Chapter 57 + 58: Young Lord

Qin Mu pulled his head back and went to the next room. Inside, a seductive woman was watching Jian Tang Tangzhu downstairs. Hearing Qin Mu's footsteps, she quickly turned around, her breath like orchids, and said softly:

"Young master, your swordsmanship is exceptional, even hurting the sword-obsessed one from Jian Tang. I am truly impressed. My body is delicate, unlike his. I hope you will show mercy."

Qin Mu blinked.

"Sister, I'm only eleven, turning twelve this autumn. I don't understand what you are saying."

The woman's face stiffened for a moment, then she burst into laughter.

"I mistook you for one of those lecherous men outside and thought of charming you, but I forgot you are still a child and know nothing of such matters. I am the Qinglou Tangzhu of the Sheng Jiao, usually residing in places of pleasure, accustomed to romance. I originally planned to use my enchanting techniques to embarrass you. Yet, as a young boy, you have already defeated so many hall masters—I am impressed. For this room, I will not compete with you in swordplay or fist techniques. Let us compare our lightness skills instead."

She took out a rouge box, gently opened it, and a fragrance that permeated the lungs wafted out. She smiled and said:

"This is my favorite doukou yanzhi. We will both dip our fingers in it, then test our lightness skills in this room. You can only try to smear it on each other's face—whoever ends up with the most rouge marks loses. What do you think?"

Qin Mu nodded and said sweetly:

"Alright, sister, you have to go easy on me."

"Sweet talker!"

The Qinglou Tangzhu was delighted, gave him a playful glance, dipped her slender fingers in the rouge, and handed the box to Qin Mu, who did the same.

Suddenly, the Qinglou Tangzhu moved her feet like a slithering snake, her yuangi transforming into a great serpent's tail, which whooshed around Qin Mu's legs.

Qin Mu paused, recognizing this technique. He had seen it before on the arena at Nainai Miao, where he faced a girl who used the same method—her yuangi forming a serpent that wrapped around him as she moved over his body, only to be beaten black and blue by his Qian Shou Fo Tuo.

"Was that girl this hall master's disciple?"

Qin Mu tensed his legs and shook free before she could fully entwine him. The woman laughed lightly and darted up the wall, her serpent tail coiling around the beam, her fingers attacking with exquisite precision.

Her arms twisted like serpents, her ten fingers like ten more serpents, strangely extending and contracting at will. Even her arms could lengthen and shorten!

Then, Qin Mu witnessed something even stranger: the Qinglou Tangzhu's body became long and slender, flexible as if boneless, hanging from the ceiling like a woman's python draped there!

Qin Mu shifted his leg techniques, moving across the floor like a dragon or a snake. Meanwhile, the Qinglou Tangzhu glided effortlessly along the ceiling, upside down, launching repeated attacks.

Suddenly, Qin Mu's yuangi erupted, a green dragon coiling around him as he clawed at the wooden wall. He unleashed his lightness skills, darting across walls and ceiling like lightning, switching from defense to offense, wildly deploying Qian Shou Fo Tuo against the Qinglou Tangzhu.

In the small room, the two moved like wind and lightning, up and down, side to side, treating walls and ceiling as level ground. It was as if a dragon and a serpent were locked in combat, entwining and dancing in a bizarre spectacle.

Abruptly, the Qinglou Tangzhu's face was grazed by Qin Mu, leaving four finger marks, which made her inwardly anxious. Qin Mu's palm suddenly opened, unleashing Zhangxin Lei with a thunderous boom, blasting her into a daze.

When she came to, her face was covered in rouge.

"No more! No more!"

The Qinglou Tangzhu slid down from the ceiling, waving her hand.

"I give up, I lost. You've ruined my makeup. Your lightness skills are too odd—your footwork is elusive, I can't catch or bind you."

Qin Mu slid down as well and laughed.

"Sister, you were gracious."

Seeing the boyish, fair-faced youth, the Qinglou Tangzhu couldn't resist pecking him on the cheek.

"There, I'll leave you with a couple of rouge marks too, so I don't feel like I lost so badly."

Qin Mu's face turned red, his heart pounding as he stumbled out of the room in a daze.

The Qinglou Tangzhu chuckled.

"If I had known a kiss could defeat you, I would have done it earlier! If you ever run into trouble, just go to any brothel and tell the women you're looking for Fu Jingyun—they'll find me."

