Chapter 50: Little Fox Spirit

Qin Mu's heart filled with gratitude, and he bowed deeply, saying, "Many thanks for Senior's guidance. This junior will engrave it upon his heart."

Gu Li Nuan chuckled, saying, "If you truly feel grateful, then cultivate with haste, slay the Dragon Mother's soul! If you harbor any doubts, feel free to ask."

Qin Mu immediately circulated the *Dan Heart Jue*. This technique required one to treat the dantian as a field, tilling it with a blade, planting a seed of fire within. Then, like ten suns rising above the dantian, one nourished the fire seed, allowing it to grow strong, becoming a furnace of the dantian, burning with a blazing holy fire!

Only after achieving a minor accomplishment could one be considered to have initially formed a Dan Heart.

With a minor accomplishment in Dan Heart, one could then control their sword, making the sword follow their thoughts, aligning heart and sword.

It sounded simple, but to accomplish it was exceedingly difficult. Attaining holy fire was no easy feat, and refining a Dan Heart was even more challenging, hence it was divided into nine turns. As long as Qin Mu refined the first turn, controlling his sword with qi would far surpass his previous abilities, and catching up to the Dragon Mother's soul would be assured!

"Eh, your foundation is quite good!"

Gu Li Nuan was surprised. In a short span of time, Qin Mu had already tilled his dantian, planted the fire seed, and the ten suns above his dantian had emerged together, beginning to cultivate the fire seed.

This indicated that Qin Mu's cultivation was remarkably deep. If it were an ordinary martial artist, let alone having ten suns emerge, even planting a fire seed might be a daunting task, requiring constant consumption of spirit pills and wondrous medicines to replenish yuan qi. Only then could enough fire seeds be planted.

Qin Mu, however, didn't need to consume any spirit pills or wondrous medicines. In a single breath, he filled his dantian with fire seeds, and his yuan qi transformed into ten suns illuminating his dantian. This level of cultivation among Spirit Fetus realm martial artists could be described as extremely rare!

"With his terrifying cultivation speed, perhaps he won't even need ten days, or even two days. By tomorrow, he might be able to cultivate the first turn of the *Dan Heart Jue* and slay the Dragon Mother's soul, thus freeing me!"

Gu Li Nuan's gaze flickered. "Such an outstanding young genius, I truly don't want to kill him just like this."

He sighed in his heart, "However, the Great Ruins is a place forsaken by the gods. Not to mention the people who live here, even a mere insect carries sin and must die. Moreover, I am still hungry. I haven't eaten anything for over fifty years..."

The time Qin Mu took to cultivate the first turn of the *Dan Heart Jue* was even shorter than he had imagined. By this time, night had passed, and the sky outside was gradually brightening. The bright light filtered through the Surging River's water, sprinkling into the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the river.

Qin Mu stood up. With a slight movement of his thoughts, his yuan qi suddenly entwined the Shao Bao Sword. With a whoosh, it pierced the heavy fog, moving like light and electricity, incredibly swift!

*Chi chi chi—*

The sound of the Shao Bao Sword cutting through the air resonated constantly. In an instant, Qin Mu controlled this treasured sword to stab over a hundred times, a dazzling display.

Although he didn't understand sword techniques and only performed a simple stabbing action, he was even more formidable than a successor of a sword sect like Qian Qiu of the Li Jiang Sect!

This *Dan Heart Jue* was truly astounding!

Qin Mu once again bowed deeply towards Gu Li Nuan, expressing sincere gratitude, saying, "Many thanks for Senior's transmission of the technique. This junior will never forget it."

Gu Li Nuan laughed heartily, saying, "You are also extremely talented, thus you were able to comprehend it thoroughly and cultivate the first turn of the Dan Heart within such a short time. That little fox by your side didn't cultivate as quickly as you. Hurry, control the sword and slay the Dragon Mother!"

He was overjoyed in his heart; liberation from his predicament was imminent. Even for an expert of his caliber, some emotional turmoil and feelings of gain and loss were unavoidable.

"This boy saved me, and his talent is so high. I'm truly a bit reluctant to kill him..."

Just then, Qin Mu turned around and walked away, taking the Shao Bao Sword towards the outside of the Dragon Palace, his figure hidden within the thick fog.

Gu Li Nuan was momentarily stunned, still not fully recovering. Qin Mu, with the Shao Bao Sword and Fox Ling'er, had already walked out of the Dragon Palace, leaving without a moment's pause.

"Come back here!"

Gu Li Nuan's angry roar echoed, his stern voice saying, "Stinky boy, you broke your word! I transmitted my merit to you and gave you a sword, why haven't you slain the Dragon Mother?"

Outside the palace, Qin Mu's voice grew fainter and fainter: "Senior, the Dragon Mother did indeed use the Dragon Pearl to kill many martial artists who entered this place. However, the Dragon Pearl only transforms them into dried corpses, walking corpses. Within the Dragon Palace, there are also many corpses that did not die under the Dragon Pearl; they didn't become dried corpses, but skeletons."

