Vital Qi Body Refinement

"What do we do with this Senior Sister Qing?" Qin Mu barely managed to get up. He looked at Senior Sister Qing, who still hadn’t recovered from her shock.

"Why don’t we…" Granny Si’s eyes lit up as she thought what to do. She nudged Qin Mu, nearly pushing the exhausted youth over, and mischievously said, "Why don’t we let her live so she can be your little bride?" You were so cute when you were a toddler, but now that you’re all grown up, you aren’t quite as cute. However, you can have a chubby baby with this young lady. That baby would definitely be very cute as well. After all, granny still adores children…"

Qin Mu glanced at Senior Sister Qing whose head looked like that of a pig. "Granny, I think I’d rather not…"

Shunk!

"In that case, we should just kill her." Cripple said.

Unknown to everyone else, Cripple had appeared behind Senior Sister Qing. He stabbed her through her heart, an innocent smile on his face.

"G-grandpa Cripple... w-why did you kill her?" Qin Mu asked, stuttering.

Cripple pulled his knife out, his smile developing a hint of confusion. "You said you didn’t want her, so she obviously needed to die."

Qin Mu felt resentful, though not because he wanted to make a baby with Senior Sister Qing. He was just a child of eleven or twelve years after all—aside from these old monsters he saw every day, the people in the neighboring villages were also fiendish existences. It was rare for him to meet someone around the same age as him.

Even without playmates, he still had the heart of a child.

"Let’s go home," Village Chief declared as he turned his head to look at the ruins in the valley.

"All of us are disabled in some way, so no one can carry you. You will have to walk back on your own." Apothecary smiled at Qin Mu, then said, "Ah, that’s right! We prepared the blood of the four spirits. Since you didn’t come home last night, I still have some with me."

Qin Mu nodded, receiving four porcelain cups that Apothecary handed to him. Drinking the blood of the four spirits, he struggled to walk as he circulated the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique and digested the power of the blood of the four spirits. While he did that, he also told everyone about the weird things that had happened in the ruins.

Granny Si calm expression wavered. "Devils and gods? A huge face made of darkness and skeleton maidens? Interesting…"

The other villagers also found Qin Mu’s account interesting, but none of them had any other opinions.

As a result, Qin Mu couldn’t help but ask, "Granny, aren’t all of you curious about the story behind the ruins?"

Apothecary sighed. "The kingdom of gods which prospered in the past... was reduced to ashes long ago. Now you tell us that gods’ bones were clattering and dancing in the night. Could it be that they still refuse to die?"

Deaf stared at Apothecary, reading his lips, then replied, "Regardless of their unwillingness, what reason do they have to exist after already dying? There’s no point in caring about the story of this place."

"...are you really deaf?" Apothecary asked suspiciously, looking at Deaf’s ears. Forged from snow-white iron, Deaf’s ears were completely metal. They replaced the flesh and blood ears he would’ve had and had even covered up his ear canals.

Deaf plucked the metal ears from both sides of his head. Three-inch iron plugs jutted from the inner portions of the ears. These needed to be inserted into his ear canals in order to keep the metal ears fixed to his head.

"Stab these into your ear canals!" Deaf retorted coldly. "Then you’ll find out if I’m really deaf!"

Apothecary smiled slightly and kept quiet.

Deaf then plugged his two iron ears back into his ear canals, turned to Mute, and said, "These ears have been getting kind of uncomfortable recently. I need you to help me adjust them."

Mute the Blacksmith nodded in reply.

This elderly family left Qin Mu speechless. He didn’t understand how all of them could be so much more interested in Deaf’s ear canals than the ruins.

"Mu’er, there are simply too many mysteries in the Great Ruins," Granny Si said with a smile. "Aside from the kingdom of gods in this valley, there countless other mysteries out there. If you spend all of your time thinking about them, you won’t be able to get anything else done."

As their group walked in the direction of Disabled Elderly Village, Village Chief solemnly said, "Since you were able to trade blows with that youth’s treasure sword using just a sixteen-inch wooden stick as a knife, it’s clear that your strikes weren’t weak. This experience has helped you improve significantly."

"Why can’t I control objects like they did?" Qin Mu asked, his heart quivering. "My vital qi couldn’t fill more than sixteen inches of that willow branch."

He was extremely envious of the youths who were able to control their swords using vital qi when he couldn’t.

Apothecary shook his head in silence. The vital qi of an ordinary person had no attributes. Controlling objects was impossible for them because ordinary vital qi could not be used to perform such techniques.

As an ordinary human, being able to use his vital qi to support sixteen inches of a willow branch then use that willow branch to fight against a martial practitioner like Senior Brother Qu without it breaking was already a remarkable accomplishment for Qin Mu.

