Chapter 528 — Seeking the Way at Little Jade Capital

The Deaf Elder said suddenly: "To learn without thinking is confusion; to think without learning is peril. He is at the stage of learning and thinking. Shen'er's duel with the First Ancestor Human Emperor is not a contest of cultivation alone — it is a contest of the heart of the Dao. If he can walk out of it, it may be an immense advance in his cultivation of the Dao heart. If he cannot, then I fear the Overlord Body will become a ruined body. These next few days, let us drill him well; we cannot let him be ruined!"

The others nodded.

Once Shen Mu had settled in, it was as though he had returned to the Hidden Maimed Village. The Butcher, the Blind Elder, the Deaf Elder, Old Man Lame and Granny Zhu called him out from time to time to spar with him, and the Academy was turned upside down with their fighting.

Half the scholars in the Academy came from the Heavenly Sage Sect, and the rest had come from every corner of the land to study there. These few days were a feast for their eyes: they witnessed the legendary prowess of the Imperial Academy's masters.

Several days later, Granny Zhu and the others were frowning deeply. Shen Mu was now timid and hesitant, not daring to make a move, and he was often beaten black and blue. Now and then he counterattacked, and his moves were incomparably exquisite, but halfway through the attack he would draw it back again.

The Butcher was furious. He gave him a thorough beating and said sternly: "Why will you not let your moves out?"

Shen Mu did not fight back. He shook his head: "They are all wrong..."

"Wrong or not, you must strike them out!"

Granny Zhu hurriedly pulled the Butcher away, angry: "His state is not right — stop beating him! What if you beat him into a fool?"

The Deaf Elder nodded: "He has too much piled up in his head, he thinks too much. Right now he has bored into a dead end and cannot bore his way out. Beating him like this will get nothing. When he bores through on his own, he will be a Grand Master."

The Butcher glared at them: "And if he never bores through?"

No one answered.

Granny Zhu said to Shen Mu: "Shen'er, there is nothing for you to learn here at the Academy. Better to go out and walk a while, take your ease."

Shen Mu nodded, packed his baggage, and walked out of the Academy in a daze.

Old Man Lame followed him a while, and seeing that Shen Mu only wandered to and fro and was in no great danger, he was reassured and went back to the Academy.

One day Shen Mu came to the Yong River and sat on the bank. Suddenly a voice came from behind him: "Shen!"

Shen Mu turned and saw a richly dressed youth standing behind him, staring at him with a frightened face, as though ready to flee at any moment.

"So it is the Great One." Shen Mu turned back and went on gazing at the river.

Ban Gongcuo leaned on his crutch, one leg a deer's leg. He had meant to slip away the moment Shen Mu made a move; but seeing him still sitting by the river with no least intention of attacking, he grew bold, crept closer, and said: "Sect Master Shen seems to have something on his mind. You and I are old friends of a sort. Why not tell me what weighs on you? Perhaps I might even solve your problem for you."

Shen Mu, bored beyond measure, tossed stones into the river: "I am thinking how to defeat a true god at the same cultivation realm. I have never been able to think of an answer. Great One, can you teach me?"

Ban Gongcuo's eyes lit up. He edged closer, little by little, and said with a smile: "So that is it. You must be very bitter now, surely? Feeling yourself utterly useless? That life holds no savor? In that case, what is the point of living on? Let me help you put an end to it, heh heh..."

Splash.

The river's surface parted, and the Dragon Keeper's huge dragon head rose high, like a mountain peak, its whiskers streaming, hanging beside Ban Gongcuo.

Ban Gongcuo's body went rigid, his face a sickly yellow. He turned hastily to go: "Forgive the intrusion. I take my leave!" With that he vanished in a puff of smoke.

The Dragon Keeper watched him go far off and shook his head: "That fellow is slicker than a loach. My lord, your troubles I cannot solve. Though I am a god, to do away with a true god is beyond my power."

Shen Mu sighed. On the mountain behind him, the White Rift deity flicked its tail impatiently: "Nor is it within mine! My lord, could you find another mountain? This one is too small; my shrine is only so high, and it cannot even fit my hooves!"

Shen Mu rose, mounted the Dragon Qilin and departed with Chest.

"Is the Human Emperor Shen come to my Little Jade Capital to break through from the Five Qi to the Six Harmonies?"

The Hermit Qingyou hurried out to welcome him, saying with a smile: "It has been some days since my Little Jade Capital had a guest. The Hall of the Five Qi and the Hall of the Six Harmonies have long awaited the Human Emperor's honored arrival. Ah, yes — there is one thing I have not yet told the Human Emperor. Some months ago, the stone statue of the First Ancestor Human Emperor in your Human Emperor Hall came to life and left Little Jade Capital. Where he went, I do not know."

Shen Mu's eye twitched. He said: "I know of this. I have met him."

The Hermit Qingyou showed surprise: "You have met him? Then — the stone statue of the Woodcutter Sage also came to life and left Little Jade Capital. Do you know of this as well?"