Chapter 267 — Slaying the Human Emperor

Shen Mu went on with the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and the emperor. Around him banners flickered in and out of sight, and all who attacked him from every side were cut down in ambush and died untimely deaths. Wherever they passed, they left the ground strewn with corpses, every one of them missing its head. Shen Mu came to the foot of the Altar of Heaven and was about to mount the steps when suddenly the crown princess, kneeling below, struck out with savage force.

She had scarcely moved before she became a corpse, falling face down upon the ground.

The envoys of the other nations, the clan heads, the cult masters and gate masters were all stricken with terror and dared not strike again. The Nether Demon Cult, the first holy place of the demon path—they had long heard of its might. Now they had tasted it. "Xiuniang, do not look.

" The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping said to his lady. Shen Mu stepped up onto the Altar of Heaven.

An eminent monk suddenly roared: "Nether Demon Cult Master, we have waited long for you! Fellow Daoists, surround the Nether Demon Cult Master—subdue the demon, destroy the evil!

" One after another the monks tore off their official robes and bellowed, and the Daoist priests each raised their sword pellets; in an instant the killing aura above and below the Altar of Heaven surged to the heavens.

Battle cries rose on every side upon the Altar of Heaven. The Eight Great Inspectors did not strike; they only encircled Shen Mu and his companions.

Killing intent filled the heavens above the altar. One after another, beings of cult-master rank, great masters of the Life-and-Death Realm and the Heaven-Man Realm, fought upon the Altar of Heaven until heaven and earth seemed to split; the thunder of it shook down nearly every palace around the altar. The imperial city fell into chaos; its guards rushed over in swarms.

The whole capital was roused.

The great clans and powerful houses of the capital, which had given no sign of anything before, now burst forth with earth-shaking momentum; the monks and priests in their mansions, about to hurry to the aid of the imperial city, were penned inside by those clans and slain on the spot. And in the imperial prison, the Generalissimo of Heavenly Strategy Shen Jian, the High Minister Su Yunzhi, and the others were sitting in their cells when suddenly the prison doors opened.

A jailer grinned: "His Majesty has returned. He is at the Altar of Heaven.

" The Generalissimo and the rest were startled and overjoyed; they rushed out of the prison and made for the Altar of Heaven.

"Where is the Heaven King Wei? " the Heaven King Yu cried aloud. "The Heaven King Wei is here!

" A voice like thunder spread through the capital. The Duke of Weiguo leapt straight up from his ducal mansion and came down with a booming crash below the Altar of Heaven, clad in full armor, his face savage and ferocious: "Who wants to die? " Shen Mu walked up toward the Altar of Heaven, unhurried. The Grand Tutor of the Heir and the others came at him one after another—but just then Shen Jian and his companions burst out of the imperial prison and held them off, and no one hindered Shen Mu's steps. Upon the altar, Ling Yuxia showed alarm.

He glanced at the monk and the Daoist priest at either side; the two at once sprang up and plunged downward, and before they landed the Eight Great Inspectors killed them in midair, their blood spattering the ground. "Civil and military officials—I am the emperor!

" Ling Yuxia cried in a harsh voice: "Will you disobey my command and rebel together with this demon path?

" "Emperor?

" Emperor Yanfeng gave a cold snort, swallowed the pill Shen Mu had given him, and his hair at once grew out; he wiped the scar from his face and said in a low, heavy voice: "Look at me.

Who am I? " Ling Yuxia's face changed utterly. The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping swallowed a pill too; his hair grew, he wiped away the blue birthmark on his face, and turned around.

The civil and military officials, who had meant to obey the imperial command and strike, now saw Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, and knelt one after another. Ling Yuxia, like a man gone mad, came at Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, shrieking: "I am the Son of Heaven! " The Eight Great Inspectors shifted, each trading a blow with Ling Yuxia.

He spat blood, and suddenly his body turned into a dragon and soared into the air, fleeing outward. The Eight Great Inspectors each raised a sleeve to cover themselves and vanished; the next moment Ling Yuxia was kneeling at the center of the Altar of Heaven, held down by the eight. Emperor Yanfeng looked at the civil and military officials and shouted: "Will you not go and put down the rebellion for me?

Kill every one of these rebellious priests and bald donkeys!

Or must I do it with my own hands?

" The officials hurried to their feet and fell upon the monks and priests of the Great Tingming Temple and the Daoist sect with deadly force, and the imperial guards who had come up did the same.

At the same time, Shen Mu walked up onto the Altar of Heaven. Ling Yuxia was pressed down on his knees upon the ground, unable to struggle.

Shen Mu bent down, brought his mouth to his ear, and said softly: "Your Highness, I am not doing this to help the emperor, but for the Heaven King Qian and the Heaven King Lu of my holy cult. " Ling Yuxia was taken aback.

He raised his head and looked at him, disbelief in his eyes: "You. .

. " Shen Mu drew his sword—the Chu Bao Sword in his hand—and cut level with a single stroke!

Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping had just come up onto the Altar of Heaven when they saw that stroke pass, and Ling Yuxia's head fly high into the air. Emperor Yanfeng's heart was shaken. He looked at the youth's back; the youth shook the blood from his sword, and with a ringing note returned it to its sheath. There was something in that back that made a man's heart quail.