Chapter 312 — The Man Hidden in the Wood

"Not a single word from that Shen is to be trusted!

" Banggongcuo was beyond fury; he flung open the nearest door and charged through, snarling, "What happened to sharing the same boat and pulling together? What happened to 'friends on board, kill when we leave the ship'? No faith! The moment there's a benefit, he scampers off on his own and shuts the door to gobble it all alone!

Choke to death, you bastard!

" He had followed behind Shen Mu and seen it plainly: after Shen Mu stepped into that arcane room, he had casually shut the door. It wasn't that the door closed on its own—Shen Mu had deliberately closed it, using the treasure ship's art of spatial alignment to keep Banggongcuo outside.

The whelp plainly meant to enjoy the prize all by himself.

Banggongcuo soon calmed down, however, and began concentrating on calculating the second-layer spatial alignment of the treasure ship. "Now that I know there's a second layer of space, I can figure out where that corridor actually is. Don't think you can swallow up all the advantages alone!

" As he calculated, he opened one room after another searching for his men. The ship was crammed with rooms, and his subordinates had long since gone astray, turning around inside one chamber after another, trying to find a way out but sinking deeper and deeper. Banggongcuo had already discovered a method to break the outer layer's spatial alignment, but finding these men still cost him considerable time.

On the way he also ran into two white bats and a dragon qilin. That dragon qilin, of all creatures, was also calculating a way to break the spatial alignment and had come close to discovering the bridge. The two sides fought a great battle; Banggongcuo and his men were so badly routed they cast away armor and helms, and it was only because a Sorcerer King burst into the room that they were rescued. Yet by the time he found the other Sorcerer Kings, he still had not been able to calculate the corridor's location, and a deep sense of frustration rose in his heart.

"No matter if I can't find that place," he said. "The Shen brat is bound to show up.

When he does, I'll seize him, force him to hand over the silver helmet, and wring every secret from him! " In the room at the end of the corridor, Shen Mu blinked.

Shutting Banggongcuo outside had been deliberate. All along, the painted old man had guided him in exploring the ship's secrets, and since the secret was nearly within reach, there was no further need for Banggongcuo tagging at his heels and getting in the way.

His reason for agreeing to join hands with Banggongcuo had always been to push the man forward as a shield when danger arose. Now that there was no danger, it was only natural to kick him out. "Great Lord, I imagine you had the same thought, didn't you? But I was one move better.

" He turned and surveyed his surroundings. This was a room of inconceivable size, somewhat like the Qushan Shrine he had seen beneath the sea—so vast it was absurd, nearly ten li from side to side, like a little world hidden inside the ship, though a bit smaller than the Qushan Shrine.

Yet the room was many times larger than the treasure ship itself.

To hide such an enormous space inside the vessel was truly beyond belief. Shen Mu looked up. The ceiling vault was constructed from long wooden beams, whereas the Qushan Shrine had been built from the bones of a Taotie divine beast; the two were different. A Taotie's body naturally contained enormous space, so one only needed to construct a shrine over its bones and the interior was bound to be vast.

But this room had been forged by distorting space with immense dharma and mighty powers, making its construction far more difficult. At the center of this grand and awe-inspiring room, a colossal tree trunk descended from the vault to the floor, and at its base tree roots coiled like flood dragons, ancient and imposing.

Light ran without cease over the great trunk's surface, rising from the roots to the vault and lighting the empty chamber. Within those currents of light, runic marks seemed to drift, sweeping along the beams into the corners of the room and pouring into the ship's hull.

After a while, a heartbeat sounded from inside the trunk—a muffled boom that shook the eardrums. Shen Mu looked it over, suspicion on his face.

It seemed the whole ship had been built upon an inconceivably enormous ancient tree, and the long beams overhead were probably the tree's branches.

Moreover, from the flowing light and the heartbeat, the ancient tree was still alive. It had become the core of the treasure ship—one might even call it the vessel's source of power.

But how many years would such a colossal tree need to grow? Why did an ancient tree possess such towering strength that it could turn into a treasure ship's motive force and bear it across the far seas?

"The helm and the silver helmet in the bridge are not where the treasure ship is controlled, after all," he said. "This is.

" Shen Mu's gaze dropped to the ground before him.

The floor was smooth as a mirror, and there the painted old man, pressed flat against it, was beckoning to him. Then he ran ahead.

Shen Mu hurried after him, his heart full of curiosity. "Was this painted old man really painted?

This art of painting seems even more remarkable than Grandpa Deaf's.

Grandpa Deaf's paintings could, with a single meeting of spirits, grant a soul, but if any painted figure came alive, it couldn't last long before turning back to ink.

This painted old man, though, truly seems to be a living being.

Apart from being able to walk only along floors and walls, he's no different from any other life. Could there really be someone in this world whose art of painting surpasses Grandpa Deaf's?

Impossible! " Then the crucial thought struck him. The person who had painted this old man may not have surpassed the Deaf Old Man in the art of painting, but in the Way of Creation. This person had drawn the old man and used the Way of Creation to bring him to life, making him the guardian and guide of the secret! The Deaf Old Man's paintings came not from cultivation but from his own mastery of the art of painting! Shen Mu followed the painted old man as they hurried toward the ancient tree at the center of the room. As they drew near, Shen Mu's brow tightened, for on the smooth floor ahead there were more splotches of green slime, as if something had crawled across it and left a trail.

The closer they came to the ancient tree, the more green slime there was. The painted old man became cautious, skirting the slime as he approached.

Shen Mu looked about warily. The room was open; a single glance showed everything in every direction, with nothing terrible in sight.

But the slime made him feel something was wrong.

He had seen this slime on the deck of the tower ship, where demonic aura had surged toward them, and within that demonic aura a dreadful presence had lurked. Also, the room through which they had entered the corridor had been full of this slime. And it was here too.

Judging by its distribution, the slime surrounded the ancient tree, which meant the tree must be extremely important to the slime's owner.

Shen Mu looked elsewhere, and the uneasiness grew.

The more he looked, the more this place resembled a lair—the lair of the slime's owner! At last, Shen Mu followed the painted old man to the foot of the tree. At that moment, he started slightly, for he saw the white-robed man he had seen in his vision. More precisely, he saw only the white-robed man's face.

The master of this treasure ship—the white-robed man surnamed Shen from Wuyou Village—had already merged his body into the ancient tree, becoming one with it.

Only his face remained exposed, and not even fully. His features had almost completely blended with the tree; his eyes held no luster.

The heartbeat inside the ancient tree was probably his own heart, beating very slowly. Shen Mu stood stunned.