Chapter 326: The Deepest Longing

Mu Yingsnow was stunned. Huge chunks of wood were flying through the air, and some enormous pieces were crashing down towards her, but she had forgotten to dodge. Suddenly, Qin Mu lunged, scooped her up, and ran.

No sooner had they moved than the enormous piece of wood slammed down, and the surging blast of air sent them flying.

As they steadied themselves, Qin Mu set the woman down and looked back. Where Mu Yingsnow had stood moments before, the giant piece of wood had created a large crater, sending soil and rocks scattering.

Just as Mu Yingsnow recovered from her fright, she suddenly realized something. She quickly pulled out several jade vials from her person and rapidly said, "I have poison on me; you might have been poisoned when you held me..."

"No need."

Qin Mu quickly concocted a few antidotes for himself and neutralized the poison.

They both looked around, feeling somewhat numb. The surrounding valley was filled with black wood, forming chaotic piles that resembled mountains. Beneath their feet were the roots of the Root Demon, countless tree roots twisted together, utterly motionless.

Qin Mu quickly checked on Dragon Qilin and the others. Fortunately, when this unimaginably massive tree collapsed, it didn't injure them at the root base nor bury them.

"You won."

Mu Yingsnow's expression was downcast, and she said dejectedly, "The foremost poison master of the Western Earth still can't compare to a young man from the Grand Ruins. I've disgraced my title as the best in the Western Earth."

Qin Mu shook his head and said, "You don't need to be sad. This time, I merely took advantage of the situation. My poison contains the voodoo of the Loulan Golden Palace, and coupled with the fact that you poisoned the Root Demon beforehand, harming its vital energy, I was only then able to poison it to death."

Mu Yingsnow replied forlornly, "It swallowed the Azure Dragon Pearl, so its vital energy could be replenished at any time. I didn't help at all."

Qin Mu consoled her, "Actually, I'm not proficient in the Way of Poison. What I'm good at is treating illnesses and saving lives. Moreover, I'm not an unknown person; my reputation is quite grand and resounding."

Mu Yingsnow was deeply struck. He wasn't proficient, yet he still defeated her?

"You'd be better off not consoling me."

Mu Yingsnow said coldly, "You won. How do you plan to deal with me?"

Qin Mu was puzzled and shook his head, "Deal with you? Why? You and I competed with poison, and we eliminated a formidable foe in the Root Demon. I'm quite happy about that. We are all fellow practitioners; exchanging skills is simply part of our profession."

Mu Yingsnow stared at him with her dark, glistening eyes, then suddenly stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. After slipping a small cloth pouch into his hand, she darted away, giggling, "I've poisoned you! It's Lovesick Poison! If you ever go to the Western Earth, don't forget to find me. Don't come through my front door; climb in through a window!"

Qin Mu was stunned. He felt the girl's lips were soft, moist, and fragrant, and his mind went blank for a moment. But this wasn't due to poison. As the young divine physician of Yankang, Qin Mu knew his body intimately. The young man calmly analyzed, "This is a symptom of brain ischemia. She kissed me, my heart skipped a beat, and there was temporarily no blood flow to my brain, hence the blankness."

Mu Yingsnow headed straight for Dragon Qilin, Xiong Xiyu, and the others. Qin Mu's heart lurched, and he quickly pursued her.

The Azure Dragon Pearl had also burst from the Root Demon's body during the collapse, landing in the center of the group. Xiong Xiyu, the True Heaven Palace's Milk Kui, was struggling desperately, arching her body and inching towards the Azure Dragon Pearl.

The two white bats were also crawling towards the Azure Dragon Pearl. The poison Mu Yingsnow had given them was gradually resolving itself, allowing them to move.

On the other side, the effects of the Bewildering Incense on Yu Bochuan and the others were also wearing off, and they too were crawling towards the Azure Dragon Pearl, trying to seize it before anyone else.

Dragon Qilin crawled the fastest. This massive, bulky creature, usually very lazy and only moved when "its backside was on fire," now seemed determined to get the Azure Dragon Pearl. It pushed forward diligently, surpassing everyone. However, its stamina was poor. After crawling for a short while, it became breathless, and its speed gradually slowed.

