Chapter 97: Singing Voice In The Water
Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek
River Carrier swam all the way downstream and traveled two hundred to three hundred miles. On the riverside, Qin Mu saw a village built beside a temple and was slightly stunned when he saw a little girl combing her three braids as she sat on the horizontal inscribed board of the dilapidated temple.
Qin Mu immediately made the River Carrier stop and went ashore while leaving the white fox behind.
Coming to this village, he could see the villagers were living in peace and prosperity. There were a few elderly women who went up to the temple to offer incense and half a pig as offerings.
Qin Mu came to the temple and when the little girl saw him, she immediately jumped down and hid in the temple.
"Woman Wu, I saw you, why do you need to hide from me?" Qin Mu smiled.
The little girl came out from the temple smiling, "I'm not hiding from you. I was waiting for you to enter the temple to offer incense and say words like you have a weak body and kidney since young so that I can make fun of you!"
Qin Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Looking around, he saw that the temple was cleanly kept and there wasn't a speck of dust. Only the incense was still burning in the incense burner. He walked to the god statue which the temple was worshiping and found that it was a little girl who looked exactly like Xian Qing'er which Woman Wu transformed into.
Qin Mu walked behind the god statue and laid down his worry when he discovered no white bones behind. Walking out of the temple, he asked curiously, "Why are you staying here?"
Woman Wu was pleased with herself, "I'm earning merit here! This village is under my protection and the villagers here make offerings for me. I help them chase away fierce beasts and sometimes carry river water to help water the lands. When the rain gets too heavy, I'll help them disperse the rain clouds. When there's no wind, I would help them create wind and when the storm comes, I would drive the wind away. I wandered around long ago to catch beasts and humans to eat which caused me to be caught and suppressed by the old baldy. Now that I have become my own Buddha in my temple, not only I get offerings, there are still merits for me to earn!"
Qin Mu smiled, "Didn't you went upstream? How did you end up here?"
"After breaking the ice dam with you then, I began to wander around. In the end, I met the monks of Little Thunderclap Monastery and fought with them. I couldn't win them therefore I escaped and ended up here. As I hid in this temple, bandits coincidentally invaded, therefore, I ate them. The villagers here saw me and thought I was immortal from the temple which had answered their call. They offered cows, goats, and even incense to me. Receiving their goodwill, I was also embarrassed therefore I did some work for them."
Woman Wu jumped back onto the horizontal inscribed board and swung her legs, "And so they treated me even better and I became even more embarrassed and ended up staying here."
Qin Mu laughed out loudly, "Doing benevolent deed unintentionally, you are going to become Buddha." When he finished his words, he turned to leave.
Woman Wu sent him off and muttered softly, "I don't want to become a monk. What's the fun in being vegetarian everyday…"
Qin Mu returned to the back of the River Carrier and this huge green back beast gradually swam out of the shallow water region. Its speed gradually grew faster as he headed downstream. Looking back at the ancient temple, the little braids of the little girl in the temple swayed as she received the incense and offerings of the villagers.
The waves churned on torrential Surging River.
When they reached the dock of Border Dragon City, Qin Mu and Hu Ling'er went ashore and came into this city.
This city had already fallen into the hands of Heavenly Devil Cult and even though Granny Si didn't show her face as Fu Yundi for these few days, there weren't any problems. After all, Fu Yundi also frequently cultivated in seclusion.
Qin Mu came to the inn and called the inn owner over, "Incense master, is there any method for me to avoid the Inspection Mirrors to enter Eternal Peace Empire?"
The inn master replied, "There are two passes to enter Eternal Peace Empire. One is the Eternal Border and the other is the Secret Waters. The Eternal Border Pass and Secret Waters Pass are all heavily guarded and have Inspection Mirrors hanging on the city gate towers. Anyone who belongs to the abandoned people of Great Ruins would be shone out and be shot to death. Otherwise, they would be sent to the mines as slaves. If you want to go by the mountains, it would be even more dangerous. Eternal Peace and Great Ruins are connected by God Broken Mountain Range. God Broken Mountain Range was already so abnormally dangerous that even flying birds have trouble flying pass. Eternal Peace Empire hid Mysterious Pearl Crossbows in an ambush on the mountain range to guard against the mob of people from Great Ruins. If anyone thinks of crossing the mountains, they would be shot to death by the Mysterious Pearl Crossbows."
Qin Mu frowned and asked, "There is no other way to enter Eternal Peace Empire?"
The inn owner smiled, "Others might not have but our sacred cult has our own way. Before the trading route was open, our sacred cult had to smuggle goods, therefore, we secretly destroyed two Mysterious Pearl Crossbows on God Broken Mountain Range to cross the dull and lonely mountain range, entering Great Ruins. Now that the trading route between Eternal Peace and Great Ruins is open, that route was abandoned since the trading route is much easier to enter Eternal Peace. If young master wants to enter Eternal Peace, you can go through Secret Waters Pass. Most of the guards at Secret Waters Pass are people from our sacred cult."
