Chapter 435 — An Eerie Affair at the Door

After the clamor had passed, the platform of the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon halted, preparing to return to the capital. Emperor Yanfeng summoned Si Yunxiang alone.

His face at once darkened, and he said with a cold smile, "Little holy maiden of the Si family, did your Sect Master teach you to say such things?

Why does he not dare come and face Us? " Si Yunxiang said cautiously, "The Sect Master used the Human Emperor's Seal to summon heroes from the five lakes and four seas, to withstand the invasion of Heaven Above, to block the foe beyond the Divine Severance Mountains, to keep the invaders from crossing in, and to guard the safety of Jingping. . .

" "Enough, enough — no need for official cant! " Emperor Yanfeng sighed. "I know he has toiled and earned high merit.

This time we owe him much; otherwise, Jingping being wiped from the map would be one thing, but the common folk would have died in countless numbers.

I bear him not the slightest blame — and moreover, by sending you, he has left Us a great deal of face. How did he subdue White Gap of Heaven Above? " "By threat and by bribe, by showing weakness to the foe — a hundred devices. " Si Yunxiang recounted the whole affair of how Shen Mu had subdued the White Gap Deity. Emperor Yanfeng was dazed for a long while, then said, "Our dear minister Shen, at such a young age, has subdued two deities for Jingping and set them to guard the rivers and mountains.

Such skill — We are not his equal.

We too have been anxious about the fighting at the Divine Severance Mountains. We sent men to investigate, and word has already come back. " Si Yunxiang's heart tightened. Emperor Yanfeng said, "The General Who Guards the Frontier says the Divine Severance Mountains run on for twenty thousand li, that the earth quakes without cease, and that the whole range has sunk. Out of the quakes a fog has risen, and a darkness besides has invaded the Divine Severance Mountains.

In the mist, ghosts and gods have been seen, but no trace of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and his company has been found. We wished to go and see for Ourselves, but the court cannot be thrown into disorder, nor the realm. . . The General Who Guards the Frontier says there are signs that the place is turning into the Waste. The Waste is invading Jingping. .

. " A hidden worry rose in Si Yunxiang.

She looked west. "The Sect Master is hurrying there now! What on earth has happened there, that the Waste should invade? " Shen Mu came riding the dragon, and toward evening he at last drew near the Divine Severance Mountains.

He raised his head to look, and his heart gave a lurch: layer upon layer of grey fog shrouded what had been the Divine Severance Mountains, while in the west the setting sun sank, about to vanish.

"Something is not quite right. . . " The Divine Severance Mountains ran long and their mass was broad; this range cut off the Waste from Jingping, a hundred li and more in thickness.

Now the whole range had utterly sunk, and in its place stood a heavy grey fog, from which came, now and again, a muffled and terrifying trembling.

"The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping has activated the Quake Cauldron — shaken this range apart and sunk it into the earth! " Shen Mu sensed the trembling that came from the grey fog, and an ill omen rose in his heart. That the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping should use the Quake Cauldron showed that this Imperial Preceptor too felt he could not save himself, and was willing to perish together with his foes if only he could block them and keep them from crossing the Divine Severance Mountains! The sun set.

Darkness came surging from the west like a black deluge blotting out sky and sun, devouring all in its path; wherever it passed, everything vanished without a trace. The darkness, as though it had substance, came to the Divine Severance Mountains and drowned them. It surged up before Shen Mu — and suddenly halted!

Shen Mu raised his head. The darkness of the Waste stood like a sheer cliff, its top beyond sight, dividing itself from the night of Jingping!

"The Waste has swallowed the Divine Severance Mountains and is invading the kingdom of Jingping — in one gulp it has taken a hundred li or so. " Shen Mu bent down, took a flag, and planted it where the darkness of the Waste met the night of Jingping.

In a low voice he said, "In a few days we shall know whether the darkness is growing. If the darkness of the Waste grows, I fear it will be a catastrophe beyond salvation for Jingping as well.

Flood Dragon King God, let us go in! " The Flood Dragon King God assented, transformed into the likeness of a youth, and, divine light blooming from all his body, led Shen Mu and the Dragon Qilin into the ruins of the Divine Severance Mountains. "All jiao dragons, possess me! " Shen Mu gave a low shout and worked the Dragon-Taming Art. Jiao dragons came flying one after another — some coiling about his body, some about his arms, some about his legs; some settled beneath his feet, and two hung from his ears like earrings.

At once the magic power of the dragons merged with his own, and Shen Mu's strength soared madly. "Ninth Heaven, open!

" In Shen Mu's eyes the array patterns spun madly as he opened the Ninth Heaven Eye.

Divine light shot from his gaze, piercing into the darkness; wherever his eyes fell, it was as though a shaft of light had stabbed through the darkness and the grey fog. The Flood Dragon King God possessed no such ability, and envied him greatly. Shen Mu bade him keep close at his side, and they advanced by degrees into the ruins of the Divine Severance Mountains. Suddenly Shen Mu halted; the Flood Dragon King God hastily halted too.

There, in the air before them, a great painting, tattered and torn, drifted quietly past.

This was a painting of the Deaf Elder.

The things within the painting were already shattered, as though something had leapt out of the painting and torn it apart. Yet a fearsome power still lingered in the painting; if one carelessly stirred it, it would still bring peril. Shen Mu avoided the painting and was walking on when he suddenly stopped again.

There, in the air, several hundred damaged paintings, great and small, floated quietly in the grey fog, drifting without sound or breath.

Besides the paintings, great boulders too hung silently in the air. Shen Mu frowned. This must have been the Deaf Elder's battlefield.

The Deaf Elder excelled at painting, and the worlds within his paintings held vast and strange phenomena, magnificent and sublime; even a master of Xing An's caliber, once sealed within unawares, would find it hard to break free. That so many of the Deaf Elder's ruined paintings lay in this place — one could well imagine how fierce the fighting had been! "My lord, take care! " The Flood Dragon King God hastily threw himself across in front of Shen Mu.

"Do not touch these stones. Divine might is stored within them — the divine powers of gods and demons linger in them! " Shen Mu hastily stopped. But at that moment he saw, within the darkness and the grey fog, a colossal body walking slowly, coming this way.

The body propped up heaven and stood upon the earth. It came before them, and they could see only legs of unimaginable thickness blotting out their view, not the upper half. Shen Mu raised his head, the divine light of his eyes shining upward, and gradually made out a broad chest in the dark air; looking higher still, he saw the mighty face of a god or demon.

"A stone statue! " Shen Mu's scalp went numb.

A stone statue walking in the darkness and the grey fog!

The Flood Dragon King God too shuddered with dread. Before them stood a stone statue of incomparable bulk, its towering immensity beyond imagining! And more than that — this stone statue was walking in the darkness!

"Ma-ha. .