The two groups drew closer and closer to the Azure Dragon Pearl. A Celestial Human Realm expert was closest to it, reaching out a hand to grab it. Seeing this, Dragon Qilin quickly opened its mouth and extended its tongue. Its tongue grew longer and longer, licking towards the Azure Dragon Pearl. It seemed about to coil around the pearl.

Mu Yingsnow also arrived. Qin Mu, a step behind, raised his hand and beckoned. His vital qi shot out, sweeping up the Azure Dragon Pearl. Mu Yingsnow, however, did not try to snatch the Azure Dragon Pearl. Instead, with a flick of her sleeve, she swept up Yu Bochuan and the others, placing them all onto the back of the white elephant. The black-clad girl paused, her body floating upwards, and she stood on the upturned trunk of the large white elephant. Waving to Qin Mu, she called out, "The Yu family patriarch was kind to me, so I'm taking them too! Oh, my lovesick young man, come to the Western Earth soon—!"

Qin Mu stared blankly, then waved back, a peculiar emotion stirring within him.

The small cloth pouch Mu Yingsnow had placed in his hand was not large, resembling a sachet, but it was black and embroidered with golden mandarin ducks swimming side by side near a lotus flower. He opened the sachet to find a small handful of bright red beans, like tiny, ripe red apples.

"Red beans grow in southern lands; how many branches do they sprout in spring?"

Xiong Xiyu stumbled to her feet, looked at the red beans in his hand, and softly recited, "May you gather plenty, for these are the most lovesick. Cult Master Qin, the poison master is inviting you to a 'walking marriage'."

Qin Mu sniffed the red beans and shook his head, "Red beans are poisonous; she's probably trying to poison me! Is there really a Lovesick Poison? That's right, she just kissed me, and her lips were still a bit moist. There must be another poison on her lips, and that poison can mix with the red bean poison to form a compound toxin... Yes, it must be!"

Xiong Xiyu was dumbfounded. The former Palace Master of the True Heaven Palace stared at the Cult Master of Heavenly Saint Cult with wide, glistening eyes, filled with utter disbelief. "Aren't red beans used to express longing and love? How did Cult Master Qin jump to them being poisonous? And he even suspects Mu Yingsnow poisoned him?" She could finally confirm that Cult Master Qin seemed to have some serious misunderstanding about romantic relationships, and it was quite a severe case!

"It seems someone has instilled him with some incorrect ideas," Xiong Xiyu thought to herself.

Nevertheless, Qin Mu still put the "poisonous" red beans back into the black silk sachet and carefully put it away, making Xiong Xiyu feel that he wasn't entirely beyond hope.

Qin Mu held up the Azure Dragon Pearl and examined it. Inside the pearl, the Azure Dragon's body was the color of jade, transparent and crystalline, and its eyebrows and whiskers were also azure, like a dragon made of jade. The Azure Dragon soul swam joyfully within the pearl. This was the soul of a true dragon, not an anomalous species like the Chicken-Granny Dragon, Dragon Qilin, or Green Ox, but a pure-blooded Azure Dragon. Even through the pearl, Qin Mu could sense an exceptionally powerful divine force.

Although the Root Demon had absorbed some of the Azure Dragon Pearl's power, the pearl seemed to continuously absorb vital energy freely flowing in nature, replenishing itself—a very unique characteristic.

"What a treasure. Could the dragon soul inside be a dragon god?"

Qin Mu circulated his Overlord Body Three Elixirs Art, his vital qi automatically transforming into Azure Dragon vital qi. He tried to activate the power within the Azure Dragon Pearl but found he couldn't. He was surprised, saying, "Perhaps only the unique methods of the True Heaven Palace can control the power of the Azure Dragon Pearl. With just my Azure Dragon vital qi, I'd probably just be feeding the Azure Dragon soul." To unleash the power of the Azure Dragon Pearl, one needed to establish communication with the Azure Dragon soul within. It was likely that only the True Heaven Palace's method of "all things have spirits, all things have gods" could connect with the Azure Dragon soul. "The sacred lands of the Western Earth truly possess great capabilities!" he secretly praised.

