Chapter 570: Ancient Military Tally
The white-haired old man's blue robe had been washed until it was somewhat faded. He set down the fishing net in his hands, and Qin Mu felt something stirring against his chest, then saw the Imperial Seal transform into a small dragon that wriggled out from the collar of his robe.
Jiang Miao saw that small dragon and involuntarily revealed his true form, also transforming into a small dragon hiding behind Qin Mu, both reverent and fearful, whispering softly: "Maha—"
That small dragon was the Lord of True Dragons. It opened its tiny mouth and yawned, then slowly crawled out from Qin Mu's collar, swam over to the white-haired old man's hand, coiled up into a ball, and squinted its eyes, drowsy and about to fall asleep.
Immediately, many young men and women emerged from this small village, surrounding Qin Mu and Jiang Miao in the center. A sturdy young man asked, inquiring: "Ancestor, has someone come to cause trouble?"
The white-haired old man laughed: "No. Don't frighten them. Both of these two have some connection with our village."
Only then did those young men and women disperse their hostility, curiously sizing up Qin Mu and the small dragon Jiang Miao behind him.
Qin Mu's heart tightened. These young men and women were all brimming with abundant vital energy, each one concealing their depth. But when they had surrounded him just now, Qin Mu heard the sound of seven divine repositories bursting open from within the youngest girl among them—clearly an expert at the Divine Bridge realm!
And this girl should be the weakest in the village, because everyone had positioned her in the center for protection!
This seemingly small village—its weakest villager was still at the Divine Bridge realm!
Qin Mu had originally thought that the Remnant Elder Village was the most powerful village in the Great Ruins, but now it seemed the Great Ruins truly was a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers dwelled.
"Besides the Imperial Seal, you also carry the True Dragon Nest."
The white-haired old man was even more surprised, his gaze falling on Qin Mu's waist. Qin Mu took down the Glutton's Pouch from his waist, retrieved the True Dragon Nest, and respectfully placed it before the white-haired old man, saying: "Please take a look, Senior."
The Lord of True Dragons in the white-haired old man's hand immediately perked up, swimming into the True Dragon Nest.
When the other villagers of this village saw the True Dragon Nest, they too perked up, eager and itching to try, as if they also wanted to burrow into the dragon nest like that small dragon.
But they still held themselves back.
"Could it be that the villagers of this village aren't human at all, but dragonkind? This is a village made up of dragons?"
Qin Mu took note of this, forming a guess in his heart, and explained to the white-haired old man: "The Imperial Seal of the Ling family was stolen by my Crippled Grandpa and gifted to me. As for the True Dragon Nest, it was refined by the Dragon Tamer Lord of the Upper Heavens. The Dragon Tamer Lord was subdued by me, and the True Dragon Nest also fell into my hands. Senior, are you the divine being who refined the Imperial Seal?"
The white-haired old man's gaze fell on the dragon nest, and he said with a hint of a smile: "Back then, I refined the Lord of True Dragons into the Imperial Seal and entered the Central Plains to seek a successor. I encountered a young man with quite extraordinary aptitude and comprehension—this young man was the ancestor of the Ling family. I observed that he possessed the aura of a true dragon, so I gifted him the Imperial Seal and taught him the dragon language and cultivation techniques recorded on the seal. Unfortunately, his mind wasn't on it—he went off chasing after some girl. In the end, he caught the girl, but the dragon language and techniques I taught him were forgotten by seven or eight parts. I knew then that this little fellow was not the true Lord of True Dragons."
Qin Mu had once heard Ling Yuxiu tell this anecdote and had only found it amusing at the time. He never expected it to be true!
"But I was naturally lazy by nature, and had originally been entrusted by someone to do this task, so I refined the Lord of True Dragons to find a successor. Since the successor proved useless, I simply let it be."
The white-haired old man laughed: "Who would have thought—that young man didn't live up to expectations, but his descendants were quite ambitious, expanding the Yankang Kingdom to achieve today's accomplishments. Since the Imperial Seal has fallen into your hands, and you've also obtained the True Dragon Nest, you must have come here seeking the techniques recorded within, right?"
Qin Mu said respectfully: "Senior, I am indeed quite tempted by the techniques in the True Dragon Nest, but the reason I came this time is because of the founding ancestor of the Heavenly Sage Sect. He is my senior brother. He gave me a geographical map with this village marked on it, so I came searching."
The white-haired old man was momentarily stunned, then mused: "The founding ancestor of the Heavenly Sage Sect? Is that young man Wei Fengsui?"
Qin Mu hesitated—he didn't actually know his senior brother's name.
The white-haired old man noticed this and laughed: "He once came to see me, asking how to establish merit. He was quite good, with extraordinary abilities. The Teacher took on an excellent disciple. But Wei Fengsui wants to become a sage—that's difficult for him. He walks the Teacher's path, and the Teacher's path is very hard to walk. I couldn't teach him either. You are his junior brother. If you've also come to ask me how to become a sage, I can't teach you that either."
The "Teacher" he referred to should be the Woodcutter Sage, who was originally a Heavenly Master of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court, responsible for instructing the princes and princesses of the Kaihuang bloodline.
Qin Mu asked: "May I ask, did my senior brother mention where he planned to go?"
The white-haired old man shook his head: "He didn't say where he intended to go, but he left one thing behind. He had you come find me—it should be for this item."
