Chapter 221 — Even Firm Armor Cannot Claim Supremacy

Little Jade Capital, up in the heavens?

The wife of Jingping's Imperial Preceptor raised her head and looked at the sky.

It was a lovely name.

Jade Capital: a capital made of jade, the city the immortals dwell in, carrying no breath of hearth smoke, holding nothing of mortal weather.

"Once, out of that mysterious holy land, Little Jade Capital, came a certain Zhen the Unfettered. He came to bar my way. He failed, alas.

" A look of bewilderment crossed the Imperial Preceptor's eyes.

He said softly, "When he was dying he told me I must go to Little Jade Capital without fail, that there were things there which might change my thinking. So here I am. " There before them, in a place where mist and cloud drifted, a fairyland beautiful as anything in myth or legend appeared.

Shen Mu's treasure ship stopped at Fenzhou.

He went ashore with Snow Fox and bought up New Year goods until the hold was crammed full. Fenzhou was still reasonably peaceful; its prefect was gathering the divine-power wielders of the region, refining primal weapons of every kind, riding tower ships up into the sky to gather the clouds and mist.

In some places sunlight was already breaking through, and the ice and snow had begun to melt, though that only made the cold seem keener. Fenzhou produced strong liquor in abundance, and its people were in the habit of drinking it to ward off the chill, but the cold here was heavy, and many villagers still went up the mountains to cut wood and fell trees to keep themselves warm.

And the prices had soared; goods cost far more than before. Shen Mu, deep of purse, felt nothing of it, but Snow Fox had reckoned the accounts carefully and said to him, "Young Master, the prices have doubled. " Shen Mu was briefly taken aback.

"Sooner than I expected," he said. "Keeping prices steady is the Minister of Revenue's charge, not ours. As long as the dark clouds scatter and the court sends relief, there will be no great trouble in the north.

What I fear is that someone is deliberately stirring up trouble.

" They could not buy enough New Year goods in Fenzhou, so the treasure ship stopped again at Liezhou, where prices had climbed even higher. Many merchants hoarded their goods, holding them back as rarities, waiting for prices to rise further before selling and taking a handsome profit. The Vice Prefect of Liezhou began to bring the merchant houses to order.

In a troubled age, harsh laws are used: many of the hoarding merchants were dragged out and beheaded. Two or three days later, Shen Mu's treasure ship came to Jingzhou, not far now from the Wasteland, a thousand li still to go. There were still many dark clouds; the overcast sky was like a sheet of white paper with a great many holes cut out of it, sunlight pouring down through the gaps.

This region was remote, vast in land and sparse in people, and there were already signs of disorder: bandits roving in packs, plundering the wealthy households. Along the roads one could already see many poor folk frozen to death, huddled beside dead campfires, stiff as boards.

There were refugees too, whole households toiling through the ice and snow, wrapped in layer upon layer, walking south across rivers frozen solid, hoping to find some place warm. These people spoke not a word.

Now and then someone would drop out of the line and squat down to warm himself, but once a man squatted, he never rose again. Where the river waters had silted up, enormous icebergs and glaciers had formed, and now and then they would groan and creak, and a vast slab of ice would come sliding off the mass.

It was a terrifying sight. Shen Mu noticed that in some of the refugee parties there were young people skilled in the arts, shepherding the others along.

He brought his ship down onto the ice and questioned them, and found these young people to be disciples of the Dark Demon Sect.

"Tell them not to go anywhere else.

Every other place is frozen just the same," Shen Mu said. "They won't listen. " The Dark Demon Sect disciple pushed up the mask that covered his cheeks against the wind, showing a face chapped dark red with cold, and shouted into the howling gale to their young sect master and holy teacher: "Once these people stop, they have no hope left. As long as they keep walking, there is hope in their hearts.

Maybe they will find a warm place. " Shen Mu was struck silent. He unloaded some of the New Year goods from the ship, the things that could give warmth and hold off the cold, and handed them to the Dark Demon Sect disciples to distribute among the refugees.

"In this bitter cold," he said, "demons and monsters will come out too, hunting for food.

Be careful, all of you. " He did not linger in Jingzhou. The treasure ship rose into the air and sped on toward the Wasteland.

The winter in Jingping was cold beyond all reason, and as time went on it grew colder still. Shen Mu's treasure ship was hung with icicles and its speed had fallen greatly, and it burned more and more medicine stones. Every few thousand li they had to bring the ship down and knock the ice off before the speed could be raised again.

Snow Fox sat beside the pill furnace, feeding medicine stones into it from time to time, while Shen Mu held the ship on course.

The treasure ship flew very low; Shen Mu turned his vital essence into the vital essence of the Vermilion Bird, flames blazing all around him, keeping his body from freezing stiff. The farther west they went, the more desolate it became, and the more refugees there were, and the more frozen dead lay along the roadside.

And in these out-of-the-way places the divine-power wielders were few, and more places still had no sun, wrapped in thick dark clouds, where the cold bit deeper. The power of this snow disaster was far greater than he had imagined, the number of dead far beyond his estimate, and the cold wave was growing stronger all the time.

Then all at once flames rolled across the sky, and out of the cloud layer thrust a vast serpent, breathing fire in every direction, driving the cold back around it.

The great snake trailed demonic vapor as it coiled its way out of the clouds.

Shen Mu's heart lurched.

He hurriedly drove the treasure ship upward, into the cloud layer. The great serpent cast a glance around, and on its head stood a bewitching man, who said suspiciously, "I saw the boy's ship just now, plain as day.

Where has it gone? Sister Qiu, send out the insects!

" Countless insects came flying out of the clouds. A woman stood amid the swarm; she pointed, and the insect tide scattered in all directions, boring into the cloud layer.

Shen Mu's treasure ship wove through the clouds, and suddenly a golden insect came flying straight at it.

The insect was startled to see the ship and quickly halted.

Shen Mu thrust out his sword-fingers; his vital essence became sword qi, and struck the insect with a ding. But the insect did not die.

Instead it swelled with a shriek, more than a zhang long, and came squealing and gibbering at him! Shen Mu's vital essence poured into the Taotie Bag; the Chubao Sword flew out with a ringing cry and cut the great insect in two.

Then a voice laughed, chuckling: "So the sect master of the Dark Demon Sect is here after all!

" Shen Mu looked toward the sound and saw the clouds behind him suddenly turn red. He knew it boded ill.

"Ling'er," he shouted, "open all three furnaces! " Boom — a huge burst of firelight rolled out of the clouds and struck the stern of the treasure ship. Shen Mu flung himself at the helm to keep from being thrown clear.

The treasure ship pitched and reeled, nearly dashed down by that one divine art; then the bronze beasts beneath it spat fire, and the two bronze beasts at the stern opened up with all their force, and the tower ship surged forward.

In a few breaths it broke out of the cloud layer, leaping up out of the clouds and tearing away through the sky. "So cold!