus also mobilized the energy. Sometimes it was wrapped in an azure dragon, sometimes it stood on a black tortoise draped in a great serpent, sometimes wings grew from its back. His primordial energy actually changed according to his will, without needing to observe water, fire, or dragons anymore!
Qin Mu told everyone about this. The village chief and the others looked at each other in bewilderment, not understanding why this change had occurred.
"This is a good thing."
The village chief let out a turbid breath and said: "The Tyrant Body's Spiritual Fetus has awakened for the third time. All attributes can be switched at will. In battle, one can unleash the power of various techniques with ease. This is the wonder of the Tyrant Body Three Elixirs Art."
Everyone nodded in agreement. The Medicine Master was about to speak when the village chief shot him a glare. He had no choice but to swallow his words back into his stomach, muttering inwardly: "When Mu'er awakens a fourth time, let's see how you cover this up!"
"Breath enters and exits the nose like smoke; body and mind become luminous within; the round world becomes pure and empty, like glazed crystal..."
Beneath the waterfall of Emerald Cloud Valley, a slightly youthful recitation voice came from the thatched cottage. Through the lattice window, one could see a young man of fourteen or fifteen holding a scroll in one hand, pacing and reading aloud inside the room. A fox with fur as white as snow watched him without blinking.
That young man was Qin Mu. The white fox was Hu Ling'er, the great demon of Emerald Cloud Valley.
Before long, Hu Ling'er's breathing gradually lengthened. Two streams of white breath like smoke went in and out beneath the little fox's nostrils. With each inhale and exhale, the white breath went in and out.
Hu Ling'er's primordial energy became increasingly rich. The quality of her primordial energy reached an extremely high level, with breath like smoke from her nostrils.
Two years and eight months had passed since the Celestial Demon Cult's visit. Winter had just ended, and all things were reviving. It was still the season of lingering spring chill. The surface of the Yong River had not yet completely thawed, and broken ice floated downstream with the current.
At the bends of the river channel, the ice frequently piled up and clogged. The river ice accumulated higher and higher, forming ice dams. The water level would rise higher and higher. When the ice wall could no longer bear the pressure, it would burst, unleashing a great flood that would sweep down the lower reaches of the Yong River, drowning countless people and beasts.
These past few days, Blindman, Granny Si, Cripple, and the others had all gone downstream along the river to search for ice-dammed lakes. They were not in the village, so Qin Mu had come out to find Hu Ling'er and explain the scriptures to her.
In over two years, his height had already caught up to Blindman's, though he was still a head shorter than the burly Medicine Master.
Suddenly, a roar came from outside the window, shaking the mountains and forests. Qin Mu closed the scroll and placed it on the bookshelf. The white fox was also startled awake by the roar. The two of them went outside to look and saw a giant beast over ten zhang long charging toward them, heading straight for the thatched cottage!
The beast was covered in bony plates, thundering as it ran. Its head was like a dragon's, its legs like an elephant's, and it possessed immense strength. It was a dragon-elephant, a hybrid offspring of a dragon and an elephant. But on the back of this dragon-elephant sat a pitch-black demon ape, thick and burly, holding a twelve-ringed monk's staff in its hand. It rode the dragon-elephant, charging ferociously toward the cottage!
Hu Ling'er leaped in front of Qin Mu, opened her mouth to inhale, pursed her lips, and blew forward.
Whoosh—
A fierce gale howled, rushing straight at the dragon-elephant and the demon ape. Hu Ling'er's tail wagged, and the gale grew even more violent, howling and spinning, turning into a tornado that lifted the dragon-elephant and the demon ape on its back into the air.
The demon ape leaped up from the dragon-elephant's back, gripping the monk's staff with both hands. The staff grew larger and larger!
"Kshiti—"
The demon ape roared, falling from midair like a small mountain, slamming both hands gripping the staff deep into the earth. Violent air currents erupted in all directions, breaking apart the little fox's tornado spell!
The demon ape pulled the staff out of the ground, leaping and bounding swiftly, then swung the staff at Hu Ling'er. With a deafening clang, Qin Mu raised his hand and blocked the blow for Hu Ling'er.
But at that moment, Hu Ling'er leaped aside, opened her mouth, and spat out wind shaped like curved blades over a zhang long. Six or seven curved blades tumbled up and down in the air. They did not attack the demon ape, but instead flew toward Qin Mu!