Chapter 265 — Two Heroes of Jingping

Shen Mu took his leave of Granny Zhu and set out on foot with the emperor, the Dragon Qilin trailing behind them. He taught Emperor Yanfeng the Art of Creation and Spirit from the Great Yu Nether Demon Scripture, and passed on to him as well his own Mystic Body Three Elixir Art. "Cultivate the two arts together," he said, "and practice as you walk. It will do your injuries no small good—at the very least it will strengthen your body."

Yanfeng was half doubtful, half convinced, but he tried cultivating the Mystic Body Three Elixir Art and the Art of Creation and Spirit, and before he knew it his complexion had improved somewhat. He laughed. "These arts are fine indeed—to think one can cultivate while walking! I feel some of my strength has returned."

"You keep at it. Once you have a small measure of success, the wounds of your flesh will heal and your constitution will grow strong. Then I will teach you the Creation Ghost-Spirit Art for refining the soul, which will steady your huntsoul and parasoul. With medicines that treat the soul as well, working both at once, the wounds upon your soul will heal."

Shen Mu suddenly drifted into thought. "I have taught the emperor arts from the Great Yu Nether Demon Scripture. Should the emperor join my Heaven Sacred Cult? What office should I give him?"

He stole a glance at Emperor Yanfeng, and there was something less than benevolent in it. "I am still short one Heavenly King. If I could bring the emperor into the fold and make him a Heavenly King of the Heaven Sacred Cult, then the whole of Jingping would belong to the cult..."

Emperor Yanfeng cultivated with diligence and bitter effort. His frame grew somewhat more robust, and he even refined a little vital essence; but without his divine treasury, his cultivation was truly limited.

Shen Mu too cultivated, unhurried. When he roused the Mystic Body Three Elixir Art, five rays of light shone down from the sky—these were the Five Luminaries within his body joined to the Five Luminary stars, drawing down their stellar power to raise his cultivation.

Emperor Yanfeng was slightly taken aback. "He is still at the Five Luminaries stage?"

He had always assumed Shen Mu was already a man of divine powers at the Six Harmonies stage. After all, Shen Mu's strength was already a match for those with divine powers; his cultivation was even on par with Six Harmonies adepts. He had never expected Shen Mu to still be at Five Luminaries.

"The Nether Demon Cult's Great Yu Nether Demon Scripture is truly extraordinary."

Emperor Yanfeng marveled inwardly—not knowing that Shen Mu's vital essence came chiefly from the Mystic Body Three Elixir Art, and that what Yanfeng himself now cultivated was precisely the Mystic Body Three Elixir Art.

Shen Mu's cultivation had indeed reached the peak of the Five Luminaries stage, not far from the Six Harmonies stage; he need only wait for the Five Luminary Star Lords in his divine treasury to stabilize, and then he could attempt the breakthrough.

The two traveled for four days, eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew, until they came to the next city. Shen Mu brought Emperor Yanfeng inside and bought some medicinal ingredients. It was the first time in his life the emperor had endured such hardship; both his feet were worn raw and covered in blisters.

At the inn, Shen Mu set him in a wooden tub and steeped him in medicated water through the night. The emperor fell asleep in the tub, and when he woke the next morning he found every blister on his feet gone, and his body much lighter. He clicked his tongue in wonder.

The two journeyed on until they entered the borders of Qizhou, where they saw many men with divine powers driving villagers before them, lashing and shouting.

"This land belongs to our Qishan Sect!"

Those men of divine powers were surely disciples of the Qishan Sect, cultivating the art of thunder. They wielded a chaos of lightning strikes to herd the villagers of a dozen li and eight villages together, and bellowed: "By the emperor's command, the ancestral system is restored—sect lands belong to the sects! From now on you need not pay the imperial grain tax; you need only render tribute to the Qishan Sect!"

The village headman of one hamlet refused to submit, and had barely argued two sentences before a thunderbolt struck him dead.

Shen Mu halted to watch, frowning slightly. Emperor Yanfeng's face was iron-dark. "Perverting the course of things!" he said, cold as ice.

They passed through other provinces and commanderies, and all along the way saw the power of the sects rise again from the ashes, seizing territory on every side, plundering wealth, carving up lands—and in a moment chaos grew more chaotic still.

The snow disaster had already wrought great ruin; now the sects' power returned in force, dividing the land and seizing common folk as their tenant farmers, heaping fuel on the fire.

And where the local authorities had once been distributing relief, now the relief stopped as well, and the number who froze or starved to death was beyond counting.

Emperor Yanfeng said nothing, and cultivated all the more bitterly, striving to repair his divine treasury and restore his cultivation.

When they reached Yongzhou, Shen Mu went straight to the governor's residence. The prefect of Yongzhou hurried out to receive him, stole a glance at Emperor Yanfeng without recognizing him, then fixed his gaze on Shen Mu. "Cult Master..."

"We will speak inside."

Shen Mu said no more, and asked: "How do matters stand in the capital?"

"The capital is not in good shape."

Duanmu Jing said: "Many Daoist priests and Buddhist monks from the Daoist sect and the Great Tingming Temple have gone to the capital. The Daoist Lord and the Tathagata have each issued decrees, investing the crown prince as the Pure Emperor; on the sixth day of the third month he will ascend the throne. Even now the crown prince's spies are at work everywhere—find a man who looks like the emperor, and they cut him down on the spot."

Shen Mu nodded quietly. It was much as he had guessed.

Duanmu Jing went on: "The crown prince holds the regency, and his power is immense. Many great clans have been brought under the control of the Buddhist and Daoist factions. Some of the capital's great houses have already turned coat; in others, monks and priests have taken up residence and refuse to leave. Those clans dare not break with them, and can only let them stay. In the capital now, every walk of life and every faction is mixed together, fish and dragons jumbled—one might say it is no longer the emperor's realm."

"The crown prince has also issued a decree, saying he will restore the ancestral system, and has promulgated the tribute statutes, returning the lands of each sect to each sect, with all other lands belonging to Jingping, and moreover..."

Duanmu Jing hesitated, then said: "Envoys have come from the Wolf Roost Kingdom. Speaking of the border wars, they made peace with the crown prince, and the crown prince ceded the Sixteen Provinces of Yunlu to the Wolf Roost Kingdom. Envoys have come from the barbarian tribes as well, and are now discussing the matter of ceding land and paying indemnities..."

"Ruining a house is easy indeed."

Shen Mu laughed. "The crown prince makes a sorry emperor."

Duanmu Jing was somewhat perplexed; Shen Mu showed no trace of anger, but seemed as unconcerned as if nothing had happened. He did not know that Shen Mu had never counted himself a man of Jingping—from first to last he was one of the God-Forsaken of the Barren Wastes, and so could hardly speak of anger.

"The sixth of the third month is indeed an auspicious day for ascending the throne—and well suited to killing."

Shen Mu asked: "Have you found word of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping?"

"We have."

Duanmu Jing assented.

Shen Mu called Emperor Yanfeng and summoned the Dragon Qilin. "We leave the city."

Emperor Yanfeng said hurriedly: "I have not eaten my fill."