Chapter 417 — The Stone Statues

They've come to kill me? " The Village Head said, "It may not have been you who caused it. More likely it was Emperor Yanfeng's cannon shot that killed the Jade Lord of the Heavens. By reckoning the time, Heaven should have reported that shot to their masters. The reforms of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and Emperor Yanfeng would sooner or later bring such things down on us—it is only that they have come many years early. " The Butcher said, "This upheaval is not on you; it is on the reforms.

First Emperor Yanfeng's shot drew the attention of Heaven's masters, and then you and Princess Xiu created the Primordial Spirit Guide, causing certain subtle shifts in the great Dao. " "So I am still part of the cause.

" Shen Mu thought for a moment, then said to Granny Zhu, "Granny, I'm not going back.

I have many friends here—Wei Yong, Shen Wanyun, Mu Qingdai, Yue Qinghong. I don't want to hear news of their deaths a few years from now. Didn't you all say it yourselves? The trouble you stir up, the mess you make—you patch it up yourself.

" Granny Zhu was slightly taken aback.

"The Butcher taught you loyalty, and now you really are loyal? What good is loyalty? Can it save your life? " Shen Mu shook his head.

"No. But it lets me be at peace.

" Granny Zhu was stunned, then sighed. "At peace?

I wonder whether you will still be at peace when the Kingdom of Jingping lies in ruin and war.

You've grown up, you have your own ideas.

Enough—I won't force you. Go and invite the Patriarch back. " Shen Mu blinked and asked curiously, "Why invite the Patriarch back?

" "We old bones talked it over and concluded that Heaven is sending down a calamity, rousing those treasures that burst from the earth, letting natural disasters erupt, and using those who die in the disasters as sacrifice to revive these statues. " The Village Head said, "So after discussing it among ourselves, we decided to go and intercept the gods of Heaven, and not let them have their way.

" Shen Mu was startled, then said doubtfully, "Since they are transformed from the bodies of gods and demons, why not smash these statues to pieces?

" "Once gods and demons petrify, they become incomparably hard, very difficult to shatter. " The Blind Elder said, "In the Wasteland, have you ever seen a shattered statue?

" Shen Mu thought about it. It was true—he had traveled the Wasteland many times and rarely seen a broken statue. Last time, in the Eastern Sea of the Wasteland, he had seen many dragon king statues with their heads cut off.

That time it must have been the Heavenly King statue from the Temple of the Heavenly Kings, riding a dragon qilin, going by night to the Eastern Sea to quell the chaos, beheading the dragon king statues with the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. "Can the statues be moved into the Wasteland? " Shen Mu said. "Move them to the Wasteland, put them together with the statues there, and we need not worry about them reviving and making trouble.

" The Lame Elder laughed. "To carry a statue is to carry a god.

Who can carry a god tens of thousands of li into the Wasteland? And not one or two, but over a hundred! " Shen Mu frowned. Divine statues were indeed terrifyingly heavy. Even for a being like Lord Huo, carrying one, he could go only two or three hundred zhang before he had to stop and rest—and Lord Huo was the man in Yincan Village most renowned for the strength of his flesh! "Holy Maiden Xiang, is there any way in the Holy Cult to contact the Patriarch or the Dharma Protector Elder? " Shen Mu asked, turning his head.

Si Yunxiang said hurriedly, "My Si family has Heart-Vision Mirrors—two mirrors make a pair.

Recite the other's name in your heart and picture their face and voice, and you can reach them; you can see each other and hear each other's voice. The Patriarch and the Dharma Protector Elder each have a mirror, for convenience. I'll go right now and tell the Old Madam, and have her contact the Patriarch! " Shen Mu said in surprise, "The Holy Cult even has such things as Heart-Vision Mirrors? " Si Yunxiang shot him a glare.

"You've been the Holy Cult's leader for two years—how many times have you been to Mount Shenglin?

The Si family, the Yu family, the Shi family of the Holy Cult—have you ever paid them a visit? If you weren't doing a decent job as leader, I'd have risen up against you long ago! " Shen Mu laughed.

"You wouldn't.

You don't have it in you. " Si Yunxiang was driven up the wall, and could only go obediently to contact the Si family's Grand Matriarch.

She wished very much to be as magnificent as Granny Zhu, but this boy would not play along and gave her no chance to be magnificent at all. "Grandpa Tu, the sun, moon, and stars in the sky, the rivers of stars and the constellations—they're all fake. " Shen Mu went to the Butcher's side and asked, "Grandpa Tu must know a great many secrets, no? " The Butcher drew out his Cattle-Slaying Knives and ground the two blades against each other, edge crossing edge. "Speaking of that, I cannot but bring up the martial art I created—the move called Crosswise and Lengthwise, a Vast Thread of Sky. In those years I was a grandmaster of the combat-technique school, and I was set on creating a peerless art such as no one before had ever known. In those days I had a fanatic confidence; I thought myself unmatched under heaven, that any divine power in the world could be broken by a single stroke of my blade. But I had never yet fought Heaven. So I meant to split Heaven open, leap beyond it, and have a bout with old Heaven. . . "