Chapter 35: Going to the Market

"Eat, Strong!"

Within the central palace valley, Qin Mu produced a Solid Yuan Pill he had personally refined. It was the size of a fist. He gestured towards the ape, saying, "Strong, Solid!"

The ape scratched its head, accepting the pill, and swallowed it without any immediate reaction. It looked puzzled and asked, "Strong?"

Suddenly, the ape went berserk. Its fur grew wildly, and a sapling sprouted from its head, rapidly developing into a large branch. A seed, it seemed, had lodged itself in the ape's fur, and the Solid Yuan Pill's power had stimulated its growth.

Its body also grew uncontrollably, muscles bulging and bones thickening, supporting the ape's ceaseless roars as it rampaged. Qin Mu stepped forward to intervene but was hammered to the ground by a single punch from the ape. The second punch struck the ground, jolting him out of the soil, only for the ape to send him flying with another strike.

Qin Mu rushed back, the ape roaring incessantly. The man and ape once again engaged in a fierce battle in the valley, their clash sending rocks and debris flying.

After consuming Qin Mu's Solid Yuan Pill, the ape's body had become larger and stronger, its power significantly elevated. In a head-on confrontation, Qin Mu found his own strength completely overwhelmed; he simply couldn't match the ape's might.

Forced by the circumstances, Qin Mu channeled his vital energy into the fire attribute. The scorching vital energy circulated within him, and a faint dragon pattern appeared on his back. The dragon's four limbs connected with his own, its claws aligning perfectly with his palms and fingers.

A Five-Clawed Fire Dragon!

The fire-attribute vital energy belonged to the Vermillion Bird's energy, but Qin Mu wasn't a Vermillion Bird spirit embryo. He possessed a human spirit embryo. The dragon pattern on his back wasn't a direct result of his vital energy but rather a manifestation of the Thunder Sound Eight Styles technique taught by Grandpa Ma.

Grandpa Ma's Thunder Sound Eight Styles, a method of vital energy cultivation, was profound and wondrous. The path of vital energy within the body formed a dragon pattern that enveloped the practitioner. If it were Grandpa Ma, an Azure Dragon spirit body, executing the Thunder Sound Eight Styles, his vital energy would carry wood and thunder attributes, and the dragon pattern on his back would be azure, interwoven with lightning.

However, Qin Mu hadn't refined Azure Dragon vital energy and could only utilize Vermillion Bird vital energy. Consequently, the dragon pattern on his back was accompanied by clusters of fiery clouds.

When he activated the Thunder Sound Eight Styles, the dragon pattern and fiery clouds would appear on his body. As long as he wasn't executing the technique, these peculiar markings would gradually fade and disappear.

With his vital energy cultivation amplified, Qin Mu's strength increased significantly, allowing him to finally contend with the ape head-on. However, the ape was in a frenzy, its attacks utterly unpredictable. It risked injury to land blows on him. Ultimately, both man and ape were bruised and swollen, lying on their backs on the ground, panting heavily and unable to move.

The large branch that had sprouted from the ape's head had grown into a tree as thick as a water bucket, laden with red fruits. As the Solid Yuan Pill's medicinal power subsided, the tree also ceased its growth.

Qin Mu's batch of Solid Yuan Pills was indeed problematic. The medicinal power was too potent, too overbearing, lacking balance and harmony. It was only because the ape possessed such a robust physique that it could withstand the impact of the medicinal power. Any other Spirit Embryo realm warrior would likely have been supported to the point of bursting and dying.

Now that the medicinal power was exhausted, the ape's body began to slowly shrink, though it remained much taller and significantly stronger than before. This made Qin Mu feel even more strongly that his refined Solid Yuan Pills had some issues.

However, based on the ape's performance, the problems seemed minor, and might even turn out to be beneficial.

He plucked a fruit from the tree on the ape's head, peeled it, and took a bite. It was exceptionally sweet and moist, carrying a faint medicinal fragrance.

The ape sat up and pulled the large tree from its head. The tree's roots were tangled all over its face. The ape plucked a handful of leaves and fruits and slowly ate them.

Qin Mu gave the remaining Solid Yuan Pills to the ape, instructing, "You can only eat one pill at a time, absolutely no more. Also, if you want to fight, go find other strange beasts to fight. You cannot tear down the central palace."

The ape's eyes gleamed. It eagerly stored away the Solid Yuan Pills and nodded repeatedly.

Qin Mu's refined Solid Yuan Pills were too large. A pharmacist's refined Solid Yuan Pills were typically the size of a little finger's tip, while his lacked skill and were the size of an ordinary person's fist. Consequently, this batch of Solid Yuan Pills wasn't numerous, numbering only a little over twenty.

Qin Mu left with ease. After he had gone far, the ape immediately took out an unusually large Solid Yuan Pill and, filled with excitement, hurried towards the nearest strange beast's territory to seek revenge.

The strange beast next door had a long-standing feud with it, often invading its territory to plunder wild beasts for food and beating it multiple times. With Qin Mu's palm print on the cliff face, that strange beast knew a new boss had arrived and had refrained from invading recently.

The ape arrived at its enemy's lair, opened its mouth, swallowed the Solid Yuan Pill, roared once, and charged into the enemy's territory.

Two days later, the day of the temple fair finally arrived. Granny Si brought cloth, Grandpa Ma brought some of his newly made furniture, the Pharmacist carried his medicine basket, and the Butcher loaded a strange beast captured by the Cripple yesterday onto the cart, likely planning to slaughter and sell the meat at the temple fair. The Butcher sold the meat, and the Cripple took his cut; their division was clear.

