Chapter 576 — The Primeval War Talisman

The white-haired elder's blue robe had been washed to a faded near-white; he set down the fishing net in his hands. Shen Mu felt something nudge and stir against his chest, and then the Jade Register of the Heavenly Emperor turned into a small dragon and wriggled out through his collar. At the sight of that little dragon, Jiang Miao could not help but revert to his original form; he too became a small dragon and hid behind Shen Mu, reverent and fearful at once, and said in a low voice, "Maha—" This little dragon was the Lord of the Divine Dragons.

It opened its small mouth in a yawn, then slowly crawled out of Shen Mu's collar, swam onto the white-haired elder's hand, coiled itself into a ball, and narrowed its eyes, drowsy and half asleep. Presently many young men and women came out of that little village and surrounded Shen Mu and Jiang Miao in their midst.

A sturdy young man asked, "Old Ancestor, has someone come to make trouble? " The white-haired elder laughed. "No.

Don't frighten them; these two both have some bond of fate with our village. " Only then did the young men and women let go of their hostility, and they eyed Shen Mu and the little dragon Jiang Miao behind him with curiosity. A chill of awe ran through Shen Mu's heart.

Every one of these young men and women brimmed with vital essence, each of them concealing depths beyond the surface; yet when they had closed in just now, he had heard, from within the youngest girl among them, seven bursts as her divine treasuries opened — clearly she was an expert of the Divine Bridge realm!

And this girl was surely the weakest in the village, for the others had placed her at the center, shielding her!

In this village that seemed so small, even the weakest villager was of the Divine Bridge realm! Shen Mu had once thought Yincan Village was the mightiest village in the Desolate Ruins; now it seemed the Desolate Ruins truly was a place where dragons lurked and tigers crouched. "Besides the Jade Register of the Heavenly Emperor, you also carry the Divine Dragon's Lair on you.

" The white-haired elder was all the more astonished, his gaze falling on Shen Mu's waist.

Shen Mu took the Taotie Pouch from his waist, drew out the Divine Dragon's Lair, and laid it respectfully before the white-haired elder, saying, "Please have a look, Senior.

" At once the Lord of the Divine Dragons in the white-haired elder's hand perked up and swam into the Divine Dragon's Lair. Seeing the Divine Dragon's Lair, the other villagers likewise roused themselves, eager and restless, as though they too wished to burrow into the lair just as that little dragon had.

But they held themselves back.

"Could it be that the villagers here are not human at all, but of the dragon race? Is this a village made up of dragons? " Watching all this, Shen Mu formed a guess in his heart, and explained to the white-haired elder: "The Ling family's Jade Register of the Heavenly Emperor was stolen by my Cripple Grandpa and given to me.

As for the Divine Dragon's Lair, it was forged by Lord Dragonkeeper of Heaven; I subdued Lord Dragonkeeper, and the Lair fell into my hands as well.

Senior, are you the divine one who forged the Jade Register of the Heavenly Emperor? " The white-haired elder's gaze rested on the dragon lair, and he said with a half-smile, "In those years I forged the Lord of the Divine Dragons into the Jade Register of the Heavenly Emperor and went into the Central Land to seek an heir.

I met a young man of quite extraordinary talent and understanding; this young man was the founding ancestor of the Ling family.

I saw that he had the aura of a divine dragon, so I gave him the Jade Register and taught him the dragon tongue and the arts recorded upon it.

Yet his heart was not in such things — he went off chasing some girl, and in the end he won her, but the dragon tongue and the arts I had taught him he forgot, seven parts out of ten. Even then I knew that this lad was not the true master of the divine dragons. " Shen Mu had once heard Ling Yuxiu tell this anecdote, and at the time he had only found it amusing; he had never imagined it was actually true! "But I am lazy by nature, and I had undertaken this at another's request in the first place; I had refined the Lord of the Divine Dragons and sought an heir, and since the heir was of no use, I simply let him be.

" The white-haired elder laughed. "Who would have thought — that young man was a disappointment, but his descendants were not; they made Jingping great and brought it to its present glory. Since the Jade Register of the Heavenly Emperor has fallen into your hands, and you have also obtained the Divine Dragon's Lair, and you have sought your way here, it must be for the arts recorded upon it, no? " Shen Mu said with the utmost respect, "Senior, I am indeed rather taken with the arts within the Divine Dragon's Lair, but I came this time because of the founding patriarch of the Heaven Sage Sect. He is my eldest senior brother; he gave me a map marked with this village, and so I came seeking it. " The white-haired elder was briefly startled, then mused, "The founding patriarch of the Heaven Sage Sect? You mean that lad Wei Fengsui? " Shen Mu hesitated; he did not know what his eldest senior brother's name was.

Seeing this, the white-haired elder laughed.

"He came to see me once, and asked me how to establish merit. He is not a bad sort, and his abilities are most uncommon; the Schoolteacher took a fine disciple.

Only, Wei Fengsui wishes to become a sage, and for him to establish merit is very hard. He walks the Schoolteacher's road, and the Schoolteacher's road is a hard one to walk; I cannot teach him either. You are his junior brother — if you too have come to ask me how to become a sage, then I cannot teach you either. " The Schoolteacher he spoke of must be the Woodcutter Sage; the Woodcutter Sage had originally been the Heavenly Master of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court, charged with instructing the princes and princesses of the Kaihuang line.

Shen Mu asked, "May I ask — did my eldest senior brother ever say where he meant to go? " The white-haired elder shook his head. "He did not say where he meant to go, but he left something behind.

That he told you to come find me must be for the sake of this thing.

" He rose to his feet, went into the thatched hut, and after a moment came back carrying a red box, which he handed to Shen Mu.

Shen Mu opened the red box; inside was a token the size of a palm, branded with the image of a fierce beast. Shen Mu turned it over and over several times without making sense of it, and asked humbly for instruction: "May I ask, Senior, what use is this token? " "This is a kind of war talisman, used to move troops and dispatch generals. A formation is hidden within it — a formation of divine seats — but it is exceedingly ancient, and by now it is most likely of no use at all. " The white-haired elder said, "There are runes upon it that even I do not recognize; perhaps it is a war talisman from the Shanghuang era, or from an age even earlier.

" He took back the war talisman and stirred it with his own dharma power; one after another, stars rose into the air from within the talisman and wheeled around them. "These stars are the divine seats," he said.

"When the gods each return to their seats, this formation can be used to meet the foe and do battle with the enemy.

" Shen Mu looked up. The stars flying out of the war talisman were not true stars but projections, one after another — yet their number was immense, several thousand at the least.

His heart could not help but quail, and he murmured, "Several thousand gods forming a grand formation.

.

. what kind of war requires the deployment of several thousand gods and demons at once?

" "Your experience is too shallow. " The white-haired elder withdrew his dharma power, and the star projections vanished.

He laughed. "In the Kaihuang era, battles of this scale were not few.