Chapter 288 — Lord of the Great Dao

He could never match the Dharma Protectors and protecting elders of the Nether Demon Cult. "Cult Leader Shen, my father invited you for a reason! " she said abruptly. Shen Mu looked at her with a smile. "So Sister Long is willing to talk? " Long Jiaonan sighed. "This time someone came to my father, saying that he was not at liberty to show himself but wished to meet the Cult Leader and conclude peace with you. " Surprised, Shen Mu asked, "And who might this person be?

" "The Dao Lord," Long Jiaonan said. "In the so-called Three Religions and Nine Schools, the Daoist Sect, the Great Thunderclap Temple, and the Nether Demon Cult comprise the Three Religions; our Dragon Taming Gate is only a sect of the Nine Schools. The Cult Leader has simply been too formidable. Not only did you spirit the Emperor away, you also slew so many experts of the Daoist Sect and the Great Thunderclap Temple at the Altar of Heaven in the Imperial City.

The Dao Lord has grown uneasy, thinking that Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Teacher of Jingping will ally with the Nether Demon Cult to attack his Daoist Sect. He cannot come to see you in person, lest he cause a misunderstanding between you and the Emperor.

That is why he approached my father and asked him to invite you to Tianlong Island for a meeting. " Her face turned cold.

"I treated you with courtesy along the way. Did you really believe I didn't want to kill you? At Tianbo City, you killed countless disciples of my Dragon Taming Gate, and the Emperor confiscated our property and wiped out our clan. My hatred for you runs deeper than the sea!

But the Dao Lord once rendered my father a great kindness—he saved his life. I do not dare disobey his word. " Shen Mu was thoughtful, pinching his chin.

A few more whiskers had burrowed out, as if to plague him. "The Dao Lord wants to see me, most likely to sue for peace," he mused. "The Daoist Sect will make peace with my Holy Cult, but not with Jingping.

He worries that my Holy Cult and Jingping will join forces to attack the Daoist Sect, and he is already old, with only a few years left.

If he sues for peace now, he can preserve his sect; if he waits until after his death, the Daoist Sect will be annihilated. " The snake meat was fragrant, and the fish was good as well, but Long Jiaonan ate only a few slices of fish and never touched the snake meat.

Shen Mu offered it twice with hospitable insistence, then gave up when he saw she truly would not eat it. The next day, Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu rose at dawn and saw Shen Mu ceaselessly roaming the island. He never stopped moving—now treading the sand, now walking on the sea, now leaping up among the clouds.

"He has higher natural talent than everybody else, and still he works harder than all of us! " Si Yunxiang ground her teeth. So this was all just to keep her from getting a chance to kill him—did he have to work this hard?

Shen Mu paid no heed to anything else. As he moved, he stoked the Mysterious Body Three Elixirs Skill and circulated his techniques, trying to fuse all arts into one and comprehend a grand unified art at the Six Harmonies Realm. But Si Yunxiang was wrong. In the eyes of others, Shen Mu's aptitude was absolutely of the lowest order.

Years ago, the folk of Hidden Cripple Village had tested him and found he was not even a spirit body—only an ordinary man. He should have led a plain, uneventful life, but who would have thought the village head would blurt out that he had an Overlord Body? It awakened Shen Mu's fighting spirit, and even the villagers' ardor was fired up. They heaped all manner of spiritual pills and heavenly treasures onto him.

And Shen Mu did indeed work hard—he could fairly be called the most assiduous cultivator under heaven. He also carried an unshakable faith in his own invincibility, convinced that he was an Overlord Body set above all others.

If he fell short of someone, it could only be because he had not trained hard enough. The realm and strength he now possessed came not solely from the care of the village head, Alchemist Grandpa, Granny Zhu, and the others, nor from his chances, but were summoned by his own effort.

An ordinary man, if he will only use his head and apply himself with diligence, can scarcely imagine the measure of his potential. No one notices the efforts of a successful person before the success comes and thinks him exceptional; it is only after he succeeds that others deem him extraordinary, then mythologize him and overlook exactly those efforts. Seeing this, Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu also threw themselves into cultivation, each practicing her own arts without disturbing the other.

Long Jiaonan lay beneath a tree, breathing and meditating, attempting to molt once more. But her wounds were too grave and the cost too high, and she could not shed her skin. If she molted again, she would turn into a middle-aged woman; several more times and she might become an old crone. When the sun was three poles high, Shen Mu returned to the spirit spring to fetch water for the yellow essences planted near it.

Suddenly he stopped. At the edge of the spring, an old Daoist in a robe washed to gray was cupping water in a leaf, moving with care among the yellow essences to water them.

A youth beside him was lending a hand. The old Daoist noticed that one yellow essence had put out a leaf from its crown, and a smile spread over his wrinkled face. He crouched and stroked the leaf gently, saying, "These yellow essences are reborn after death. Is life not marvelous, Cult Leader Shen? " Every gesture followed nature's subtle principle, as if he had become one with this sea, this island, this spring, this sky, and these yellow essences—nothing separate, nothing withheld. "Senior Brother speaks truly," Shen Mu said as he stepped forward.

"But I wonder whether these yellow essences, once revived, are still the same yellow essences as before. The Holy Cult Leader greets the Dao Lord. " The old Daoist made haste to return the salute. "Since we meet for the first time, this old Daoist offers his respects.

Lin Xuan, come quickly and greet the present Human Emperor! " The Dao Child Lin Xuan beside him was astonished but asked no questions.

He made a disciple's salute and bowed.

"The Dao Child pays respects to the Human Emperor. "