Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
Qin Mu was astonished. Since Butcher had come back, Village Chief and the rest should know that Xing An had attacked and got severely injured. With the danger of Xing An solved, it was a surprise that Old Ma didnât remain in Great Thunderclap Monastery, but instead came with Village Chief and the rest.
âVillage Chief, Xing Anâ¦â
Village Chief shook his head. âXing Anâs matter is insignificant. Iâve called you back because thereâs something important. Are you able to contact Heavenly Devil Patriarch?â
Qin Muâs heart stirred as he said, âDid something big happen? Patriarch and Elder of Discipline left to roam the world and said that Elder of Discipline would bring his ashes back after he died. Village Chief, what exactly is going on? Saintess Xiang and I discovered something weird when roaming just nowâa mountain split apart and a stone statue rose up. Are you here because of that?â
Si Yunxiang nodded repeatedly as she added, âThat stone statue was very terrifying and seemed to be growing out from the mountain, rising upward quickly!â
âThereâs not only one stone statue.â Old Ma gave others a feeling that his wisdom was smooth and round like a pearl. âStone statues have appeared all around the world, and there is about a hundred of them. There are numerous strange treasures as well. These objects have all appeared suddenly and are things that are not from our world. Some stone statues had burst from under Mount Meru, hitting it, but they didnât split it. Instead, they were suppressed.â
Qin Mu had a weird expression.
Muteâs expression was grim as his fingers jumped rapidly to make weird gestures.
âThis kind of stone statue is a sign that the gods and devils are descending.â Deaf looked at his hands and said, âThe gods and devils from the other world canât cross the world barrier easily, so they chose to petrify themselves into stone statues that have no energy to send themselves over. With this, their primordial spirit and magic power would remain in their respective worlds.
âIf they wanted to regain their body of flesh and blood, they would need blood sacrifices to summon their primordial spirit from another world. We saw a few of the treasures on the way, and they are meteorological weapons used to draw great calamities for massacring the populace⦠Donât look at me, thatâs what Mute is saying.â
Everyone looked at Mute and Village Chief couldnât resist asking, âHow do you know so much? You understand all of it even better than I do.â
Mute grinned, signaling with his hands. Deaf then said, âThis guy is acting mute and deaf again, I didnât understand what he signaled.â
âThis matter is too terrifying. From what I see, thereâs no need to find Patriarch or anyone else. Letâs return to Great Ruins immediately!â Granny Si said. âSo many stone statues had appeared in Eternal Peace, and once they revive, who can defend against them? Old Ma, donât be a Rulai anymore, let whoever wants to take over. I also donât want this manor anymore, so letâs just all return to Great Ruins immediately!â
Butcher shook his head and said, âGranny, it isnât good to just leave like this, right? Arenât we going to be cowards if we hide in Great Ruins? A man should have an indomitable spirit and fight a vigorous battle!â
Granny Si gave him a look and said coldly, âIf you arenât leaving, do you want to die? Do you want to return to before, living miserably with your upper body alone?â
Butcherâs face flushed red from anger. âI wonât stoop myself to your level!â
Village Chief coughed and said, âGranny, Human Emperor needs to take on the responsibilityâ¦â
âTake on the responsibility?â Granny Si smiled with extreme anger. âCan you take on the responsibility? You couldnât yet you still pushed Muâer into the pit! If you have the capability, take on the responsibility yourself! Look at you now, hiding in Great Ruins like a rod and acting dead, yet you still have the face to talk about responsibility!â
Village Chief was too angry to even form words. âYou-you!â
âYou, what you?â Granny Si asked ruthlessly. âThere are over a hundred stone statues. If you have the ability, go cut down all of them. Otherwise, you shall also go back obediently to Great Ruins and act dead like me!â
Deaf coughed and said, âGranny, youâre going overboardâ¦â
âHow is it related to you? I brought Qin Mu up, cleaning his pee and poop. All you did every day was hit his palm with a black face. If it was not because you could write well and taught Muâer to read, I would have beaten you to death long ago!â
Deaf stuttered from his fury. âOne can learn without a beating⦠You-you unreasonable woman! Only a lowly person would quarââ
Granny Si put a cowskin over his head, and Deaf instantly became a mooing bull.
âGranny, I thinkââ Apothecary started to say, but was cut off as well.
âScram!â Granny Si said coldly. âGo back and serve those women of yours!â
âAlright,â Apothecary replied frankly and turned to leave.
Mute knocked on his tobacco pipe and signaled. âAh, ahâ¦â
âShut up, you bad egg, always full of mischievous ideas!â
Mute lowered his head, feeling extremely wronged. He stopped talking. Cripple opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Granny Si turned around to stare at him. Cripple then shuddered and laughed dryly. âWhy are you so fierce? We can discuss this peacefully, haha. Everything is good⦠Old Ma, Old Ma, say something! I listen to your words the most, so if you say to return to the village, I will return. Old Ma says go and I will go!â
Granny Si glanced at Old Ma. âIf you donât return to Great Ruins, I will go to your Great Thunderclap Monastery, and you can see how many monks will be left in your monastery!â
Old Ma didnât say a word.
âBlind, say something.â Village Chief looked at Blind.
âIf Muâer wants to stay, then we shall stay. If Muâer wants to return to Great Ruins, we shall also return.â Granny Si looked at him coldly, and Blind closed his eyes. âGranny, if you want to take Muâer away, they canât stop you, but I can. I brought Muâer away once, so I know his resolve. We are all old, and if Village Chief wonât manage to patch his divine bridge, he probably wonât make it past next spring, so why do we have to strain our relationships? Just listen to what Muâer has to say.â
Granny Siâs heart softened, and she looked at Qin Mu. In a gentle voice, she said, âMuâer, you are already a grown up. The baddies of the village taught you to be like that, but you shouldnât learn bad from them. Follow granny back. You shall marry any girl you like, and granny will wait to carry her grandsonâ¦â
Qin Mu looked around in a daze before lowering his head.
Si Yunxiang looked around her surroundings, also slightly at a loss. She didnât know what was happening. âAunt is pretty awe-inspiring, scolding all these god-like existence into obedience. When can I become this impressive as wellâ¦ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
After a moment, Qin Mu raised his head. âThese stone statues are like the stone statues of Great Ruins, gods and devils who had petrified themselves, but they had suddenly appeared because Yuxiu and I founded Primordial Spirit Guide. Those stone statues have came to wipe out Eternal Peace, right? In that case, the trouble is caused by me, isnât it? They are here to kill me?â
âIt might not have been caused by you, but Emperor Yanfeng killing Jade Sovereign of High Heavens with the cannon. Based on the timing, High Heavens should have reported that event to their masters. Besides, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor and Emperor Yanfengâs reform would have brought this sooner or later, just probably several years later,â Village Chief explained.
âThis change doesnât rest solely on your shoulders, but also the reform. First, Emperor Yanfengâs cannon raised the attention of the masters of High Heavens. Then, Princess Xiu and you founded Primordial Spirit Guide which brought about some changes to the great Dao.â
âIn that case, part of the reason is still me.â Qin Mu pondered it for a moment, then said to Granny Si, âGranny, Iâm not going back. I still have many friends here, like Wei Yong, Chen Wanyun, Mu Qingdai, and Yue Qinghong. I donât want to hear news of their deaths a few years later. Didnât you guys say it before? I should clean up after myself.â
Granny Si was slightly stunned. âButcher taught you to be loyal, so you are really going to be loyal? Whatâs loyalty going to do? Can it save your life?â
Qin Mu shook his head. âIt wonât, but it will put my heart at ease.â
Granny Si was first stunned, then she sighed. âAt ease? I donât know if youâll still be able to feel at ease when Eternal Peace Empire is wiped out by the fire of war. But you have grown up and have your own ideas. Fine then, I wonât force you. Invite Patriarch back.â
Qin Mu blinked and asked with curiosity, âWhy do I have to invite Patriarch?â
âWe old bones discussed and felt that High Heavens would come to activate the treasures which broke out from the earth and release various natural disasters, using the resulting deaths as sacrifices to bring over the gods whose stone statues have risen in Eternal Peace. To stop that, we discussed a plan to attack the High Heavens to prevent their actions.â
âSince those statues are the bodies of gods and devils, why donât we just smash them?â Qin Mu asked in bewilderment.
âOnce the gods and devils petrify themselves, they become incomparably tough, too hard to shatter,â Blind said. âHave you ever seen shattered stone statues in Great Ruins?â
Qin Mu pondered over it, realizing that it was indeed the case. He had roamed around in Great Ruins numerous times, but rarely seen shattered stone statues. However, he had seen numerous dragon kingâs statues whose heads had been severed in the east sea.
That time, it should have been the heavenly king of Heavenly King Temple. Heâd ridden the dragon qilin to quell the rebellion in the east sea, using Green Dragon Crescent Blade to sever the heads of dragon kingsâ stone statues.
âCan we move the stone statues to Great Ruins?â Qin Mu asked. âIf we move them to Great Ruins and place them near the stone statues there, we wouldnât have to worry about them reviving and created a ruckus.â
Cripple smiled and said, âCarrying a stone statue is like carrying a god. Who can carry a god and walk tens of thousands of miles to Great Ruins? Besides, itâs not just one or two, but over a hundred!â
Qin Mu frowned. The god statues were indeed terrifyingly heavy. An existence like Old Ma would have to rest after walking just one thousand yards. On top of that, Old Ma was a person who had a strong corporeal body!
âSaintess Xiang, what method does the sacred cult have to contact Patriarch or Elder of Discipline?â Qin Mu turned his head to ask the girl.
âMy Si Family has two Heart Inspection Mirrors which act as a pair. By mumbling the other personâs name and imagining their voice and appearance, one is able to contact another person, seeing them and hearing their voice. Patriarch and Elder of Discipline have one such inspection mirror, so itâs simple to contact them. I shall go inform elder lady and get her to contact Patriarch!â
âThereâs still a toy like Heart Inspection Mirror in the sacred cult?â Qin Mu said in astonishment.
Si Yunxiang rolled her eyes at him. âYou became the sacred cult master two years ago and how many times have you gone to Saint Arrival Mountain? The sacred cultâs Si Family, Yu Family, Shi Family, have you visited them? If you werenât a decent cult master, I would have long rebelled against you!â
Qin Mu smiled. âYou wonât, you donât have the ability.â
Si Yunxiang was driven mad, but could only contact the great-grandmother of Si Family. She wanted to be as awe-inspiring as Granny Si, but the brat didnât give her face, giving her no chance to become impressive.
âGrandpa Butcher, the sun, moon, and stars in the sky, the Milky Way, and the constellations are all fake.â Qin Mu came to Butcherâs side and said, âGrandpa Butcher should know numerous secrets, right?
Butcher pulled out his Pig Slaughtering Knives and grinded the blades against each other. âWhen talking about this, I canât not talk about the martial art I founded, Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining. Back then, I was a great master of the battle techniques, and all I wanted to do was to create an ultimate art that had no comparison. Back then, I was overflowing with confidence and felt that I was invincible in this world, that any divine art could be destroyed with one knife strike. However, I had never fought with heaven before, so I wanted to split the sky and jump out to fight with heavenâ¦â