Chapter 714: The Most Charming Person

Di Yiyue looked at herself in the mirror several times, her heart overflowing with joy. "Indeed, Master," she exclaimed, "what a divine touch! There's not a single flaw!"

"Wait!"

Qin Mu quickly stopped her. "Don't move!" he said. "When you smile, there are tiny wrinkles at the corners of your eyes. I'll smooth them out for you."

Di Yiyue immediately froze. Qin Mu leaned closer, small runes sparking from his fingertips. He activated the skin around her eyes, smoothing the wrinkles and making the corners of her phoenix-like eyes incredibly delicate, white, and tender.

Di Yiyue blinked, then lifted the mirror and looked again several times. She smiled at her reflection and saw that the tiny wrinkles at her eye corners were indeed gone, filling her with delight.

"Sister, you are truly beautiful," Qin Mu praised.

Di Yiyue was overjoyed, a hint of shyness coloring her expression.

"Fake medicine sellers, it's not the apothecary profession that's going to be out of business," the Deaf Elder said.

The Deaf Elder approached the Apothecary, wiggling his ears. "It's *you* who will be unemployed," he continued. "From now on, you'll only be able to sell fake medicine; you can't rely on your looks anymore."

The Apothecary sighed, forcing a wry smile. "Teaching the apprentice starves the master. Mu'er is almost the best in the world. Fortunately, this lad is still naive and not keen on romance. Otherwise, with his glib tongue, who knows how many romantic entanglements he would cause?"

The Deaf Elder said calmly, "That's because we taught him well. He knows to be sweet-tongued, but also that women are vixen spirits. He remembers that, so even though he's charming, he's wary of every woman. Thus, he won't repeat your mistakes."

The Apothecary adjusted the bronze mask on his face and whispered, "Mu'er isn't a child anymore. By teaching him this way, won't we hinder his prospects in life? What if he remains wary of all women and doesn't dare to take things further with any girl? What then?"

The Deaf Elder stopped speaking.

The Apothecary asked again, but the Deaf Elder still remained silent.

The Apothecary chuckled in exasperation. "Your ears have grown back; stop pretending to be deaf and dumb! I'm asking you a question! Quickly, think of a solution, or I'll poison you deaf!"

The Deaf Elder helplessly replied, "I don't know either. I taught him that a graceful lady is a gentleman's ideal match, but you taught him that all women are vixen spirits. The sagely scriptures don't say what to do in this situation. How about you concoct some medicine to make him fall in love?"

The Apothecary said proudly, "My disciple needs medicine to fall in love? That would be too shameful for me, the Jade-Faced Poison King! Besides, his medical skills are no less than mine; any medicine I administer, he can counteract. I should have held back a trick or two..."

The common folk of Lizhou awoke, each feeling a bit bewildered, completely unaware of what had transpired during the night. They simply assumed they had been in a deep, muddled sleep. Some cultivators, however, vaguely guessed that a major event had occurred last night, but they had no way of knowing the specifics.

However, many strange things still happened among the villagers and neighbors. Some people woke up with drastically changed personalities, claiming they were not women but men from a certain place, who had inexplicably turned into women upon waking.

When questioned by local cultivators, these individuals clearly stated where they lived and who was in their family. Upon investigation, the locations they mentioned indeed had people matching their descriptions, but these original bodies were now clamoring that they were not men but women, having entered the wrong body.

There were thousands of such incidents, causing a great stir.

"Most likely, during the return of the souls, they entered the wrong bodies," Qin Mu speculated.

Hearing these rumors, Qin Mu guessed, "Teacher's Soul-Guiding Divine Art hasn't been perfected yet, leading to slight deviations when sending souls back to their respective bodies. This is due to an incomplete understanding of Youdu language."

The Saint of the Woodcutter had a dark expression. "If you're so capable," he retorted, "why didn't you do it yourself?"

Qin Mu honestly replied, "I thought Teacher could handle it. I truly didn't expect Teacher to be just a little bit off. If you grasp the precise meaning and essence of Youdu language, the divine arts within it become self-evident, and then there won't be any mistakes."

The Woodcutter was speechless with anger, trembling so much he couldn't utter a word.

The Apothecary and the Deaf Elder looked triumphant. The Deaf Elder praised, "Mu'er speaks so humbly and politely; he truly is someone we painstakingly raised. He's too modest, saying the Saint is only 'a little bit off' compared to him, when in reality the difference is this huge!"

