Chapter 58: Young Cult Master
Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek
The people in the courtyard increased in number. They were of all shapes and sizes and they all had different professions. The only similarity they shared now was that they were all looking up at the utterly dilapidated wooden building, which was now filled with thousands of holes.
Finally, the Wood Hall Master was beaten down as the whole wooden building collapsed to the ground.
Amidst the collapsed building, a Green Dragon coiled around his body and he punched away the shattered woods that were flying towards him as he walked to the second building.
Bang, bang, bang…
The wooden building tremored continuously as if a huge beast was rampaging through the building. The second building wasn't any better than the first, as the walls were exploding with figures flying out one after another.
Qin Mu was progressing faster and faster. It was obvious that he was absorbing battle experience, raising his battle awareness and his skills after defeating the hall masters one after another!
Rumble.
The second building collapsed and raised dust into the air.
Qin Mu then proceeded to the third building.
...
The night fell. In the village of the Heavenly Devil Cult, the stone basins on top of the stone pillars were filled with flammable oil and were ignited. Inside the village was bright like daylight yet outside the village was pitch black darkness. Once the light in the village comes into contact with the darkness, the lights in the village would be consumed by the darkness. It was two different worlds in and out of the village.
Among the fiery glow, over three hundred hall masters of Heavenly Devil Cult stood in the village as they raised their heads and looked at the last wooden building.
There were a total of nine wooden buildings. Every building had forty hall masters that were guarding forty rooms. By now, Qin Mu had fought his way to the ninth building and was about to reach the top.
"Young Master Mu hasn't taken a rest for an entire day and night, am I right?"
Cathouse Hall Master replied softly, "He started fighting since morning and other than having lunch and dinner, it seems like he hasn't stopped fighting yet."
Wind Riding Hall Master said, "It's almost morning and he is about to reach the top of the ninth building. Doesn't his energy and vital qi seem too plentiful? It doesn't appear that he had used up any at all. In addition, his stamina is so powerful that it's scary! However, the few fellows at the top floor of the ninth building aren't that easy to deal with either."
On the top floor, the four people were the four great cornerstones of all three hundred and sixty hall masters: Green Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger and Black Tortoise. These four halls corresponded to the Four Great Spirit Bodies and therefore, the chosen hall masters were outstanding talents who were carefully picked.
These four halls had the strongest martial power among all three hundred and sixty halls. The other hall masters all have their own talents and managed a single profession whereas these four halls were only in charge of battle prowess.
In the history of Heavenly Devil Cult, most of the Cult Protector Elders come from these four halls. Even some cult masters had come from these four halls.
The room in which Qin Mu had entered was the White Tiger Hall Master's room. White Tiger Vital Qi specializes in sharpness and is unbreakable.
Back when the cult master, Li Tianxing, was killed wretchedly on his wedding night and the cult mistress having vanished with the cult's legacy holy bible, the Four Great Hall Masters were all trained by the Devil Cult Patriarch to take over as the next cult master. Though he didn't expect them to be able to expand Heavenly Devil Cult, he wanted them to not be swallowed up by Eternal Peace Empire.
Even though the Four Great Hall Masters didn't reach the anticipation of Devil Cult Patriarch, they all had astonishing growth in strength.
Despite White Tiger Hall Master having sealed his other divine treasures and leaving his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure open, he was still a formidable enemy that Qin Mu had never met before!
This woman had refined her vital qi into an extremely durable vital qi thread. However, she didn't cultivate any methods of using qi to manipulate sword. Her vital qi thread itself was her sword.
It was almost impossible to see her vital qi thread clearly. When Qin Mu stepped into the room, the White Tiger Hall Master had her vital qi thread extending out from her ten fingers and draped around all corners of the room, making it difficult for Qin Mu to walk.
Her body was like an enchanting demoness in the Great Ruins. She was extremely flexible and moved freely in the room. Her fingertips had waves and waves of vital qi swords shooting out in all directions towards Qin Mu. They appeared to be her fingernails, yet they also seemed like flexible swords that could control their lengths freely.
Moving like a feline, she was extremely nimble in the small room. Whether it was the walls or the ceilings, they were all like flat ground to her.
This battle was very tiring. Qin Mu used his Pig Slaughtering Knife to cut down the fine vital qi thread in the room, but every strand was extremely durable and hard to cut apart. Furthermore, the White Tiger Hall Master kept putting up more threads with her trusty hands, disabling Qin Mu from defending against it.
On the other hand, the White Tiger Hall Master could move freely in her room and even use her limbs to stand on her vital qi thread, traveling to and fro as if she was flying.
Using her vital qi as a thread, her flexible sword was very peculiar. It could curve in all ways and even bend eighteen times, showing that her sword skills were not weak as well!
Qin Mu was repeatedly wounded, as he was required to be careful of both her vital qi thread as well as her vital qi sword, making it very tiring for him. Whether it was the Old Ma's fist skills or the Cripple's leg skills, he was unable to execute it. In addition, Butcher's knife skills couldn't be unleashed properly due to all the obstruction. Thus he was at a disadvantage.
Finally, with a stab of his sword, the wooden sword managed to hit the White Tiger Hall Master in the chest even after it was split into two by her vital qi thread. It pinned her to the wall and sent her out of the wooden building when the wall shattered.
