Chapter 360 — The Smoke of the Mortal World

Xu Shenghua slowly came to, and found himself lying on a sickbed, a warm wet towel laid over his forehead. His head ached as though it would split; in his mind it seemed a billion voices were howling and shouting, and in his ears rang a clangor of metal, a humming that would not cease. His head was near to bursting; the tearing pain made him wish he could hack off his own head and kick it away, kick it as far as it would fly!

He could not help but groan, and from the outer room came Jing Yan's voice: "Young Master is awake? " Jing Yan hurried in, carrying with her the smell of medicine, and looked at him in astonishment and joy.

"I lost," Xu Shenghua said, his face wooden.

Jing Yan said hastily, "Young Master has slept a very long while.

This servant was brewing medicine for you.

.

. " "How long have I slept?

Where is this?

" In his mind came again the booming of a heartbeat, and he spoke in a daze. "We are still in the capital. Young Master has slept for more than two days.

" Jing Yan helped him up, letting him half sit, half lean against the bed, and said, "Sister Yu Liu heard that in Jingping's capital there is a divine physician of extraordinary skill, and so she hurried out to fetch him.

" Xu Shenghua wanted to raise his hand, but suddenly gave a muffled groan, as though his head had been struck by a blade.

"Young Master had best not move, nor stir up any thought! " Jing Yan said hurriedly. "Young Master and that villain Shen fell into a rhythm, and you could not help but follow where he led. He attacked, you defended; you were at a disadvantage from the first. And with your cultivation method, you must use divine abilities without cease to break his attacks, which drains the mind beyond measure.

To stir a thought is to stir the brain; now that Young Master's brain is injured, you had best rest, and wait quietly for the divine physician.

" Xu Shenghua closed his eyes and spoke no more, nor did he move. He remembered how it had been. Shen Mu had first used the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon to wear down part of his mental power; when Xu Shenghua saw through that, Shen Mu then applied psychological pressure, and then used his own rhythm to lead him along.

When the two of them walked, the contest of momentum had in fact already begun, and Shen Mu held the offensive. The moment Shen Mu's killing intent stirred, Xu Shenghua at once sensed the attack he might suffer, and so at once changed his stance and altered the flow of his vital essence, assuming the corresponding defensive posture. His cultivation method was exceedingly wondrous: it could, according to the opponent's attack, create a divine ability to counter it. But Shen Mu did not attack, and so Xu Shenghua's divine ability was only just created and never unleashed.

Thus, all along the way, Shen Mu's attacks of momentum continued without cease and Xu Shenghua defended without cease; in a mere two hundred li, he exhausted his mental power, his brain could bear no more, his flesh could bear no more, he vomited blood again and again, his consciousness collapsed, and he fell to the ground unconscious. At that time Shen Mu had halted. Had Shen Mu kept walking on, he would have been dragged along, until he had vomited all his blood, until his mental power dried up and his brain died, and only when he had become a corpse would it have stopped!

A total defeat. It was the first time Xu Shenghua had tasted such a defeat, and to his surprise there was a bitterness in his heart. It was the first time he had tasted bitterness.

From outside came Yu Liu's voice: "Yanzi, come out a moment! " Jing Yan hurried out and said, "Young Master is awake, but he still cannot move. Have you brought the divine physician?

" "I have, only.

. .

" Jing Yan walked outside, and there came a cry of alarm, and she blurted, "Why is it you again?

" Yu Liu's voice came, with a bitter smile in it: "I am more astonished than you.

But I had to beg and plead before he would agree to come.

.

. " Xu Shenghua opened his eyes and said weakly, "Ask the divine physician to come in.

" The door curtain was lifted, and Shen Mu walked in, smiling: "Brother Xu.

" Seeing him, Xu Shenghua was stunned, and his head suddenly ached violently.

Shen Mu hurried forward, took out several Spirit Buddha Pills and gave them to him to swallow, and said with a smile, "You had best not let your mind surge so violently. I have met with your condition myself; at the time, a cultivation method I practiced had left my flesh withered, and I nearly died. Yours is because your mind and mental power were consumed to excess, beyond what your body could bear. In truth your injury is not grave; with gradual care you would recover in a month or two. But if I treat you, half a day will do. " Xu Shenghua swallowed the Spirit Buddha Pills and felt much better. His head still ached, but not so violently as before, and by degrees he could command his hands and feet; his body was his body again.

"You are also a divine physician? " he said, his voice hoarse. "Divine physician I am not; in the art of medicine I rank second.

Search all of Jingping and you will find no one better than I.

" Shen Mu diagnosed him for a moment, wrote out a prescription, and told Yu Liu to go buy the medicine, saying with a smile, "With my spirit medicine to nourish you, the depletion in your body will be healed in two or three days. Victory and defeat are common to soldiers, and common to us cultivators as well; do not take it to heart.

" Xu Shenghua looked straight at him, then suddenly sighed: "In some things I am indeed not your equal. You beat me by stratagem, yet I can summon no resentment toward you. I came down to the lower world on my master's orders to kill you, thinking only of returning to the Heaven Above once you were dead; never did I think I would come to regard you as a friend. " Shen Mu sighed: "A Tyrant Body is hard to find.

But you and I are enemies after all; we cannot become friends. " The two fell silent. Not long after, Yu Liu returned with the medicine, and Shen Mu refined it straight into a spirit pill and gave it to Xu Shenghua to swallow. Xu Shenghua got down from the bed, swaying, his body still trembling a little, and said with a frown, "I clearly feel the injuries of my flesh healing, so why can I still not stand steady?

My hands still tremble.

.

.

" Shen Mu pondered a moment, then his eyes lit up and he laughed: "I know this illness of yours. Come with me. " With that he rose and walked out.

Xu Shenghua wanted to follow him, but his body swayed and his legs shook; Yu Liu and Jing Yan hurried to support him out of the room. As a disciple of the Heaven Above, Xu Shenghua could hardly lodge in mean quarters; the inns were too noisy, so they had bought out a residence, quite quiet and elegant.

Shen Mu led him into the street, glanced around, and his eyes brightened; he laughed: "Here is the good medicine for your illness. " Xu Shenghua was startled, and the two women beside him as well.

Shen Mu had already sat down at a table before a noodle stall and said to the stallkeeper, "Ten bowls of noodles, big sea bowls. The first bowl no chili, no oil, just a little salt.

And knead an egg into the dough. What are you standing there gaping for?

Sit! " Yu Liu and Jing Yan frowned and looked at the shabby noodle stall. It was set up right on the street, where people came and went and dust could not be kept out. Those who sat eating noodles here were all burly fellows, plainly laborers from the countryside working in the capital.

How could they ever have eaten at such a stall? On ordinary days they would have thought it filthy even to look at. After all, the Heaven Above is high and exalted, a holy land of immortals; what they ate and drank were rare delicacies such as the mortal world never sees, and clean and spotless beyond imagining, truly untouched by a speck of dust.