Chapter 341 — The Daoist Sect's Mathematical Heart-Method

An old nun nearby asked, "Who is that man?

" "He says his name is Shen Mu, and he has come to see Daoist Master Lin," the young nun said, laughing. "And he solved this celestial-number puzzle for me offhand, the very one I use to work out the star numbers of the Milky Way!

" The old nun was startled.

"Shen Mu? That is the Nether Demon Cult Leader!

That old demon has killed I do not know how many of our sect's senior brothers, and he dares come barging into our sect! " The young nun jumped in fright.

"The Nether Demon Cult Leader?

Is he here to kill the Daoist Master?

What are we to do?

" The old nun laughed. "The Yuxu Temple is full of our sect's masters; if he dares use force, there will have to be a new Nether Demon Cult Leader.

Let us go on with our sword practice and pay him no mind. " In the Yuxu Temple, Shen Mu saw a crowd of old Daoists and old nuns: some squatting in the garden, savoring a single fresh flower with relish; some lying flat on the ground watching a column of ants do battle; some slowly drinking tea and playing chess; some sitting by a pavilion playing a vertical flute; and some shuffling to and fro in broken shoes, the toes worn through, letting several impish toes peek out.

Shen Mu stepped back out, looked up at the plaque hung over the temple - it was indeed the Yuxu Temple - and went back in, asking an old Daoist, "Where is Daoist Master Lin Xuan?

" "The Daoist Master! " The old Daoist twisted his head around and called out at the top of his voice, "Someone is looking for you!

" Daoist Master Lin Xuan's voice came from deep within the temple: "Oh, I know, I will be right out! Entertain him for me first; I am at a critical juncture in my pill refining! " The old Daoist turned back to Shen Mu. "Make yourself at home.

" Shen Mu breathed a sigh of relief and waited a while, and then came a great thunderous boom, and a mushroom cloud rose slowly from the place where Daoist Master Lin Xuan's voice had come. The old Daoists and nuns all burst out laughing: "The Daoist Master has blown up his furnace again!

" Daoist Master Lin Xuan came out from within, gray-faced, his face blackened with soot.

"Martial Uncle, if you had not shouted that shout of yours, I would not have blown the furnace.

. .

Cult Leader Shen!

" Startled at the sight of Shen Mu, he hastily raised his sleeve to wipe the charcoal ash from his face and said with grave countenance, "What brings the Nether Demon Cult Leader to our Daoist sect at his leisure? " "The Nether Demon Cult Leader? " At these words, the old Daoists and nuns of the Yuxu Temple all turned their heads to look at Shen Mu, and at once he felt killing intent in every gaze!

The grudge between the Daoist sect and the Nether Demon Cult could be traced back ten or twenty thousand years; the enmity between the two was carved almost into the bone - and to that add Shen Mu's killing of nearly half the Daoist sect's masters in the battle at the capital that put down the rebellion of Lingyu and Yuxia. No wonder these Daoist masters stirred with killing intent!

Shen Mu's expression did not change. Just then a white-haired head poked out of the medicine basket on his back.

The headman poked his head out of the basket, glanced all around, and wherever his gaze swept, the old Daoists and nuns turned their eyes away, not meeting his look, and went about their own business again.

The headman slowly drew his head back into the basket. Shen Mu took out the golden book, the precious scroll, and said with a smile, "The old Daoist Master permitted me to read the Fourteen Chapters of the Daoist Sword, and I have always been grateful.

Now that Senior Brother Lin has become Daoist Master, I have come to let you read a book. I give you three days. " Daoist Master Lin Xuan laughed. "You already let me read the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra; you owe our Daoist sect nothing.

This book.

. .

" His gaze fell upon the first page of the golden book, which Shen Mu had opened, and he could not tear it away again; involuntarily he took out any number of rulers and measured the diagrams over and over.

He measured and he calculated, and under his breath he muttered different calculating formulas. When the old Daoists and nuns of the Yuxu Temple heard his formulas they thought nothing of it at first, but Lin Xuan's formulas grew ever more abstruse and his calculations ever more complex, and these old Daoists and nuns could not help but grow curious.

An old Daoist came over, and his gaze was at once caught by the diagrams on the golden book.

Before long more and more old Daoists and nuns had gathered around the golden book, all of them calculating and measuring. Lost in their calculations, they did not notice the passage of time, until suddenly a hand reached out and drew the golden book away, and Shen Mu's voice startled them all awake: "Daoist Master, senior brothers, the three days are up.

" "Three days already?

" Lin Xuan and the others were startled. Shen Mu smiled. "I take my leave.

" With that he turned to go.

"Stay!

" "Cult Leader Shen, stay! " Shen Mu turned back, and smiled.

Reading address: