Qin Mu felt grateful in his heart and bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you, senior, for your guidance. I will remember it."
Gu Li Nuan smiled and said, "If you understand gratitude, then quickly cultivate and slay the Dragon Mother's soul! If you have any difficulties, feel free to ask me."
Qin Mule immediately activated the "Danxin Jue" technique. The technique required visualizing the dantian as a field, cultivating it with a sword and planting the seed of fire. Then, over ten days, the fire seed would be nurtured, allowing it to grow into a furnace of the dantian, burning with sacred flames.
Only after achieving some success in the cultivation of the Danxin technique could one truly claim to have formed the Danxin.
With a somewhat successful Danxin, one could then control the sword, where the sword followed the mind and the mind accompanied the sword.
It sounds simple, but it is difficult in practice. It is not easy to obtain sacred flames, let alone cultivate the Danxin. The process is divided into nine transformations. As long as Qin Mule can reach the first transformation, his control over Qi and sword will surpass his previous abilities, and catching up to the Dragon Mother's soul should be achievable!
"Oh, you have a solid foundation!"
Gu Li Nuan was surprised. In just a short moment, Qin Mule had already cultivated the dantian with the sword and planted the fire seed, with ten suns rising above the dantian, beginning to nurture the fire seed.
This indicated that Qin Mule's cultivation was quite profound. If it were an ordinary warrior, let alone ten suns rising, it would be difficult to even plant the fire seed. They would need to continuously consume spirit medicines to replenish their elemental energy in order to produce enough fire seeds.
Qin Mule, on the other hand, didn't need to consume spirit medicines. He filled the dantian with fire seeds in one go, transforming his elemental energy into ten rotating suns that illuminated the dantian. Such cultivation was truly rare among warriors in the Spirit Fetus realm!
"With his terrifying cultivation speed, maybe he won't even need ten days or two days. Tomorrow, he may achieve the first transformation of the Danxin technique, slay the Dragon Mother's soul, and rescue me!"
Gu Li Nuan's eyes flickered. "Such an outstanding young genius, I really don't want to kill him like this."
He felt a sigh in his heart. "But the Great Desolation is a land abandoned by the gods. Not to mention the people living here, even insects are guilty and must die. Moreover, I'm starving. I haven't eaten anything for over fifty years..."
The time it took for Qin Mule to cultivate the first transformation of the Danxin technique was shorter than he had imagined. It was now nighttime, and the outside sky gradually brightened, casting its light through the rushing river onto the Dragon Palace at the bottom.
Qin Mule stood up, his thoughts flickered, and suddenly his elemental energy entwined around the Short Guardian Sword. With a swish, it pierced through layers of mist, moving like light and electricity, incredibly swift!
Sizzling sounds filled the air.
The sound of the Short Guardian Sword piercing through the air continued, and in an instant, Qin Mule controlled the precious sword to execute a hundred swift thrusts, leaving people dazzled.
Although he didn't understand swordsmanship and only performed a simple stabbing action, it was even more terrifying than the swordsmanship passed down by Qi Qiu of the Li River Sect, a renowned sword sect descendant!
This Danxin technique is truly remarkable!
Qin Mule once again bowed to Gu Li Nuan and sincerely thanked him, saying, "Thank you, senior, for passing down your technique. I will never forget it."
Gu Li Nuan burst into laughter and said, "You also have exceptional talent, which is why you were able to comprehend it thoroughly and achieve the first transformation of the Danxin technique in such a short time. The little fox by your side hasn't cultivated as quickly as you. Quickly control your sword and slay the Dragon Mother!"
He was extremely delighted in his heart. He was about to escape captivity, yet even a grand expert like him couldn't help but feel a bit anxious and unsure.
"This kid saved me, and his talent is so extraordinary. I really don't want to kill him..."
Just at that moment, Qin Mule turned around and walked away, carrying the Short Guardian Sword, disappearing into the dense fog.
Gu Li Nuan was dumbfounded, still unable to react. Qin Mule had already left the Dragon Palace with the Short Guardian Sword and the little fox spirit, without even pausing for a moment, heading outside.
"You come back here!"
Gu Li Nuan's angry roar resounded, and he sternly shouted, "You ungrateful brat! I passed on my techniques to you and gave you a sword. Why didn't you slay the Dragon Mother?"
Outside the palace, Qin Mule's voice grew farther and farther away. "Senior, it's true that the Dragon Mother used the Dragon Pearl to kill many warriors who entered this place, but the Dragon Pearl only turns them into dried corpses, walking dead. There are still many skeletons in the Dragon Palace that didn't die under the Dragon Pearl. They didn't turn into dried corpses; they became skeletons."
