Chapter 35: Going to the Market

"Eat, get strong!"

In the Zhenyang Palace valley, Qin Mu took out a fist-sized Vitality Fortifying Pill he had refined. He gestured to the ape and said, "Strong, sturdy!" The ape scratched its head, took the pill, and swallowed it. There was no immediate reaction. It looked puzzled and asked, "Strong?"

Suddenly, the ape went berserk. Its fur grew wildly all over its body, and a sapling sprouted from its head, quickly growing into a large tree branch. It seemed a tree seed had fallen into the ape's fur and, stimulated by the Vitality Fortifying Pill, began to grow uncontrollably. Its size also grew rapidly, muscles continuously bulging, bones becoming thicker and stronger, making the ape roar and thrash about. Qin Mu stepped forward to stop it, but was punched to the ground by the ape. The ape's second punch hit the ground, shaking him up from the soil, then he was sent flying by another punch from the ape.

Qin Mu rushed back. The ape's roars were incessant, and the man and ape clashed again in the valley, sending stones flying. After taking Qin Mu's Vitality Fortifying Pill, the ape's physique became larger and stronger, and its strength significantly increased. When Qin Mu confronted it directly, his own strength was completely overwhelmed, unable to contend with the ape's power.

Left with no choice, Qin Mu transformed his vital qi into the fire attribute. The scorching vital qi circulated within his body, and a faint dragon pattern appeared on his back. The dragon's four limbs connected to his own, with the dragon claws aligning perfectly with his palms, overlapping his fingers. A Five-Clawed Fire Dragon!

Fire-attributed vital qi typically belonged to Vermillion Bird vital qi. However, Qin Mu was not a Vermillion Bird Spirit Embryo but a Humanoid Spirit Embryo. The dragon pattern appearing on his back was not a direct effect of the vital qi itself, but rather a result of cultivating the Thunderclap Eight Strikes taught by Old Man Ma.

Old Man Ma's Thunderclap Eight Strikes, when cultivated, were incredibly profound. The flow of vital qi within the body formed a dragon pattern that spread across the entire body. If someone with a Green Dragon Spirit Body, like Old Man Ma, performed the Thunderclap Eight Strikes, their vital qi would possess wood and lightning attributes, and the dragon pattern on their back would be green, intertwined with lightning. However, Qin Mu had not cultivated Green Dragon vital qi and could only use Vermillion Bird vital qi, which is why fire clouds appeared alongside the dragon pattern on his back.

The dragon patterns and fire clouds only appeared on his body when he activated the Thunderclap Eight Strikes. As soon as he stopped performing the technique, these unique patterns would gradually fade and disappear.

With his vital qi circulating, Qin Mu's strength greatly increased, finally allowing him to directly contend with the ape. However, the ape was in a frenzy, fighting wildly without any sense of strategy, determined to hit him even if it meant taking a beating itself. In the end, both the man and the ape were bruised and swollen, lying flat on their backs on the ground, panting heavily and unable to move.

The large tree branch on the ape's head had grown into a tree as thick as a bucket, laden with bright red fruits. As the pill's medicinal effects wore off, the tree stopped growing. The batch of Vitality Fortifying Pills Qin Mu refined indeed had some issues. Their medicinal potency was too strong and overbearing, not balanced or moderate. Only an ape with a powerful body could withstand such an impact. Any other martial artist in the Spirit Embryo realm would likely have exploded from the overwhelming power. Now that the medicinal effects had worn off, the ape's body slowly began to shrink, yet it remained significantly taller and stronger than before. This made Qin Mu realize that his Vitality Fortifying Pills might indeed have some problems.

However, judging by the ape's performance, the problems seemed minor; in fact, even if there were issues, they appeared to be beneficial. He picked a fruit from the tree on the ape's head, peeled it, and ate it. It was sweet and succulent, with a hint of medicinal fragrance.

The ape sat up and pulled the large tree from its head; the roots of the tree had spread all over its face. The ape plucked a handful of leaves and fruits and slowly ate them.

Qin Mu handed the remaining Vitality Fortifying Pills to the ape and instructed, "You can only eat one at a time, never more. Also, if you want to fight, go find other strange beasts; don't demolish Zhenyang Palace." The ape's eyes lit up. It quickly put away the pills and nodded repeatedly.

Qin Mu's Vitality Fortifying Pills were too large. The Apothecary's pills were only the size of a pinky finger, whereas Qin Mu's, due to his unrefined technique, were the size of an ordinary person's fist. Consequently, this batch of pills was small in number, with only just over twenty pieces.

Qin Mu left with peace of mind. As soon as he was out of sight, the ape immediately took out an absurdly large Vitality Fortifying Pill and excitedly hurried towards the nearest strange beast territory to exact its revenge. The strange beast next door had a grudge against the ape, often encroaching on its territory, plundering wild animals for food, and beating the ape several times. It was only recently, after Qin Mu's palm print appeared on the cliff wall, signaling the arrival of a new formidable presence, that the beast had ceased its incursions. Upon reaching its adversary's territory, the ape opened its mouth, swallowed the Vitality Fortifying Pill, let out a roar, and charged into the enemy's domain.