Qin Mu raised his knife to cut away all the vital qi thread in the room and then took out medicine to apply on himself before bandaging up his wounds.
Sitting down, he took the time to recuperate and ate the food provided in the room. When the pain from his body has subsided, his stamina also recovered quite a bit. Breaking a few planks, he used Pig Slaughtering Knife to shave them into wooden swords and placed them on his back before entering the next room.
He had defeated three hundred and fifty-seven rooms out of three hundred and sixty rooms. Now he was left with the last three rooms.
His stamina and will had reached their maximum limits. The humming sound in his head was like the commotion of a thousand men.
He had never been so exhausted before and he wanted to lie on the floor to sleep more than anything else. Even his spirit embryo wasn't as active as it was before and was lacking in vitality.
He was no longer holding on to his will but from his mechanical way of battling - to fight on relying on his instinct.
There was only one thought in his mind - these people can't take away Granny Si who had raised him up. His parents may have given him life but it was Granny Si who had saved his life and raised him up painstakingly. Granny Si was his mother and his closest kin!
In the next room, the Green Dragon Hall Master came. When he saw Qin Mu walking over, he frowned, "Young Master Mu, you don't look okay, there's no need to rush. You can always take a break first…"
Before he could even finish speaking, Qin Mu raised his hand and stabbed forward. In a flash, the wooden sword flew straight towards Green Dragon Hall Master's body and blew him away!
In a daze, Qin Mu turned around and lifted his legs mechanically, slowly walking to the next room.
Bang—!
The wooden wall of the next room exploded open as Black Tortoise Hall Master used his Black Tortoise Shield to block Qin Mu's sword. However, he didn't expect the terrifying strength that was hidden in the sword to blow him away as well!
Qin Mu slowly walked out of this room and moved to the next room with heavy footsteps.
"Young Master Mu, I can wait for you to rest first…"
Bang!
Qin Mu stabbed forward and sent the Vermillion Bird Hall Master flying.
"It's done?"
Qin Mu was stumped. Suddenly, all his remaining strength seeped out of his body and his legs turned limp, causing him to fall to the ground. In the distant, he could hear the clucking of the hen dragon from Disabled Elderly Village. That was the sound the hen dragon makes after laying its egg.
However, the youth was simply too exhausted and fell into a deep slumber soon after. At this moment, his spirit embryo frantically absorbed the golden light in his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure and fell into a slumber as well.
Qin Mu had no idea how long he slept. When he woke up in a daze, he seemingly saw Village Chief and Apothecary and heard their voices from high up as if they were very far away. "There isn't too much of a problem, it's just that he's too exhausted…" Qin Mu then fell back asleep.
He woke up several times and saw many faces beside him. Sometimes it was Granny Si, other times it was the young patriarch of Heavenly Devil Cult. He wanted to say something but he had no energy and once again fell back asleep.
When Qin Mu woke up again, he felt soreness all over his body but he was energized. The wounds on his body had also scabbed and had started to peel off. It must have been Apothecary reapplying ointments on him.
He sat up again and glanced around. He noticed that he was still in the room of the Vermillion Bird Hall Master and the surroundings were quiet without any sound.
"My spirit embryo is asleep again."
Qin Mu check his body and discovered that other than his spirit embryo being silent, there were no major problems, therefore he endured the soreness in his body and tried to stand up. Supporting himself on the stairs, he slowly walked downstairs. Every movement and every step caused excruciating pain in his muscle.
When he finally reached the first floor with difficulty, he walked out of the wooden building and raised his head to have a look and was stunned by the sight.
The village of Heavenly Devil Cult was filled with people and most of them were familiar faces. He had seen all three hundred and sixty hall masters and they were all in the crowd.
Other than the hall masters, there were also unfamiliar faces. There were strong workers that were thirty yards tall, white-haired elders, solemn Left and Right Guardians, Four Great Cult Heavenly Kings, and Eight Great Supervisors.
They were either standing or sitting and all of them were waiting silently without making a sound.
Seeing Qin Mu walking out from the wooden building, they all rose one after another and had their gaze on Qin Mu with a solemn expression.
The young patriarch of the devil cult was standing at the village entrance alongside the Village Chief, Apothecary, Old Ma and the rest. Granny Si was also standing there with a complicated expression as she looked at Qin Mu.
Suddenly, four elders bowed and their resonating voice pierced the clouds, "The Four Great Cult Heavenly Kings of the sacred cult pay our respects to Young Cult Master!"
Qin Mu stared blankly and didn't know what to do. However, more voices rang out in unison, "The Left and Right Guardians of the sacred cult pay our respects to Young Cult Master!"
"The Eight Great Supervisors of the sacred cult pay our respects to Young Cult Master!"
"The Twelve Cult Protector Elders of the sacred cult pay our respects to Young Cult Master!"
An even more resonating voice rang out. It was the deafening voice of all three hundred and sixty hall master shouting in unison.
"The three hundred and sixty hall masters of the sacred cult pay our respects to Young Cult Master!"
When had Qin Mu ever seen this kind of spectacle before? He couldn't help but feeling flustered and looked pleadingly at Village Chief, Granny Si and the rest. However, they remained where they were and looked from afar.
The cowherd boy of Disabled Elderly Village composed himself and suddenly had a calm bearing as he slowly raised both of his hands and spoke in a steady pace, "You may all rise."
"Thank you, Young Cult Master!"