Gu Li Nuan was stunned. "When did you realize this, you little brat?"
"Just as I entered the Dragon Palace, I noticed it."
Gu Li Nuan gritted his teeth and coldly said, "Are you really only twelve years old? A twelve-year-old boy can see through these things? Can understand these matters? Can calmly devise a plan?"
"I just turned eleven this autumn, and I'll be twelve this year..." Qin Mule's voice became increasingly faint, gradually becoming inaudible.
Angry curses suddenly resounded throughout the Dragon Palace, their voices loud and reaching the ears of Qin Mule and the little fox spirit, who had already walked far away.
Hu Linger poked her head out from his embrace and asked curiously, "Master Mu, how did you know he had ill intentions?"
Qin Mule said, "When we first arrived, I used the Zen Staff to disperse the mist, and many dried corpses fell from the sky. Did you notice that, aside from the dried corpses, there were also many skeletons?"
The little fox nodded. She had noticed that some skeletons were crushed by the falling dried corpses, and these skeletons were still wearing official attire.
"The clothes on the skeletons are official uniforms," Qin Mule continued. "Gu Li Nuan said he brought many disciples to explore the Great Ruins together and discovered this underwater Dragon Palace. His disciples were killed by the Dragon Pearl, but being killed by the Dragon Pearl should turn them into dried corpses, not skeletons. So how did they die?"
The little fox suddenly realized and hurriedly said, "Gu Li Nuan was holding a black pennant in his other hand, which was quite eerie! When he was frozen in ice, it was definitely a process, and he must have used the black pennant to kill his disciples."
"When he was sealed by the Dragon Pearl in the deep ice and unable to escape, he knew he would be trapped here for a long time. With the constant power struggles in the court, although his disciples had the title of disciples, they were all officials of Yan Kang Country. There was no true teacher-student relationship, so these people might not inform the court to come to his rescue. After all, leaving a position of the Crown Prince's Short Guardian vacant would benefit everyone."
Qin Mule nodded. "Since the court might not come to rescue him, he decided to take decisive action and directly absorb all the lifeblood of his disciples to prevent himself from starving to death while sealed. However, his methods should be different from the Dragon Mother's Dragon Pearl. They are even more sinister, completely absorbing the flesh and blood of his disciples, turning them into skeletons. Do you remember when we just entered the Dragon Palace, my Zen Staff kept making noises?"
The little fox remembered. At that time, she was trembling on Qin Mule's leg, and he even told her to move her tail.
"I originally thought it was the thoughts of those dried corpses disturbing the Zen Staff, causing it to keep making noise. But the dried corpses are already dead and have no consciousness. Then I thought it might be the lingering thoughts of the Dragon Mother's soul. However, the strange thing is that when I approached Gu Li Nuan, the Zen Staff stopped making noise. Obviously, it wasn't the lingering thoughts of the Dragon Mother's soul, but Gu Li Nuan's thoughts."
Qin Mule said, "The reason the Zen Staff stopped making noise was that Gu Li Nuan no longer had any thoughts. He had made up his mind. Since we have the protection of the Exiled Zen Staff, he couldn't harm us, so he decided to use us to escape captivity!"
The little fox was stunned, and after a moment, she stammered, "Master Mu, are you really only twelve years old?"
"I just turned twelve this autumn," Qin Mule said with a simple smile.
"Then, are you also a fox spirit?"
Hu Linger exclaimed excitedly, "You must be a fox spirit who has achieved enlightenment, and a clever one at that!"
Qin Mule sighed and said, "You have no idea how I spent my childhood! I was deceived and tricked by a group of old men and women. Just before I went out hunting, my stepmother even tricked me into going to the chicken coop to collect eggs. It turned out to be a rooster hen, and it chased me around, beating me up. I couldn't even fight back against it! And my stepmother secretly sneaked over and took the eggs!"
Not long after, they bypassed the water pool and left the Dragon King Temple.
While the little fox summoned a gust of wind, Qin Mule traveled on the wind. They arrived in front of a grass hut by the waterfall. Qin Mule was in a hurry to return to the village and was about to bid farewell when the little fox smiled and said, "You're all dirty and smelly now, why rush back? This waterfall beside us is a water pool. Why don't you go down and take a bath first? I'll wash your clothes for you. Once they're dry, you can put on clean clothes. Isn't that nice? Besides, I have some doubts about cultivation that I'd like to consult with you."
Qin Mule hesitated for a moment, about to speak, when a cold laughter came from the grass hut. It was Sipo Po, his stepmother. She said, "Taking a bath? Cultivation? Are you trying to gather yin to supplement yang or gather yang to supplement yin?"
"Stepmother?" Qin Mule was both surprised and delighted. "How did you end up here?"
