Chapter 464 — Do Not Forget This Yearning

Mu Yingxue stood dazed, clutching the sachet in her hand, and all at once the girl in black burst into tears.

Her first meeting with Shen Mu had been the merest chance encounter; to speak of deep feeling then would be nonsense—at the time she had only felt a favorable impression of him, thinking him not unhandsome, possessed of grace and bearing, pleasing to her own eye. As a Poison Master, it was terribly hard to find a man of like mind; such men were either frightened to death by her or poisoned to death by her.

Yet Shen Mu was one who might accept her.

The people of the Western Lands both revered and feared Poison Masters, but no one dared to love one.

No few Poison Masters through the ages had ended their days in lonely old age—capricious in temper and vicious in method, they were women no one dared to love.

The sachet she had given Shen Mu, that handful of red beans—Shen Mu had kept them, worn them against his body, and come to Thunder Mountain City in the Western Lands to seek her out.

Mu Yingxue had said a moment ago that she knew Shen Mu had not come for her sake, but at the sight of that pouch of red beans, the frailest place in her heart was suddenly touched. A chance meeting, and yearning ever since. It was not purely because of the schemes of the Emperor and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping that Shen Mu had come to the Western Lands—in his heart there was still a place for her.

"Silly boy, to travel ten thousand li for a girl you met by chance—is it worth it?

" But Shen Mu seemed to be just such a person.

His meeting with Xiong Xiyu and her daughter had been chance as well, yet he had still gone to their rescue without a second thought, sparing no peril to himself.

The affairs of the Xiong mother and daughter had nothing to do with him, and still he had acted; he had even brought Xiong Qi'er into the Western Lands, wanting to win justice for the pair. Though the Emperor and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping surely had a hand in it, Mu Yingxue was certain that this silly boy's purpose was to win justice for that mother and daughter.

A decision that looked foolish in the eyes of others was, for this big boy, a code of conduct and an unalterable principle.

To investigate things and extend knowledge; to unite knowledge with action. To study a thing or a practice to its uttermost—that is to investigate things and extend knowledge.

Yet to investigate things and extend knowledge is also nothing other than to extend the innate conscience within one's own heart.

And the union of conscience with action is nothing other than another kind of unity of knowledge and action.

This is a Grand Master.

Mu Yingxue stood dazed.

This was her second meeting with Shen Mu.

At the first they had been enemies, rivals who admired one another; she had lost, her poison arts overcome by his.

She had admired the big boy greatly—a gift of red beans and a stolen kiss, though it could hardly be called love. At this meeting, what she saw was not his poison arts but his character. Shen Mu's character had conquered her.

The Xiong family affair had been her doing: the poison she laid had left almost every expert of the True Heaven Palace poisoned and their cultivation crippled, and only then had the Yu family seized power in a single stroke.

Robbed of its backbone, the Xiong family had fallen; the wretched deaths of so many were bound up with her.

"The Xiong family business was my own doing—I will not let my little man bear it for me! " Mu Yingxue lifted her head; the black-clad girl's confidence surged up once more, and she broke into a smile: "Here in the Western Lands, women rule the roost.

How could we let our little men shoulder a disaster we ourselves made?

Sisters of Thunder Mountain City!

" Her voice rose, proud and stirring, her bearing captivating, her spirit soaring: "Pack your bags—we are going to war! " Within Thunder Mountain City, countless adepts skilled in the poison arts hurried to pack.

Before long they were ready and gathered together.

The adepts of Thunder Mountain City looked upon their chieftain and saw her more radiant than ever before, her lovely face glowing like jewels, utterly enchanting. "Elder Sister, where are we going? " a girl asked.

Mu Yingxue leaped up; a green vine came winding through the air to settle beneath her feet and bear her aloft.

Her voice brimmed with charm, and laughter threaded through it: "Why, to catch up with your brother-in-law, of course—to stuff this pouch of yearning red beans into his hand, and bid him keep it well, and bid him never in all his life forget this yearning, never forget me, Mu Yingxue—" "That's right!

" The other girls clamored with laughter: "Let's set off at once! Such a fine brother-in-law must not be snatched away by some other little hussy!

Take back the brother-in-law!

" "Take back the brother-in-law—" Shen Mu returned by the way he had come, making a trip to the Liu family's Divine Burial Valley.

Coffin after coffin of dark wood departed the Liu family with him; the coffins had grown legs and feet, and followed in mighty procession at his back.

In the sky, more black coffins drifted along in a line, massing into a dark cloud. Amid that cloud, chains bound a golden coffin, tall and vast, exceedingly conspicuous.

Numerous black coffins escorted this divine coffin as it floated on its way, and Shen Mu was much puzzled why Liu Ruyin insisted on bringing this perilous golden coffin; but when he heard that it was her daughter's idea, he asked no more.

That little girl, Liu Zhenqing, was a clever, freakish, sinister, cunning creature; if she wanted to bring the golden coffin, she surely had her reasons, and he need not inquire. He was leading the Liu family's great host toward the Sword River Valley, preparing to join forces with He Yiyi and the others, when suddenly a clear, ringing voice came from behind: "Little man, wait for me—" Shen Mu turned to look, and could not help but stare. The adepts of Thunder Mountain City were pressing this way in a great clamorous throng, riding every kind of venomous beast and insect—spiders, centipedes, toads, great serpents, venomous birds, venomous beasts, venomous bees—filling sky and earth alike.

Venomous plants of every kind had been roused by these adepts as well: venomous tree-men strode on with great strides, vines were slender and lithe, flower-maidens transformed from venomous blossoms flew on beating wings, and venomous fish had grown legs and feet, racing along swift as the wind. At their head was Mu Yingxue.

Radiant with spirit, the girl came charging through the path the coffin host opened for her, and without a word vaulted onto the dragon qilin's head, stuffed the mandarin-duck-embroidered sachet into his hand, then seized his face and planted a heavy kiss upon it. Shen Mu was at a loss what to do, but the girl looked utterly pleased with herself and announced loudly: "I want you to keep this yearning sachet your whole life and never cast it away, and never in your life forget me—can you do it?

" A great ardor filled Shen Mu's breast, and he answered loudly: "I can! " Mu Yingxue turned and waved to the sisters of Thunder Mountain City, crying loudly: "He says he can! Sisters, aunts, grandmothers—let us go smash the True Heaven Palace and remake heaven and earth!

" Cheers rolled out from behind. Beside the dragon qilin, the lid of a small black coffin flipped over with a flap, and the little girl Liu Zhenqing sat upon the coffin board in black, arms crossed over her chest, pouting in thorough displeasure. "Little hussy," Liu Zhenqing said, with a glance at Mu Yingxue, muttering.