Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 204: Qin Mu’s Dark Past

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

Qin Mu and Cripple continued staring at each other.

Old Ma was warm-hearted despite looking cold. “We’re all adults, so stop throwing a tantrum. We’re here to see how you’re getting by and if our limbs are still usable.”

Cripple smiled. “Old Ma had run over here from Great Thunderclap Monastery, so you should know he’s here to see you specifically. Great Thunderclap Monastery is thousands of miles away from here and only a thousand miles away from Disabled Elderly Village. As for me, I’m not here to see you. My leg was at Imperial Preceptor’s manor, and you happened to be the closest.”

Qin Mu’s heart was warmed when Old Ma said, “Don’t mind Cripple’s harsh words, he’s actually a good man. When you were young and always wet your bed, granny was annoyed by you as she had never raised a child before, so she wanted to send you away to be raised by the neighboring village. When you were sent over the first day, you were back on granny’s bed on the next. Granny sent you over a few times more, yet you always came back mysteriously. It was Cripple, of course, who had stolen you back.”

Cripple shook his head. “I did not. I hate kids the most. If I didn’t have just one leg, I would have kicked his balls daily.”

Qin Mu felt a stab of pain, and he said in disbelief, “Granny sent me away because I wet the bed when I was young? But granny dotes on me so much…”

“Quite a few times,” Old Ma said. “Granny had never given birth nor had she raised a child before. You peed like a waterfall and cried at night, cried when you were hungry, cried when you were stuffed, and even cried when you couldn’t sleep. Even the cow that was fenced up was driven crazy by you, so it would be weird if granny wouldn’t have been annoyed. Us old geezers were so annoyed that Village Chief and Apothecary had agreed that it would be a good thing to send you away as the village would become more peaceful.”

The pain in Qin Mu’s heart worsened, and he said with a black face, “Grandpa Village Chief and Grandpa Apothecary also wanted to send me away? How did I not know about this?”

Cripple smiled. “You were not a year old, so how would you remember? It would’ve been fine if you had just peed on the bed, but you even shit on it. Mute had originally wanted to send you away to be raised by others and even included a milking cow to make the offer more tempting for others. Yet you stopped wetting your bed soon, so you weren’t sent away…”

“Grandpa Mute also wanted to send me away?” Qin Mu was silent for a moment. “Luckily there’s still Grandpa Blind and Grandpa Deaf who dote on me.

Old Ma said, “Blind indeed doted on you. But after he raised you high up in the air and you peed on his face, he did not say anything after granny wanted to send you away.”

Cripple then continued the story. “When you were young, Deaf was the most annoyed by you. You often climbed onto his desk and covered everything in ink. You even peed into his ink stone…” He sighed. “Still, you were cute when you wet the bed. You became not so cute when you grew up and peed on the stone statues in the village.”

Having received many psychological blows, Qin Mu said hoarsely, “Grandpa Ma, Grandpa Cripple, I’m now the cult master of Heavenly Devil Cult, so can we not mention wetting the bed? Let me take a look at your leg and arm.”

Cripple smiled at Old Ma. “This incident of him being sent away after wetting the bed always cracks me up. I’m sure I’ll laugh until I jump out of the coffin upon remembering it even after I’ve died.”

Old Ma revealed a smile. “Me too.”

Qin Mu walked into the courtyard with a black face and moved the medicinal cauldron and furnace in. He checked the arm and leg of the two people and took out Junior Protector Sword to slice an opening on Cripple’s leg, taking out a few drops of blood to check hem in detail.

After a moment, he cut open Old Ma’s arm and also took out a few drops of blood. After studying them for a moment, he said, “Even though the lifeforce in Grandpa Ma’s arm has been depleted by half, it’s been preserved well. It seems like someone used a Buddhist incantation to vibrate the properties of the blood in the arm, keeping the blood fresh. With some nourishment from spirit pills and miracle medicine, the life force can be recovered, so the arm could be reattached. After training it for a few years, it would return back to its original state.”

Old Ma said, “My arm was placed in Thousand Buddha Pagoda where the physical body of previous Rulai rests. Monks chant incantations day and night to preserve the activity of the body.”

Qin Mu jumped in shock and cried out, “There is really a thousand buddhas in Great Thunderclap Monastery?”

Old Ma shrugged. “I didn’t count them, but there should be.”

Qin Mu composed himself and checked on Cripple’s leg. “Grandpa Cripple, this leg… The blood has already spoiled and the leg has died. It can’t be reattached anymore.”

Cripple’s face turned pale white, and the smile on his face vanished as he cried out, “How is that possible? I’m known as the divine legs and these two legs were trained to the realm of god, so how could one just die? Furthermore, it was chopped off just recently, merely some twenty-thirty years ago. I don’t believe my leg is inferior to Old Ma’s divine fist, it’s definitely still alive!”

Qin Mu revealed an honest smile. “My condolences, Grandpa Cripple. It’s already dead and can’t be reattached. Furthermore, I tasted your blood just now, and there was the taste of five spices and a smoky flavor to it. I reckon it was turned into a dried leg by Imperial Preceptor.”

Cripple laughed from extreme anger. “Rascal, fooling me again. How could Imperial Preceptor be so poor to smoke my leg into dried meat?” The moment he said that, he became nervous. “Imperial Preceptor is indeed very poor, he wouldn’t have turned it into dried meat, right?”

Qin Mu was pleased with himself.

Old Ma said, “Don’t scare him, thieves are timid.”

