Chapter 358 — On True and False Tyrant Bodies

"Young Master Xu, how do you find the tribute wine from the imperial palace? Does it suit your taste?"

In the Listening to Rain Pavilion of the capital's pleasure quarter, pipa strings clattered and plucked in tangled melody, qin notes whispered and shivered, and a dongxiao flute sobbed low. Several girls sang and danced, and Shen Mu poured wine for Xu Shenghua, smiling as he said, "This is imperial wine the Sixth Princess brought. I seldom drink, so I hardly know good from bad. What do you think of the flavor?"

Ling Yuxiu, dressed in men's clothing, cast her bright eyes about and took in the surroundings, her heart fluttering with unease and no small excitement: "The cowherd actually brought me out to visit a brothel! If Father Emperor found out, he'd have his head for certain! So this is the Listening to Rain Pavilion, the most famous brothel in the capital? It doesn't seem as lascivious a place as the legends say..."

Xue Hu'er was well acquainted with the girls of the Listening to Rain Pavilion and had long since run off to find familiar faces, chattering away about heaven knew what.

Though Xu Shenghua had set foot in a house of dust and wind, he remained untouched by it. Sipping lightly at the fine wine, he said, "The palace wine is good, but it lacks the crisp fragrance of the wine from my Heaven Above. The cellaring time must be insufficient. If Sect Master Shen were to taste the fine wine of my Heaven Above and then drink this, he would be able to tell good from bad."

Ling Yuxiu looked at the youth seated across from Shen Mu, curiosity stirring in her heart. Xu Shenghua was exquisite as though carved from jade, not quite like a real person.

There was not a single flaw to be found in his features, nor in his clothing, his bearing, his words, or his manner.

Yet Shen Mu, seated across from him, had any number of small flaws.

Shen Mu was not as beautiful as he; though Shen Mu was not ill-favored either, he still could not compare to Xu Shenghua. Shen Mu was somewhat virile, giving one a sense of abundant vitality. Even after these days of toil and bustle, with scarcely any time to sleep, Shen Mu still appeared full of vigor.

Xu Shenghua, by contrast, seemed reserved, steady, unshaken even if the sky should fall, his heart like still water.

Shen Mu was sometimes excessively modest, and at other times excessively arrogant. Though kindhearted, he could also be wicked; sometimes oblivious to romantic feeling, and at other times capable of stirring your heart until it bloomed with flowers unceasing, like seeds scattered in spring.

Shen Mu was sometimes cautious in his dealings, leaving not a drop to leak, and at other times crude and reckless, charging ahead without a thought, often landing himself in trouble.

He was sometimes very clever, but when he was being foolish, he could make you grind your teeth in frustration.

Yet none of this could be seen in Xu Shenghua.

Xu Shenghua was like a perfect person in whom no flaw could be found. To describe a man as beautiful is excessive, yet to describe him so was not excessive in the least.

He was simply that kind of person. Whether enemy or friend, all who faced him felt as though bathed in a spring breeze.

"Too flawless to seem real."

Ling Yuxiu glanced at the two girls behind him and felt some sympathy for them. She could see the fiery feeling in their eyes when they looked upon Xu Shenghua, but clearly these two girls had fixed their affections on the wrong object.

A perfect person like Xu Shenghua could not possibly love them. Even if he did, they would not dare accept it, for they themselves were not perfect, and would be left forever in self-abasement.

Such a romance would not last; it was but flowers in a mirror and the moon in water.

"When we first met, I did not know that you and I would be enemies."

Shen Mu set down his cup and said, "When I learned it, I was grieved. We could have been friends. But it is just as well — I too need an enemy like you."

He broke into a smile: "There are few in this world as outstanding as you and I. If we were all friends, that would disappoint me greatly."

Ling Yuxiu poked him with a finger and whispered, "Cowherd, be a little more modest..."

Shen Mu laughed. "I am only speaking the truth."

Behind Xu Shenghua, Yuliu said with a smile, "The Human Emperor truly is not modest. Heaven Above is not the lower realm, and Young Master Xu of Heaven Above is no mortal of your lower realm. How can you be mentioned in the same breath as Young Master Xu?"

Xu Shenghua shook his head. "The Human Emperor can be. The Human Emperor's Hall has fought Heaven Above for twenty thousand years — why should its heir not be mentioned in the same breath as I? To insult him is to insult me."

Yuliu's face reddened.

Xu Shenghua said, "I came down the mountain this time to eliminate the new Human Emperor. When I met Brother Shen, I took him for a Dao Son of the Dao Sect. Only later did I realize he was the very Human Emperor I sought. By then I had already let him slip past. I came to the lower realm and met many outstanding figures of the younger generation, and sought instruction from them, but none satisfied me. In the end, when I think on it, it is still Brother Shen who astonishes me most."

Shen Mu poured wine for him and smiled. "I promised you I would treat you to a drink. After this wine is done, whether I beat you to death or am beaten to death by you, it will be a joy and a blessing, with no regret left behind."

Xu Shenghua raised his cup in salute. The two clinked in empty air and each drained his cup.

Shen Mu said with feeling, "Though we are both Tyrant Bodies, there is true and false among them. That you could find me was no coincidence, but the connection between a Tyrant Body and a false Tyrant Body. You and I were fated to be enemies, never friends."

"Tyrant Body?" Xu Shenghua looked blank.

"So even Brother Xu does not know of the Tyrant Body."

Shen Mu pointed at himself and smiled. "I am a Tyrant Body, and you are a false Tyrant Body. Between you and me there is a connection in the unseen. It is not merely that you are a disciple of Heaven Above and I a disciple of the Human Emperor, and so we must fight to the death. It is because you and I are both Tyrant Bodies — you a false one, I the true one. You must kill me to seize my fortune and become a true Tyrant Body."

Xu Shenghua looked even more bewildered.

"It is no wonder Brother Xu does not know the ins and outs of this."

Shen Mu said earnestly, "The matter of the Tyrant Body is exceedingly secret; few know of it. Look — you and I are both the most outstanding figures in this world, yet you happened to become a disciple of Heaven Above, and I happened to become the Human Emperor. Is there coincidence in this? No!"

The youth clenched his fist and declared with ringing force, "This is the working of fortune between Tyrant Bodies!"

Xu Shenghua was struck dumb. After a long while, he said slowly, "I am a Tyrant Body? My master, Lord Yu, never spoke of this."

Shen Mu said gravely, "The Tyrant Body is the strongest constitution! In the past, was it not easy for you to learn anything? Did you not grasp everything at a single teaching, drawing inferences on your own? Before the other four great spirit bodies had even learned a thing, you had already mastered it."

Xu Shenghua nodded, astonished. "So this is the Tyrant Body."

"Just so!"

Shen Mu set down his cup and said with fervor, "Have you also felt that the cultivation of others is never as deep as yours, and that with the same divine ability, theirs is never as powerful as yours?"

Xu Shenghua nodded again. "By the time I was fourteen, I had no rival in Heaven Above. Even my master, with his divine storehouse sealed, was not my equal in dharma power."

Shen Mu's gaze was sincere. "This is the Tyrant Body!"