Chapter 229 — The Fifth Epoch

It is against them that the oracle warns. " Before them stood row upon row of shelves, and upon the shelves lay volume after volume of thick texts: the histories of the Kaihuang Era as set down by the immortals of Little Jade Capital. "If the Imperial Preceptor reads these texts through, he will know what the Kaihuang Era and the Kaihuang Cataclysm met with. " Qingyou bowed and made ready to withdraw from the library. "If the Imperial Preceptor means to walk on down the road he has set for himself, then the history of the Kaihuang Era will, I fear, become the history of Jingping. What the Kaihuang Era faced, the Jingping Era will face as well.

" The Imperial Preceptor returned the bow. "Zhen the Unfettered of your Little Jade Capital died by my hand. Why then would you have me come here, Brother Daoist?

" "Little Jade Capital does not meddle in worldly affairs; it only records them. Once Zhen the Unfettered came down the mountain, he was no longer an immortal of Little Jade Capital.

Whether he lived or died has nothing to do with us. " Qingyou walked toward the door. "The worthy couple have come to Little Jade Capital, and so are immortals of Little Jade Capital; when the worthy couple leave, they will likewise have nothing to do with us. Every five hundred years a sage arises, and we of Little Jade Capital wish to see whether the sage of this age can do what the sages of old could not. " "Curious rules.

" The Imperial Preceptor's wife's gaze drifted, then came to rest upon those texts. "Husband, there is something amiss in Little Jade Capital's origins.

I think they must be descendants of the Kingdom of Kaihuang. " "That is possible. " The Imperial Preceptor sat down and took up a scroll.

"They mean no harm; there is no need to guess at their thoughts. I want to look at the history of Kaihuang, and take the past as a mirror for the present. " The Wasteland Ruins. "I only wished to find a low world where my people could settle, a place to live and breed and multiply. I did not want to go to war with this world of yours.

" The Dutian Demon King's eyes were dull and vacant; he muttered on: "We of Dutian are already finished.

If we fight you to the death now, we truly will be extinct. I must answer for my race. Let me go back, and I will seek out another low world.

Let me go back.

. . " Xue Hu'er looked at Shen Mu and said in a low voice, "Young Master, why not let him go?

He is a pitiful sight.

" "How am I to know whether he would truly go back or not? " Shen Mu shook his head. "He is only a thread of consciousness; his true body is still in Dutian, and can go on seeking other worlds without this thread ever returning.

If he does not go back, but instead hides away and summons his real self, would that not be a crime on my conscience? Not one word from this fellow can be believed. Believe him, and you have already lost. Ahead lies Crimson Dragon City, and from there it is no more than a thousand li to Hidden Remnant Village.

" Ahead, Crimson Dragon City came into view, and Shen Mu relaxed. He was on his own ground at last.

"Young Master!

" "The Young Master is back? " "Young Master, how does Jingping compare with our Wasteland Ruins? " Shen Mu rode the dragon qilin into Crimson Dragon City, and along the way shopkeepers greeted him. Shen Mu smiled and returned their greetings. "Jingping is far more disordered than our Wasteland Ruins. Rebellions and wars every day, soldiers and horses in a constant uproar. Not a good place.

" "True enough.

A while back a great many refugees fled into the Wasteland Ruins; they said they were escaping the fighting.

It is good the Young Master is back.

Home, after all, is where a man is safe.

" Shen Mu came to the city lord's mansion and inquired, "Has the city lord returned?

" "The city lord came by a few days ago, then left. Will the Young Master be staying? This humble one will prepare a banquet to welcome you home and wash the dust from your road. " "No need.

" Shen Mu said, "The New Year is near. I will go back to the village first. " Crimson Dragon City had long since been the property of him and Granny Zhu, and the powers within the city were for the most part those of the Nether Demon Cult.

Unlike beyond its walls, where the Nether Demon Cult called Shen Mu the Holy Master and cult leader, here in Crimson Dragon City they still called him Young Master.

After all, the city belonged to Granny Zhu, and Shen Mu was the child she had raised; that he should be called Young Master was only natural. Shen Mu took the road home once more.

A thousand li was a short distance; with the dragon qilin's turn of speed, half a day would bring him to Hidden Remnant Village.

The dragon qilin trod the river's surface, going upstream against the current.

The winter sunlight fell with a little warmth to it, not so cold as Jingping was now. Shen Mu remembered how he and Qi Xia'er had fought the ice tide together last year; passing that place, he saw Qi Xia'er leading the villagers in smoking fish, rubbing salt into the great fish that hung from the trees along the riverbank, with damp firewood smoking below so that the tang of the smoke would seep into the flesh. The people of this village had caught a great many big fish and hung them from the trees at a man's height; the flesh was crystalline and translucent, and at the New Year, when they seldom went out to hunt, they could live out the winter on this catch of the river. Shen Mu had the dragon qilin halt.

The little girl with the three braids blinked her bright eyes. "Cowherd, come home in silks and glory, have you?

Is it fun out there? " Shen Mu laughed.

"Not bad. Wherever I go, someone is trying to kill me. Have the monks of Little Thunderclap Monastery come looking for you? "