"Neither your Overlord Body nor your Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure has awakened yet, so there’s no need for you to be worried." Village Chief gave Qin Mu a calm look. "Being able to defeat a skilled practitioner of the Spirit Embryo Realm while in your unawakened state means that, once your Overlord Body actually awakens, you will be an entire level stronger than everyone else."

Granny Si and the others were also proud of Qin Mu’s performance. Senior Brother Qu was a peak martial practitioner in the Spirit Embryo Realm. He could even use his qi to control his sword close to his body, which clearly showed he wasn’t far from reaching the Five Elements Realm.

Having beaten Senior Brother Qu to death with a small wooden stick, Qin Mu clearly confirmed that Village Chief hadn’t lied about the Overlord Body that none of them had ever seen or heard of before!

The corners of Apothecary’s eyes twitch as he thought to himself.

"The truth that Mu’er only has an ordinary constitution will get out sooner or later. When that time comes, these people will definitely turn the entire world upside down in despair. However… it really is strange that he was able to defeat a peak martial practitioner to death with a small wooden stick. Could he really have an Overlord Body? Or is it just the influence of the spirit blood?"

Even considering the vast amounts of knowledge in his head, these unanswered questions still left Apothecary confused.

Consuming the blood of the four spirits made the vital qi inside of Qin Mu become more and more active. This resulted in his inflamed muscles recovering and returning to normal, his blood flowing more smoothly, and his vital qi circulating even faster. As fatigue slowly faded from his body, his footsteps subconsciously sped up.

Expressions of astonishment leaped to the faces of Old Ma, Cripple, and the other villagers, but they kept quiet and continued to follow Qin Mu.

Qin Mu had discovered that cultivating the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique while running helped to increase the speed of his cultivation. With the added effect of the blood of the four spirits, his cultivation speed increased even further, leading to him forgetting about his surroundings and sprinting faster.

He quickly forgot about his sore muscles as his speed continued to increase. His vital qi circulated throughout his body faster and faster, permeating his flesh, bones, hair, and nails.

Sprinting as fast as he could, Qin Mu’s current speed gradually surpassed his previous top speed. However, he wasn’t aware of this, only feeling more and more relaxed as he ran to his heart’s content.

Murky drops of sweat eventually began to pour from his body. Mixed into his sweat were bits of black filth and white granulated fat.

Only… Qin Mu didn’t sense any of the changes occurring in his body.

Apothecary and Village Chief secretly exchanged looks of amazement.

"Old Ma, when did your vital qi start refining your body?" Apothecary asked out of the blue.

"I was at the pinnacle of the Spirit Embryo Realm at the time," Old Ma replied seriously. "I had been training my fists when I suddenly unleashed my first divine art, Fist-Body Refinement Art. My vital qi resembled Azure Dragons coiling around my arms."

Apothecary then looked at Cripple who also answered.

"I was also at the pinnacle of the Spirit Embryo Realm. The day it happened, I was trying to catch up to the wind. I wanted to walk through the sky and step on the very cusp of that gust of air, when suddenly, in the next moment, I discovered the marvel that is vital qi body refinement. My vital qi began whistling out of every pore in my body as if it were wind, and I grew extremely excited. However, right after that, I fell out of the sky and nearly died.".

"It was the same for me," Apothecary said with a sigh. "I had been trying to refine my body using my Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure as a furnace and my vital qi as herbs. This led me to find out about the wonder of vital qi body refinement. Only then did my vital qi baptize my body like fire. Qin Mu, on the other hand, hasn’t even broken his first wall, yet he’s already begun body refinement."

"An Overlord Body definitely is quite domineering." Cripple laughed. "We the Spirit Bodies can’t help but be envious."

Apothecary wore a strange expression but didn’t say anything else.

An Overlord Body?

If Qin Mu really had an Overlord Body, he wouldn’t have been so surprised.

Cripple and Old Ma explained all of these things as Qin Mu possessing an Overlord Body, but he knew the truth. Being a step ahead of people with Spirit Bodies and reaching body refinement this early with just an ordinary human constitution… such a thing made it so that a formidable practitioner like Apothecary, despite all of his considerable knowledge, couldn’t help but feel amazed.

"Mu’er hasn’t awakened his Overlord Body yet, but once he does, he’ll be able to use his Overlord Body Qi to control objects, hehe!" Granny Si said excitedly. "Even Eternal Peace Empire’s Imperial Preceptor wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to him if they were the same age, right?"

Apothecary's heart sank as he looked at Village Chief.

Village Chief remained silent.

The Overlord Body didn’t exist, so there naturally would never be any Overlord Body Qi. Ordinary vital qi could never control objects, and when Qin Mu discovered that, the lie would come to light.

But before that, Qin Mu first had to "awaken" his "Overlord Body," which meant he’d have to break his Spirit Embryo Wall.

What did an ordinary human need to do to break a Wall?

Village Chief frowned.

Did drinking the blood of the four spirits even have any effect on Qin Mu? How much longer could he hide the truth from everyone?