Cripple's heart trembled slightly. Perhaps the National Teacher of Yan Kang and the nation of Yan Kang truly possessed heaven-defying audacity, even daring to involve themselves with the strange and terrifying Great Ruins, aiming to annex it?
However, Ma Ye was not wrong in one regard: the nation of Yan Kang was indeed a sect disguised as a country!
Yan Kang was founded on martial arts and governed by them. Its officials were divided into nine ranks and eighteen grades, from the Positive First Rank National Teacher and Crown Prince Grand Guardian down to the From Ninth Rank Presenting Officers, Ceremony Officers, and Doctors (not the modern kind, but learned individuals; the From Ninth Rank included Book Learning Doctors, Medicine Doctors, Mathematics Doctors, Divination Doctors, and other official positions). All of them had martial dao origins; some were even leaders, sect masters, and head teachers of other sects.
As for the nation's soldiers, they were all individual martial artists, capable of fighting fiercely. Externally, they could attack cities and seize territories; internally, they could suppress rebellions. They were an absolutely fearsome force.
When a sect disguised itself as a country, using the ways of a nation to govern its own territory, unifying resources, subjugating other sects, and unifying the management of martial artists and divine ability users within its territory, turning all sects within its borders to its own use, how powerful and fearsome would that nation become?
In recent years, Yan Kang had continuously expanded, its territory growing ever wider and larger. It had annexed sects like the Li Jiang Sect and swallowed up numerous small countries.
And now, Yan Kang's territory had reached the edge of the Great Ruins, blocked by it.
What blocked this nation were the darkness and strangeness of the Great Ruins. In the Great Ruins, strange occurrences of darkness invasion appeared whenever night fell. To enter the darkness was to die, which had prevented Yan Kang from daring to enter the Great Ruins.
And the dangers of the Great Ruins did not end there. Strange beasts were exceptionally numerous, bizarre events frequently occurred, and inauspicious signs were everywhere. For the Yan Kang National Teacher and the nation of Yan Kang to bring troops into the Great Ruins would not be simple.
However, the dangers of the Great Ruins could not deter the Yan Kang National Teacher. Cripple knew this man and had some understanding of his character, after all, his own leg had been severed by him.
No terror could frighten him, no danger could stop this man!
He would certainly enter the Great Ruins!
Perhaps, that man was even now already gazing from afar at the vast, boundless, strange, and unfathomable Great Ruins!
The village quickly returned to quiet. The water from the collapsed small Li Jiang was also quickly absorbed by the soil. The next day, the ground was dried hard by the scorching sun, producing a solid thud when struck.
This time, Qin Mu obtained a sword pouch, the one belonging to Li Jiang Sect disciple Qian Qiu. The sword pouch was six feet long and not large, made from small crocodile skin. It had a waist belt and two shoulder straps, allowing it to be carried on the back.
When vital energy entered the sword pouch, the crocodile's mouth would open, spitting out a sword sheath and sword handle from the mouth area.
Martial artists who practiced Qi into silk could wind a silk of vital energy around the sword handle and then draw the sword, controlling it with Qi.
After the first sword was drawn, another sword handle would emerge from inside the sword sheath. Drawing the second sword would still result in a third sword appearing. This was why it was called a sword pouch.
The Li Jiang Sect was a sword sect of the Southern Border, and the swords they refined had their unique characteristics. This sword pouch contained a mother sword hidden within, which could not be used and had already fused with the small crocodile skin.
All the swords drawn from the sword pouch were child swords. Qin Mu tried once and could draw a total of twenty-eight child swords. Adding the seven he had chopped broken with his pig-killing knife, there were a total of thirty-five.
As for how the Li Jiang Sword Sect hid thirty-five swords in such a small sword pouch, he did not know the trick behind it.
Twenty-eight swords were not heavy for Qin Mu. He carried many iron ingots on his body, wore iron shoes on his feet, and also hid iron ingots on his chest and waist. The total weight added up to over a hundred catties, which was about the same as the weight of the sword pouch.
Qin Mu considered carrying the sword pouch a form of cultivation. It allowed him to dispense with the iron shoes and other heavy objects, making his movements more convenient. However, he could not control the sword with Qi; his sword control technique was simply not at that level of the Li Jiang sword method, which was exquisite and venomous.
"If only I could learn the Li Jiang sword method," Qin Mu sighed inwardly. The Li Jiang sword method was very intricate, especially the one-handed chain sword technique, which was truly wondrous. The villagers Ma Ye, Butcher, Cripple, Apothecary, and Blind were not proficient in sword techniques. Mute had a box filled with things like sword pellets, and Si Granny also had similar silver pellets. If those silver pellets were sword pellets, then they should also be proficient in sword techniques.
