Chapter 167 — The Patriarch Departs

The young Patriarch's eyes flickered. He shook his head. "You turned yourself into a heart-demon and planted it in her dao-heart.

You must know that if she refines you, you will have made her a bridal gown.

" "Whether she refines me, or I take possession of her, the two of us will become one. " Sect Master Li's voice came through: "Good or ill, it is my choice. When I decided to marry her, I knew deep in my bones that she was my heart-demon, a heart-demon I had no choice but to remove. Only with her removed could I give myself wholly to the dao and advance another step.

I beg Master to grant me this.

" Shen Mu's heart jumped, and he looked at the young Patriarch. He had long known that a great heart-demon was hidden within Granny Zhu's body, a heart-demon of extraordinary power, one that even Ximiro of the Great Thunderclap Temple's meditation staff could not refine away.

Only now did he learn that this heart-demon was none other than the former Sect Master, Fan Xuanshu.

Granny Zhu had killed Fan Xuanshu, and Fan Xuanshu had become a heart-demon planted in Granny Zhu's dao-heart; the two of them now fought over a single body. In his own heart, of course, he wished to help Granny Zhu refine Fan Xuanshu.

But the young Patriarch clearly held the scales even, and would not think that way. Whether Granny Zhu refined Fan Xuanshu, or Fan Xuanshu played the dove and seized the magpie's nest, taking Granny Zhu's body for his own, either outcome was a good thing for him.

There was no need for him to intervene. After a moment, Granny Zhu returned to normal, still smiling as before, as though nothing had happened. Her purpose in coming to attend the ceremony of the Holy Sect Master's enthronement was, in the end, Shen Mu.

She feared the sect's people would bully her, and so, even at the cost of enduring their scornful looks, she had come to lend him her support.

As for whether the Great Unity cultivation method would be passed on, she did not care; she cared only for Shen Mu.

The young Patriarch sighed. Beauty is a curse, and that saying was made for women like Granny Zhu. She was too beautiful; even if she did no evil, others would do evil on her account.

This world could hardly bear such beauty. Fan Xuanshu was worldly; the young Patriarch was worldly; and no one else could escape worldliness either.

If she wished to survive in this world, she could only be Granny Zhu.

She could not reveal her true face, nor even her true voice.

After the enthronement ceremony, the young Patriarch summoned Shen Mu and walked shoulder to shoulder with him, pointing out the sights of Saint's Descent Mountain: here was the Terrace of Forgotten Feeling, there the Phoenix-Descending Pavilion, elsewhere the Tower Under Heaven, and further on the Fish-Watching Pool. He spoke a great deal, recounting much of the Dark Demon Sect's past.

Some of that history was very ancient; if he did not speak of it, then once he died, no one would ever know it. "Patriarch, why is our Heaven Saint Sect's leader called 'enthroned'? " Shen Mu asked.

"Is not 'enthronement' a word only emperors may use? " The young Patriarch glanced at him and shook his head. "In the days of my Heaven Saint Sect's greatest glory, it ruled six nations, and the emperors of all six were subjects of my Heaven Saint Sect.

That the Holy Sect Master uses the same word as an emperor, that is already doing the emperor great honor.

Times have changed.

Today the nation is the greatest sect of all. A sect can hardly make everyone its disciple, but a nation can make everyone within its borders its subject. " Shen Mu fell into thought. Shen Mu followed him, and the young Patriarch led him into a great hall in the mountain. In form the hall was merely ordinary, with none of the luxury and grandeur of Loulan's Golden Palace; it was built of plain blue bricks and red tiles. Inside, the furnishings were equally plain: only a single statue of a sage.

The young Patriarch lit several sticks of incense before the sage's statue, and Shen Mu bowed to it with him.

The young Patriarch said, "Many of the Holy Sect's elders and Heavenly Kings are skilled in the art of transmission and can return to Saint's Descent Mountain. That art is carved upon the walls of this hall. Study it step by step.

" Shen Mu looked at the hall's walls.

Carved there was a method of refining a treasure, the method for refining a transmission banner, along with the divine-power formations and runes used in its making. The young Patriarch said, "Every hall of our Holy Sect has different cultivation methods carved upon it, and disciples are not forbidden to study or practice them. One need not hoard a worn broom as a treasure; once a method is spread, learning it is the true skill. You must have breadth of mind, and breadth of heart.

" Shen Mu assented. He looked at Shen Mu. "What is the first thing you intend to do once you become Holy Sect Master?

" Shen Mu pondered a moment, then said, "To establish primary schools in every hall, and to found a three hundred and sixty-first hall: the Hall of Learning. Emperor Jingping's teacher reformed the laws and founded primary and great schools, adding a new profession to the world. Therefore my Holy Sect must add one more hall. The Holy Sect has three hundred and sixty halls; I wish to build three hundred and sixty primary schools, to teach the sect's disciples the way of cultivation.

" Shen Mu sighed in admiration.

A strange thought struck him suddenly: the Dark Demon Sect was not like a sect at all.

It was like a nation! If the nation of Jingping was a sect disguised as a nation, then the Dark Demon Sect was a nation disguised as a sect! The Dark Demon Sect was too much like a nation. Three hundred and sixty halls, each with its own duties, engaged in every trade; the disciples of each hall went about their own livelihoods; there were inspecting envoys to patrol the halls, guardian elders and sect-guarding Heavenly Kings as the army that fended off outside enemies, and the left and right Dharma Protectors as the Dark Demon Sect's lineage. The Dark Demon Sect's followers numbered in the millions, enough to rival a small nation.

Of course, the Dark Demon Sect's followers did not call themselves the Dark Demon Sect, but the Heaven Saint Sect.

"There is one more thing. " The young Patriarch's expression grew grave, and he instructed earnestly: "I know you like to take things apart.

I had the Libationer of Mount Ba watch over you, and still he could not. You took apart the Scholars' Residence again.

The Scholars' Residence can be taken apart, but Saint's Descent Mountain, you must never, ever take apart.

Every hall and every building on this mountain is an ancient relic, and in each are carved many wondrous methods. " Shen Mu's face reddened slightly. He mumbled, "I do not take things apart that often. " "I understand.

You had been at the Great Academy less than eight days; that is, you took it apart two or three times, and then went off beyond the frontier to take things apart there.

" The young Patriarch walked out of the hall.

Elder Dianxing was waiting outside with a pack on his back.

The young Patriarch waved to Shen Mu. "I am leaving. Sect Master, there is no need to see me off. This parting is forever; no matter how far you escort me, we must still part. " Shen Mu shook his head and insisted, "Though it is a final farewell, seeing you off is what my heart would do.

" The young Patriarch nodded and set off down the mountain.

Shen Mu followed close at his side, step for step. He had spent comparatively little time with the young Patriarch, unlike the other elders of the village, who had watched him grow up.

Though their time together had been brief, he had seen in him qualities unlike those of the elders of Hidden Remnant Village. Shen Mu had learned much. In Hidden Remnant Village he had always been a child, in the eyes of the village head and Granny Zhu a child who never grew up.