Gu Li Nuan was startled for a moment. "Stinky boy, when did you discover this?"

"Just as I entered the Dragon Palace, I discovered it."

Gu Li Nuan gritted his teeth, speaking coldly, "Are you truly only twelve years old? Can a twelve-year-old boy see through these things? Can he think clearly about these matters? Can he still use stratagems without revealing his emotions?"

"This junior will be twelve years old this autumn. Currently, I am eleven years old..." Qin Mu's voice became lower and lower, gradually becoming inaudible.

Within the Dragon Palace, a voice of angry reprimand suddenly echoed, the voice loud, reaching the ears of Qin Mu and Fox Ling'er who had already walked far away.

Fox Ling'er poked her head out from his embrace, puzzled, saying, "Young Master Mu, how did you know he had malicious intentions?"

Qin Mu said, "When we first arrived, I used the Zen Staff to push back the fog. Many dried corpses fell from the air. Didn't you notice that besides the dried corpses, there were also many pieces of dried bones?"

Fox Ling'er nodded. She had noticed that some dried bones were crushed by the falling dried corpses, and these skeletons were still wearing clothes.

"The skeletons were wearing official clothes."

Qin Mu continued, "Gu Li Nuan said that he brought many students together to temper themselves in the Great Ruins and discovered this underwater Dragon Palace. His students were killed by the Dragon Pearl. However, those killed by the Dragon Pearl should have had their qi and blood drained, becoming dried corpses, not skeletons. Since they weren't killed by the Dragon Pearl, then how did they die?"

Fox Ling'er suddenly realized, and quickly said, "Gu Li Nuan held a black banner in his other hand, it was very strange! His being sealed in profound ice was a process. He definitely used the black banner to kill his students."

"When he was sealed in profound ice by the Dragon Pearl, he was unable to struggle free and knew in his heart that he would be trapped here for a long time. The official world is fraught with intrigue. Although his students bore the name of students, they were all officials of Yan Kang Country. There was no teacher-student affection. These people might not notify the court to save him. After all, emptying a Prince Shao Bao's position would benefit everyone."

Qin Mu nodded. "Since the court might not come to save him, he decided to go all out. He cruelly killed his students and completely absorbed their qi and blood, lest he starve to death from being sealed for too long. However, his method must be different from the Dragon Mother's Dragon Pearl, even stranger, to the point of absorbing his students' flesh, leaving them as mere skeletons. Do you still remember when we first entered the Dragon Palace, my Zen Staff was constantly ringing?"

Fox Ling'er remembered. At that time, she was lying on Qin Mu's pant leg, shivering, and Qin Mu even told her to move her tail.

"I initially thought that the thoughts of those dried corpses were interfering with the Xi Qi Luo Zen Staff, causing it to ring incessantly. But dried corpses are dead and have no consciousness. I then thought it was the Dragon Mother's soul's miscellaneous thoughts. However, the strange thing was, when I came to Gu Li Nuan's side, the Zen Staff stopped ringing. Clearly, it wasn't the Dragon Mother's soul's miscellaneous thoughts, but Gu Li Nuan's."

Qin Mu said, "The reason the Zen Staff no longer rang at that time was because Gu Li Nuan no longer had any miscellaneous thoughts. His mind was set. Since we had the protection of the Xi Qi Luo Zen Staff, he couldn't eat us, so he simply used us to escape his predicament!"

Fox Ling'er stared with wide eyes, speechless. After a moment, the little fox giggled, saying, "Young Master Mu, are you really only twelve years old?"

"I'll be twelve after autumn," Qin Mu said with an honest laugh.

"Then you must be a fox spirit too?"

Fox Ling'er said excitedly, "You're definitely a male fox who has become a spirit, and the sly, clever kind!"

Qin Mu complained bitterly, saying, "You don't know how my childhood was! Since I was small, I've been tricked, cheated, and kidnapped by a group of old men and women. Just before I came out to hunt, Grandma still tricked me into the chicken nest to pick chicken eggs. That was a mother dragon chicken, and it chased me all over the ground. I simply couldn't defeat it! Meanwhile, Grandma secretly sneaked over and picked the chicken eggs!"

Before long, they circled the water pool and walked out of the Dragon King Temple.

Fox Ling'er cast a spell to conjure a demonic wind, and Qin Mu rode the wind. One person and one fox arrived in front of the grass hut by the waterfall. Qin Mu was eager to return to the village and was about to say goodbye. Fox Ling'er chuckled, saying, "You're all dirty and smelly now. Why are you in such a hurry to go back? This spot by the waterfall is a water pool. Go down and take a bath first. I'll help you wash your clothes. After they dry, wouldn't it be nice to wear clean clothes? Moreover, I still have some doubts about cultivation that I want to ask you about."

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, just about to speak, when a cold laugh echoed from the grass hut. It was the voice of Grandma Si: "Taking a bath? Cultivation? Is it truly gathering yin to supplement yang or gathering yang to supplement yin?"

"Grandma?"

Qin Mu was both surprised and joyful. "How did you end up here?"