Two days later, it was finally the day of the temple fair. Granny Si brought fabrics, Old Man Ma carried some newly made furniture, the Apothecary wore his medicine basket, and the Butcher loaded a strange beast caught by the Cripple the day before onto the cart. It seemed they planned to slaughter and sell the meat at the fair, with the Butcher selling meat and the Cripple sharing the profits—a clear division of labor between the two. The Mute also brought his furnace and ironworking tools, and the Deaf brought his writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. They called Qin Mu, hitched up the ox cart, and headed towards Granny Temple.

The ox cart was fully packed with goods, rattling along towards Granny Temple. Qin Mu, driving the cart, was not in high spirits. Going to the market used to hold some appeal for him as a child, but now that his horizons had broadened significantly, the market was no longer as interesting. However, upon arriving at Granny Temple, Qin Mu was still startled. The temple fair was much larger and livelier than he had imagined. Surrounding the Granny Temple ruins was a market stretching for ten *li*, filled with countless stalls, bustling with people, and exceptionally vibrant. These weren't just people from nearby villages; most of the villagers from various settlements within a hundred to two hundred *li* radius had gathered here!

"On the Zhenyang Palace map, this place isn't called Granny Temple; it's called Heavenly Wolf Palace," Qin Mu said, surprised, wondering why it had been renamed Granny Temple.

As the ox cart entered the market, Qin Mu saw all sorts of strange and previously unseen items displayed on small stalls. There were also people making sugar figures, cooking food, performing acrobatics, breathing fire, selling strange beasts, minerals, jewelry, and even selling daughters—a wide variety of goods and services, everything imaginable.

"My daughter and I are from Niujia Village. We are passing through this esteemed land, not seeking fame or profit, but solely because my young daughter has reached marriageable age and is yet to be betrothed. Therefore, we are holding a martial arts competition to find a hero with exceptional skills..."

Qin Mu saw the lively scene ahead, stopped the ox cart, and peered over. It turned out to be a martial arts competition for marriage at Granny Temple, with men and women fighting fiercely on the stage. He watched for a few moments, lost interest, and continued forward, only to find that Granny Temple actually had several such martial arts arenas for marriage. These arenas were all built on earthen platforms. On the stages were young men and women from various villages, many of them young martial artists. Of course, there were also elderly white-haired individuals who jumped onto the stage wanting to compete for marriage, but they were met with boos from the audience, who drove the old men off.

"Some villages have few male residents, so the martial arts competition for marriage is actually meant to find a live-in son-in-law." Granny Si warned Qin Mu, "If you become a live-in son-in-law, you'll belong to another village. You mustn't go up there!"

Qin Mu nodded, though he felt a bit itching to try. The Blind Man chuckled, "It doesn't matter if Mu'er goes up. He can fight one family after another, clear all the marriage competition arenas at Granny Temple, and marry a dozen girls..." Granny Si glared at him, and the Blind Man dared not speak, quickly shutting his mouth.

Cripple Creek had fixed stalls at Granny Temple. Soon, the ox cart arrived at these stalls. Qin Mu helped the Butcher set up his meat stall, then helped Old Man Ma unload the furniture, erected the iron furnace for the Mute, helped Granny Si arrange her tailor shop, and then helped the Deaf fetch water to grind ink and hang up the couplets written and paintings drawn by the Deaf.

After everything was ready, Qin Mu saw the Blind Man sitting at a table with a banner hanging from his bamboo staff. The banner read "Six Lines, Eight Trigrams, Fortune Telling, Disaster Aversion," among other things. Qin Mu thought to himself, "Grandpa Blind can tell fortunes too?" The Apothecary set up his medicine stall nearby. The Butcher, next to him, had already gutted the strange beast and hung up its meat. The villagers from Cripple Creek began to hawk their wares, no different from ordinary people.

"Mu'er, there's an empty arena next door. Go hang up this calligraphy piece." The Deaf wrote a piece of calligraphy with swift strokes and handed it to Qin Mu, saying, "After you hang it up, don't come down. Just stand on the stage. This is your business for today. If you can still stand on the arena stage after sunset, you'll have passed the temple fair assessment."

Qin Mu looked at the calligraphy and saw it read: "Kicked the Surging River, Unrivaled; Swept Through Eight Hundred Villages of the Great Ruins!" And a horizontal inscription: "First in Spirit Embryo Realm." Qin Mu looked at the nearby arena. There were two glistening wooden pillars on the stage, with a blank horizontal plaque hanging between them, which must have been the place for the horizontal inscription.

"Grandpa Deaf, will I be beaten to death?" Qin Mu turned and asked the Deaf. At that moment, he saw the Blind Man take out another banner, which read "Millions in Winnings, Bet Placed No Take-Backs." It was clear he intended to make a fortune while Qin Mu was competing in the arena. Granny Si had already placed a bet at the Blind Man's gambling stall. The Apothecary excitedly took out his wound medicine and arranged it on his stall, waiting for injured participants from the arena. Old Man Ma was busy making crutches and stretchers, while the Butcher was selling "Flood Dragon's Precious Blood," a miraculous body-strengthening medicine!

Qin Mu's face instantly darkened. This group of mischievous old men and women were finding all sorts of ways to do business!

"Deaf, you need to add a note: only martial artists in the Spirit Embryo realm are allowed on the stage." Granny Si thought for a moment and added, "What if a divine arts practitioner jumps up there? Wouldn't Mu'er be beaten to death?"