The spring river gradually warmed. It had been over ten days since Qin Mu had broken the dam of ice with Woman Wu. The willow trees on the river shore had regained their shade along with the birdsongs and fragrant flowers while the ice tide had subsided.
In the heart of the river, Qin Mu suddenly stopped in his footsteps, however, he didn't sink into the river and remained standing on the surface of the water. Ripples spread out beautifully under his feet.
He was using Black Tortoise Vital Qi to control the water condition so he could still remain standing on the water like it was flat land.
He had already grasped the technique of controlling water using Black Tortoise Vital Qi fluently.
Chii—
The sound of sword flying through the air pierced the sky. Qin Mu was trying to use his fingers to control Junior Protector Sword, making it flick it upwards, smearing it horizontally and hacking it downwards. The sword moved along with his body and executed all the most basic moves.
He had learned the most basic techniques of swordplay from Village Chief these few days. Other than stab, he had also learned techniques like hack, curve, parry, wave, poke, jab, cut, and smear.
However, Village Chief didn't teach him any sword skills and only made him practice the most basic movements day after day.
Meanwhile at the side of the river, Blind stood there motionlessly with his cane, like a statue.
Even since Qin Mu said his goodbyes to Woman Wu, he returned to the village to tell the villagers about how he released Woman Wu. When he reached the part of Small Thunderclap Monastery, Old Ma and the rest forbade him from leaving the village. Even if he was to leave the village, he needed to have someone accompanying him.
On the river, the sound of the wind grew louder. Every time Qin Mu unleashed his sword, it would raise up wind and waves. What Village Chief taught him were the most basic movements of swordplay yet they all burst forth with astonishing power in his hands!
With every practice, the wind and waves on the river would grow bigger and more urgent. With a stab of his sword, the river surface would split thirty yards long and three yards deep, causing all the huge fishes and river beasts to stay away.
With a flick, the river water surged into the sky and splashed down in a downpour. He then followed up with a curve and the river water turned into a water dragon rushing forward.
Even though they might be the simplest moves that required the use of qi to manipulate sword, the power remained terrifyingly strong in his hands.
He had been cultivating these basic movements for more than two years and already knew them thoroughly by heart. However Village Chief still didn't impart a complete move.
Suddenly Blind's ears twitched and he shouted, "Mu'er, it's time to stop, a ship is coming."
Qin Mu put Junior Protector Sword back into the sword pouch on his back and raised his head. He saw a ship sailing down and was stunned for a second, as this ship was the one that was drafting the topographic map of Surging River.
Now that the ship was sailing back down from upstream, they must have finished drafting the waterway of Surging River.
Opening up his stride, he avoided the path which the ship was sailing by.
Flowing down with the river, the speed of the ship was very fast and soon reached in front of them. An exclaim of admiration came from the ship, "To stand on the river without moving, what a neat skill and dense vital qi."
Qin Mu looked at the source of the sound and saw General Qin standing at the head of the ship looking at him along with the youth with a little baby fat who held a foldable fan.
"The mysterious ice from the dragon palace!"
Qin Mu's heart turned cold as he saw the huge slab of mysterious ice. In the mysterious ice, there was a dragon bead hanging high up along with a hand grabbing onto it!
He could only see those as the rest of the stuff below the ice chunk was blocked by the side of the ship. However, even with just that, he knew where the mysterious ice, as well as the hand, had come from.
It was evident that when the general and his men were drafting the topographic map of Surging River, they had discovered the dragon palace under the river. When they searched their way there, they must have discovered Gu Linuan and the young dragon sealed by the dragon bead!
At this moment, the young dragon should still be in the mysterious ice. This general hasn't slain the soul of the mother dragon and most likely have kept the soul of the dragon mother to prevent the mysterious ice from melting.
Their aim should be the young dragon in the ice. If the mysterious ice was to melt, the young dragon would die. He must have intended to bring the mysterious ice back to Eternal Peace Empire and invite masters to cure the young dragon, therefore he didn't save Gu Linuan yet.
