Chapter 198 — The Cult's Prestige

Shen Mu smiled bashfully and said, "There are a few more than I thought—barely nine."

"Nine such figures?"

Imperial Teacher Jingping's heart was struck with awe. Were all nine of them figures like Mojiang?

If so, then the origins of this Cult Master of the Youmo Cult were rather terrifying!

"There are still nine others like me. My path is not a lonely one."

A gratified smile crossed Imperial Teacher Jingping's face, and he murmured, "I had thought that apart from me, no one else had walked to this step. Now my heart is suddenly at ease…"

Shen Mu looked at him curiously, and it suddenly occurred to him: if he used the Qingxiao Heavenly Eye on Imperial Teacher Jingping at this moment, would he be beaten to death for it?

He very much wanted to see whether Imperial Teacher Jingping and Li Zheng were the same kind of existence.

Of course, Imperial Teacher Jingping was unfathomable to him. The man's cultivation was unfathomable; his temperament was unfathomable too. There were a great many things about him that seemed to contradict one another.

To rashly use the Qingxiao Heavenly Eye upon him would very likely provoke his wrath.

"Imperial Teacher Jingping, the Palace Master is speaking to you. Why do you not answer?"

Shen Mu looked toward the voice and saw that the speaker had come up from below the platform, wearing a bronze mask. This bronze mask was unlike any other, with exaggerated features: long, wide ears, a hawk-beak nose, an exaggeratedly large mouth, two pillar-like eyes, very broad eyebrows, and a hole in the forehead, as though made ready for an eye upon the brow.

Then Shen Mu saw that beneath the forehead of the mask there was indeed an eye.

At the center of this man's brow grew an eye!

"What kind of technique is this?" He was slightly taken aback.

Imperial Teacher Jingping looked toward the bronze-masked man, then his gaze passed over him and settled upon Qiu Dieyi, Palace Master of Liqing Palace. "Palace Master Qiu of Liqing Palace," he said. "Your technique, the Lihentian Sword Art, is said to be a sword formula handed down by the gods and immortals—of sundered love and lingering grief."

His gaze fell upon the next person, and he said, "Of Sanqi Fort: Fort Master Che, Che Zhengli; Fort Master Yu, Yu Qingsheng; Fort Master Li, Li Fei. Fort Master Che's technique is the Heavenly Demon Mystic Forbidden Art, a forbidden demonic art of the Daoist orders. Fort Master Yu's technique is the Five Gu Dragon-Transformation Art—raising gu worms into dragons. Fort Master Li refines poison into power; as for the name of her technique, I am not clear on it."

That Fort Master Li chuckled and said, "There is a technique even Imperial Teacher Jingping does not know? This old woman's art is called the Poison-Transforming Three Immortals Mystic Art; it excels at turning poison into cultivation power."

Imperial Teacher Jingping's gaze fell upon yet another, and he said, "Daoquan Zhenren has always healed the sick and saved lives—why have you too joined the rebellion? More than ten years ago the Yongjiang flooded, plague ran wild, and the pestilence spread throughout all Jiangnan. Zhenren treated the villagers and gave them medicine, and your fair name filled the world. I wished to invite you to take office in the Grand Academy, but you declined, and in the end you were granted only the title of Zhenren."

Daoquan Zhenren said gravely, "Those whose paths differ cannot take counsel together. Imperial Teacher Jingping, when I refused office in those years, you should have seen that you and I are not of the same path. You have gone too far—you would wipe out every Daoist order under heaven—and I had no choice but to come and stop you."

Imperial Teacher Jingping was silent a moment, then said, "I destroy the Daoist orders of the world in order to heal more people. Look at what I have done these years—how would you judge it?"

Daoquan Zhenren said, "You have done well. Once there were very few alchemists in the world; now they are as numerous as the hairs of an ox, and even the tower ships are furnished with alchemists and medicine boys. Plague can no longer run rampant. But the physicians the Grand Academy has turned out these years are all mediocrities—not one of them can be called a divine physician. For this, you cannot escape the blame."

"It seems you and I truly walk different paths."

Imperial Teacher Jingping looked toward another and said, "The Director of the Grand Executive Secretariat—the honorable Ma Lianshan."

"I dare not accept such address."

Ma Lianshan said gravely, "Imperial Teacher Jingping, my office was raised up by you, but I too have a sect. I am by origin of the Zhongnan Mountain lineage, and what I cultivate is the Nanming Wuli Sword Scripture."

Imperial Teacher Jingping said, "I asked His Majesty to appoint you Director of the Secretariat and to oversee the Secretariat because you are upright and unyielding, fair and selfless, and a fine hand at leading troops besides. I had thought you would cast aside the prejudices of sect. That you have become a rebel grieves me deeply. As Director of the Secretariat you were a good official, and the people have always spoken most highly of you."

Ma Lianshan shook his head. "Am I the only good official to have turned traitor? Imperial Teacher Jingping should reflect upon his own measures."

Imperial Teacher Jingping said woodenly, "The old and the rotten must be abolished. When the hearts of men are old and rotten, how shall they be abolished? Only by revolution. If the lives of the rotten are not taken, the world can scarcely know peace. You are a good man, but you stand athwart my path."

He looked toward the others and said, "Qi Dayou, Sect Master Qi of the Beggar Sect, of the Hundred Poverty Mystic Art; Luo Xinghe, Sect Master Luo of the Star Net Sect, of the Star Net Mystic Art. Chan Master Zhikong of Daxiong Temple, of the Four True Word Seals of Formation, Abiding, Decay, and Emptiness; Abbess Hongfa of Great Putuo Temple, of the Bodhi Art of Preaching the Dharma for the Benefit of Beings; Abbess Huiyin of Jiayin Temple of the South Sea, of the Vajra Unconquerable Art. And Dharma King Xuankong, once sovereign of Xuankong Kingdom; Duan Yan, King of Nanliang; and Nunuhu'er, King of Xifan. And these three elders of an old era besides."

His gaze came to rest upon two old men and an old woman, and he said, "The three of you come from an old era, and are advanced in years. By now you must be seven or eight hundred years old, no? Once one has lived past eight hundred, one reaches the years allotted by heaven. How many years of life remain to the three of you?"

The short, thin, dark old man laughed and said, "This old man is an idle wanderer of the hills and wilds; folk call me Wanderer Li. I have sixteen years of life left in me. In truth I am no mere wanderer—the petty kingdom Imperial Teacher Jingping destroyed, Chuyun Kingdom, was a realm founded by this old man."

"This old woman is Tian Zhenjun."

The old woman grinned and said, "I am fond of raising a few insects. Imperial Teacher Jingping has surely seen them already. Fort Master Yu of Sanqi Fort is my son."

The plump, portly old man said, "This old man has no such lofty origins as they do. This old man is the Poor Master. Do not be fooled by how fat I am—I grew fat from poverty. Our school is called the Art of Exhausting Principle: the poorer one is, the more justified one becomes."

"The Poor Master jests."

Imperial Teacher Jingping said gravely, "To exhaust principle so as to extend one's knowledge; to turn inward so as to practice the truth; to investigate things and exhaust principle; to study things and extend knowledge—I do understand these principles. Since you are a Master, why do you oppose me?"