The Mute also brought his furnace and blacksmith tools, and the Deaf brought his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Calling to Qin Mu, the group hitched the ox cart and hurried towards Granny Temple.

The ox cart was overflowing with goods and rumbled towards Granny Temple. Qin Mu, driving the cart, wasn't particularly excited. Going to market had held some appeal for him as a child, but his experiences were now far grander than before, and the market held less interest.

However, upon arriving at Granny Temple, Qin Mu was still startled. The temple fair was much larger and livelier than he had imagined. Surrounding the ruins of Granny Temple was a ten-mile-long market, filled with stalls of all kinds. People flowed in and out, a bustling and incredibly lively scene.

These weren't just people from the surrounding ten or eight villages, but villagers from various villages within one to two hundred li, most of whom had gathered here!

"On the central palace map, this place isn't called Granny Temple, but rather Heavenly Wolf Palace." Qin Mu was surprised, wondering why the name had changed to Granny Temple.

As the ox cart drove into the market, Qin Mu saw all sorts of strange, never-before-seen items laid out on small stalls. There were also people making sugar figures, frying dishes, performing acrobatics, spitting fire, selling strange beasts, selling ores, selling jewels, and even selling daughters—everything imaginable was available.

"Our father and daughter from Niu Family Village are passing through your esteemed locale. We seek neither fame nor fortune, but solely for our little daughter, who is of marriageable age yet remains unbetrothed. Therefore, we are holding a martial arts competition to choose a son-in-law, seeking a man of superb martial skill..."

Qin Mu saw a lively scene ahead, stopped the ox cart, and craned his neck to watch. It turned out to be a martial arts competition to choose a son-in-law at Granny Temple, with men and women fiercely battling on stage. He watched for a few moments, lost interest, and continued forward, only to discover that Granny Temple actually had several stages for martial arts competitions to choose a son-in-law.

These stages were all built on earthen platforms. On the stages were young men and women from various villages, many of them young warriors. Of course, there were also white-haired elderly people who jumped onto the stage for martial arts competitions to choose a son-in-law, drawing boos from the crowd below, urging the old men to get off.

"In some villages, there are few males. The reason for holding a martial arts competition to choose a son-in-law is actually to recruit a live-in son-in-law."

Granny Si warned Qin Mu, "Becoming a live-in son-in-law means you'll be from another village. You can't go up!"

Qin Mu nodded. He felt a bit restless. The Blind Man laughed, "It doesn't matter if Mu child goes up. He can beat one family after another. If he competes on the martial arts stages at Granny Temple, he might end up marrying over ten girls..."

Granny Si glared at him, and the Blind Man didn't dare to speak, quickly falling silent.

The Disabled Elderly Village had fixed stalls at Granny Temple. The ox cart soon arrived in front of these several stalls. Qin Mu helped the Butcher set up the meat stall, then went to help Grandpa Ma unload the furniture, then helped the Mute set up the iron furnace, helped Granny Si set up her tailoring stall, and then helped the Deaf fetch water, grind ink, and hang up the Deaf's paintings and written couplets.

Once everything was prepared, Qin Mu saw the Blind Man's bamboo staff with a banner hanging from it, sitting in front of a table. The banner read, "Six Yao Eight Trigrams, Fortune-telling and Disaster Removal," and other such words. He thought to himself, "Can Blind Grandpa also tell fortunes?"

The Pharmacist set up his medicine stall nearby, and the Butcher beside him had already gutted the strange beast and hung up the meat. The villagers from the Disabled Elderly Village were shouting out, no different from ordinary people.

"Mu child, there's an empty stage beside us. Go hang this painting up."

The Deaf wielded his brush with speed and skill, finishing a painting and giving it to Qin Mu. He said, "After you hang it up, don't come down. Just stand on the stage. This is your business for today. After the sun sets, if you can still stand on the stage, then you will have passed the temple fair test."

Qin Mu looked at the painting and saw written: "Feet Kick Surging River Invincible, Sweep Great Ruins Eight Hundred Villages!" And a horizontal scroll: "Spirit Embryo Realm First."

Qin Mu looked at the stage beside him. On the stage were two shiny wooden pillars, and between the pillars hung a horizontal plaque. The plaque had no words on it, which must be where the horizontal scroll was meant to be pasted.

"Deaf Grandpa, won't I be beaten to death?" Qin Mu turned back and asked the Deaf.

At this moment, he saw the Blind Man beside him take out another banner, on which was written, "Win or Lose One Hundred Ten Thousand, Buy Fixed Leave Hand." It was clear he planned to take advantage of Qin Mu's stage battles to make a fortune.

And Granny Si had already placed a bet on the Blind Man's gambling stall. The Pharmacist then excitedly took out injury medicine and placed it on his medicine stall, waiting for those injured on the stage to come down. Grandpa Ma was busy making crutches and stretchers, and the Butcher was there selling "Jiao Dragon Precious Blood," a divine medicine for strengthening the body!

Qin Mu's face suddenly darkened. This group of cunning old men and women were finding new ways to do business!

"Deaf, write a note saying that only warriors in the Spirit Embryo Realm are allowed on stage."

Granny Si thought for a moment and said, "What if a divine ability user jumps up? Wouldn't that beat Mu child to death?"

——Some book friends have asked when *Pastor of Gods* will be available. I discussed it with the editor, and it will not be available in August, but on September 1st. *Pastor of Gods* will have a free public period of two months and ten days. *Pastor of Gods* can now receive a fan title. My fan title is: Divine Dynasty! To receive it, use the Qidian app, click Discover, Activity Center, Fan Title Activity, search for me, and click Receive. Note: You need a certain amount of fan value. The activity continues until July 31st.