He spread his arms wide to demonstrate.

The Apothecary, also beaming with pride, said, "This is thanks to our excellent teaching. From a young age, we taught him that there's always someone better, and to be humble and cautious. We told him that even when someone is not as good as him, he shouldn't state the plain truth, but rather say, 'You're only a tiny bit less capable than me.' That's why Mu'er hasn't been beaten to death yet."

The two elders simultaneously showed contented smiles.

"To resolve this, we'll need to swap the souls back," Qin Mu said.

Qin Mu continued, "But with thousands of such incidents, and people living in different parts of Lizhou, finding all of them would take a lot of time..."

He genuinely disliked trouble.

The Saint of the Woodcutter said, "Reversing the souls can be handled by the scholars who have cultivated the Soul-Guiding Art; we don't need to do it ourselves. You've already ordered those scholars to go to Yuzhi Commandery; just have them come here."

Qin Mu nodded. His primordial spirit left his body, and he contacted Si Yunxiang.

Si Yunxiang's face showed fatigue. "Cult Master," she said, "you instructed us to go to Yuzhi Commandery to pull the souls of its people back to the living world. Everything was fine at first, but then trouble arose. As the scholars guided the souls, small boats suddenly appeared, with lights shining from the darkness. As soon as the light touched them, the scholars lost their souls and became corpses."

Qin Mu's heart jolted. "This is the Youdu Lord taking action!"

Si Yunxiang continued, "King Yu said this was because we summoned too many souls, which violated Youdu's rules, causing the Infernal Messengers to take the souls of the offenders. However, just recently, the souls of these scholars suddenly returned. Some say it was the Youdu Divine Son who interceded with the Infernal Messengers, asking them to release them. We don't know if it's true or not."

Qin Mu looked bewildered. "I didn't intercede, nor did I ask the Lord. What happened...? Still, it's good that these scholars' souls are back; it saves me another trip to Youdu. I always feel that Youdu doesn't quite welcome me. Every time I go there, the Lord and Earth Count give me cold looks, as if they can't wait to drive me away."

He explained the situation, saying, "Saintess Xiang, please bring a hundred or so capable scholars to Lizhou and send these souls that entered the wrong bodies back to their proper ones. Don't cause any more trouble."

Si Yunxiang agreed and immediately gathered the scholars to rush to Lizhou.

Qin Mu then bid farewell to the Apothecary and the Deaf Elder, accompanying the Woodcutter, First Ancestor, and Di Yiyue to the capital city to meet the Woodcutter's other disciple, the Imperial Preceptor of Eternal Peace. Qin Mu had not originally planned to go, but Di Yiyue insisted on his company.

"Heavenly King," the Woodcutter suggested, "we can walk slowly and observe the local customs and conditions of Eternal Peace along the way."

The Woodcutter proposed, "The reforms of Eternal Peace are not just talk; they are genuinely being implemented. What you see along the way will surely change your perspective."

Di Yiyue said faintly, "You were the Heavenly Master of the Emperor Kai's reforms, overseeing them and pushing the Emperor Kai era to such an extent that the extraterrestrial heavens had to destroy it to feel secure, all within a mere twenty thousand years. Are you perhaps going to participate in these Eternal Peace reforms too? How many years do you intend to take to push Eternal Peace to an unbearable level for the extraterrestrial heavens?"

Hearing her mention the Emperor Kai era, the Saint of the Woodcutter's face dimmed, and he spoke hoarsely, "The Emperor Kai reforms were indeed spearheaded by me, but I have not intervened in the Eternal Peace reforms. The true leaders of these reforms are my three disciples."

He raised one finger and said, "My eldest disciple passed down the Sage's Way: that it lies in the daily lives of the common people."

As they walked and talked, Di Yiyue also observed the daily lives of the people along the way. The Woodcutter raised a second finger and said, "My third disciple applied that very principle in Eternal Peace, which is why Eternal Peace is as it is today. I taught my eldest disciple for a hundred years, but my third disciple for only two years. As for the Eternal Peace reforms, I haven't interfered with any of it; I've merely run errands for my third disciple."

Di Yiyue glanced at Qin Mu and smiled. "You just said your three disciples are leading the reforms, but you only mentioned the eldest and the youngest. You haven't said anything about your second disciple."

