Chapter 288 — Lord of the Great Dao

Long Jiaonan's scalp split apart to either side with a sound that curdled the blood, and a woman was crawling out of the torn human skin with agonizing effort. Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang screamed, only then realizing they were clutching each other, and hastily let go.

Shen Mu took his Mystic Light Soul-Protecting Pendant from the Taotie pouch and put it on. The pendant was tied together with the Heavenly Emperor's Jade Tablet, which Long Jiaonan had also cast into the pouch.

One of these two items was bound up with his origins; the other was a treasure given him by the Lame Elder to ward off evil. And given how grisly a sight it was to watch Long Jiaonan climb out of her own skin, the Heavenly Emperor's Jade Tablet was just the thing for fending off the uncanny. After a time, a woman with not a thread upon her worked the upper half of her body out of Long Jiaonan's skin, squeezing fragments of broken bone out of the skin along the way. Stark naked, hair wild, she crawled with immense difficulty, spitting blood at every move.

"Turn around! Don't look!

" Ling Yuxiu snapped free of her shock and hastily urged Shen Mu. "It's not as if I haven't seen it before.

.

. " Shen Mu muttered, but he turned around all the same.

Before long, Long Jiaonan finally clawed her way out of the skin, yet she was at death's door and had no strength left.

She looked older. Where before she had been a young woman in her prime, now she seemed to have aged by a dozen years or more. Si Yunxiang fetched a robe to cover her, and as she draped it over the woman, she gave her a discreet pinch. Her eyes flickering, she whispered to Ling Yuxiu, "She still has broken bones inside; she hasn't coughed them all out.

" Long Jiaonan managed to sit up, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and said faintly, "My injuries are too severe. This molt only healed the wound on my heart and repaired a portion of my bones. To recover fully, I must go through several more molts.

Every molt ages me by decades and drains my lifespan. Set your minds at ease—I no longer have the power to threaten any of you. " Ling Yuxiu looked at the two huge red sections of snake lying on the sand and shuddered. "Can this big snake also. . .

" Long Jiaonan's face darkened. She shook her head.

"Little Red has been cut in two, and its head was smashed as well. There's no bringing it back.

" "Good!

" Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu both breathed sighs of relief. Shen Mu turned around with a kind smile.

"Sister Long, might I ask where your father is?

Where is he hiding? Who is at his side? And why does he wish to see me?

" Long Jiaonan said nothing.

Shen Mu smiled slightly. He extended his index finger, and a wisp of yuan qi flew forth, carving a slice of snake meat and laying it on the campfire to roast.

The meat sizzled, fat dripping into the flames with a sputter of smoke. Long Jiaonan's gaze fixed on that slice of meat, her pupils abruptly contracting. "My Holy Cult has three hundred and sixty-one halls," Shen Mu said. "One is called the Punishment Hall, and it has always dealt in harsh laws and stern penalties—a thousand ways to make a man confess. " Long Jiaonan sneered. "Jingping is entangled with the Nether Demon Cult so deeply that it has truly founded its kingdom on deviltry.

Cult Leader Shen, my invitation came with threats, but it was also, I think, a courtesy. I never made things hard for you. Had I chosen, cutting off the Cult Leader's legs, severing the Princess's hands, and blinding the Saintess would have been no great feat for me. But times change and roles reverse.

I have fallen into your hands, and I hope for the same courtesy.

" Shen Mu shook his head. "On the road I can show you courtesy, and I won't make things difficult for you. But you rose in rebellion and spread disorder; handing you over to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation is only fitting. You once held office, so sending you to the Court of Judicial Review for inquiry would also be possible—but there are Holy Cult people in the Court as well. " Long Jiaonan's expression shifted through cloud and sunlight, but she still said nothing.

Shen Mu got nothing from her. He flicked his fingers repeatedly, sealing her soul within her body with the Creation Heavenly Demon Art, then said to the two women, "Fan Yunxiao's ship is swift. Finding this place shouldn't be too hard. At the earliest we'll be found tomorrow, at the latest in three or five days.

We'll stay on the island a few days and see whether these yellow essences can come back to life.

" Si Yunxiang hesitated.

"The Cult Leader pities the lives of these yellow essences, but if Long Jiaonan slips away, I fear she'll return and ruin them. The Cult Leader must not covet her beauty simply because she's pretty—" "Covet her beauty? " Shen Mu studied Long Jiaonan, puzzled. "She isn't even pretty.

What beauty is there to covet?

" Si Yunxiang was taken aback.

For all her odd temper, Long Jiaonan had always been a beauty in the making; this molt had aged her, but she was still a comely woman. That the Holy Cult's Sacred Cult Leader should fail to find her pretty struck Si Yunxiang as impossibly obtuse. She probed, "What does the Cult Leader consider pretty, then?

" "Someone like Granny," Shen Mu answered without thinking. "Or chubby like Sister Yuxiu—those are pretty.

Granny says plump girls look good, but you have to beware of vixens. " Ling Yuxiu was quite pleased and cast a glance at Si Yunxiang, secretly taking the cowherd to be her own kindred spirit.

Si Yunxiang refused to let it go.

"I am family with the previous Cult Leader's widow; by seniority I call her aunt. Does the Cult Leader think me pretty? " "You're too thin, and still young—you're younger than me, aren't you? " Shen Mu looked Si Yunxiang up and down, then shook his head. "Granny said thin girls aren't pretty; a little meat is good and makes for easy childbearing.

Alchemist Grandpa also said girls should be plump, though the villagers all called him an old lecher. Don't be upset. Eat a bit more and you'll be quite pretty—but not too much. Alchemist Grandpa said overly fat is ugly too.

" Si Yunxiang was dumbfounded. By Shen Mu's aesthetic, Long Jiaonan indeed was not pretty, and even she herself was not pretty. No wonder the fellow had not given her a second glance when she had stripped down to her underclothes earlier.

He had been led astray by that old lecher in his village! Their young Sacred Cult Leader was faultless in everything—wisdom, ability, aptitude, insight, even boldness were all brilliantly outstanding. The only thing one could not fathom was where his sense of beauty had gone wrong. Shen Mu did not lower his voice on purpose. "The reason I'm keeping this Sister Long is mainly to lure the Dragon King out. The Dragon King is extremely capable, and he keeps a flood dragon. He is, after all, a sect lord in his own right.

Unless I get rid of him, I'll never feel safe. From now on I'd have to go about in constant fear, worried that someone might kill me. Once I hand Sister Long over to the Crown Prince, I'll summon the Left and Right Dharma Protectors and a few protecting elders. So long as the Dragon King dares to come, he'll leave without a whole corpse.

" His expression grew solemn. "He must die without a whole corpse—and his head must be smashed to pieces, or who knows whether he'll come back! Speaking of which, I wonder what business this Dragon King has with me.

.

.

but that hardly matters. What matters is killing him!

" Long Jiaonan shuddered several times over.

Shen Mu's plan was too malicious—if the Dragon King came to rescue her, his death was certain.