He stood up and entered the thatched cottage. After a moment, he came out carrying a red box and handed it to Qin Mu.
Qin Mu opened the red box. Inside was a palm-sized token, with the image of a fierce beast branded upon it.
Qin Mu examined it back and forth several times but couldn't understand it, so he humbly sought guidance: "May I ask, Senior, what is the function of this token?"
"This is a kind of military tally, used for mobilizing troops and commanding generals. The tally contains a formation—a divine position formation—but it's extremely ancient. Most likely it's useless now."
The white-haired old man said: "There are some runes on it that even I don't recognize. It's probably a military tally from the Shanghuang era or an even earlier age."
He took the military tally and activated it with his own magical power. Stars rose from the tally into the air, revolving around them, and he said: "These stars are the divine positions. When the deities each take their positions, this formation can be used to face enemies and do battle with them."
Qin Mu looked up and saw that the stars flying out of the military tally weren't real stars, but projections. However, there were an enormous number of them—at least several thousand stars. His heart was shaken, and he murmured: "Several thousand deities forming a great formation... What kind of war would require mobilizing several thousand gods and demons at once?"
"Your experience is too shallow."
The white-haired old man withdrew his magical power, and the star projections vanished. He laughed: "During the Kaihuang era, battles of this scale were not uncommon. The formation in this military tally no longer has much use. It's not bad as a collector's item."
Qin Mu asked, puzzled: "How could the formation be useless?"
The white-haired old man handed the tally back to him, saying: "Perhaps the Great Dao of heaven and earth has changed. The formation in the tally no longer aligns with the Great Dao of heaven and earth, so the formation has lost its power. This item is extremely ancient—it doesn't align with the Dao. It's most likely something from several hundred thousand years ago. As for exactly which era, that's beyond my knowledge."
Qin Mu placed the military tally back in the red box and stored the red box in his Glutton's Pouch.
Since the founding ancestor Wei Fengsui had left this red box and military tally with the white-haired old man, it meant this item must be extremely important. The reason he had Qin Mu come was most likely for the military tally in the red box.
Qin Mu said: "This junior has been presumptuous—I haven't yet asked for Senior's name."
The white-haired old man laughed: "I thought the descendants of the Qin family would have long known my identity, but I didn't expect you to be unaware. I originally attained the Dao through the dragon vein, cultivating into a true dragon, and in those days followed your ancestor. Because I had just been born and couldn't speak, only able to cry 'Maha,' your ancestor gave me a name—surname Ma, given name Haqing—to make fun of me."
Qin Mu's expression turned strange: "Ma Haqing..."
Jiang Miao poked his head out from behind Qin Mu, timidly: "Maha—"
The white-haired old man continued: "Later, I served as an official in your ancestor's heavenly court. The heavenly court had four great heavenly palaces, and I was stationed at the Azure Dragon Palace. The sixty star divisions of the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace were under my jurisdiction, and they honored me as the Azure Emperor. I felt this title was too overbearing, so I changed it to Qinghuang. Now that the Kaihuang Heavenly Court has fallen and the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace no longer exists, you may call me Old Man Qinghuang."
Qin Mu bowed again in greeting: "Qin Mu, the one hundred and seventh generation descendant of the Qin clan, pays respects to Old Man Qinghuang."
Old Man Qinghuang quickly said: "Please rise. The moment I saw you arrive, I immediately recognized your bloodline and guessed you were a descendant of Kaihuang. You want to learn the dragon language in this True Dragon Nest? I can teach you."
Qin Mu was overjoyed and bowed in thanks again: "I am indebted to Senior."
Old Man Qinghuang led him into the True Dragon Nest, saying: "I can see that your techniques and divine abilities have already achieved some success, and you seem to cultivate both divine and demonic paths—it seems you've opened both the divine path's divine repositories and the demonic path's divine repositories. Quite peculiar. It seems you've already found your own path. Learning my dragon clan's techniques will only be icing on the cake for you. But this little dragon—he should gain a great deal of benefit."
Jiang Miao, transformed into a small dragon, was tiptoeing along behind Qin Mu. Hearing this, he shrank his head: "Maha..."
Old Man Qinghuang laughed: "No need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank him. By the way, Qin Mu, I sense there's a very strange item on you, hanging around your neck—like a jade pendant, containing a very powerful sealing force within."
"Senior means this jade pendant?"
Qin Mu took out the jade pendant and said: "This was refined by Lord Tu Bo, said to be used to seal away my demonic nature. I was born in the Netherworld and was invaded by the wandering demonic nature of the Netherworld, so Lord Tu Bo refined this. As long as I wear it, it can suppress my demonic nature."
Old Man Qinghuang looked at the jade pendant and sneered: "Lord Tu Bo sealing your demonic nature? What good intentions could he possibly have? Give me the pendant—I'll help you undo the seal!"
"This..."
Qin Mu showed a troubled expression and said in a low voice: "Senior, King Yan once tried to undo it and was cursed by the pendant. Also, the demon race's Fu Riluo attempted to undo the seal and was also cursed—quite miserably. My master and King Yan both said that the seal in the pendant is best left untouched, and the pendant shouldn't even leave my body, otherwise something terrible might happen..."
"What's a mere curse to fear?"
Old Man Qinghuang laughed: "But since even the Teacher said so, then there must be a reason for it. Come, let me interpret the true dragon techniques in the dragon nest for you!"
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