The poison in Dragon Qilin's body had significantly reduced, allowing it to stand up. It quickly wagged its tail, its long dragon tail stirring up dust all around as it cried, "Cult Master, give me the pearl!"

Qin Mu ignored it and casually tossed the Azure Dragon Pearl to the little girl, Xiong Qi'er, smiling, "Here, you can play with this."

Xiong Qi'er grasped the Azure Dragon Pearl and sweetly smiled, "Thank you, big brother!"

Dragon Qilin's drool flowed profusely as it wagged its tail at Xiong Qi'er, "Big sister, let me play with the pearl! Don't worry, I absolutely won't eat it, I promise you!"

Qin Mu quickly took out several jade vials and placed them under the creature's mouth to collect its dragon saliva. He thought, "Collect a few more bottles, sell them back in the capital, and I'll have money again... Hmm, this time, I'll go back to the village first and bring Ling'er over. She's much better at managing money than I am."

He collected over ten bottles. Xiong Qi'er then put the Azure Dragon Pearl into her pocket, and only then did Dragon Qilin's drooling stop.

Qin Mu gave Xiong Qi'er a wink. Though young, Xiong Qi'er was extremely clever. She took out the Azure Dragon Pearl again, and Dragon Qilin's tail began to wag vigorously, its drool once again flowing profusely. Qin Mu collected over twenty bottles of dragon saliva, feeling satisfied. Fearing that too much drooling might affect the quality, he signaled Xiong Qi'er to put the Azure Dragon Pearl away.

The two white bats had also recovered, and Xiong Xiyu had regained her strength. Qin Mu led them eastward.

Xiong Xiyu had been too deeply poisoned. If the poisoning had been recent and the toxicity mild, treatment would have been simple. However, the Entwining Silk Poison she had contracted had penetrated deep into her divine treasures, making it very difficult to completely remove. To others, this would have been considered a terminal illness, but Qin Mu believed there was still a cure. Along the way, he searched for spirit herbs and refined spirit pills, using no less than ten kinds of spirit pills and changing his prescriptions ten times. Finally, he managed to completely remove the Entwining Silk Poison from the four divine treasures: Spirit Embryo, Five Elements, and Seven Stars.

After more than ten days of travel, they still hadn't encountered any pursuit from Yu Bochuan and his group. Qin Mu figured that since the Azure Dragon Pearl had been taken, they must have concluded that without it, they couldn't contend with Qin Mu and his companions, and had likely returned to the Western Earth to seek reinforcements.

Suddenly, the sound of flowing water reached their ears. Qin Mu's eyes lit up, and he smiled, "We've reached the source of the Surging River."

They hadn't walked much further when they saw a stream appearing on a cliff face, dropping thousands of feet below. Xiong Xiyu and the others quickly looked north and south, seeing that the Grand Ruins, extending from west to east, abruptly ended here in a colossal cross-section. A vast chasm stretched across the land for an unknown number of miles, north to south! The chasm divided the Grand Ruins into two, with the western part being thousands of feet higher than the eastern part!

"What force created this cross-section?" Xiong Xiyu murmured.

"A great earthquake."

Qin Mu's face was devoid of expression as he said, "An unimaginable earthquake."

Xiong Xiyu couldn't help but shiver.

Qin Mu leaped from the cliff, treading on air, and descended step by step. Xiong Xiyu, with her daughter, quickly followed. When they reached halfway down the cliff, they saw the stream merging with other falling watercourses, forming a large waterfall. Further down, the waterfall had carved out a sizable pool. The river poured out from the mouth of the pool. This river was not wide, only about two or three zhang across, but as they continued forward, other smaller rivers converged, and the current gradually became more turbulent, with the river widening progressively. Xiong Xiyu looked back to see countless waterfalls cascading down the chasm cliff behind them. All the flowing water converged here to form a great river.

The Surging River!