Qin Mu never imagined that Senior Divine Dragon would stab him in the back like this.
At this rate, even if he absorbed all the spiritual energy from the medicinal decoction, he still might not be able to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage again.
Qin Mu wanted to get close to Senior Divine Dragon and wake him up, but he had overestimated his own abilities. The reason he could usually get close to the Divine Dragon was because the Divine Dragon intentionally restrained its spiritual pressure.
Now that the Divine Dragon was in a slumbering state, the moment Qin Mu got a bit closer, he felt an immense pressure weighing down on him, pinning him in place. It took everything he had just to escape.
Seeing the spiritual energy around Senior Divine Dragon growing denser by the moment, Qin Mu had no choice but to abandon the idea of waking him. He needed to absorb the spiritual energy quickly—if Senior Divine Dragon absorbed it all, then everything would be drawing water with a bamboo basket.
Qin Mu operated his martial arts manual at full capacity, madly absorbing the spiritual energy in the medicinal decoction.
Before long, the decoction gradually became clear, which meant the spiritual energy had been completely absorbed.
“Whoosh—”
Qin Mu slowly exhaled, then opened his eyes and felt the true qi inside his body. Sure enough, he hadn’t broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, but he was only a step away. Not bad.
After finishing his cultivation, Qin Mu stepped out and ran into Aunt Lu and Senior Chu returning. Aunt Lu tossed him a storage pouch, saying it was an apology gift from that old woman. When he probed it, his jaw nearly hit the floor.
Holy moly! So many treasures!
“Aunt Lu, did you go rob some sect’s treasure vault?”
Qin Mu was stunned. He couldn’t even estimate how many spirit stones there were—at least a few thousand.
“Mhm, Mu’er guessed right.”
Lu Qian patted Mu’er’s little head, the earlier frustration from Ghost Elephant Mountain now vanishing like smoke. Looking at Mu’er’s adorable face, if not for Chu Jiujiu being nearby and needing to maintain her image, she would have scooped Mu’er into her arms and doted on him right now.
Of course, the spirit stones in Mu’er’s storage pouch were ones she deliberately left for him; the rest were with her. In matters of managing money, Lu Qian shared the same mindset as Qin Mengyu—always holding firm to the belief that when men have too much money, they easily go bad. So she never gave Mu’er too many spirit stones.
“Huh? Really!”
Although Qin Mu knew Aunt Lu liked kicking down doors and causing trouble wherever she went, they’d only just arrived in the Wildlands not long ago, and she was already picking fights…
As expected of Aunt Lu—fierce and to the point!
“This way, Mu’er, you can rest easy. No one will be coming to cause trouble for a while.”
When Lu Qian left, she had pretty much dismantled Ghost Elephant Mountain. As for the Sect Leader of Ghost Elephant Mountain, it would take decades just to recover from his injuries.
The reason Qin Mu came here was to figure out what connection the Wildlands had with Senior Divine Dragon, but first he needed to deal with the Gu Tribe’s spirit vein problem.
With everything happening these past few days, he’d almost forgotten why he came here.
Oh! And he’d forgotten one person—well, one dragon.
“Haha, Young Friend Qin, how is your injury healing?”
Shui Ao arrived at the small courtyard where Qin Mu was staying, pushed open the door, and was greeted by the sight of a startled young man.
Who is this?
That was Qin Mu’s first thought. After a moment, he seemed to remember, and pointed at the old man whose white beard nearly dragged on the ground, saying, “So it’s Senior!”
“Hehe, seeing Young Friend Qin’s surprised expression, I thought you had forgotten this old man.”
“How could I? There’s no way this young one would forget Senior.”
Qin Mu said with an awkward chuckle. Truth be told, for a split second, he really had forgotten. If not for that extremely long white beard being such a distinctive feature, he might not have recognized him.
Mainly because this old man hadn’t shown his face at all since rescuing Qin Mu. One might have thought he’d already headed back home.
“In that case, when does Young Friend Qin plan to return to the Dragon Clan with this old man?”
“Dragon Clan?”
Wait! What? I don’t remember ever saying I’d go to the Dragon Clan.
Qin Mu was confused. When did he ever say he wanted to go to the Dragon Clan?
Seeing Qin Mu’s blank expression, Shui Ao asked, “Young Friend Qin, didn’t Sect Master Lu tell you?”
Aunt Lu? Tell me what?
Qin Mu shook his head.
“Very well then. Since Sect Master Lu didn’t inform you, allow this old man to explain.”
Shui Ao stroked his long beard and said slowly, “Sect Master Lu previously came to our Dragon Clan, inquiring about the golden veins on Young Friend Qin’s body. In the end, we discovered that this mystic pattern has a great connection to our Dragon Clan. So this old man came personally, specifically to invite Young Friend Qin to the Dragon Clan for a discussion.”
Connected to the Dragon Clan? Why hasn’t Senior Divine Dragon ever mentioned this?
Qin Mu remembered asking Senior Divine Dragon before whether there was any connection to the Dragon Clan, and Senior Divine Dragon said there wasn’t.
Faced with choosing between believing Senior Divine Dragon or believing the old man before him, Qin Mu felt at a loss.
If he had to make a choice, Qin Mu would pick the former, after all, Senior Divine Dragon had been with him for so long.
“Well… Senior, I think I need to think this over—the matter of going to the Dragon Clan.”
“Young Friend Qin, this old man would never harm you. Is there something you haven’t finished?”
“What? Oh! Yes, Senior. I promised the Gu Tribe I would help them solve their spirit vein problem. I can’t go back on my word!”
Hearing Qin Mu’s words, Shui Ao stroked his beard and nodded in agreement. “Young Friend Qin speaks wisely. If one breaks their word, it will become a trial for one’s future cultivation mindset.”
“Right, right.” Qin Mu put on a helpless expression and said with hesitation, “Senior saved my life, but now I’ve made a promise to others, so the matter of going to the Dragon Clan…”
Before Qin Mu could finish, Shui Ao interrupted, “Young Friend Qin, this old man isn’t forcing you to return to the Dragon Clan with me right now. This old man can help you solve your problem, and then we can go back together.”
“Huh?!”
Qin Mu was dumbfounded. No, wait—I said all that to make it clear I don’t want to go to the Dragon Clan at all!
Given how trouble seems to follow wherever I go, going to the Dragon Clan right now would guarantee something goes wrong!
I, Qin Mu, just want to cultivate quietly like a salted fish, not experience a life and death speed chase every other day.
Just a salted fish here, hoping the big shot will spare me.
Just as Qin Mu didn’t know how to decline the old man’s invitation, a strange fluctuation rippled through the air.
“Hm?”
Qin Mu and Shui Ao looked up simultaneously.
At that moment, the Divine Dragon, who had been slumbering, spoke up as well: “The spirit vein is stirring. Boy, something’s about to happen.”
Qin Mu’s eyes had unknowingly turned gold. Before him, inside the spirit vein that should have been full of spiritual energy, a blood-red color was now mixed in—and it was growing more and more, increasing at a visible rate.
As for Senior Divine Dragon speaking up just now, Qin Mu had no mind to bring up the matter of most of the medicinal decoction’s spiritual energy being absorbed by him. Instead, he asked, “Senior Divine Dragon, what’s happening?”
Unlike Senior Divine Dragon’s usual calm tone, this time Qin Mu could hear a note of seriousness in his voice as he said, “Someone is trying to reverse the spiritual vein.”