Chapter 603 — The Vajra in His Eyes

The Silent Craftsman gestured a few times. The Deaf Elder took it in and said, "Simple enough. Just don't look in a mirror. He's not some shy little wife. It was the Silent Craftsman who said it, not me."

The Pill Master took out a mirror and turned it on Shen Mu, watching for his reaction. Shen Mu's eyes went blank and fixed at once, and within them a figure seemed to be walking nearer. He hastily put the mirror away and said, "Not looking in a mirror is easy enough. But what about washing his face? Or someone else turning a mirror on Shen'er? Send in a demon or a spy with a mirror, and Shen'er need only glance at it to be caught. There must be no small number of power-wielders in Taihuang Heaven who have gone over to the demon race, and Tianfeng Gou is far from the only one!"

The Butcher snatched the mirror from his hand and flashed it at Shen Mu. Shen Mu's eyes fixed on the mirror again, and within them the figure of the Vajra walked nearer, a little closer than before.

Startled, the Butcher hurriedly turned the mirror face down, and only then did the Vajra in Shen Mu's eyes disappear.

"Incredible!"

The Butcher could not help praising him. "The Vajra's divine power is monstrously strange, that it can issue from Shen'er's own eyes! Why not lure him out? Fetch a dozen or so gods and demons, join forces with a True God, and hack him to pieces with a hail of blades, then see what mischief he can make!"

Shen Mu shook his head. "It's no use. He does not truly appear. The mirror only triggers his art, and once it is triggered, it pulls me to his side. He will never show himself before us."

The Butcher praised him again. "He can manage that much? Truly remarkable!"

The Silent Craftsman seized the mirror away and turned it on Shen Mu as well. Again Shen Mu's gaze was drawn helplessly to it, and the Vajra in his eyes came a stretch nearer.

The Silent Craftsman hastily flipped the mirror over and said gravely, "Aba!"

The Blind Elder hurriedly took the mirror, and was just about to turn it on Shen Mu when Granny Zhu flew into a rage and dealt the Blind Elder a resounding rap on the head. "You pack of old wretches who will not die! Look again and Shen'er will be carried off by that three-faced freak!"

The Blind Elder was furious. "Granny, they all did it. Why do you beat only me?"

Granny Zhu seized the mirror away. The Lame Elder, all eagerness to try it himself, saw Granny Zhu guarding her own like a hen with a chick and had no choice but to hold himself back.

Granny Zhu too wanted to turn the mirror on Shen Mu, but he was, after all, the child she had raised with her own hands, and she restrained herself, though her fingers itched unbearably. She kept longing just to take one look.

In Hidden Maim Village, apart from the Lame Elder, she was the most playful of them all.

"If he cannot look in a mirror, and we cannot drag the Vajra over, does that mean this art will stay in Shen'er's eyes forever?" None of them had any idea what to do.

Though every one of them commanded vast powers, the Vajra's art was so uncanny and unfathomable that none of them knew how to break it.

The Imperial Teacher Jingping and the True God Pang Yu came over. "So you Daoist friends have returned? We were just then marshalling the army and could not spare aid. Pray forgive us."

"The Imperial Teacher Jingping has always been a man of ideas. Perhaps he can think of a way!"

The others hastily explained the matter to the Imperial Teacher Jingping, who said in astonishment, "Such a thing can happen? Let me try the mirror!" With that he drew a mirror from his bosom and made to turn it on Shen Mu.

The Butcher, the Blind Elder, and the rest wore strange looks. Though the Imperial Teacher Jingping was a middle-aged man, he was handsome and of imposing bearing, plainly very careful of his appearance, and carried a mirror on his person.

Granny Zhu clenched her fist, ready to rap the Imperial Teacher Jingping on the skull.

Seeing this, the Imperial Teacher Jingping lowered his mirror and said with a smile, "Daoist Si, if I do not draw the art out of his pupils, how am I to devise a way to break it? Pray lay aside your hostility, friend."

Granny Zhu said, "Do not hold it up too long."

The Imperial Teacher Jingping turned the mirror on Shen Mu and saw, in both his pupils, the shadow of the Vajra walking outward. Startled, he covered the mirror at once and mused, "What an art! It is branded into Sect Master Shen's eyes; one glance and you are caught. Has the Vajra's power truly grown to such a degree?"

Granny Zhu said hurriedly, "Has the Imperial Teacher Jingping found a way to break it?"

The Imperial Teacher Jingping paced back and forth, hesitated, and said, "Perhaps I should take one more look?"

Granny Zhu could bear it no longer and gave him a heavy rap on the head. Everyone was aghast. Even Emperor Yanfeng would not dare pound the Imperial Teacher Jingping's skull, yet Granny Zhu dared!

The Imperial Teacher Jingping took it calmly. "Daoist Si, with a single glance I cannot yet break the Vajra's art. If I might look a few times more, perhaps I could find the way."

Granny Zhu said coldly, "And if you cannot break it?"

The Imperial Teacher Jingping said solemnly, "To hear the Way at dawn is to die content at dusk."

Granny Zhu was still not well enough acquainted with him; otherwise she would have kicked him flying as she had the Blind Elder. She shot a glance at the True God Pang Yu and said with forced patience, "You, True God, command vast powers. Surely you know a way to break it?"

The True God Pang Yu hesitated. He would have liked to try the mirror on Shen Mu himself, but he judged that he too would be hard put to escape this woman's fist, so he shook his head. "If the Imperial Teacher Jingping cannot do it, neither can I. I hold the Imperial Teacher's arts and powers in the highest admiration. In truth, the Vajra's mastery of divine arts surpasses mine, and an art lodged in the eyes is all the harder to break. As for mastery of divine arts, the only one who can rival the Vajra is the Heavenly Master. You would do better to go and seek the Heavenly Master."

Shen Mu's heart stirred. The Woodcutter Sage did indeed command vast powers; perhaps he would have a way to break the Vajra's art.

"The Heavenly Master is at present in Luofu Heaven, among the demon race. He will not be hard to find."

The True God Pang Yu hesitated and said, "By rights I ought to lead you there, but the two armies are now drawn up against each other and the demon race has not withdrawn its troops. I must remain here."

The Imperial Teacher Jingping was much tempted; he too longed to meet this sage, but he was likewise tied down and had no leisure to go to Luofu Heaven.

The world barrier between Luofu Heaven and Taihuang Heaven had already grown exceedingly thin, and reaching Luofu Heaven was not difficult. When the demon race attacked Taihuang Heaven, it was a demon god who had torn the world barrier open, and an endless torrent of demons had poured madly into Taihuang Heaven.

Granny Zhu was delighted and said with a smile, "I shall go with Shen'er to meet the first sage of our Heavenly Sage Sect!"

She could hardly hide her excitement. The Woodcutter Sage had taught the Dharma beneath a tree and passed down the scriptures upon a stone to the founding patriarch; the founding patriarch had founded the sect and created the Heavenly Sage Sect; and thereafter every generation of sect masters had been disciples of the Woodcutter Sage, each of them passing through a transmission of scriptures upon the stone.

To the disciples of the Heavenly Sage Sect, the Woodcutter Sage was a being high above, one to be looked up to, one to be worshipped with head bowed to the ground!

To lay eyes on this legend was the greatest wish of every disciple in the sect!

Shen Mu hesitated. He looked at the excited Granny Zhu, and in the end decided not to tell her the truth.