"It's the youth who was on the peak with the devil ape."
The baby fat youth said in astonishment, "I didn't expect his vital qi to be so dense, it's even stronger than mine."
Suddenly, Gu Linuan's voice came from the ice, "I can feel my Junior Protector Sword! General Qin Feiyue, stop the ship, my Junior Protector Sword is near, the rascal that tricked me is near!"
The ship stopped and General Qin's gaze landed on Qin Mu, "You are the one that swindled Junior Protector Sword from the junior protector of the crown prince?"
Qin Mu replied, "He wanted to eat me so I swindled his sword away. Since you managed to bring him out of the dragon palace, can you bring his sheath out for me as well? It would only be a complete set with the sheath."
Qin Feiyue's gaze flickered, "For you? This is the sword of the Imperial Family, it's impossible to give it to you, please return Junior Protector Sword back to the Imperial Family."
Qin Mu shook his head in bewilderment, "Why do I have to return it when I swindled it with my own ability?"
The baby fat youth, who was also called the seventh young master, burst out into laughter, "What this youth said sure was interesting."
Qin Feiyue snorted coldly and said indifferently, "To lie to an official of the Imperial Family and scheme after the treasure of an official of the Imperial Family, do you know how severe your crime is?"
"There's no Imperial Family in the Great Ruins."
Qin Mu asked, puzzled, "In a lawless place like this, who can convict me?"
"For you to be this fearless, it looks like you have someone to rely on."
Qin Feiyue looked at the shore and his pupil suddenly contracted. He then solemnly asked, "Junior Qing Feiyue, the disciple of Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor, upper fourth-ranking general of loyalty and martial, Eternal Peace Empire. May I know how to address the senior who is on the shore?"
Blind propped himself on his bamboo cane and chuckled, "Just a blind man, what else can you address me as? Merely an old disabled."
Qin Feiyue's expression sank as he took a look around and saw Disabled Elderly Village in the corner of his eyes. He then smiled, "Three years ago, Mu Beifeng, the prefecture head of Five Sprouts Prefecture of our Eternal Peace Empire led many Li River Sword Sect's experts into Great Ruins to seek revenge. Later on, there were people who found their bodies downstream. I had personally inspected the bodies of Mu Beifeng and the rest, they were stabbed to death by a spear but the person who stabbed them didn't use a spear and had used a bamboo cane instead. Senior, do you also use a bamboo cane?"
With the bamboo cane in Blind's hand, he beamed, "What else can a blind man use if it's not a bamboo cane? This cane is used for navigation in case I kick a rock when I can't see properly."
Qin Feiyue heard things that were indirectly implied from what Blind had said and affirmed his guess. He then sneered, "Senior, Mu Beifeng should have died near here, am I right? Did senior see anything at the time?"
Blind replied bleakly, "What can I see when I'm a blind man? General, you must be joking. I've heard of Mu Beifeng's name before, he actually died under evil hands? This pains my heart… Whilst the monkeys cried incessantly from one side of a river to another, leaving great men of succeeding generations to grieve for them! How heartbreaking, how lamentable!"
He lifted his bamboo cane and gently tapped the river surface.
Waves surged on the surface of the huge river, causing the entire river to suddenly tremble violently a few times. The waves on both shores soared up to thirty yards in height and split apart the sky. Even the ship swayed erratically, causing many of the soldiers onboard to lose their footings.
Under the river, the waters split to two sides and revealed the gigantic spine of a giant beast which was blackish green and it was as if a small island had appeared in the middle of the river.
Surging River tremored, shaking this giant beast out from the water and into the air before plummeting it back into the water.
Qin Mu immediately saw that this giant beast was being chained down. The other end of the chain was secured to the ship, which explained why the ship could move so fast. It was the effort of the giant beast.
What's weird was that every other part of the river was trembling violently and only the river surface under Qin Mu's feet remained dead calm.