However, when Qin Mu asked Si Granny, she was unwilling to teach him. Mute also repeatedly waved his hands, appearing to have some taboo. Mute quietly told him through hand gestures that he should not learn now, that there would be even better sword techniques waiting for him, and if he learned this, then it would be gone, and people would not teach him.
Qin Mu did not know who the 'people' Mute spoke of were and had to give up.
He still had not completely mastered the wonders of vital energy circulation through merit. For example, with Ma Ye's fist method, he still could not completely circulate vital energy throughout his entire body during an attack.
Circulating vital energy throughout the entire body could maximize the enhancement of every aspect of the body's quality, whether strength, agility, speed, or reaction, all reaching an extreme!
When the Thunder Sound Eight Styles were cultivated to a profound realm, one could emit thunderous sounds from their palms and strike with thunder from their fists. He could only rely on the Overlord Body Divine Power Seal to produce thunder in his palm center, but the Thunder Sound Eight Styles themselves could not yet achieve this.
If he could reach this step, and encountered a martial artist like Qian Qiu again, he would be able to receive the sword with his bare hands and not have his palms cut and injured by the opponent!
"You lack actual combat," Ma Ye came to Qin Mu's side and said faintly. "For your cultivation to surpass that disciple of the Li Jiang Sect, your learned fist method, leg method, knife method, and stick method all need to be stronger than his Li Jiang sword method. But when you fought him, you were tied up and could not fully unleash yourself."
Qin Mu nodded repeatedly. He also felt this was true. Qian Qiu's sword method was exquisite, and his chain sword technique was unexpected, but his own reaction was somewhat inadequate, actually grabbing the sword directly.
Thinking about it now, Qian Qiu's strength was actually not that strong. Qin Mu chopped broken his seven swords with one knife and pulled his soul into his palm center with one move of the Overlord Body Divine Power Seal. This indicated that Qin Mu's vital energy cultivation far surpassed his!
Ma Ye continued, "Without the tempering of actual combat, it will be very difficult for you to fully display your own strength. This is the reason why the Li Jiang Five Elders brought their disciples into the Great Ruins for tempering. Cultivating in seclusion, practicing fiercely by yourself, cannot make one a true expert. So..."
Qin Mu showed an expectant expression. He had always been waiting for Ma Ye and Si Granny and the others to allow him to go out hunting. Now, he had finally waited for this opportunity!
"So, after discussing with Granny, Blind, and the others, we have made a decision," Ma Ye said with extreme solemnity. "You can come with us to the temple fair."
"Go to the temple fair?"
Qin Mu showed a look of disappointment and mumbled, "Can't go hunting?"
Ma Ye smiled, patted his small shoulder, and said, "Going to the temple fair is also a test. If you pass the test, you can go out of the village to hunt alone. Good work!"
Qin Mu was speechless, feeling both annoyed and amused. The temple fair was a grand event for the nearby villages. He had heard Si Granny mention it before. Temple fair days were often the first and fifteenth of the month, and villages within a radius of one or two hundred li would all go to the temple fair, bringing out their own goods for mutual exchange.
Every time it was temple fair day, Ma Ye, Butcher, Blind, Mute, Si Granny, Deaf, and Apothecary would all go to Grandma Temple, which was twenty li away from here. But before, they had never allowed Qin Mu to go to Grandma Temple for the temple fair. Every time, they would make him stay behind to accompany Village Chief and Cripple.
And Cripple was even more miserable than him. Si Granny said Cripple was light-fingered and strictly forbade him from going to the temple fair, fearing he would be unable to resist stealing everything clean.
Compared to going to the temple fair, Qin Mu actually wanted to go hunting more.
There were still two days until the first temple fair. Qin Mu continued to cultivate, occasionally running to the Town Center Palace valley to fight the magic ape for a round. In his spare time, he would go to Apothecary's shop to help out, and incidentally learn to refine Solid Yuan Pills. Apothecary raised several birds that glowed with fire all over their bodies. When refining medicine, these birds would fly in from the window to help.
After refining more than ten furnaces of spirit medicines poorly, Apothecary's face was somewhat green. Fortunately, Qin Mu finally succeeded with one furnace of Spirit Embryo pills, which eased Apothecary's expression somewhat.
Qin Mu immediately took this furnace of Solid Yuan Pills, which could enhance Azure Dragon vital energy, and excitedly rushed to the Town Center Palace valley. Apothecary originally wanted to remind him to first check if the Solid Yuan Pills would be fatal if eaten, but after thinking about it, he stopped.
"Last time, when I refined Solid Yuan Pills for Mu'er, I also forgot to check if the medicinal power would be fatal if eaten…"
Apothecary thought to himself, "The magic ape is a big fellow, it won't die from eating them anyway… it shouldn't die, let him go. However, the Solid Yuan Pills Mu'er refined this time are each the size of a fist. Will the magic ape really not die?"
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