Chapter 214 — The Secret of the Ancient Shamanic Codex

Wait until a court official dies, and then speak of it. Master Sun, Your Highness, come over here and watch the commotion!

" Sun Nantuo's face darkened slightly; the Crown Prince laughed: "Grand Preceptor, we had best go over.

If we do not, His Loudmouth Wei will shout it till the whole capital hears. By the way, the rules my father laid down in those years really ought to be amended. " What the Duke of Wei had just spoken of were the rules the Emperor had set with the great sects in those years: what belongs to the court belongs to the court, what belongs to the jianghu belongs to the jianghu, neither meddling with the other. Though the monks of Nantuo Temple were disciples of Sun Nantuo, Grand Preceptor to the Crown Prince, most of them held no office, and could count only as men of the jianghu.

Sun Nantuo and the Crown Prince came to stand beside the Duke of Wei and the others, and even as they spoke, Shen Mu killed several more monks, rousing the fury of the whole Nantuo Annex; a crowd of monks clamored to finish him off together. The several middle-aged monks, glimpsing the growing crowds on every side, feared for the name of Nantuo Temple and hurriedly shouted the monks down. "Duke!

Your Highness the Crown Prince! Master Sun! " The Duke of Wei looked around, and an old grandee pressed forward, smiling: "So it is Lord Yan Zhigui.

Lord Yan is a man in favor these days, at the side of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. " Lord Yan made haste to smile: "The Duke jests.

Master Sun, what is going on here?

" "Nantuo Temple has run into trouble.

By the look of it, someone has come for vengeance. " Several more high officials of the court walked over.

One said: "Nantuo Temple's reputation has been poor these years—going in and out of ladies' chambers and the back courtyards of princes and ministers.

Many ministers have their complaints; only they dare not air them, lest they lose face themselves.

This time, I imagine they are all waiting to watch Nantuo Temple's commotion. Look—not one of them is willing to step in. Oh? Master Sun is here too.

" These men were all first- and second-rank grandees of the court, and they deliberately pretended not to see Sun Nantuo, giving him no pleasant face.

Sun Nantuo, betraying nothing, looked toward Shen Mu, and the Crown Prince of Jingping was likewise sizing Shen Mu up, seeking to discern the origin of his arts.

"Send up a divine-power wielder. First seal the Six-Realms Divine Treasury, then unseal it, and strike to kill!

Kill him outright! " A middle-aged monk lowered his voice: "Yuankong, you go.

We have lost face today already; a little more loss of face does not matter. Whatever it takes, we must win the Thousand-Banner Pagoda back! " Monk Yuankong assented.

At once he sealed his own Six-Realms Divine Treasury and stepped into the field to duel Shen Mu. His cultivation surpassed Monk Yuanjing's by far; he stood there like a thousand-armed great Buddha, body motionless, arms flying, in a manner akin in effect to the Myriad-Arm Vajra of the Eight Arcana of Datingming.

Shen Mu attacked; a thunderous roar came; Yuankong and Shen Mu traded one hard palm blow, and a gale howled and surged, rushing out on every side, whipping the clothing of all around till it cracked and flapped. From within Yuankong's body came a crackling of explosions; he fell stiffly to the ground, every bone in him shattered.

He never had time to undo the seal on his Six-Realms Divine Treasury before he was beaten to death. The monks of Nantuo Temple, eyes splitting with rage, shouted and surged forward to hack Shen Mu to pieces, and were blocked by the middle-aged monks.

The Duke of Wei clapped and marveled, bellowing hoarsely: "The Shaman Sovereign's Louluo Sutra of the Loulan Golden Palace is truly formidable! Another great monk dead!

" Sun Nantuo frowned slightly and said in a low voice: "So this is the Shaman Sovereign's Louluo Sutra?

" He had never met a master of the Loulan Golden Palace, nor seen such arts; it was the Duke of Wei who had been to the western frontier and crossed hands with a Shaman King of the Loulan Golden Palace. The Crown Prince of Jingping mused: "I have heard that the shamans of the Loulan Golden Palace cultivate through the soul and can demonize their own bodies—half man, half demon, endlessly transforming.

. .

" Even as he spoke, another monk of Nantuo Temple came forward; at the first step he unsealed his Six-Realms Divine Treasury, meaning to display his divine power, when Shen Mu slipped in close and pressed his palm to the monk's chest. The Nantuo monk's Six-Realms Divine Treasury opened, his momentum surged, his divine power erupted!

He was stronger than Yuankong; he had refined the Thousand Treasures of the Numinous Treasure Immovable Zen Art into more than four hundred treasures, more than four hundred seal-mudras, and he brought them down one after another; in a moment Buddhist radiance streamed in colors, bursting outward without cease, as though a Buddha had roused the thunder of his wrath to subdue demons and quell evil, drawing a chorus of cheers from all around!

"Chan Master Yuanyue cultivates well! " said a lady of some household or other, her face like peach blossom, in admiration. Even as she spoke, Shen Mu shook his body and manifested the divine form of the ox—ox head, human body, ox hooves—golden and gleaming over all his frame, treading twin dragons, a single ox eye appearing at the center of his brow; a shaft of fire shot out and sliced across Chan Master Yuanyue's neck.

Chan Master Yuanyue felt only that his head was flying backward; he saw his own body, blood still spurting from the neck, headless.

His head flew into the bosom of that peach-faced lady, frightening her out of her wits; with a scream she fainted dead away. Crack, crack. Shen Mu's ox tail lashed, striking his own backside twice, and his backside at once swelled red.

The Crown Prince of Jingping's gaze flickered: "It should be the Shaman Sovereign's Louluo Sutra of the Loulan Golden Palace. But why does he whip his own backside?

Is this some uncanny sorcery of the Loulan Golden Palace? " Browsing address: