Chapter 218 — Never the Light of Heaven Again

We are done turning honest — we fly the banner of the fire bandits, and beyond lies the sky and money beyond counting! " The iron-hulled tower ship rose slowly, its speed gradually increasing, then suddenly tore through the air, and the fire bandits aboard cried out one after another: "So cold, so cold!

Boss Fan, do not stand on the deck; come in quick and warm up!

" Shen Mu watched them go, then turned back, returning to the capital with the Dragon Qilin, Snow Fox, and the Demon King Dutian. These past days the snow had fallen without cease.

Though it had now stopped, the sky was still a bleak mass of cloud, no sunlight to be seen, and the cold wind howled; everything was frozen over. "Ten days without seeing the sun," Snow Fox said, looking up at the sky. She could not stay put in the workshop and was forever running outside.

Shen Mu was slightly startled.

Ten days without seeing the sun? This snow had come rather heavily; why, after it stopped, did the sun still not come out?

He did not think much of it.

The year's end was drawing nearer, and the capital had taken on a New Year flavor, hung with lanterns and colored silks everywhere.

Shen Mu walked into the city, and there he saw tower ship after tower ship, great vessels, flying up into the sky; aboard them, besides soldiers, were certain great ministers of the court, and he did not know what they went up into the heavens to do. "It does not look like they are going out to fight.

" Shen Mu raised his head and saw the dozen or more tower ships climbing higher and higher, going only up into the high sky and nowhere else, and doubt rose in his heart. He returned to the Imperial Academy, where he found many scholars discussing the New Year; no one spoke of the ministers flying up into the clouds. Some scholars were discussing the tower ship moored before the scholars' quarters: "I wonder which rich man's son has so much money as to get himself a tower ship to ride about in. " The next day the sky was still leaden.

Pei Wujiu gathered the scholars of the Imperial Academy and said, "The Emperor has granted the New Year holiday; you may go home for the New Year.

" A cheer went up over the whole mountain.

Shen Mu looked up and saw several more tower ships rise into the air, heading for the high sky. And at that moment, aboard the Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship, Fan Yunxiao stood shivering at the bow, twisted off the icicle hanging from his nose, looked down, and said, "Number Two, where are we now? " A fire bandit looked down, made out the land, and said, "We have reached the Lan River. " "Why is it snowing at the Lan River too?

" Fan Yunxiao was astonished. Pointing at the mountains and rivers below, blanketed in white snow, he said, "That is not right.

The Lan River lies at the southernmost edge of the Southern Wilds; even in deep winter a man can go bare-armed there.

Why has the snow sealed the mountains this year?

" The fire bandits came out of the cabin and looked down, clicking their tongues in wonder. Fan Yunxiao's face suddenly changed.

He said in alarm, "We have flown from the capital to here — that must be tens of thousands of li, surely?

Have any of you seen the sun?

" The dozen or so fire bandits looked at one another and all shook their heads. Fan Yunxiao drew a breath of cold air and looked up at the bleak clouds in the sky.

He muttered, "One cloud covering tens of thousands of li — is that any ordinary cloud, damn it?

And this snow — even the Southern Wilds is buried deep. Next year will not be a peaceful year, I fear, but a year of famine with the corpses of the starved strewn over the fields.

.

. When men's bellies are empty and they cannot eat their fill, they rise in rebellion. . . And here I thought I could enjoy a few peaceful years and make a few fortunes. Number Two, open the furnaces to full blast; we fly on south!

" After a little more than an hour, the Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship flew out of the Southern Wilds and into the skies above the Southern Sea. Suddenly a blinding light appeared ahead; when they reached the light, they saw the proud sun pouring down its rays, lighting the sea so that it was transparent as sapphire. Fan Yunxiao looked back and drew a breath of cold air.

A cloud of unimaginable vastness covered the whole territory of the Kingdom of Jingping!

In the Imperial Academy, Shen Mu was packing his things, preparing to board ship and return to the Wasteland, when an official of the Directorate of Education came up and called loudly, "Grand Master of the Palace, the Emperor commands: every official of the sixth rank and above in the capital must attend court to deliberate!

Otherwise they shall be held to account! " Shen Mu set down his baggage and said to Snow Fox, "You stay here for now; I will go to the palace and have a look. " It was his first time at court.

When he reached the throne hall, he found it already a sea of people, packed with a thousand officials; fortunately the Golden Throne Hall was large enough to hold so many.

Emperor Yanfeng sat in the Golden Throne Hall, worry on his face, asking from time to time, "Has the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping arrived? " Hearing that the Imperial Preceptor had not arrived, the worry on Emperor Yanfeng's face deepened.

After a moment, Emperor Yanfeng cleared his throat, his voice like a great bell, and said gravely, "We shall not wait for the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping.

My beloved ministers, it has been more than ten days since you saw the sun, has it not?

I too have gone more than ten days without seeing the sun — and not I alone: the whole Kingdom of Jingping has gone more than ten days without seeing the sun. These past days I have received memorials from officials in every region, flying in like snowflakes — from the northern deserts to the southern sky, from Sunrise Island in the east to Mishui Pass in the west: great snow, six or seven days of great snow! " He rose from the dragon throne and pointed upward, his finger trembling a little: "One cloud has covered the whole of my Kingdom of Jingping! "