Chapter 340 — The Iron-Blooded Frontier General

Had the Jingping Imperial Preceptor known the origins of those nine elders, he would have understood why Shen Mu possessed a vision and a breadth of mind that none of his peers could claim. The nine "elders" of Hidden Maimed Village were at once Shen Mu's closest kin and his teachers.

Among those nine were the present Tathagata; the one who had once been the Divine Spear; the Silent Artisan, first under heaven at forging treasures and rotten through and through; the Jade-Faced Poison King, a pill refiner once incomparably handsome and no less ruthless; and the Holy Maiden of the Nether Demon Cult, whose renown for her twin faces of god and demon shook the world.

There was also the Deaf Elder, whom the Jingping Imperial Preceptor revered as the Painting Sage; the Lame Elder, who could steal anything under heaven without ever failing, and who had slipped from his captors' grasp even after they cut off one of his legs; and the Butcher, hailed as the Heaven Blade who turned his saber against the heavens and did battle with the gods. And there was the Human Emperor who made an entire age shine — the Village Chief. Some of them had vast hearts; some were sentimental; some compassionate; some steady; some cunning; some skilled at hiding what lay within; some filled with heroic blood; some masters of scheme and design; and some ruthless.

Most of them, though, kept a heart of utter sincerity, a child's heart. It was because there was such a village, and such people, that Shen Mu could be raised into someone even this sage — one born but once in five hundred years — had to admire. Shen Mu himself felt nothing of the sort.

After he left Hidden Maimed Village he did not feel himself so extraordinary; he was, after all, a Tyrant Body, and any achievement was only natural, nothing to make a fuss over.

Yet in the eyes of others he was practically a monster of a prodigy: at such a young age, whether in poisoning or in refining pills to save lives, or in forging, thieving, calligraphy and painting, he stood among the finest hands under heaven. By contrast, Shen Mu's fighting strength was not what people prized; what he himself trained at hardest was raising his own power by every means he could, and this, in star-brilliant Jingping, drew little notice. Yet even that least remarkable fighting strength of his swept through his peers, and even Ban Gongcuo came off the worse against him time and again. When Shen Mu left Hidden Maimed Village his attainments in the arts of calculation were not high, but after he left the Desolate Ruins his skill in calculation advanced by leaps and bounds.

Even among the Daoist sect there were few who had thoroughly mastered the Supreme Mystery Calculation Classic, and though Shen Mu was no Daoist, he had studied that classic to the bone. He started late and came out ahead; few under heaven could surpass him in the arts of calculation.

The more one dealt with him, the more one felt how far from ordinary this small youth was. "To turn the contents of this golden book and precious scroll into a calculation model as quickly as possible, we need someone well versed in the arts of calculation to lend a hand. " Shen Mu put away the golden book and precious scroll and said, "The first art, the Magpie Bridge Art, I can measure out completely within a month and build its calculation model.

But the second art, the Mystic Guidance Art, and the third, the Divine Crossing Art, demand far too much calculation. If I were to sort it all out alone, I fear it would take more than a year — too long a delay. " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor, the Village Chief, and the Lame Elder all looked grave.

To build a calculation model, one had to measure every angle within the space of the golden book and precious scroll, using numbers to reconstruct point after point, coordinate after coordinate, of the three arts in space. This was of the utmost importance!

Once the calculation model existed, one took the ratio between the Spirit Bridge in the golden book and one's own Spirit Bridge as the scale, converted those spatial coordinates, and fixed the coordinates for the movement of the art within one's own spirit storehouse. Only then could one learn the Magpie Bridge Art and build the Magpie Bridge; the Magpie Bridge mends the Spirit Bridge and extends it, and only then could one go further and cultivate the Mystic Guidance Art, refining out of the Heavenly Court on the far side of the Spirit Bridge another bridge, the Mystic Guidance Bridge.

Once the Mystic Guidance Art was mastered, one cultivated the Divine Crossing Art. Should the calculations deviate at all, the three bridges — Magpie Bridge, Mystic Guidance Bridge, Divine Crossing Bridge — would fail to close, and all would be undone, every scrap of prior effort wasted! "In the Daoist sect, the strongest in the arts of calculation is the Old Dao Lord.

But the Old Dao Lord has already retired, and no one knows where he went.

Next is the present Dao Lord, formerly the Daoist Son Lin Xuan.

" Shen Mu went on measuring and calculating: "His attainments in the arts of calculation are extremely high.

I have seen him wield the Daoist sword; his calculation is very strong. " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor's head ached as though it would split. Slowly he said, "The Daoist sect and Jingping do not enjoy good relations, but we must ask them to come out of seclusion. Besides the golden book and precious scroll, there is also the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon, and for that too we need them!

The Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon is of the utmost importance and must be forged. With the Daoist sect's manpower alone, I fear it will not suffice for both. So we must also make a trip to Little Jade Capital.

However. . .

" He looked toward the grasslands, and his headache deepened. The Mandi Kingdom had now been defeated, and this was the finest moment to annex the grasslands; that chance must on no account be let slip. Asking the Daoist sect to come out, going to Little Jade Capital, bringing troops to the grasslands, razing the Loulan Golden Palace — every one of these matters was of the utmost importance, yet he could not divide himself among them.

And in the north the Langjuxu Kingdom was still attacking Jingping.

So many matters — the mere thought made his head feel ready to burst.

"I am well acquainted with the Dao Lord; I can go to the Daoist sect and look about, and perhaps I can talk the Dao Lord Lin Xuan around. " Shen Mu smiled: "I can also run to Little Jade Capital in your place.

We once met Wang Muran and his master, the Scattered Immortal Zhen. " "I killed the Scattered Immortal Zhen.

" The Jingping Imperial Preceptor said, "You are the Master of the Nether Demon Cult; Little Jade Capital may not treat you kindly. " Shen Mu looked at the Village Chief and the Lame Elder. The Village Chief said, "Idle enough, with nothing to do; a walk out would do me good. " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor caught his meaning: "Good. You go to Little Jade Capital; I will raze the grasslands and destroy the Loulan Golden Palace!

" "In the Loulan Golden Palace there are a hundred of my treasures!

" Shen Mu said in a fluster, "You promised — I am to pick as I please!

" The Jingping Imperial Preceptor said gravely, "Rest assured, my word has always counted. " Shen Mu set his heart at ease and laughed: "Village Chief, Grandpa Lame, let us return to Qingmen Pass, take Xiong Xiyu and her daughter and Long Pang with us, and make the trip to the Daoist sect and Little Jade Capital.

" The Jingping Imperial Preceptor set off at once for Helan Pass, while Shen Mu and the others returned to Qingmen Pass, picked up Xiong Xiyu and her daughter, and lifted the Village Chief up and set him in the medicine basket.

Shen Mu suddenly came to his senses: "Confound it, I have never been to Little Jade Capital!

" The Village Chief said mildly, "I have been there.

Nothing but old bones there, and both stinking and hard.