Qin Mu stood quietly at the next room's door for a moment until his composure returned. The boy wiped the kiss from his face and entered, thinking: "No wonder Grandpa Blind said women are like demons in disguise—a single kiss almost sucked my heart out..."

In this room was a female butcher, fierce and menacing, even more so than a typical slaughterer. She held a pig-killing knife and was sharpening it with a hiss, a bone pick between her teeth.

As soon as Qin Mu entered, the woman said nothing and charged with her knife, her blade flashing like a storm in the small room, each strike aimed to gut and eviscerate without mercy!

Qin Mu quickly drew his knife to block, the clashes ringing like pearls on a jade plate—ding, ding, ding, ding!

They parted and turned, the female butcher twirling her two knives halfway before gripping them in reverse, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Good knife work!"

Qin Mu reversed his grip on his pig-killing knife and said cautiously:

"Big sister, with both of us holding knives in reverse, the next move will be a deadly one. Knives are merciless, so how about this—we use our hands as knives and stop at contact."

The female butcher tossed her knife into the wall and laughed.

"True enough. Reverse grip is for killing, and if I killed you, the Sheng Jiao's lady would be furious and kill me. Let's do bare hands against knives!"

Qin Mu circulated his yuangi, pulling his pig-killing knife back into its sheath, then shook his hands, summoning two blazing fire knives.

The female butcher vibrated her palms, their edges sharpening into Bai Hu Yuanqi blades, razor-sharp. As her hands flew through the air with a whooshing sound, she lunged at Qin Mu.

"Young master, your fire knives will be at a disadvantage—they're not as sharp as Bai Hu Yuanqi!"

Qin Mu's eyes flickered, letting the flames flow down his palms to his forearms, as if holding knives in reverse.

It was the third form of the pig-killing knife technique: Raising the Knife from the Forbidden!

The two were almost body to body, their feet constantly shifting as they closed in for strikes, relying not on sight but on sensing the opponent's force through contact—to block or counter.

Reverse grip meant getting in close for short, fast hits with tricky angles!

This was the pinnacle of combat skills, where any magic or divine technique user caught at this range by a warrior expert would surely die!

Qin Mu's muscles twitched relentlessly, his 640 muscles rippling under his skin, providing maximum burst in the shortest distance!

In mere moments, both were drenched in sweat. Mobilizing so many muscles in such a short time, calculating the opponent's muscle trajectories, guarding against lethal attacks, and striking back was as exhausting as a prolonged battle!

Suddenly, Qin Mu used his hand as a knife, thrusting into the female butcher's opening with a lunge, slicing clean through the greasy apron on her chest.

The female butcher stepped back, dispersing her Bai Hu Yuanqi, and removed her now-bisected apron, tossing it aside with a hearty laugh.

"I lost—you win. Your knife skills are solid. If you don't make it through the 360 rooms, come with me—we can kill pigs and make a living."

Qin Mu took a liking to this stout woman and replied with a smile:

"I can also refine medicine, so I might not have to kill pigs. I could become a doctor helping the world."

The female butcher spat out her bone pick and sneered.

"A doctor? If you treat someone and they die, the family will sue you until you're broke! Killing pigs is steady and profitable. Join me, and I'll make sure you eat and drink well."

Qin Mu felt overwhelmed and hurried toward the door, mumbling:

"Sure, sure, but I'm still young..."

"Young master!"

Bi Yao called out, pulling the two pig-killing knives from the wall with a serious expression.

"When you go back, tell the Sheng Jiao's lady that I, Bi Yao, miss her a lot and think of her often."

Qin Mu nodded.

Bi Yao descended the stairs and entered the courtyard, when suddenly a loud bang echoed. She looked up to see a wall of the wooden building explode, and the Bu She Tangzhu plummeting headfirst into the ground, his head buried in the earth as the courtyard's stone slabs shattered.

Bi Yao rushed over to pull him out, but another bang followed as someone flailed through the broken wall and stuck to the opposite one.

Bang—

Yet another boom, and the Guabu Tangzhu burst through the wall. Before he hit the ground, a demonic voice boomed from the building:

"Bore Bore Samoye!"

A violent shock wave hit, and the Xingjia Tangzhu flew out right after.

Bi Yao yanked the Bu She Tangzhu from the ground and gazed upward, murmuring:

"Young Master Mu has finished warming up and is getting serious..."