"Eat. Get strong!"
In the valley at the center of Calamity-Seal Palace, Quinn pulled out a Core-Stabilizing Pill he had refined himself—so big it was the size of a fist—and gestured to the Demon Ape, saying, "Strong! Solid!"
The Demon Ape scratched its head, accepted the Core-Stabilizing Pill, swallowed it, and felt nothing at first. Confused, it asked, "Strong?"
Suddenly, the Demon Ape went berserk. Its fur exploded in length, and a sapling sprouted from its head, quickly growing into a thick tree branch.
—Apparently, a tree seed had fallen into the Demon Ape's fur, and the Core-Stabilizing Pill's power triggered it to grow wildly.
Its frame swelled uncontrollably; muscles bulged, bones thickened, and the Demon Ape howled in pain, smashing everything in sight. Quinn rushed to restrain it, only to be hammered into the ground by a punch. The Demon Ape struck the earth again, bouncing Quinn out of the dirt, then sent him flying with another blow.
Quinn charged back, and the Demon Ape roared furiously. Man and ape battled across the valley, sending rocks flying everywhere.
After swallowing Quinn's Core-Stabilizing Pill, the Demon Ape grew much larger and stronger, its power surging. Quinn confronted it head-on, but found his own strength crushed—he couldn't match the ape's sheer force.
With no other choice, Quinn transformed his yuanqi into fire attribute. Scorching energy surged through his body, and a faint dragon pattern appeared on his back, its limbs linking to his own, the dragon claws overlapping perfectly with his palms and fingers.
Five-Clawed Fire Dragon!
Fire-attributed yuanqi is Vermilion Bird yuanqi, but Quinn isn't a Vermilion Bird Spirit Embryo—his is humanoid. The dragon pattern on his back isn't a natural effect of yuanqi, but comes from practicing Grandpa Mark's Thunder Chant Eight-Form.
Grandpa Mark's Thunder Chant Eight-Form channels yuanqi in a mysterious way, forming a dragon pattern that coils through the whole body. If someone like Grandpa Mark, with an Azure Dragon Spirit Body, uses this technique, their yuanqi carries wood and thunder attributes, and the dragon pattern glows blue, crackling with lightning.
But Quinn hasn't mastered Azure Dragon yuanqi, so he can only use Vermilion Bird yuanqi. That's why the dragon pattern on his back is surrounded by blooming clouds of fire.
When he activates the Thunder Chant Eight-Form, dragon patterns and fire clouds appear on his body. If he doesn't use the technique, these strange markings gradually fade away.
With his yuanqi circulating, Quinn's strength soared—he could finally stand toe-to-toe with the Demon Ape. But the ape fought like a mad beast, ignoring all logic, trading blows no matter the cost. In the end, man and ape lay side by side, faces bruised, gasping for breath and unable to move.
The tree growing from the Demon Ape's head had thickened to the size of a barrel, its branches heavy with bright red fruit. Once the pill's medicinal force faded, the tree stopped growing.
Clearly, Quinn's batch of Core-Stabilizing Pills had problems—their medicinal power was too fierce, too domineering, lacking balance. Only a monster as tough as the Demon Ape could survive their impact; any ordinary Spirit Embryo–realm cultivator would probably be blown apart.
Now that the pill's power was spent, the Demon Ape's body started shrinking, but it was still much bigger and stronger than before. Quinn realized his Core-Stabilizing Pills were seriously flawed.
But judging by the Demon Ape's reaction, maybe the flaw wasn't so bad—maybe it was even a good thing.
He picked a fruit from the tree on the Demon Ape's head, peeled it, and ate it. It was sweet, juicy, and carried a faint medicinal aroma.
The Demon Ape sat up, yanked the tree out of its own scalp—roots trailing all over its face—then calmly stripped off leaves and fruit to eat.
Quinn handed over the remaining Core-Stabilizing Pills, warning, "Only eat one at a time—never more than one. And if you want to fight, go challenge other strange beasts outside. Don't wreck Calamity-Seal Palace."
The Demon Ape's eyes sparkled. It quickly stowed the pills and nodded enthusiastically.
Quinn's pills were huge—Apothecary's were only the size of a pinky finger, but Quinn's were as big as a fist thanks to his clumsy technique. So this batch was small, only about twenty pills.
Satisfied, Quinn left. As soon as he was gone, the Demon Ape snatched up a ridiculously large pill and charged off to settle scores with a neighboring beast.
That neighboring beast had a long-standing feud with the Demon Ape—always invading its territory and stealing prey. It had beaten the Demon Ape up several times, but when Quinn's handprint appeared on the cliff, the beast realized a new master had arrived and stopped attacking for a while.
The Demon Ape arrived, swallowed a Core-Stabilizing Pill, roared, and charged into its enemy's lair.
Two days later, the Grandma Temple fair arrived. Granny Sue brought bolts of cloth; Grandpa Mark loaded up new furniture; Apothecary carried his medicine basket; Butcher loaded a strange beast Crippled Joe had caught onto the cart, planning to slaughter and sell its meat at the fair—Butcher sold, Crippled Joe took a cut, their division of labor clear.
