Chapter 122 — Five Stars Without Peer

The moment these words left his mouth, many of the scholars in the courtyard sensed that something was off. Just then, rain began to sift down from the sky with a soft patter.

With the rain came a strange melody — deng, deng, deng — as though some magnificent, colossal giant had made a zither of heaven and earth and strung it with the threads of the rain, paying no heed to propriety, caring nothing for gong, jue, shang, yu, and zhi, strumming away in wild abandon! Yet within that uncanny melody lurked a soul-snatching magic: the instant it reached the ear, one felt one's yuanqi scatter, one's consciousness loosen, one's spirit fetus grow languid, one's Five Luminaries fall into disorder, and an urge rise that could not be resisted — the urge to dance to the tune. The melody grew loftier and more impassioned.

Everyone in the courtyard knew something was wrong and was about to forcibly break the demonic sound technique when Shen Mu suddenly formed a hand seal and drove out a punch! Sun Scorches the Yang Spirit, Refined in the Void! The moment his fist went out, a thunderclap that shook heaven and earth burst from the center of the courtyard, battering everyone's souls into confusion, setting their spirits reeling, their willpower unstable.

At once they could no longer contend with the demonic melody; one after another they flung out their arms and legs, roaring with laughter, and began to sing and dance in the courtyard. Suddenly the melody shifted again, as though they had fallen onto a battlefield where gods and demons slaughtered one another.

Iron horses and metal spears swept at their faces and drowned them; it was so real that they could not help but strike back!

This counterattack was no small matter. Even those with a shred of lucidity left had no choice but to fend off the blows of those around them, and the very moment they raised a hand to respond, the melody breached their minds and their last defense collapsed! Boom! Techniques of every kind burst forth in the courtyard, spells flying wild.

In an instant blood was drawn; many felt the pain and came to their senses — and just then Shen Mu moved through the crowd like a phantom, and anyone who regained clarity was flicked away by a single finger! Finger-Flick Thunder-Shaking Pipa Hand! His fingers kept time with the melody — plucking, sweeping, hooking, flicking, striking, snapping, strumming — fierce beyond measure.

Amid the maddening music came thunderclap after thunderclap; the air shuddered without cease, and the sound of heavy bodies smashing against things came without pause. After a while, only Wei Yong was left in the little courtyard, still dancing and singing. Shen Mu withdrew his hand.

The rain that filled the sky vanished; the melody vanished of its own accord.

Only then did Wei Yong come back to himself. He hurriedly looked around and saw footprints everywhere in his courtyard, and his flowers and plants ruined. His face changed drastically, and he blurted, "Brother Shen, what happened? " "I borrowed your fine premises to teach a few blind senior brothers a lesson," Shen Mu said with a laugh.

"It's out of the way here — no one to interfere while I beat them.

" Wei Yong clicked his tongue and hurriedly looked toward the gateway wall of his courtyard, where scholars hung upon the wall, their heads jammed into the brick, without the strength to move. Wei Yong's face went ashen. "Brother, you have stirred up great disaster! These scholars came to the Grand Academy years before us.

Who among those who enter the Grand Academy is not a disciple of some great clan or noble house?

And now you have beaten them — how will this end? " Shen Mu said doubtfully, "If I do not beat them, am I to wait for them to beat me? The beating is done — what else can be done? " Wei Yong stamped his feet again and again. "You borrowed my courtyard to beat them.

I am of the Wei family — they do not dare touch me — but you are certain to suffer for it.

Ai, ai, what is to be done.

. .

" Shen Mu walked outward, laughing. "If they come to teach me a lesson, they had best be prepared to be taught one themselves. " He walked out of the courtyard and saw head after head poking out from the courtyard wall.

Shen Mu looked them over once, then strode on. "Cast-off.

. . " One scholar woke and said weakly, "You dared to ambush us.

When we recover, you are dead. .

. " Shen Mu's face darkened.

"Say the word cast-off again, and I will beat you every time I see you!

" "Cast-off! " Shen Mu pulled this scholar out of the wall, hauled him to the front of his own dwelling, and let his yuanqi burst forth, stretching the man's body ramrod straight.

Using him as a giant brush, he wrote upon the wall with the blood from the scholar's head.

Shen Mu wrote two lines of characters, then wrote another line upon the lintel, and then slammed the blood-smeared scholar to the ground.

He drove the man into the earth until only his head showed; furious and frantic, the scholar passed out. The other scholars woke one after another, pulling their heads out of the wall, each wearing a look of shame, their expressions shifting like weather. They had been caught off guard by Shen Mu's assault — and it was no assault upon their bodies but upon their souls, the hardest thing of all to guard against.

Had it been a spell aimed at their bodies, it would have been easy enough to defend; their cultivation was not far below Shen Mu's, and they had the advantage of numbers. Had Shen Mu launched a sneak attack, he could have felled at most one or two of them. But a spell aimed at the soul was a different matter entirely.

With his improved Finger-Flick Thunder-Shaking Pipa Hand, Shen Mu had seized direct control of their souls, commanding their soul-consciousness; and when they tried to break free, the move Sun Scorches the Yang Spirit, Refined in the Void sent their souls wandering again, so that one after another they were struck down, knocked unconscious with their heads through the wall before they had any chance to strike back. Wei Yong said hurriedly, "Senior brothers, I am of the Wei family of the Ducal Mansion; I have nothing to do with this! " The dozen or so scholars looked at one another. One sighed, "We have been made fools of this time, ambushed by a new arrival, our face lost entirely.

Brother of the Wei family, do not spread word of this; leave us a little dignity. " Wei Yong breathed a sigh of relief. "Rest assured, I have always kept my mouth shut and will never speak of this to outsiders. Senior brothers, what do you plan to do?

" "Naturally, regain our face. " Unable to bear staying, the scholars poured out in a mass. "We lost face badly today. Once our wounds heal, tomorrow we take back our dignity!

" "He caught us unawares today and took us by surprise; tomorrow we will make him pay!

" Wei Yong clicked his tongue and muttered, "Brother Shen grows more formidable by the day. He sent Daoist Lingyun flying, and now this — even I was caught off guard and controlled by his demonic music. But with these fellows on their guard, tomorrow may be rough for him.

After all, they came to the Grand Academy years before us; what they have learned and comprehended far surpasses ours. In the Grand Academy's Heaven-Record Tower lie the supreme teachings of every sect and school.

.

. " As the dozen or so scholars passed Shen Mu's courtyard, they glanced up without thinking and saw two rows of blood-dripping words written on the wall in blood: "Sweeping the capital, no match to be found; kicking eight hundred Grand Academy scholars around!

" Upon the lintel were four more words: "Five Luminaries Unrivaled!

" And in the ground before the gate was a man, planted there. Their faces turned ashen. They stepped up and pulled the man out of the earth. "Leave the words for now. Tomorrow we humiliate him! " On the road, Shen Mu bought some food to fill his belly, then continued his free clinic in the Rain-Listening Pavilion.