Chapter 459 — The Sinister Old Ghost

That night, deep in the still of the night, He Yiyi heard a tap-tap at her window. Her heart fluttered in panic; she hurried to push the window open, and there was Shen Mu climbing in. He grinned: "Sister Yiyi, I made sure no one was about before I climbed up.

" He Yiyi's heart pounded wildly.

In the candlelight she looked at her sweetheart, and the more she looked the more her thoughts ran away with her, the more flustered she grew.

And so the two of them talked formation arts the whole night through. At first light the next morning, before the sun had risen, Shen Mu slipped quietly back down through the window.

This too, they said, was the custom of the Western Lands: in a walking marriage, one must not be seen by the woman's family. Before Shen Mu had even reached the ground he ran into a few women who had risen early. They hastily turned their faces away and pretended not to see, and only after Shen Mu had landed and walked some distance did low laughter drift after him.

When the sun was three poles high, He Yiyi and the others saw Shen Mu off from the Sword River Valley with great reluctance. She said, "The He family alone is not enough to bring Zhentian Palace to heel. Sect Master, you go and see the poison master; I will go and see the heads of the other great houses of the Western Lands, and we will plan the great matter together.

" Shen Mu took his leave and departed.

He Yiyi watched him go, a faint sense of loss in her heart.

A girl beside her laughed softly: "So last night you and brother-in-law Shen got together? Several people saw him climb through the window, and someone saw him come down from the upper floor at dawn.

" He Yiyi, bleary-eyed and short on vigor, snapped, "Got together how? We talked formation arts all night.

" The other girls crowded in, chattering and giggling: "Talking formation arts — is that just an excuse? The night was so long last night; surely it was mandarin ducks roosting together and butterflies flying in pairs!

" He Yiyi ground her teeth with a grating squeak.

The girls were all startled: "You really talked formation arts with brother-in-law all night?

" He Yiyi said helplessly, "He was in such high spirits — what was I supposed to do? Force him? Would the He family still have any face left? If I truly forced him, wouldn't we have fought until heaven and earth were overturned and torn Yun City apart? I had no choice but to talk formation arts with him all night. Fortunately his breadth of mind and insight are quite extraordinary; we sank into exploring the dao of formations and forgot all about the joys of love, and felt only that the spring night was too short. Only now, thinking back, do I feel we might actually have done something first, and then explored the dao of formations and exchanged formation lore.

" The girls looked at one another. A lone man and a lone woman shut up together in one room, and they had truly talked formation arts all night: "Beasts.

.

. worse than beasts!

" "Then why did you still send brother-in-law Shen to find that little slut of a poison master? " One girl dared to ask: "If Mu Yingxue isn't as reserved as you, sister, and snatches brother-in-law away, what then? " He Yiyi sneered, "Unless that girl Mu uses force, no one is going to take advantage of him. Ever since she lost to him in a fight, that girl Mu has been unable to forget him, her heart all aflutter. That girl is always competing with me.

I have been thwarted; if she knew, she would surely laugh at me.

Better to let her be thwarted once too, and stop her mouth first!

" The girls were full of admiration: "Sister sees it clearly!

" Shen Mu, with Xiong Qi'er, sat on the Dragon Qilin's back, heading for Leishan City, where the poison master Mu Yingxue dwelt. "Big brother, aren't we going to Zhentian Palace?

" Xiong Qi'er asked curiously. "I did originally intend to go to Zhentian Palace, but to this day there has been no word of Imperial Preceptor Jingping or your mother. I suspect. . .

" The corner of Shen Mu's eye twitched. He sneered, "That sinister bastard Jingping has never shown his face.

I know what he wants!

He is simply waiting for me to poke a hole in the sky here in the Western Lands, to draw Zhentian Palace's attention and its main fighting strength, and then he will seize victory in the chaos!

That old schemer. .

. no wonder he came of his own accord to my Tiansheng Academy, invited your mother to the Western Lands, and invited me as well. " He raised his head and scanned his surroundings.

A few white clouds in the sky had been following them all along. He hastily said to the Dragon Qilin, "Fat Dragon, we are being watched again.

" The Dragon Qilin felt a chill and quickened its pace.

Those white clouds abruptly sped up as well, but after chasing for a while they were left far behind by the Dragon Qilin.

Shen Mu noticed that not only were the white clouds pursuing them — below, the great waters of the Sword River suddenly flowed upstream as well, the waves gliding like a submerged dragon, though still they did not catch up.

Shen Mu looked puzzled. The divine-power wielders pursuing them must be experts from Zhentian Palace; Zhentian Palace's tracking methods were indeed unmatched under heaven — once they had you in their sights, it was very hard to shake them off. Yet how had that sinister bastard Jingping known that once he entered the Western Lands he would draw great attention, and draw in Zhentian Palace's fighting strength?

He himself had been perfectly well-behaved and low-key — how had Jingping known he might become Zhentian Palace's greatest target?

"Imperial Preceptor Jingping is an old fox after all.

. . " Shen Mu glanced at Xiong Qi'er, and at once understood where the target came from.

From what he had learned these past days, the Western Lands held the little princess in the highest regard; the Zhentian Palace Master must have a little princess to sit securely in his seat.

And here he was, carrying Xiong Qi'er, the former little princess — was he not thereby the greatest target of Zhentian Palace?

Xiong Xiyu was not worth worrying about; Xiong Qi'er was the Zhentian Palace Master's target! In the past, the one Yu Bochuan and his followers had hunted was not Xiong Xiyu either, but Xiong Qi'er!

Shen Mu still remembered that the reason he had stepped in to save Xiong Xiyu and her daughter was that he had seen Yu Bochuan and the others move against a little girl of four or five like Xiong Qi'er, and his heart could not bear it, so he had risked himself to save them. Now that he thought about it, Yu Bochuan's wish to kill Xiong Qi'er had not been without reason. "Why does Zhentian Palace place such importance on the little princess?

" He could not help but wonder.

He crouched down, took Xiong Qi'er's shoulders in both hands, and looked her over again and again, but could see nothing unique about her, which only deepened his confusion. The Zhentian Palace Master was the Naikui, and Naikui meant "mother of the princess," while the princess's father was called Bagou. Both names took their origin from the little princess — which showed that Zhentian Palace placed extraordinary importance on the little princess, and there must be a special reason for it!

Xiong Qi'er gazed at him with big blinking eyes, pure and innocent, not looking as though she had any power at all.

Suddenly Shen Mu noticed Xiong Qi'er's little pack.

He started.

She had carried that little pack with her all along, ever since the Tiansheng Academy, and he had assumed it held a little girl's change of clothes and had never given it a thought.

Now, though, curiosity stirred in him about that little pack. "Qi'er, what is in your pack? " Shen Mu asked. Xiong Qi'er took off the pack and opened it, and a wash of azure light spilled across Shen Mu's face. Shen Mu sighed: "So that is it.

That old schemer Jingping.

. . " The Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl lay quietly in the pack.