Chapter 573 — Elder Brother Makes His Move and Binds the Flood Dragon

"Very well. And the first time you saw me you pounced on me and coiled around me and rubbed against my face, and hung on my ear crying Ma-ha..."

Jiang Miao wished he could find a hole to crawl into. "Sect Master, could we not mention that either?"

Shen Mu roared with laughter. "One day, when you have made your name and become a divine dragon of your generation, I will be sure to tell these embarrassing tales to your sons and grandsons! And I have been wondering, Junior Brother Shen Yu is still longing for you to come back. When you return, how will you face him? Will you coil around him again?"

Jiang Miao was struck dumb.

The divine dragon suddenly flew into a rage and said, darkly, "Have you two talked enough?"

Shen Mu stepped a little farther off and smiled. "Your uncle is angry. Let us set aside idle talk and speak of business. This is a family matter of yours; I will simply listen from the sidelines."

The dragon's chest heaved violently; after a moment it steadied its temper and said in a low voice, "Jiang Miao, this brat is the junior brother of a great villain. He is no good sort. You should keep your distance from him. You are my nephew and I am your uncle; by feeling and by reason alike, you ought to free me from my bonds."

Jiang Miao hesitated, looking at the dragon, then at Shen Mu, his face full of difficulty.

The dragon said softly, "You can hear my call; you must know that our blood is near. Can you not trust me? Raise your hand. When our palms touch, you will know how close our blood runs."

Jiang Miao raised his palm, and the divine dragon raised its enormous claw, excitement gleaming in its eyes. In the instant hand and claw touched, the strange rune Shen Mu had left in Jiang Miao's palm suddenly blazed with dazzling light!

That light at once roused the hidden demon script upon the chains. Chain after chain flared bright, demon fire seethed and boiled, boring into the dragon's body, burning it into violent convulsions, its form writhing, its roars of agony shaking the great hall without cease!

Jiang Miao hastily snatched back his hand and looked at Shen Mu.

Shen Mu smiled and came over, saying leisurely, "Jiang Miao, your mother was the Surging River Dragon Emperor; she died in battle shielding you. In the East Sea of the Desolate Ruins there are countless dragon kings, and every one of them has turned to stone, enshrined in the Dragon King temples. They were forced to it by circumstance, with no choice but to petrify. Twenty thousand years ago, when the Kaihuang era ended and heaven and earth were convulsed by calamity, those gods and demons of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court who did not die in battle either departed for the Land of No Sorrow or chose to petrify. So why did your uncle neither petrify nor go to the Land of No Sorrow? Does that not strike you as strange?"

Jiang Miao was startled.

Shen Mu continued, "This place is where the Ark of the Far Shore, bound for the Land of No Sorrow, was ambushed. The Ark was waylaid here, shattered by its enemies, and sealed in this place. Yet within the Ark there are still descendants of the Heaven-Craft God Clan. To guard against those Heaven-Craft gods breaking the seal and walking out, the enemy needed a powerful being to watch over this place. And might that watchman be your uncle?"

Jiang Miao looked at the dragon. The dragon's expression shifted slightly, and it said coldly, "You would sooner trust an outsider than your own uncle?"

Shen Mu stepped forward, looked up at the dragon, and said abruptly, "Jiang Miao, I saw you long ago, in the Surging River Dragon Palace. Your mother's soul drifted in circles around you, singing a most sorrowful song in the dragon tongue. You were sealed in the dark ice of the Dark Water Dragon Pearl, a broken sword thrust into your chest, its blade run through your heart. She used her own life to protect you, to keep you from dying, hoping someone might bring you back to life."

Tears fell from Jiang Miao's eyes. After he was revived, he had gone with Shen Yu to the Surging River Dragon Palace, and had seen his mother's bones.

"Your mother, the Surging River Dragon Emperor, was exceedingly powerful. How did she die?"

Shen Mu's face was calm. "Why is it that a broken sword pierced your heart and yet you did not die? Might the one who wounded you have deliberately spared you? His aim would have been to use your wound to make your mother expend the Dark Water Dragon Pearl to keep you alive, draining her cultivation so greatly that she could be killed. Then, someone who could come near you even under your mother's protection, would that not have to be someone very close?"

Jiang Miao's whole body shook.

"Why is it that you were sealed in ice for twenty thousand years, and this uncle of yours, so mighty in divine power, never came to save you?"

Shen Mu asked, "Where is that broken sword that pierced your heart?"

"I have kept it all along." Jiang Miao opened his mouth and spat out a broken sword.

Shen Mu's gaze fell upon the broken sword. It was this very blade that had run through Jiang Miao's heart; dragon blood still stained it.

"Do you want to know whose sword it was?" Shen Mu asked.

Fear showed on Jiang Miao's face. He shook his head. "Sect Master, my heart is in turmoil..."

Shen Mu raised his head, looked at the dragon, and said, "If the sword is yours, you can stir this broken blade and slay us with the greatest ease, and perhaps sever the chains besides. You sensed Jiang Miao's aura and have been calling to him all along; surely your purpose was this sword as well. The sword is here now, senior. Please."

The dragon narrowed its eyes and stared fixedly at him.

Shen Mu smiled.

Suddenly, halos of light swirled through the broken sword; it leapt into the air and gave forth a dragon's cry!

At almost the same instant, the chains blazed with demon light, and demon fire poured into the dragon's body, burning it into endless shudders; the divine power it had just gathered was severed once more!

Clang.

The broken sword fell to the ground.

Shen Mu went forward, picked up the broken sword, and sighed. "Jiang Miao, your mother died a wrongful death."

Jiang Miao raised his head and looked at the divine dragon before him. The dragon laughed heartily and cried in a harsh voice, "He who knows the times is a hero! Your mother and I came from the same dragon nest, both formed from the essence of the dragon vein, two dragons from one nest! Why should she be the Surging River Dragon Emperor while I could only be a Well Dragon King? The Heavenly Court promised me greater benefits; naturally I seized the chance! My own sister was my offering of allegiance! And what of telling you? What can you do to me?"

It turned its gaze viciously on Shen Mu and sneered, "That eldest senior brother of yours, whose abilities surpass yours ten thousandfold, even he could not kill me! He exhausted every means he had, and all he could do was pen me here!"

Behind Shen Mu there rose a gate that bore up the heavens, its doors flung wide open. Calmly he said, "In all this world, there is no one I cannot kill. My senior brother could not kill you, but for me it is no difficult matter."