Seventh young master immediately held onto the side of the ship in case he might stumble into the river. However, he couldn't help but shout out, "Old senior, it's supposed to be, 'how sad that he had to die before he gained victory, leaving great men of succeeding generations to grieve for him!' You're mistaken."
Qin Mu couldn't help replying, "This young master, he meant that if all of you were to die here, it would be sad that he had to die before he gained victory, whereas since all of you are alive and only knows how to make a fuss, all of you would obviously be the monkeys crying incessantly from one side of a river to another. If you still insist on getting to the truth, you will just have to die here. Grandpa Blind is actually very wise."
Blind's face was full of pride and chuckled, "Mu'er is still the one who knows me best. If it was Cripple or Deaf, those scumbags would have ridiculed me for being frivolous."
The corners of Qin Feiyue's eyes twitched. The blind man's power was stronger beyond his expectation. It was lucky the blind man had only tapped the Surging River. If he had flicked, the entire Surging River might just have been flicked up by him!
In the mysterious ice, Gu Linuan kept his mouth shut. He had obviously speculated Blind's power just from him tapping the river. He knew Blind was not to be trifled with and if he insisted on wanting the sword, he would probably die here.
"We'll leave the Junior Protector Sword here first, let us go. Set sail!"
Qin Feiyue laid down the command and a soldier immediately took out a bugle horn and blew into it. The sound coming out from the bugle horn was astonishingly deep and when the giant beast under the water heard the sound of the bugle horn, it started to stir up waves. The water of the huge river suddenly lifted up like a water mountain that was higher than any of the other river surface, as it dragged along the ship and rushed downstream!
"General Qin, aren't you trying to ask the blind man who was the one that had killed Mu Beifeng? Why did you leave before getting an answer?" seventh young master poked his head out from the palace maids surrounding him and asked curiously.
"Young Master, I have already gotten my answer."
General Qin sneered, "Mu Beifeng died at the hands of the blind man just now. The magnificent Spear God was reduced to a blind man and has been hiding in this tiny village! What other terrifying entities must be hiding in seclusion with him? I can't handle this tiny village, therefore, I can only request for reinforcement!"
The armor on his body rattled and the light in his eyes was like the clash of spear and blade. "Under the whole heaven, every spot is the sovereign's ground; To the borders of the land, every individual is the sovereign's minister. This Great Ruins is also the land of the Imperial Family and not a lawless land! Mu Beifeng is an official of the Imperial Family so how can he die in the hands of the wilderness? This village must be demolished and exterminated in order to show the might of our empire and the might of our Imperial Preceptor. Let the awe of our emperor descend onto the Great Ruins!"
"How impressive."
Suddenly a voice sounded out, sending chills down General Qin's spine. He turned his head back in difficulty only to see a crippled man unknowingly appeared behind him and leaning on the side of the ship with a simple smile.
Qin Feiyue's eyes twitched for a moment and Cripple's figure vanished and was now back to back with him. He totally couldn't see how the crippled man had vanished and reappeared behind him!
Qin Feiyue's forehead was covered in sweat. His palm was already on the hilt of his sword but he didn't even dare to move at all.
"Does Imperial Preceptor knows of your big ambition?"
Cripple bend down and saw the topographic map of Surging River on the ship and laughed, "Does Imperial Preceptor plans to move his army into Great Ruins by making you come to draft the topographic map of Surging River? Keke, this little dragon is so pitiful. Eh? Gu Linuan, what's with that stinky face? I shall take your sword sheath away. Your banner isn't bad as well, I shall take this too… This little brother, your piece of jade is pretty good and so is this fan… Bah bah! You're actually a girl? How unlucky!"
Qin Feiyue suddenly saw a slight opening and turned around as he drew his sword in a flash but the crippled man behind him had already vanished!
The crippled man's laughter came from several miles away, "Go back and tell Imperial Preceptor to keep my leg safely and don't lose it. I'll come back for it personally!"
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