Chapter 157 — The Golden Palace Drugged

The talisman's transformations were exceedingly complex: it had fourteen faces, each bearing a different rune, and to memorize the changes of those runes was very difficult. But remembering the order of those runes was no trouble at all for Shen Mu. He had recorded the talisman treasure's fourteen faces as fourteen numbers, then reversed the order of the numbers from when he entered, and broke the seal from the inside.

Before him, cube after cube appeared and retreated one after another.

Shen Mu walked outward, and at last stepped out of the treasure vault without a hitch. Shen Mu let out a breath, drew the Chubao Sword, and hacked the talisman treasure to pieces.

Then, following the directions on the map, he walked toward Loulan's Golden Palace storehouse.

Though the Golden Palace had its gate blocked at that moment, there was still a great shaman on duty in the storehouse. Shen Mu handed over a prescription, and the great shaman read it aloud: "Mock strawberry, two ounces; nandina berries, one catty and six ounces; oleander, four ounces.

. . So much medicine — are you preparing to refine a great elixir?

" Shen Mu nodded and answered with a simple, artless smile: "I was wounded just now.

I mean to nourish myself a little. " "You went to fight the fellow who blocked the mountain gate?

I heard about it too — a good many died. Luckily that fellow has already been killed, so it is no disgrace.

Now the time the Martial Khagan blocked our gate — that was a disgrace. " The great shaman prepared the herbs.

Shen Mu handed over Danbaro's coin purse and said, "Do you have fresh purple fruit from the Crimson Pearl Grass? Give me four purple fruits. " "This stuff is very expensive — where would fresh ones come from?

Will dried do?

" "Dried is fine. " The great shaman brought the dried purple fruits.

Shen Mu took them, pinched one out and popped it into his mouth. Seeing how simple and artless he was, the great shaman quietly took a few extra coins from the purse, secretly delighted.

Shen Mu's expression shifted slightly and he shouted, "You took more coins than you should!

" The great shaman's face changed and he shouted angrily, "Nothing of the sort!

You slander me! " Shen Mu tugged at the purse and said, "I know exactly how much coin is in this purse.

If you took extra, I can tell just by weighing it in my hand.

I will report you to the Shaman King!

" The great shaman hurriedly grabbed for the purse. As the two of them tussled, a jade bottle in Shen Mu's hand accidentally fell into the storehouse and shattered with a crack.

"Do not tell the Shaman King—" Before the great shaman could finish his sentence, he suddenly toppled stiffly to the ground. A fragrance spread through the storehouse, and the several great shamans who had come at the noise had not even drawn near when they too thudded to the floor, one after another.

Shen Mu tossed the purse into the storehouse, where it landed on the great shaman, then cradled his waist-bag and rummaged with care until he pulled out a cauldron — the very sealed furnace he had found in the treasure vault.

"This time I put ten times the amount of Bewildering Incense into it. I refuse to believe it will not numb the whole Golden Palace into oblivion!

" He put the medicine into the furnace, and his vital qi burst forth, whirling swiftly around the cauldron, his hand techniques shifting through a thousand transformations, dazzling to the eye. Before long the Bewildering Incense in the furnace was fully refined. The vital qi in Shen Mu's palm still turned to raging fire — he had not used Black Tortoise vital qi to cool it as he had last time, but instead burned it hotter and hotter.

After a moment Shen Mu halted, opened the furnace lid, and pink smoke came rolling out, spreading in every direction.

Even though the Crimson Pearl purple fruit in his mouth could counteract the Bewildering Incense, he felt his limbs seeming to fade away. He hastily held his breath. The smoke still came rolling out of the furnace, so Shen Mu turned his vital qi into Azure Dragon vital qi and employed the art of summoning wind and rain from the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture to disperse the smoke. Swiftly the great wind carried the Bewildering Incense over the whole mountain.

At once he rushed into a golden palace hall, slung his bundle on his back, thrust his twin sabers into place, shouldered his iron hammer — the sword case he left lying where it was — and sped off toward the mountain gate. His vital qi became Black Tortoise vital qi, condensed into a mass of water vapor, and formed a ball of water in his hand. Shen Mu dropped the three remaining Crimson Pearl purple fruits into the water ball.

Racing onward, he held the ball up in one hand while the other hand's technique became a blur, his five fingers leaping through a chain of shifting finger positions that tapped the water ball, drawing out the medicinal power of the purple fruits. The three purple fruits drank in the water and quickly swelled plump, their medicinal power roused.

Shen Mu let out a breath.

Suddenly streaks of golden light rose into the air, flying outward in panic — it must be those Shaman Kings who had been guarding the Sacred Hall, seeing every disciple on the mountain "poisoned to death", thrown into terror and fleeing Loulan's Golden Palace. "Dead!

All dead!

" A resounding voice, full of terror and panic, sped away into the distance. Shen Mu pushed his speed to the utmost and raced toward the foot of the Golden Mountain Gate, where he saw Qingniu, Snowfox, and Ling Yuxiu all lying on the ground. Ling Yuxiu was wounded in many places, her body stained with blood.

At once he stuffed a Crimson Pearl purple fruit into each of their mouths, and the man, the ox, and the fox all came slowly awake.

Their legs and feet were still numb, their souls and spirit embryos alike tingling with numbness; they had no idea what had happened. "The Bewildering Incense can frighten the Shaman Kings off, but it cannot lay them low. " Shen Mu said swiftly, "In Loulan's Golden Palace there are surely a few beings who stand on a par with Libationer Bashan; once they hear the news they will certainly come.

We must leave this instant!

"