Chapter 472 — A Thousand Men Stay Their Hands, Who Dares Go Forward?

The scene before the Jingping Imperial Preceptor's eyes shifted violently, and when the light before him steadied again he saw that they had come into a celestial court, where palaces rose in towering majesty, divine mountains ranged one upon another, and holy radiance shone over a thousand worlds. "Is this a world inside a painting?

" The Imperial Preceptor was shaken to the depths.

If this was a world inside a painting, then it was far too vast by half!

He let his gaze travel outward: the heavenly palaces had no end.

The whole sky was filled with gods throned on high, some majestic, some holy, some utterly transcendent; but far more numerous were the gods pacing to and fro, seeking out friends, calling to companions, raising cups and passing goblets, counters and wine-vessels crossed in merry confusion. Shen Mu led him through, into the painting, into this celestial feast.

Long corridors like bridges, rainbows streaming with flying color; the sun and the moon hung from the pavilions; in the lanterns, divine birds wreathed in flame served as candles, giving out light and heat. There were goddesses plucking strings, blowing upon strange instruments; women dancing lightly on lotus leaves in midair, celestial blossoms scattering wildly about them.

Drunken gods reeled and lurched every which way, clutching wine pots, staggering to and fro, pestering bashful, shrinking goddesses who fled in shame. The Imperial Preceptor's eyes could not keep pace with it all.

Their own place was the very center of the feast; gods beyond counting crowded about them; far off, the divine mountains blazed with light.

Tu Bo was not far from him, nine-coiled horns springing from his head, sitting bolt upright and unmoving, flames spinning beneath him like a deep abyss. And several beings of immense and towering presence, high above, their faces indistinct, whose majesty yielded not the slightest to Tu Bo's.

"Jingping Imperial Preceptor, right now you look like a mud-turtle lumbering into the city, about the same as I was when I first entered Crimson Dragon City!

" Shen Mu laughed aloud, and suddenly snatched a jug of wine from the tray borne by a goddess passing by, and drank it back with his head thrown back.

The goddess was furious and shouted, "Where did this little wretch come from?

This is sacred wine for the high gods, is it yours to touch?

" "Nagging!

" Shen Mu lifted a foot and kicked the goddess flying; he caught another jug from the tray as it spun up into the air, stuffed it into the Imperial Preceptor's hand, and leaped onto the jade table before one of the gods enthroned on high, drinking deep with his head back.

That god was enraged and brought down a palm the size of an acre of field. Shen Mu reached out, drew his sword, and the severed arm went flying.

Shen Mu laughed aloud, heaved the jade table over, and cried in a great voice, "Sun and moon within the verse, an immortal in the wine; from level ground I wing up to the ninth heaven!

" Chi, and that god enthroned on high had his head shorn from his shoulders by a single stroke of the sword.

Shen Mu carried the head and stormed the hall, wreaking havoc through Lingxiao, and numberless gods rose up in fury and came at him to kill.

In Shen Mu's hand the sword-light flashed; he sent one high god after another flying, cut off one head after another, and went straight on to Tu Bo's side, hung the head he carried upon Tu Bo's horn, and laughed aloud, "My body banished beyond the golden registers of Penglai; adorned with treasures before the jade hall of Fangzhang! " Tu Bo surged to his feet, and with one shake of his body his divine frame became ten thousand zhang tall, boundless holy fire beneath his feet. Shen Mu roused his sword-elixir, and eight thousand swords encircled Tu Bo, revolving into the Sword-Encirclement Stance, and cut this great god into countless fragments; then he rubbed his two hands together, and the numberless flying swords, like long dragons, swept the four directions and the eight quarters. Killing until his blood ran hot, he laughed clear and loud: "I must needs have a hundred-zhang dragon's body, and still the layered forests dense with phoenix wings!

" Numberless gods came surging like the tide and drowned him beneath them.

Then divine light rushed up to the heavens, and Shen Mu burst forth through severed limbs and broken arms, strummed his sword and sang, wild and unrestrained: "A thousand men stay their hands, how dare they come on; ten thousand gods turn back their heads, power cannot contain them! Jingping Imperial Preceptor, I have come to shatter the god in your heart! " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor laughed aloud, and all at once his former dejection was swept clean away; his spirit was a hundredfold, and he said in a ringing voice, "The god in my heart, why should I need you to shatter it?

" He strode forward, sword-light scattering from his hand; his battle might was greater even than Shen Mu's, and wherever he passed, gods fell.

In the Lingxiao Hall, numberless gods and demons poured in and came at them to kill. Shen Mu and the Jingping Imperial Preceptor, shoulder to shoulder and back to back, at the gate of Heaven, slaughtered to their hearts' content.

After a long while the divine corpses and demon corpses lay piled mountain-high across the land, and still endless gods came surging, their killing cries shaking the heavens. "How long are we to keep killing?

" The Imperial Preceptor shouted, "You hold the gate, I will go kill the Heavenly Emperor!

" Shen Mu answered, "Go!

" The Imperial Preceptor rushed into the Lingxiao Hall; within, divine corpses lay everywhere.

Boom, and the Imperial Preceptor came flying back, crashing into the wall of the great hall beside Shen Mu.

Shen Mu was startled.

The gods here were plainly all weak in cultivation and strength, the painter who had made this grand scene simply lacked the skill, so that even he could slaughter freely.

And yet the Imperial Preceptor had been struck back by that Heavenly Emperor!

Shen Mu blinked, and thought to himself that this was not good: "This painter's a flatterer too; I fear he poured every scrap of his art into the Heavenly Emperor, and that is why the Heavenly Emperor in the painting is so formidable.

" How much power a painter's painting held, Shen Mu had studied under Kui Sou, and he understood it deeply.

The power of a painting depended, beyond the painter's skill, upon what was painted. The stronger and deeper the art, the stronger the thing painted; and of course it depended on how much heart the painter put into it. This painter had painted the other gods and demons with little care, pouring scant heart into them, and so those gods and demons were not strong; even a being like Tu Bo was only so-so in strength.

And who the subject was mattered enormously.

When Kui Sou painted the village headman as a youth, that painting of the Sword God with the sword upon his back displayed power and might that were terrifying. When this painter painted the Heavenly Emperor, he must have been utterly devoted, seizing upon the Emperor's spirit and resonance, and so this Heavenly Emperor was strong enough to send the Jingping Imperial Preceptor flying.

Shen Mu grew somewhat uneasy at heart.

He had brought the Imperial Preceptor into the painting to shatter the fear in his heart; if the Imperial Preceptor could not even defeat the Heavenly Emperor within the painting, such a setback would very likely break his faith to pieces.

Yet at that moment the Imperial Preceptor came down off the wall and charged out again, battle-lust blazing, in no way diminished.

After a moment the Imperial Preceptor came flying back again, and Shen Mu roused his eight thousand swords, slaughtered the gods surging in, and looked toward the Imperial Preceptor on the wall, and saw him beaten black and blue. "Er, this is somewhat thorny; the Heavenly Emperor in the painting is likely above the gods.

.

.