Chapter 108 — The Dragon-Driving Sect's Disciples

Whoosh—

The giant serpent's vast, thick body coiled around, wrapping itself about several decks of the tower ship, squeezing them until they groaned and creaked. Everywhere aboard were stunned scholars, and the boatmen were frozen with terror.

"Brother Wei Yong, can you fly?" Shen Mu said suddenly.

Wei Yong had not yet gathered his wits: "What?"

Shen Mu raised a hand and flung the pudgy fellow off the tower ship. Wei Yong's scream came up from below: "I can't fly! Aaah—"

Shen Mu leaped down from the tower ship. Snow Fox, drunk a moment before, was now as clear-headed as an owl in the night; in the instant Shen Mu sprang, the little fox worked its art, and a gust of wind caught him up.

Shen Mu rode the wind, whistling downward, and reached out to seize Wei Yong. Wei Yong, his soul still unsteady, looked down and screamed again.

"Quiet!"

Shen Mu ran with all his strength. Above them the vast tower ship groaned and creaked, and shattered decks came howling down. Shen Mu dodged again and again in midair, slipping past one hurtling timber after another, and rushed into the distance.

Wei Yong looked back, eyes blank. The decks had been crushed to splinters; the great snake was coiled about the tower ship, squeezing with all its might, and the ship was about to be wrung in two!

The scholars aboard leaped off one after another. Some who possessed divine powers had learned the art of flight and rode their primal weapons through the air; others had never learned it, and tumbled down flailing and shrieking.

"Long Jiaonan! Are you rebelling?"

The ship's master flew into a rage, his body transforming into a giant of flame as he charged the bewitching man. His divine power was overbearing in the extreme—but the tower ship could no longer bear the battle of two such masters. The elixir chamber at the ship's core was crushed open by the serpent; the elixir masters and their boy attendants within rushed out in panic and leaped overboard.

At the same moment the serpent spat a cloud of poison into the ship's master's face. The flame giant was snuffed out at once and fell straight backward.

"We're done for..."

Wei Yong's face was ashen: "The Dragon-Driving Sect has turned traitor. That one, the fellow who keeps that great long worm—he's Long Jiaonan, the young sect master of the Dragon-Driving Sect, a villain of the first notoriety..."

Shen Mu struggled to hold him up and ran for the ground. Below lay the mountain's foot, where they could hide their tracks from the Dragon-Driving Sect's masters.

A moment later they touched down. Snow Fox dispersed its art and was about to speak when a scream came from above; a scholar crashed through the dense canopy and struck the ground before them, bursting apart, brains and blood spattering the earth.

Bang!

Another dull thud came from not far off.

Bang, bang, bang...

It was as though rain fell upon the mountain's foot—scholar after scholar dropped from the sky, smashed to pieces!

Wei Yong's face went the color of clay, his body trembling. Shen Mu's ears twitched; suddenly he seized him and sprinted forward. Behind them came a thunderous roar—half a ship came crashing down, obliterating a stretch of mountain forest, and the trees it struck were sent flying in every direction, a terrifying sight.

The vast hull of the tower ship slid a hundred zhang and more, nearly crushing the running Shen Mu, and at last came to rest.

Shen Mu kept sprinting with all his might. From the tower ship came an earth-shaking blast—the elixir furnace exploding—and the surging shockwave hurled the two men and the fox through the air.

Shen Mu landed, released Wei Yong, and said in a low voice: "Let's go, quickly. Dragon-Driving Sect masters will be here soon to see if anyone's still alive."

Wei Yong, barely recovered, ran on and said: "What will they do if they find someone alive?"

Snow Fox rolled its eyes at him, a little drunk—it had plainly been sneaking drinks: "Fat Wei, what do you think?"

Wei Yong shuddered: "The Dragon-Driving Sect has grown monstrously bold this time, daring to attack a ship of examination scholars bound for the capital so near the capital itself. Once the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping recovers from his wounds, he will never let the Dragon-Driving Sect off!"

"You really think the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping is wounded?"

Shen Mu shook his head: "In my view, the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping is not wounded at all. He means to lure the snake from its hole—to draw out every force within the borders of Jingping that resists him, and take them all in one net. Hasn't the Dragon-Driving Sect been drawn out?"

Wei Yong was stunned, then blurted: "You mean... Impossible! I've heard there are no fewer than twenty rebellions now, seizing cities and territory, leaving countless common folk dead and wounded, and bandits running wild besides. How could the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping tolerate such a thing?"

Shen Mu said: "That is statecraft, of course. If he were not wounded, how could he draw out these traitorous ministers and rebels? So he is wounded. He suffered defeat in the Wasteland Ruins, and on the road home he was set upon by assassins and gravely hurt; both his reputation and his strength are much diminished. Who would pass up such a golden chance?"

He said flatly: "In my view, the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping has long since laid his plans. He will not move to put down the rebellion until every traitorous minister and rebel has shown his hand."

Wei Yong still could not accept it, and murmured: "But so many people will die..."

"But the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping's future troubles will be rooted out utterly, won't they?"

Shen Mu glanced at Wei Yong. The fat man was surprisingly nimble, able to keep pace with him—though plainly he had little understanding of wind, and could not ride its edge in flight. He said: "Once he has rooted out his future troubles completely, who will dare play tricks behind his back when he next takes the field? And besides—if the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping nets all his enemies at once this time, then should he wish to ascend the throne, who would dare object?"

Wei Yong shuddered several times and stared at him as though at a monster: "Brother Shen, you're about my age, aren't you? How can you dream up so many plots and schemes? Little Fox, he must be an old fox spirit who cultivated into human form, isn't he?"

Snow Fox hopped about in delight: "Fat Wei, you've noticed too? I long suspected the young master was a male fox who'd turned spirit!"

Wei Yong said: "Don't call me Fat Wei. The Wei clan of Jiangling is, after all, a great house of name and standing; if word got out it would be a disgrace."

The little fox said: "Then I'll call you Bloated Wei."

Wei Yong was silent a moment, then said sourly: "You'd better just call me Fat Wei. At least I'm only slightly fat."

Suddenly Shen Mu asked: "Brother Wei Yong, what is your cultivation?"

"I have already broken through the Five Luminaries Wall and opened the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury—though my cultivation seems not much higher than yours."

Wei Yong asked doubtfully: "And what is your cultivation?"

"The Spirit Embryo Realm."

Shen Mu gathered his primal energy and drew the Butcher's Knife: "Brother Wei Yong, you take two, I'll take two!"

Wei Yong was baffled by his meaning when suddenly four great serpents came gliding out of the forest ahead. With them came the sound of a flute—winding and melodious, quite lively, like a playful village girl teasing a green snake in the grass, the melody startling and sudden, now high, now low.

The flutist must be a disciple of the Dragon-Driving Sect. Shen Mu looked toward the sound but saw no master of the sect; they must be hidden.