Chapter 456 — The Evil Cult Overlord's Might

The Butcher's blade-work was bold as his poetry—proud, unbridled, and unrestrained alike! And in this moment Shen Mu was proud and unbridled too, killing with a reversed blade, cutting down on the spot the very Yu Bochuan whom He Yiyi had believed would not die here! "The young lord of Zhentian Palace is dead. .

.

" The corners of every eye twitched, and every heart lay heavy as stone. This Sect Master Shen had dared to invade the Western Lands with a dragon-qilin and a little princess at his side, fighting his way the whole road, and now he had taken up his blade and killed the son of the Lord of Zhentian Palace—truly like a starving tiger, his arrogance reaching the heavens, living up to the name of the Youmo Cult's Sect Master! The wind sweeps the tower—a mountain storm is coming.

The present Lord of Zhentian Palace and Bagou had only one son, Young Master Yu, and now he lay dead outside Juncheng. This Sect Master of the Youmo Cult, come from Jingping in the Central Plains, was truly ruthless and decisive; let him find the smallest opening and he would seize it fast, granting his enemy no chance at all.

To escape alive from his hands was harder than hard; likely only a slippery, elusive being like the Great Venerable of the Golden Palace of Loulan could have slipped out of his pursuit again and again.

And Yu Bochuan's talent for saving his own skin was plainly far inferior to that of a ten-thousand-year-old monster like the Great Venerable—even though he was the son of the Lord of Zhentian Palace and Bagou. He Yiyi walked toward the outside of the city, and saw Shen Mu set down Yu Bochuan's head, take out a wine jug, and pour a cup of wine to place beside the corpse.

"You like to chat with the dead after you kill an enemy.

" Shen Mu tipped his head back and took a great gulp of wine, then set the jug beside Yu Bochuan's head.

"I don't," he said leisurely. "No chatting.

Farewell.

" With that he rose and came to meet He Yiyi.

"Sect Master Shen. " He Yiyi greeted him with a salute.

Shen Mu returned it, his countenance kindly.

"Sister Array Master, how should I address you?

" He Yiyi's gaze was strange; curious, she said, "Does the Sect Master not know my name? My surname is He, and my given name is Yiyi. He is a great surname in the Western Lands, with deep family learning.

" "I see.

" Shen Mu praised her. "Sister Yiyi's mastery of arrays is quite fine. I could not break it in a moment, and had to use the world within the painting to escape your array. So Sister Yiyi inherits a clan tradition—the He family's attainments in arrays are truly extraordinary; one might call them third under heaven.

" Behind He Yiyi, anger showed on every face. That the He family's arrays stood first under heaven was known to all—yet in Shen Mu's mouth they had become third under heaven.

How could they not be furious? He Yiyi glanced at Xiong Qi'er, plainly recognizing the little girl, and smiled.

"First or third under heaven, I do not care. Sect Master Shen, taking the little princess along to Zhentian Palace—your ambitions are great indeed.

Yet to my eyes the Sect Master is going to Zhentian Palace to die; and the Sect Master does not look like a man going to his death.

Might you enlighten me? " "Does Sister Yiyi wish to talk here? " He Yiyi invited him into the city, and into the main hall, where they took their seats.

Shen Mu's face grew grave.

"The Array Master must know why I have come.

" He Yiyi's heart quivered; her lips parted slightly and she blurted out, "You mean to help Nai Kui take back the seat of Palace Lord! Nai Kui has arrived as well!

She is hiding in the shadows!

" Shen Mu smiled lightly and shook his head. "Sister Yiyi underestimates me. I have come in the Emperor's name, to win the Western Lands over to allegiance! " In the hall, the heads of Juncheng's great clans all exchanged glances.

In the Emperor's name, to bring the Western Lands to submission? With Shen Mu alone? He Yiyi's eyes flickered.

"The Sect Master's tone is rather too grand. What power have you to swallow the Western Lands? " Shen Mu smiled faintly. "I am the Sect Master of the Youmo Cult—that is my power. My cult has a million wielders of divine arts.

I raise my arm and a million gather; I point a finger and the great army goes where I will, flattening everything in its path.

Your Western Lands have rested easy too long. Every city, every region, each goes its own way.

Say nothing of facing the Emperor's heavenly majesty—even against my Youmo Cult's million divine-arts wielders, you are clay chickens and straw dogs, crumbling at a single blow! " He rose to his feet, hands clasped behind his back.

"I built the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon and shot dead the Jade Lord of Heaven Above. I subdued Huanlong and set him to guard the Yong River; I subdued Baixi of Heaven Above and set him to guard Baisui Mountain.

" "At the Battle of Shenduan Mountain, my Jingping annihilated the gods of Heaven Above!

" His gaze was like lightning as it swept over the crowd.

"If I wished to destroy your Western Lands, it would take but a snap of my fingers!

" In the hall, every face went white. Shen Mu smiled.

"And yet I have no wish to see the people of the Western Lands trampled in blood, nor to shatter the peace here. If Nai Kui can be restored to the seat of Palace Lord, and Nai Kui leads Zhentian Palace to submit to Jingping—without moving a single soldier, without taking a single life—then what matter if I plunge through fire and water into the Western Lands? My own safety is, after all, worth less than the lives of the Western Lands' people. Sister Yiyi, are you willing to lend me your arm? " He Yiyi looked back at the heads of Juncheng's clans; they were frightened. Her brows knitted slightly—then she suddenly laughed.

"Sect Master Shen says my arrays are third under heaven. Might I ask who stands first under heaven? And who second?

Yiyi would very much like to see them.

"