Mute Smith brought his forge and smithing tools; Deaf carried brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. They called Quinn along, hitched up the ox-cart, and headed for Grandma Temple.
The ox-cart was packed full, rattling toward Grandma Temple. Quinn drove, but his mood was subdued. As a child, market day was exciting, but now, after all he'd seen, it seemed far less interesting.
But when they reached Grandma Temple, Quinn was stunned—the fair was far bigger and livelier than he'd imagined. Around the ruins stretched a market nearly ten li long, packed with stalls and crowds bustling everywhere.
These weren't just villagers from ten or twenty li away; people had come from villages one or two hundred li in every direction!
"On the Calamity-Seal Palace map, this place isn't called Grandma Temple—it's Heavenly Wolf Palace," Quinn remarked, puzzled by the name change.
As the ox-cart rolled into the market, Quinn saw all sorts of strange and wonderful things for sale at the stalls—sugar-figure makers, cooks, jugglers, fire-breathers, sellers of exotic beasts, ores, jewelry, even families holding martial contests to marry off their daughters. The variety was endless.
"I am a father from Niu Family Village, passing through your fine town. I seek neither fame nor fortune—only that my daughter has come of age and still lacks a husband. So we hold this martial contest, hoping to find a skilled hero for her..."
Quinn saw a crowd ahead, stopped the cart, and peered over. It was a martial contest for marriage at Grandma Temple—men and women fighting fiercely on the stage. He watched for a moment, lost interest, and moved on, only to find there were several such platforms.
Each platform was built on a raised earthen stage, with young men and women from various villages—mostly budding martial artists, though sometimes a white-haired elder would jump up to compete, only to be booed off by the crowd.
"Some villages lack male labor, so these contests are really about recruiting a live-in son-in-law," Granny Sue explained.
Granny Sue warned Quinn, "Once you become a live-in husband, you belong to another village—you mustn't go up there!"
Quinn nodded, though his hands itched for a fight. Grandpa Blind joked, "It's fine if you go—just fight your way across every marriage platform at Grandma Temple and marry a dozen girls..."
Granny Sue shot him a glare. Grandpa Blind instantly shut his mouth and dared not speak further.
Oldridge Village had fixed stalls at Grandma Temple. The ox-cart soon arrived, and Quinn helped Butcher set up the meat stall, moved Grandpa Mark's furniture, raised Mute Smith's forge, arranged Granny Sue's tailor stall, and fetched water and ground ink for Deaf, hanging up his paintings and couplets.
Once everything was ready, Quinn noticed Grandpa Blind sitting at a table, bamboo staff hung with a banner reading, "Six Lines and Eight Trigrams, Fortune-Telling and Disaster Dissolving." Quinn thought, "So Grandpa Blind can tell fortunes too?"
Apothecary set up his medicine stall nearby. Butcher had already disemboweled the strange beast and hung up the meat. The villagers of Oldridge hawked their wares like ordinary peddlers, blending into the crowd.
"Quinn, there's an empty platform next door—go hang up this banner."
Deaf's brush flew as he wrote out a banner and handed it to Quinn. "Hang it up and stay on the platform all day. This is your business for the fair—if you're still standing at sunset, you've passed the Grandma Temple trial."
Quinn looked at the banner. It read: "Kicks Across the Yong River With No Equal, Sweeps the Eight Hundred Villages of the Great Ruins!" The horizontal line below proclaimed: "Number One in the Spirit Embryo Realm."
He glanced at the neighboring platforms—each had two polished wooden pillars and a blank plaque between them, clearly meant for banners like his.
"Grandpa Deaf, am I going to get beaten to death?" Quinn asked worriedly.
Just then, he saw Grandpa Blind pull out another banner: "Win or Lose, Hundreds of Thousands at Stake—Place Your Bets, No Take-Backs." Clearly, he planned to make a fortune off Quinn's fights.
Granny Sue had already placed a bet at Grandpa Blind's gambling stand. Apothecary excitedly set out trauma medicine, waiting for injured fighters to stagger off the platform. Grandpa Mark was making crutches and stretchers, while Butcher sold "Flood-Dragon Treasure Blood," touting it as a powerful tonic.
Quinn's face turned dark. These wicked old rascals had found every angle to make money!
"Deaf, add a note: Only Spirit Embryo–realm cultivators may challenge."
Granny Sue thought for a moment. "If a divine-ability expert jumped up, wouldn't they kill Quinn outright?"
[Author's Note: Some readers have asked when '牧神记' will go premium. After discussion with the editor, it won't happen in August; it will go premium on September 1st, with two months and ten days of free public access. You can now claim fan titles for '牧神记'—the author’s fan title is: Divine Dynasty! To claim: open the Qidian app, click Discover, Activity Center, Fan Title Event, search for the author, and click to claim. Note: requires a certain fan value; the event lasts until July 31.]