Chapter 509 — The Petty Old Thieves Fall at a Single Stroke

"The way of the sage is nothing other than the daily needs of the common people, yet you refined that fine way of the sage into a demonic way and a demonic sect. The sage established merit, established words, established a teaching—which of you has done any of that?

"I honor the sage woodcutter, who transmitted the scriptures upon the stone and gave down a dharma-gate for ten thousand generations.

"I honor the founding ancestor, who passed on the Way, taught the craft, opened the Sect, and set its words.

"I honor the three Sage Cult Masters of the Three Kings Hall, who gave up their lives for righteousness in the hour of peril and kept the inheritance alive.

"As for you?"

Shen Mu laughed coldly. "What merit have you established? What words? What teaching? You twisted the doctrine and recklessly cultivated demonic arts, and saddled the Heavenly Sage Sect with the name of a demonic cult! What face could I have to meet the ancestral masters? Is the merit you have established as great as one of my fingers? Do you deserve to be Cult Masters? Do you deserve to be Sage Masters? The ones I came to see are not you. You—idle, mediocre, talentless are you, and not worthy of my visit!"

All around was silent as a graveyard.

The number of Sage Cult Masters of the Dark Demon Sect was greater than the number of Human Sovereigns in the Hall of Human Sovereigns, but many of those Sage Cult Masters had died miserably, their cultivation at death not yet strong enough to enter Fengdu. Hence the Sage Cult Masters of the Dark Demon Sect within Fengdu were not more numerous than the Human Sovereigns. Even so, nearly thirty Cult Masters had gathered here, a force to be reckoned with in Fengdu, and few dared to provoke them.

Shen Mu's long speech had battered them all into stupefaction—but the atmosphere turned terribly cold.

Suddenly the Young Ancestor's voice came, laughing. "What is this? All of you here! I'm late, I'm late!"

Shen Mu looked over and saw the Young Ancestor hurrying toward them, cold sweat beading on his forehead, with the great skeleton Dragon Qilin trotting obsequiously behind him, all warmth and affection.

The Young Ancestor hurried over and squeezed into the crowd, sweat streaming ever more thickly from his brow, and bowed all round, chuckling. "Honored Cult Masters, how did talk turn to quarrel? This is the reigning Heavenly Sage Cult Master, a man of genius for the age, who bears the stone-transmitted Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra—he must not die. Cult Master Shen has come to visit me. Come, come, let us sit in my quarters. The Sect's disciples have roasted a good many fine things for me."

The Dark Demon Cult Masters around them did not stir.

Cold sweat poured down the Young Ancestor's face. He tugged at Shen Mu's robe and said through gritted teeth, "You spoke too harshly. Bow your head, own your fault to the ancestral masters—"

"Own my fault? There is no need."

Cult Master Zuyang burst into loud laughter and said lazily, "Cult Master Shen's small frame has erupted with startling words that deafen the ear and awaken the dull—we have all been shaken senseless."

The Young Ancestor's face changed slightly. Zuyang was plainly angry; the more cheerfully he laughed, the heavier his wrath.

Shen Mu smiled. "Cult Master Zuyang's words carry a hidden meaning. There is no harm in speaking plainly."

The Young Ancestor was in a panic. Zuyang smiled faintly and said, "A Heavenly Sage Cult Master is won by fighting, not by wagging the tongue. Your seat's origin is crooked. Since Fan Xuanshu is dead and you never defeated him to attain the position, let us old bones stand in his place and test you—to see whether you are worthy to be this Cult Master and Sage Master!"

The Young Ancestor hastily tugged at Shen Mu's sleeve, signaling him to refuse.

"Is it to be a contest at the same realm? To be honest, I have just fought the Hall of Human Sovereigns."

Shen Mu gently pushed his hand aside and smiled. "The Human Sovereigns in that hall were all men who outshone their age, and beating them was arduous. As for you former Cult Masters, if we contend at the same realm..."

He said calmly, "You may all come at once."

Sweat fell from the Young Ancestor's brow like rain.

The faces of the successive Cult Masters changed drastically. Cult Master Yulian snickered. "Cult Master Shen is in fine spirits, but to have us all come at once is a rather large tone. Let me first try Cult Master Shen's skill."

Shen Mu shook his head. "It seems your realm is insufficient. One realm, one heaven; one state of mind, one pass. From above the pass I watch you below the pass, as one reads a text in the palm, as clearly as one watches fire. Telling you all to come at once is my way of respecting the aged. For Cult Master Yulian to wish to fight alone is to overrate yourself."

The Young Ancestor sighed, then drew a long breath and said gravely, "Honored Cult Masters and Sage Masters, as Sage Cult Masters you must keep your word. Please seal the three great divine treasuries—Heaven-Man, Life-Death, and Spirit Bridge. Whether you fight singly or all together, I leave it to your pleasure; I am not a Sage Cult Master even so. Do as you like."

Cult Master Yulian was the first to seal the three great divine treasuries. He stepped forward, bellowed, and erupted with demonic power. His cultivation of the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra walked the demonic path, a true grandmaster of the demonic school, having fathomed its arts and divine powers to the uttermost of that path; with one step he left a chain of demonic shadows!

"The Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra is only a fragment of my Mysterious Body Three Elixirs Art, and you have refined even it into a demonic practice."

Shen Mu narrowed his eyes and struck out with a palm, quick as lightning, landing dead upon the demonic shadow: "Daluo Heaven Star Palm Force!"

Boom!

Cult Master Yulian flew backward, smashing a man-shaped hole in Zuyang's Zuyang Hall. Then came a string of crashing thuds within the hall, as he burst through a dozen palace walls without stopping, until at last, more than ten li away, a mushroom cloud rose—no one knew what he had struck—and only then he came to rest.

Before the crowd could recover, Shen Mu sidestepped and was already behind Cult Master Zuyang. Zuyang reacted swiftly: he lunged forward and turned into a black shadow that plastered itself to the ground.

Shen Mu stamped the ground, and the earth split apart with crack after crack, opening into gullies. Zuyang was shaken out of his shadow back into his true form, and a blade came cleaving down before him. He roared in fury, manifested his Black Tortoise body; his great shield split before the blade, and he was sent flying with the two broken halves of the shield.

Shen Mu charged into the midst of the successive Cult Masters, his body flashing and flickering like a ghost. Every heart jolted, each man feeling that the blow was aimed at himself, and so all flung themselves into resistance.

Bang, bang, bang—a burst of explosions rang out. Cult Master Yueguang's divine power collided with Feng Qiangu's body; Feng Qiangu's demonic sword pierced Si Yuanwei's breast; in that instant all was chaos.

The Young Ancestor hastily fell back to avoid being caught in it, and saw the earth split apart in the blink of an eye. The whole Zuyang Hall shattered under the onslaught of so many divine powers, and the dissolving hall rose into the air, its fragments flying midair while the figures sprang and darted among the broken walls—now head-up, now head-down, now clinging to a pillar, now turning into birds and beasts!

"You are using the Daoist sword—you traitor!" a former Cult Master roared in fury, stabbed by hundreds of swords, and pitched down headfirst.

"Damn you, that is an art of the Great Thunder Roar Monastery!"

"A divine power of Little Jade Capital!"

"What sword art is this?"

Bang, bang, bang—