The Saint of the Woodcutter looked at Qin Mu and immediately felt his head about to explode. He shook his head and said, "My second disciple, I never taught him for even a single day. I don't know how it happened, I just inexplicably ended up with a disciple like that."

"What did he do?" Di Yiyue asked curiously.

The Saint of the Woodcutter tried to muster some enthusiasm but couldn't, speaking somewhat dispiritedly, "He is the man behind my third disciple."

Di Yiyue was puzzled.

The Saint of the Woodcutter said weakly, "When Eternal Peace and my third disciple faced their greatest dangers, it was his full support that saved Eternal Peace, the Emperor, and my third disciple. When Eternal Peace encountered danger again, it was again he who saved Eternal Peace and my third disciple. And when danger arose yet again..."

"Great Heavenly Master, don't say any more; I understand the rest," Di Yiyue interrupted.

Di Yiyue chuckled wryly. "It must have been him who saved Eternal Peace and your third disciple again, right?"

"I don't understand this disciple of mine," the Saint of the Woodcutter said.

The Saint of the Woodcutter had a strange expression, secretly observing Qin Mu. He whispered, "He's too incomprehensible. I've never seen such an eccentric personality. He possesses the courage for reform and change, an almost indestructible ambition and confidence, and he's clever and quirky, curious about everything like a foolish roe deer. However..."

He thought for a moment and continued, "Yet, he also possesses a unique charm. When he's focused, he researches many peculiar things. He actually managed to go to the Yin World alone, resurrected the Heavenly Yin Empress, and created a spell that allows shattered souls to reunite, souls to be recreated, and the dead to be brought back to life!

"He also created the Primordial Spirit Art, allowing one to cultivate a primordial spirit within a realm, instantly changing a cultivation system that had existed for tens of thousands of years!

"He even haphazardly created the Eighteen Forms of the Sword, propelling sword arts forward significantly. His understanding of divine arts seems to have no limits; what others can't conceive, he often can, and what others deem impossible, he somehow accomplishes. Like the Spirit Energy Migration Bridge connecting two worlds—that kid accidentally stumbled upon it, solving the problem of world barriers.

"Furthermore, he is never stingy. Whatever he learns or comprehends, he always promotes nationwide, never keeping it to himself. Emperor's Throne techniques are incredibly rare, right? The extraterrestrial heavens painstakingly sought to collect them, yet he obtained three Emperor's Throne techniques and simply spread them around.

"Even enemies are won over by him and become his friends, yet his friends are often so exasperated they gnash their teeth, wanting to spank him!"

The Saint of the Woodcutter sighed. "Just when I almost thought he would be a perfect person, I discovered he has all sorts of minor flaws. One is his lack of focus; he's always curiously researching one thing after another. He'll create the Primordial Spirit Art, then run off to do something else. He'll devise the Eighteen Forms of the Sword, then abandon it instead of striking while the iron's hot to develop the Nineteenth Form. It makes you want to put a sword to his neck and force him to focus on one thing.

"His second minor flaw is his audaciousness; being so daring makes him a bit foolish. He'll do anything dangerous. This Lizhou incident was clearly a trap, and he still foolishly ran right into it.

"His third is his arrogance. You see him being humble, but he's not humble at all; he's full of pride deep down. 'Heaven is number one, I'm number two. Earth Count is number one, I'm number two. The Emperor is number one, I'm number two. The Heavenly Emperor is number one, I'm number two...'"

The Woodcutter frowned and sighed, "I don't understand him; I truly, genuinely don't understand him."

Di Yiyue looked at Qin Mu. He was currently refining pills for the Dragon Qilin. After feeding the Dragon Qilin, he ran off to examine a windmill, discussing with local scholars whether there was a way to improve it.

"What an interesting person," Di Yiyue commented.

Di Yiyue smiled. "He lives more freely and joyfully than anyone else!"

"No!"

The Saint of the Woodcutter shook his head. "In fact, the burden on his shoulders is too heavy. It's just that he's incredibly optimistic, making it seem like he lives freely and joyfully. Yet, the bitterness in his heart is known only to him. He simply chooses an optimistic and proactive attitude to face life and danger.

"He couldn't choose his birth, but he can choose his future path and the mindset with which he walks it. He is the most charming person I have ever met."