Qin Mu smiled. “Even though Grandpa Ma’s arm and Grandpa Cripple’s leg were less active than Grandpa Butcher’s lower body, the lifeforce within them is still there. I’ll first use medicine to activate your severed limbs, and after ten days to half a month, they will recover. When they are reattached, there should be no problems. Grandpa Butcher’s lower body had been on Grand Shaman’s body, so there were no hidden injuries left behind. Yours are not in such a good condition since there was no nourishment from a living body.”

Old Ma and Cripple let out a sigh of relief. “As long as they can be reattached, it’s good.”

Cripple smiled. “I took a portion of spirit herbs from the palace’s treasury, so you should see which spirit herbs can be used. If you lack any, I’ll go and… uhm, borrow some more.”

“No need, the warehouse of Imperial College should have the needed herbs.”

Qin Mu came to the courtyard and was about to check the types of spirit herbs there when Hu Ling’er’s voice reached him from outside. “Young master, Imperial Preceptor came to visit.”

“Imperial Preceptor is here? Could it be that what Grandpa Cripple did have been traced all the way here?”

Qin Mu was astonished. He turned around to close the door to the main room. Tidying up his clothes, he opened the gate to see Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor standing outside. This middle-aged man who shook the world with his might was ill at ease. He stood quietly for quite some time before saying slowly, “Imperial Academician is well to do, could you lend me some money?”

Qin Mu was bewildered as he smiled. “Imperial Preceptor came this time to borrow money? The magnificent Imperial Preceptor actually lacks money?”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor answered truthfully, “When I went out for battle, a thief came into my house and cleaned everything out. Now my pockets are empty, yet I still have to go to North Garrison King’s manor to offer my condolences, I really don’t have any money to spare…”

Qin Mu’s heart was moved slightly. “Could Grandpa Cripple have cleaned out Imperial Preceptor’s manor and not left him any money? Grandpa Cripple may have lost a leg, but he’s still more nimble than me.”

He smiled. “Imperial Preceptor, how much money do you need?”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor calculated for a moment and said, “My salary is eight hundred great abundance coins a month, so I’ll borrow the salary of a month to tide me over.”

Qin Mu told Hu Ling’er, “Ling’er, fetch a thousand great abundance coins over and pass them to Imperial Preceptor.”

Hu Ling’er gave a sound of acknowledgment and slipped into the room.

Qin Mu smiled. “Is there a need for Imperial Preceptor to be so poor?”

The man shook his head. “Too much external desires would affect one’s cultivation and wisdom. With lesser desires, money is of no importance anymore.”

Suddenly his gaze flickered and he smiled. “There are other people in your room. The person is an existence that’s like a Rulai sitting there motionlessly… That’s not right, there should be two people. The other blends with the heaven and earth, drifting without a resting place. It seems like he could escape at any moment, what a superior body technique which almost made me overlook him! Academician, why are you not inviting me in to take a seat?”

Qin Mu shook his head. “Imperial Preceptor, I’m not going to invite you in. My elders have come, and they are injured so it isn’t convenient for them to meet people.”

“Oh, so they’re injured, that explains why there are so many spirit herbs in the courtyard. I’m also injured therefore it’s indeed inconvenient to disturb them.”

Hu Ling’er brought a huge coin pouch over, and Qin Mu took it from her, handing it to Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor with a smile. “If Imperial Preceptor is tight on money, there’s no need to return. Imperial Preceptor, a person of noble character can be poor, but there’s no need to be poor. Being poor is not a requirement to be a noble person.”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor said, “I have to return. The emperor’s reward will come in a few days, and I’ll be able to pay you back then. I just need this to tide me over the next few days.”

He expressed his thanks and bade farewell.

Qin Mu waited until he walked farther away before telling Hu Ling’er and the dragon qilin to guard outside again. He walked into the main room and asked, “Grandpa Cripple, you cleaned out Imperial Preceptor’s manor?”

“What do you mean by cleaned out?” Cripple shook his head. “There was not much money in his manor to begin with, and he didn’t even have any valuable furniture. The thing worth the most was probably Deaf’s painting, which is priceless.”

Qin Mu was puzzled. Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was really that poor? He was an important minister that had power over all levels of society, so how could he have no capital?

There were some officials in Eternal Peace Empire that were compradors in mining, some set up refineries, casting factories, and had unspeakable wealth. As the imperial preceptor, how could he be so poor?

Cripple took out a scroll from god knows where and opened it up. “This painting of the Sword God’s back should be of Village Chief, right? Deaf should have seen the Village Chief young, keke. This painting can’t be seen else the eyes will become blind…”

He rolled back the painting of Sword God and threw it at Qin Mu. “I’ll give it to you, use it to ward off evil. The painting of Village Chief painted by Blind makes it hard for ghosts to come near you. Don’t open it. With your cultivation, you’ll turn blind if you take a look and might even die! Even though the paintings of Deaf from back then had yet to reach the god realm, the person he had drawn was too powerful so you still can’t see it.”

Qin Mu was skeptical, but he placed the painting in his taotie sack.

Old Ma said, “Deaf had indeed seen Village Chief before, but it was reverence in him, more than anything. In the village, he was closest to Mute. Now that Mute left without saying a thing, I reckon Deaf will be unable to keep still and will definitely come out to find him.”

Qin Mu was moved. Ever since he left the village, the people of Disabled Elderly Village had come out one after another. Even though these old folks said that they didn’t miss him, they had all walked out of the village for him.

He concentrated on distinguishing the spirit herbs that Cripple had ‘borrowed’ from the palace, thinking to himself, “The herbs from the palace are indeed precious, but they’re a little inferior to the herbs in Grandpa Apothecary’s herb garden. These are all hard to get spirit herbs!”

With them, he already had the prescription to nourish Old Ma’s arm and Cripple’s divine leg. He just needed to pick some supplementary herbs from the warehouse in Imperial College.

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