Chapter 511 — Posing a Deafening Question

" The young patriarch and the past leaders could not believe his words.

One after another they pressed their hands to their foreheads and paced about. Suddenly one former leader halted, and said in a low, heavy voice, "Between the Central Lands and the Western Lands lie the Wasteland and the Flame Desert. Even the shortest route is a hundred thousand li!

You mean to carve out a road a hundred thousand li long?

" Shen Mu said, "Not one road.

My plan is for two—two great roads, and they must be perfectly level, so that carts and horses and armies can pass swiftly, so that the fastest cavalry on strange beasts can run ten thousand li by day and by night! " "Wrong! " That former leader's voice was harsh. "Do you have that much money? Does Jingping have that much money? To pave a road is to pave it with money, with divine power, with human lives!

Our Holy Cult has its Heavenly Works Hall, yes—but set the Heavenly Works Hall to paving roads, and besides burning through countless coin, you will work its disciples to death by the thousands! " Shen Mu shook his head. "It will not come to that. On this journey to the Western Lands I saw their roads—far more developed than Jingping's. The divine arts of the True Heaven Palace can be used to pave roads. I am on good terms with the great clans of the Western Lands; I can ask the Master of the True Heaven Palace to lead the Western Lands' divine-power wielders in paving.

In a single day they can lay a thousand li of road. A hundred thousand li of road, laid in a hundred days, and the cost will not be too great. " The former leader's eyes lit up. He smiled, and stepped back.

The other past leaders still circled around Shen Mu.

Suddenly Si Yuanwei halted. "And the Flame Desert? The Flame Desert stretches tens of thousands of li, parched and waterless. You open a road, and the road is buried in drifting sand—utterly useless! By then the people on that road will be stranded in misery, dying upon it! " Shen Mu said, "The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping has killed the True Heaven Matriarch.

The flames of the desert are already extinguished. We need only use the Black Tortoise Pearl to draw water and irrigate the desert, and the Azure Dark Water Dragon Pearl to plant trees and vegetation, and turn the desert into grassland and forest—no difficult matter. In the northern grasslands there are snow mountains; let the snow mountains become rivers. I will lead water down from the snow mountains and build lakes in the desert—that will solve the problem of water! " Si Yuanwei smiled, and stepped back as well. Another cult leader halted and asked, "The shortest road runs through the Wasteland.

By day the Wasteland may be reckoned peaceful, but by night come the demons and monsters, come the darkness. How will you guarantee the traffic? " "I cannot guarantee it. But I can move the stone statues—gather the statues and use them to hold back the darkness. A town every thousand li, a city every ten thousand li, with towns and cities set between the two roads, so that there is always somewhere to stop. With those towns and cities, goods will flow between the Western Lands, the Wasteland, and the Central Lands, and trade will surely flourish. " "You still have not said how the money will be solved!

" "Once the roads are open and trade flows, the money will solve itself! " "The Wasteland is no smooth plain. It is full of uncanny and monstrous things. How will you make a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers into a smooth road? " "Where there is a mountain, cut through it; where there is water, bridge it; where there is a god, pay it homage! " "How wide will the road be?

" "Thirty-six zhang wide: eight cart tracks, four footpaths for soldiers.

" "The gauge of carts and horses in the Western Lands differs from that of Jingping. How will you make the traffic run unimpeded? " "Then let carts share one gauge! " "The customs of the Western Lands differ from Jingping's.

What then? " "Then let conduct share one code! " "The writing differs, the divine arts differ. What then? " "Then let writing share one script, and open schools!

" .

.

. Suddenly the twenty-eight former leaders burst into laughter together.

They bowed to Shen Mu and saluted him.

"Cult Leader Shen may be called a sage!

You are worthy of the name of Holy Cult Leader!

We have tested you on Cult Leader Li's behalf—and you have passed! " Shen Mu returned the salute, utterly sincere.

"I thank you, Cult Leaders, for your deafening questions, which opened my mind.

This junior has learned much!

When I return to the world of the living, I shall have a path for reform.

If in the future my reforms achieve anything, and the impassable becomes a thoroughfare, then every one of you Cult Leaders will have had a hand in it!

" Everyone laughed heartily and rose to their feet.

The young patriarch was glad for them as well.

Shen Mu had been at bitter odds with the past leaders, and now the old grudges were swept away—that, too, gladdened him. Suddenly from beyond the hall came the voice of the bird-headed god-man Chixiu, crying, "Cult Leader Shen, King Yama means to interrogate you himself. Are you not coming out? "