Chapter 306 — The Spirit of the Giant Serpent

Afterward, under the guidance of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, his attainments in the stage of method had grown higher and deeper.

At the stage of method, one could already be called a grandmaster. Above method there was yet the level of the Dao -- that was the Village Head's level; the Dao Lord had not reached it either, and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping fell a notch short as well.

Now, standing at the height of method and looking upon the man in white's swordsmanship, Shen Mu could see its refinement; as for the Dao-realm within it, though he could not comprehend it, he could still ponder its wonders. The man in white's swordsmanship approached the Dao and held inexhaustible mysteries.

His enemies were too strong -- they were holy beings, one after another -- and yet he held them off! Suddenly calamity struck: a dreadful power shook time and space.

It was a palm, meeting the Wuyou Sword head-on; the Wuyou Sword melted at once, its blade dissolving, then breaking. The ship, together with the broken sword, tore across the vast sky and plunged into the earth in the darkness. Behind that enormous palm, the giant serpent came flying, bearing the gods, pursuing the falling ship.

Shen Mu fell along with the ship.

He could feel the jolting as the treasure ship dropped from midair; the ship cut through the sky, a giant white bat statue flashed past, and then it smashed into the earth and thundered down toward the depths. Then he felt a violent shock: the treasure ship passed through a giant statue of a god-man beneath the earth and crashed into the Hive Seal. In the shaking, Shen Mu saw the people on the ship suffer grievous death and injury; many died in the collision.

The woman came out, gathered those still living, and led them away from the ship, fleeing into Youdu.

The man in white, gravely wounded, chose to remain, keeping watch on the ship, guarding before the Hive Seal of Youdu. Outside, a giant serpent lowered its head down from the abyss; upon its flat head stood mighty gods, one after another.

The giant serpent slid down the abyss, swam into the depths of the earth, drawing nearer by degrees.

Suddenly the phantoms before Shen Mu's eyes vanished, and he alone remained standing on the ship's deck.

A cool wind came; the youth's garments flapped and cracked.

He turned and looked back, and saw Youdu in the darkness. He now stood at the bow of the treasure ship, having entered the world of Youdu.

He did not see that beneath the ship's bottom a huge eye had surfaced, vaster than the ship itself, gazing at him darkly, with keen interest.

Shen Mu stared blankly at the world of Youdu in the darkness, where all was bizarre and dazzling, where creatures of every color gave off every kind of light, far from this place.

A group from this ship, led by that woman, had broken into Youdu, while the man in white chose to guard this place, holding off the giant serpent and the pursuing gods. Was that man in white still alive?

Had he died in battle here, or had he held off those gods and then gone into Youdu to seek his kin? Had they come from Wuyou Township?

They too bore the surname Shen -- could they be his kin? And who was it that hunted them?

Shen Mu roused his spirits.

Perhaps he need only make this ship float into the air, and he could send it back to Wuyou Township!

His heart burned.

He walked from the bow toward the ship's cabin door; this ship must surely have something like a compass, used to record the route to Wuyou Township.

The Village Head had once given him a mirror, saying it was a map of the route to Wuyou Township -- though the mirror bore the Village Head's seal, and only when Shen Mu had the power to break it could he see the route within.

That mirror had been found in the peerless giant ship; that giant ship was a vessel bound for Wuyou Township, and it had been shattered, while this ship remained whole.

If so, then there must be a like thing here -- an unsealed route map! He pushed open a door and stepped onto the bridge.

And at the bow, that huge eye slowly rose, and then another eye kindled bright as well -- two vertical pupils. A vast serpent's head appeared in the darkness, soundlessly flicking its tongue, staring at Shen Mu as he entered the bridge.

Shen Mu felt something and turned to look; he did not see the two eyes quietly sink back into the darkness.