Chapter 457 — Blossoms Dazzle the Eyes

Ring upon ring of array patterns surfaced in Shen Mu's eyes; his steps now flew swift, now halted abruptly; now he lifted his brush to alter an array pattern; now he staggered like a drunkard, one step forward and three back; and sometimes, as though springs were fitted to his soles, he leapt back and forth among the great floating stones.

Again he was like a startled swan taking flight, flickering through the ramparts just as they were about to close; again like a wild elephant charging headlong, seeming to hurl himself at the wall ahead in the spirit of certain death—yet just as he was about to strike the stone wall, the wall suddenly split apart and let him pass.

He wandered through the exquisite solutions of calculation, unraveling puzzle of numbers after puzzle of numbers, drawing ever nearer to the heart of Juncheng.

Everything in the city was changing; even the main hall where they had lately stood had now dissolved and vanished. The one thing unchanged was the place where He Yiyi stood.

The girl still stood quietly upon a stone pillar, unmoving, driving Juncheng's alterations, changing array after array to bar Shen Mu's way.

This time differed from the last; last time Shen Mu had walked into the ambush and been trapped in the city, which could hardly be called a fair contest.

Now Shen Mu was storming the arrays, and this would test whose attainments in the array arts were the higher.

After a long while, He Yiyi caught sight of Shen Mu's figure, and her face turned anxious; she frantically marshaled boulder after boulder to lay her arrays, yet Shen Mu's figure still drew nearer, unhurried.

The place where He Yiyi stood was the center of Juncheng and the eye of Juncheng's arrays. Shen Mu was now only some ten zhang from that array eye, and the final layer of arrays had failed to halt his steps.

Suddenly He Yiyi clenched her silver teeth; Juncheng shook with a thunderous roar, and all the arrays laid before were loosed at once, becoming a formation of utter annihilation. Array upon killing array joined in perfect concert, their power surging savagely upward, grinding toward the place where He Yiyi stood!

She had triggered the killing formation, and this killing formation made no distinction between enemy and self: Shen Mu and she alike would be devoured and destroyed by those killing arrays!

As the Western Lands' Array Master, heir to the glory of the He family, she could never suffer the He family's name to be tarnished or the title of first in arrays to pass to another; even at the cost of perishing together, she would guard the He family's dignity!

Shen Mu's face changed slightly. At the instant the annihilating arrays were triggered, he flashed to He Yiyi's side, caught the girl about the waist with one hand, and with the other lifted his brush to paint in the air.

He Yiyi closed her eyes. The killing arrays rolled grinding toward them and swallowed the two of them whole!

She opened her eyes and saw that they were no longer within Juncheng, but seemed hidden deep in Juncheng's space. Juncheng's annihilating arrays roared, broke open the painted world, and came grinding toward them still.

The painted world they were in was about to collapse and be destroyed!

Shen Mu's face was stern; his brush moved like a dragon or a serpent, strokes changing through a thousand forms, painting within the painting. Suddenly He Yiyi felt her waist taken; he swept her up and plunged into the painting.

They plunged into another painted world—here mountains and waters were beautiful, the flowers blooming in a riot of color, the scenery delightful.

Yet the very next moment, Juncheng's killing arrays crushed through this world of picture-within-picture and pressed down with the momentum of destroying all things.

"You are not using arrays to break my arrays."

He Yiyi raised her head and looked at the grave, earnest big boy beside her. "Even if you carry me out of Juncheng's killing arrays, I will not yield."

"You are second in arrays; I will not contend with you for it."

Shen Mu laughed heartily, splashing ink and wielding his brush with the unrestrained abandon of a scholar-poet, spilling out characters, and before Juncheng's annihilating arrays could destroy the picture-within-picture, he carried her through into the next painted world.

In this painting the stars shone brilliant; they seemed to have come into a dark starry sky, each star a glowing jewel adorning the darkness.

Shen Mu led her treading upon the stars, running through the starry sky, the brush in his hand never pausing, painting a river of stars across the heavens. Behind them surged Juncheng's annihilating arrays, but they leapt into the river and went rushing away into the distance.

The river of stars flowed downward; Shen Mu, holding her about the waist, was swept away by it, the brush in his hand directing and pointing; suddenly he gathered her up and sprang, leaping onto a mountain cliff.

Scarce had He Yiyi found her footing, scarce had she recovered her wits, when she saw Shen Mu sketch with brush and ink, finish with a sweep of the brush, and carry her up onto the back of a heavenly horse he had just painted.

The heavenly horse galloped out of the painting and became real, trotting with a clatter of hooves; the white horse beat its wings in flight, whistling away, leaving the killing arrays far behind.

Once more Shen Mu lifted his brush and plied it, wanton and free; a doorway appeared before them, the door opened, and light shot in from beyond it. The heavenly horse bore them rushing into the doorway. He Yiyi stared blankly, and saw that they had come to a mountain top outside Juncheng.

Shen Mu caught her up about the waist and swung down from the horse; the heavenly horse spread its wings, raised its forehooves, gave a whinny, and beside them scattered into drifting flecks of ink.

In the distance, the heads of Juncheng's many great houses hurried over, flying to their side.

An old man was about to speak when He Yiyi suddenly laughed and said softly, "I have lost. Cult Master Shen is second in arrays under heaven, and my He family and all of Juncheng will follow with all our strength!"

Doubt rose in Shen Mu's heart; he looked toward her.

In He Yiyi's eyes a thread of tender feeling was brewing, her gaze like autumn waters.