Chapter 211 — Knocking at the Gate of the Firmament

Shen Mu taught Snow Fox how to work the mechanism: he had left a control platform in the Demon King of Dutian's chest, and a light push on the hidden catch at the breast would make the platform spring out on its own. This god-statue mechanism of the Demon King of Dutian, cast from dark-iron cold crystal, was immense, standing some two zhang eight in height, and Shen Mu had paid a great price for it; the dark-iron cold crystal alone had cost him ten thousand Dafeng coins.

The components of the statue mechanism numbered in the tens of thousands; the gears alone came to eight or nine hundred, and it was intricate beyond measure. Even if the Demon King of Dutian refused to stir, one seated at the control platform could still drive him to move; the statue mechanism had eight arms and four faces, and in a fight it was ferocious indeed, so that a common divine-ability practitioner would find it hard to break through the defense of dark-iron cold crystal.

At the heart of the statue mechanism there was also a small pill furnace, similar in construction to the one he had forged for the fire bandit Fan Yunxiao; but the furnace on Fan Yunxiao's broken ship had been his first attempt, made with little experience, whereas this time the furnace was not only much smaller but far more exquisite.

Seated at the control platform, Snow Fox could feed medicinal stones into the little furnace and use her vital essence to govern its fire; even without the Demon King of Dutian, she could wield the statue mechanism as a piece of heavy-armor mechanical weaponry. And if the Demon King of Dutian took the statue mechanism for his body and lent his strength in battle, the power it could unleash would be no small matter; a common practitioner of the Six Harmonies realm would likely be no match, and even one of the Seven Stars realm could not be certain of victory.

Shen Mu had learned from the Silent Craftsman, the Deaf Old Man, and Old Master Huo, and in building such a statue mechanism he had merely integrated the knowledge the three had passed down to him; there was little in it that was his own invention. The only innovation was the integration itself. Yet to anyone else, this statue mechanism was unquestionably the work of a master forger, a master mechanist, a master of runes, and it opened up a wholly different form of combat.

Snow Fox, all eagerness, paid the Demon King of Dutian inside the statue not the slightest heed; she promptly sat down on the little control platform and drove the statue mechanism running outside. "Long Da, follow her, don't let her get into trouble!

" Shen Mu said hastily. The dragon qilin answered and strode out, following the statue with its clawing, fang-baring arms and the shouting Snow Fox; Shen Mu watched the dragon qilin's retreating back and saw that its belly nearly scraped the ground.

"That fellow really ought to have his rations cut. " Shen Mu shook his head.

The dragon qilin had once been lean and strong; though often hungry, it had looked magnificent, and while it guarded the mountain gate none dared come near.

But ever since it had followed him, its daily peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills had never once been missed, and it drank the waters of Jade Dragon Lake to its heart's content, so that it grew fatter and fatter and its bulk swelled considerably. At this rate the dragon qilin would sooner or later become one great ball of meat, able only to prop itself up on its belly, its claws never again touching the ground.

"The Patriarch's rations for it in the old days were surely not a full peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills, or the brute would long ago have gone round as a ball. It lied about its rations; from now on I'll just give it half a peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills.

" Shen Mu held his breath and steadied his spirit, once more rousing the Three Elixirs of the Mystic Body; his spirit transformed into the form of the Star Lord of Zhen, human head and serpent body, hands cradling the phantom of a scroll, and behind him a gateway slowly emerged.

Shen Mu turned around, his spirit-soul quivering, and uttered a strange sound, the very phrase of the Youdu tongue the Demon King of Dutian had taught him, which the Demon King called the Gate of Kunyuan. Whether its true meaning was indeed the Gate of Kunyuan he could not say, but the phrase he had not learned wrong.

He recited the words upon the gate, and all at once the Gate of Kunyuan slowly opened, revealing a boundless space of darkness.

Shen Mu was startled; he circled the gateway once and saw only his own courtyard. The gateway was incredibly thin, seeming to have no thickness at all; from where he stood he could see only an exquisitely slender sheet of darkness standing there.

Yet standing before the gate and looking in, he saw an endless space of darkness. "Is this a gateway that connects to another world?

" Dazed, Shen Mu reached out a hand and cautiously thrust it into the gate; nothing unusual happened.

"Is this the mystery of the Five Luminaries realm? Do others in the Five Luminaries realm have this gateway?

Has anyone opened it, gone in? " He hesitated.

What would he meet upon entering this gateway? Could this darkness be the legendary Youdu? Once inside, would he still be able to come back alive?

Just then Shen Mu saw a thread of light come from the dark world beyond the gate: a man and a boat, a dim lantern hung at the prow, its light faint and ghostly, and the little boat was drifting toward him.

Beneath the lantern at the prow sat an old man fashioning paper figures and paper horses; the lamplight flickered, and all was very still. He tried to poke his head through the gateway, but saw the old man raise a hand and take down the lantern, holding it up to shine toward him; the moment the light fell upon Shen Mu, he felt his soul fixed in place, unable to move.

The old man on the boat hung the lantern back at the prow; the light no longer fell on Shen Mu, and only then did he breathe easy.

Suddenly Shen Mu shuddered with cold; he looked down and saw that he was standing on the boat, at the old man's side!

The little boat drifted and turned about; Shen Mu looked back and saw in the distance a gateway with light shining from it, and before that gateway he himself stood, craning his head to peer this way!

Before the gateway his body seemed frozen, utterly motionless.

If he was still there before the gateway, then who was this here?

He looked all around; darkness on every side, with only the lantern's glow on the boat and the light from the Gate of Kunyuan.

His heart went cold. This old man on the boat, fashioning paper figures and paper horses, had shone his lantern and drawn his soul away, seized it onto the boat!

The him before the gateway was now an empty shell without a soul!

"I am not yet dead. Why seize my soul?

" Shen Mu asked the old man.

The old man turned a deaf ear and went on intently fashioning his paper figures and paper horses.

Shen Mu looked back; the Gate of Kunyuan was farther and farther away, and dread grew in his heart. The Demon King of Dutian had indeed concealed something; that gateway was likely not the Gate of Kunyuan at all, or this old man would not have taken his soul!

He sprang from the boat.

The gateway was not yet too far off; perhaps he could still return to it and get back into his own body!

But when he leaped from the boat he did not fall into water as he had imagined; beyond the boat was darkness, boundless darkness.

He was like a drowning man, arms and legs flailing, but there was nothing to take hold of; he could only watch himself sink on and on, falling into deeper and blacker darkness.

He looked up; the little boat in the darkness was farther and farther from him, the lantern at its prow smaller and dimmer, until at last it was scarcely visible.

"That bastard Demon King of Dutian, he still played me false.

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