Qin Mu's expression slightly changed. The power of Heavenly Devil Cult was simply too huge, as expected of the biggest sect following the path of the devil!
He pondered over, "Prepare an Eternal Peace's geographic map. I shall have a look on the way to familiarize myself with the geography of Eternal Peace."
"Understood."
The inn owner retreated. Qin Mu and Hu Ling'er ate dinner and showered before turning in.
The next day, the inn owner brought over thick documents which had the entire geographic map of Eternal Peace Empire as well as the detailed maps of the counties. Qin Mu put the geographic maps into his bag and asked, "Who's going to bring me to Secret Waters Pass?"
Inn owner smiled, "Don't worry, Young master. Your meal has been prepared and may I invite young master to dine first. when you reach the side of the river, there would be brothers from our sacred cult to lead Young Master."
Qin Mu and Hu Ling'er ate breakfast and came to Surging River only to see a ship already berthed there. A young lady in green stood on the ship and greeted politely in a soft voice, "Greetings young master. May I invite young master to come onboard."
"Drop the formalities."
Qin Mu brought Hu Ling'er up the ship and she asked the young lady in green, "Can sister bring me into the city and hide from the Inspection Mirrors?"
The young lady in green smiled, "I definitely can't hide you from the Inspection Mirrors. However, I'm the high official of Secret Waters Pass, Feng Xiuyun. I'm in charge of checking the people that enter and leave the city, therefore, I can naturally bring young master in and out of the city."
Qin Mu was astonished. This young lady didn't seem to be that old and she was already the high official guarding the borders. He immediately replied, "Thanks for the trouble, Sister Feng."
Under the ship, a huge beast floated up the water surface and started to swim downstream. After it swam an unknown distance, the river surface started to get wider and fog gradually rose.
Just as the ship entered the fog, the speed of huge beast pulling the ship gradually slowed down and became irritated and uneasy. It was as if there was something under the water that frightened it.
Feng Xiuyun suddenly became bewildered, "Why did this fellow suddenly throw a tantrum and isn't willing to pull the ship anymore?"
Hu Ling'er also suddenly got nervous and whispered, "Young master, I felt a presence coming closer to us, a very chilling presence…"
Suddenly at this moment, Qin Mu could faintly feel that something was looking at him. Fish dragon leaped up behind him and spat out half of Junior Protector Sword from its mouth.
Feng Xiuyun had a grave expression and moved in front of Qin Mu to guard him. Suddenly air bubbles emerged from under the water and the fog grew as the numbers of air bubbles grew.
However, other than that, there was no other unusual occurrence.
Qin Mu composed himself. This river was too wide and with the white fog getting heavier, they couldn't determine their directions. The little white fox used her spells, wanting to control her demon wind. However, her demon wind was entirely useless as it was unable to blow the fog away.
Feng Xiuyun took out a fan and jolted the surface of the fan. The fan suddenly grew to the height of a human and the young lady raised the fan to fan forward. A gale which was more powerful than the demon wind instantly rose but she still couldn't drive the white fog away at all.
The river water gently brought the ship down the river. The huge beast pulling the ship had already gone back down in the water and didn't dare to come back up, therefore, the ship could only rely on the river water to bring it forward.
Feng Xiuyun was extremely nervous and at this moment, a singing voice came from the water. The voice was very gentle and the tune was like a mother soothing her baby to sleep. However, there was no lyric but only a tune.
Qin Mu was stunned. He somehow felt that this singing voice was very familiar.
"I've heard this song before!"
He stood at the bow and looked down, only to see a long hair woman in white floating downstream with the ship.
The ship sailed forward and the woman in the water followed like a shadow. The singing voice was coming from the mouth of the woman.
"I really heard this song before but this isn't the song that Granny Si sang to coax me to sleep…"
Hearing the singing voice, Qin Mu felt close and dear as well as a little agitated, as if a memory deep in his mind was trying to break out.
He suddenly leaped off the ship and landed on the surface of the water. Feng Xiuyun stretched her hand out to grab him but she didn't manage to. Hu Ling'er also jumped off but she felt a chill down her spine uncontrollably when she saw the woman in the water. She immediately skipped and jumped to follow Qin Mu, creating ripples from her scurry.
"Slow down, young master! I'm scared…"
The singing voice was still continuing and no matter how fast he ran he could never catch up to the woman in the water.
Qin Mu became more and more flustered and just as he was about to return to the ship, he suddenly noticed that the jade pendant in front of his chest had floated up lightly.
Qin Mu stared blankly and halted as he looked at the face of the woman in the water.
The woman in the water also stopped and it seemed that Qin Mu wasn't the one chasing her and she was the one chasing Qin Mu instead.
Bathump.
The youth of Disabled Elderly Village knelt down on the water surface and stretched out his trembling palms as he tried to touch the face of the woman in the water. Tears rolled out from his eyes and dripped onto the calm river surface.
"Is it you? Are you the one who had sent me to Disabled Elderly Village…"