Chapter 217 — That Which Must Not Be Looked Upon

Xue Hu'er took the order and hurried off.

Shen Mu smiled. "I have some attainment in the way of forging; I can make pill furnaces of greater power. Only the yard has granted us ten days, and time is short; it must be done within ten days. Are you all equal to it?"

Shen Mu was taken aback. He pondered a moment, then said: "The dark iron and dark copper here are not enough to build five tower ships..."

"Our Artisan Hall and Heavenly Craft Hall have materials enough."

Shen Mu's eyes lit up and he laughed: "Then let's forge five!"

Five days later Fan Yunxiao had come by several times, but never dared set foot in the workshop. He heard only the clang and clatter of hammering from within, as though several hundred men were forging at once. He wanted to go in and see, but then he remembered Shen Mu's words and did not dare.

Outside, the snow was falling thick; it had come down two or three days, and the drifts lay deep. In the capital the Bureau of Heavenly Observation led a host of men of power up into the sky to burn the snow clouds and drive the great snow away; but beyond the city walls the snow still came down heavily.

Fan Yunxiao's curiosity grew heavier and heavier; he was so restless he scratched at his ears and cheeks. Two more days passed, and at last he could bear it no longer. He thought: "A secret peek can surely do no harm?"

He softly pushed open the workshop door and craned his head in. All at once an eight-armed, four-faced demon god stood before him, seized him by the neck, and roared: "You dare spy on us, boy?"

Fan Yunxiao cried out in panic: "Brother Shen, it's me, it's me!"

In the workshop, more than two hundred members of the Dark Demon Cult looked around at the sound; their gaze fell on him all at once, and then as one they turned to Shen Mu: "Cult Master, this man..."

Fan Yunxiao was startled at the sight of them, and when he saw the garb they wore, his face changed. He cried: "The Dark Demon Cult... I've seen nothing! I'm a blind old man. Where is this? Why am I here..."

Held in the grip of that eight-armed, four-faced demon god, with a Dragon Qilin at his side, Fan Yunxiao dared not resist. He smiled: "Brother Shen, I wandered in here without thinking. I've seen nothing at all..."

"Brother Fan, I told you not to come in and look. You've put me in a very difficult spot."

Shen Mu held up two fingers and smiled amiably: "Two roads. You're an old hand at the game; you know what they are."

"I'm in!"

Fan Yunxiao decided on the instant: "From this day on, I am one of the Holy Cult!"

Shen Mu laughed heartily and had the Demon King Dutian set him down. "From today, we're brothers!"

In the Crown Prince's Annex, a middle-aged man in the dress of a scholar hurried in and said to Crown Prince Jingping: "Your Highness, the Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince is indeed dead, and not a single monk can be found in the Nantuo Annex; they must all have met with foul play. Yesterday word came from the Fengyu Prefecture: Nantuo Temple too has been wiped out, root and branch. His Majesty is enraged and has set men to investigate, but not the faintest trace can be found; the rumor is only that the Golden Palace of Loulan beyond the frontier did it. His Majesty means to send troops beyond the frontier after the New Year..."

Light flickered in Crown Prince Jingping's eyes, bright and dim by turns. He rose. "Not the faintest trace? I fear it is rather that Father Emperor does not much wish to find any. This is plainly the work of the Dark Demon Cult! Only the Dark Demon Cult, the very head of the demon path, could do a thing so utterly without trace or sound! They have lost two Heavenly Kings; of course they must take their revenge on me. Go to the Datingming Temple and request an audience with the Old Tathagata. I must know who the new Cult Master of the Dark Demon Cult truly is!"

His hands clasped behind his back, he said coldly: "Nantuo Temple is a Buddhist sect as well; the Old Tathagata will not sit by and do nothing. The Grand Tutor is dead, but the thread to the Datingming Temple must not be severed. The Old Tathagata is much dissatisfied with Father Emperor, and with the Imperial Preceptor Jingping; he will surely be glad to lend me his support. I mean to kill one to warn a hundred, so that these sects of the martial world see clearly that I am no man of no account. Whoever dares lay a hand on my people can wait to be wiped out, root and branch!"