Chapter 227 — The Tree Roots of the Barren Ridge Become Spirits

"With other people, you beat the young and the old come for you; with me, I beat the old and it is the young who come.

" Shen Mu sighed inwardly.

Being Hierarch of the Nether Demon Cult was no easy trade. The arrival of Long Jiaonan and that woman from Three Marvels Fort showed that other young masters of the arts were nearby as well; if such people overtook him, it would be trouble.

Xue Hu'er worked her demon wind, sweeping the insects that flew their way into the distance. "Young Master," she said, "do these people not go home for the New Year?

" "They likely take killing me for their New Year revelry.

" Shen Mu shook his head. "Besides killing me, they mean to kill the emperor.

Killing me is bound to fail; whether they can kill the emperor, I do not know. After all, the emperor is a far bigger target than I am.

" Xue Hu'er had handled it well, blowing the insects away so that Long Jiaonan and the rest could not find this place, sparing them from finding the Withered Silence Ridge Canyon as well. The Withered Silence Ridge Canyon was not far off. Shen Mu walked to Withered Silence Ridge and saw that its slopes were not so steep as elsewhere; yet this place differed from other places, its whole mass a dull gray, without one touch of green.

The mountain was covered in withered trees, black trees and black earth, stirring unpleasant associations.

"And if they do kill the emperor?

" Xue Hu'er asked. Shen Mu took the lead, stepping into Withered Silence Ridge; Xue Hu'er hurried after him, leapt onto the dragon qilin's back, then bounced up onto its head and looked all around.

"If they kill the emperor and the crown prince ascends the throne, then the Imperial Preceptor Jingping's reforms will be overturned by the crown prince.

" Shen Mu said, "And then the Imperial Preceptor will dispose of the crown prince and put an obedient emperor in his place. Even if he does not, I will. I would also invite the Imperial Preceptor Jingping to serve as the Heavenly Sage Cult's fourth Cult-Guarding Heavenly King; I have kept that seat for him a long while. But they cannot kill the emperor, and the Imperial Preceptor would not wish to be the cult's fourth Heavenly King. " Here withered trees stood everywhere, stripped of branch and leaf; the little white fox, anxious and fretful, felt those dried limbs to be so many sharp claws, the twisted trunks to be dreadful faces, and could not help but be afraid.

"There is the blood of gods and demons here, and it has defiled this place. " The Dutian Demon King swatted a few flying insects dead, then snatched up a handful of earth, rubbed it between his fingers, and said in surprise, "Strange. This blood is peculiar; you cannot tell whether it is god or demon.

It seems there is both god blood and demon blood; a single blood holding both the divine and the demonic at once.

. . interesting.

" Shen Mu asked curiously, "Demon King, could it be that god blood and demon blood were spilled upon this land at the same time?

" He had seen the blood of gods and demons before, and it was formidable. When he had entered the darkness of the Barren Ruins with the village head, the headman had wounded a god-demon in the dark; a single drop of that god-demon's blood had fallen into the soil, and for a hundred-odd zhang around, trees and grass and flowers all withered, much like the state of Withered Silence Ridge. But that had been only one drop of demon blood.

Here the whole Withered Silence Ridge Canyon was defiled; clearly no small amount of god-demon blood had flowed into this place.

"Not the same.

" The Dutian Demon King shook his head.

"It is one and the same blood, only this blood carries both the divine and the demonic nature at once. Your eyes are still too shallow to see the trick of it. God blood governs life, demon blood governs death; the blood that fell on Withered Silence Ridge held both natures, its divinity hidden in the soil, its demonic nature destroying the grass and trees here, killing everything that grew from the earth. These trees are dead, but the roots did not die; on the contrary, they are unnaturally strong and thriving. It may have used the vigor of the god blood to come to life as a spirit. " Xue Hu'er said in alarm, "Can tree roots become demons?

" "They can.

" The Dutian Demon King said, "It should have become a very peculiar creature, covered in tentacles.

" Though the Withered Silence Ridge Canyon bore the name of a canyon, the land there lay high, sinking low only by comparison with the mountain ranges on either side.

This dark canyon wound in twists and turns, the mountain path very hard going; when the Nether Demon Cult smuggled goods through here in years past, they must have suffered no small hardship. Every so often along the way stood a black stone stele, three or four zhang tall, painted with rune marks.

Shen Mu examined them and said, "These are the cult's demon-suppressing runes. Ling'er, do not touch them; trigger the demon-suppressing rune and you will be drawn into the stele.

" Xue Hu'er gave a start. "There are many demon-suppressing steles in Withered Silence Ridge. It seems the Heavenly Sage Cult spent a great deal of thought opening this passage in those years.

It also means the demons of Withered Silence Ridge are many, and fearsome.

" Shen Mu counted the demon-suppressing black steles he met along the way: forty-six of them, and he had covered less than half the distance. If each stele held down but a single demon, that was already forty-six demons.

But a black stele three or four zhang tall could not be suppressing only one demon; then the demons imprisoned here must be considerable in number indeed. They came to the middle of the valley and saw before them a pond, ringed all about by snow mountains in bitter cold, yet here there was a lake besides, which made them marvel.

Beside the lake stood an old tree, withered and shrunken yet casting a wide canopy, and around the ancient tree and the lake were densely packed black steles, several hundred of them, encircling tree and lake completely. Shen Mu and the others were startled.

With so many demon-suppressing black steles here, could this place hold several hundred demons? Though he was the Demon Hierarch of the Nether Demon Cult, he knew little of this Withered Silence passage and had no notion of what the Nether Demon Cult had met with here in those years.

"Can there be a demon kingdom here? " Shen Mu murmured, "But why are there so many steles around this ancient tree?

It does not look like they are meant to suppress many demons, but rather to suppress this tree and this lake. " He had barely spoken when a cry for help came suddenly from across the lake.

The dragon qilin, being tall of frame, lifted its head and glanced over the black steles, then said slowly, "There's a woman bathing in the lake. " "Help, help!

" cried the woman in the lake.

Xue Hu'er hastily jumped onto his head and peered into the lake, then said angrily, "Long Pang, is that bathing? She is drowning!

" "She is bathing. " The dragon qilin said slowly, "She has no clothes on, so naturally she is bathing. Have you ever seen anyone drowning stark naked?

" "Stark naked?

" The Dutian Demon King, delighted and astonished, scrambled up onto the dragon qilin's head to look into the lake, and there indeed was a drowning woman, bare as the day she was born, her figure alluring, struggling in the water, the parts that jutted and the parts that curved holding this Demon King's eyes fast, so that he praised her: "This demon's a beauty! Brat, come take a look!

" Shen Mu laughed.

"There are still pursuers behind us.

Let us be off.

" And with that, he stole a glance through a gap in the black forest of steles. "The Young Master is a gentleman of upright character! " Xue Hu'er declared, full of faith in him. "Gentlemen outside, help me!