Chapter 186 — The Youth Summons the Demon

" The officer guarding the gate of Tianbo City was a seductive-looking man in a gaudy robe, rouged and powdered, his face heavily made up and very eye-catching. He was none other than the young sect master of the Dragon Taming Sect, Long Jiaonan.

Commander Lin Ding brought Shen Mu and the others forward to pay their respects.

Long Jiaonan exchanged greetings with him, then suddenly caught sight of Shen Mu and paused slightly: "This man seems familiar. .

. " Shen Mu's heart went cold, and he bowed his head in salute. When he first entered the capital, he had traveled with Wei Yong on a tower ship from Jiangling to the capital; Long Jiaonan had ridden a giant python through the air and slaughtered everyone aboard, leaving only him and Wei Yong alive. In the confusion, Long Jiaonan might well have seen his face. "These are disciples of the Hongshan Sect.

" Commander Lin Ding introduced them: "They summoned a demon god in Lu County, so General Xiaoyi has asked them to perform the rite in Tianbo City as well and summon a demon god to fight. " Long Jiaonan could not recall where he had seen Shen Mu.

His eyes lit up and he giggled: "Summoning a demon god? Now that sounds like fun.

What ritual implements do you need?

I will prepare them for you. " Shen Mu said hastily, "Only an altar of white bone — thirty-six feet long and thirty-six feet wide, built from skeletons, with the surface paved with skulls.

The skulls must be laid with the eye sockets facing up; not a single detail may be neglected.

" "So troublesome.

" Long Jiaonan smiled seductively: "In troubled times there are plenty of bones. Wait a while; I will have the altar prepared.

If there are not enough bones, we will kill some people to make up the number. The common folk of Tianbo City are not worth much.

" Shen Mu said, "We are performing a secret rite and cannot be disturbed, so General Long. . .

" Long Jiaonan threw him a flirtatious glance, and gooseflesh rose all over Shen Mu.

Long Jiaonan laughed: "I understand. You may set your mind at ease. I will have soldiers guard the outside of the altar.

But if you cannot summon the demon god and are only toying with me, I shall have to ravage you thoroughly.

" Shen Wanyun, Yun Que, and Wolf-Slave shuddered with dread, while Yue Qinghong and Si Yunxiang took it rather lightly. Before long, Long Jiaonan had ordered his subordinates to build an altar of white bone in Tianbo City. The altar stood in the city lord's mansion; Long Jiaonan dismissed the officers and soldiers around him, stationing men on all sides with orders not to watch Shen Mu and the others perform the rite. Shen Mu looked around and saw a hundred or so soldiers guarding the outside; escape seemed all but impossible.

"What do we do?

" On the altar, everyone looked to Shen Mu. Shen Wanyun said in a low voice, "We are deep in the dragon's pool and the dragon's lair now. Uncle.

.

.

Uncle Shen, you decide! " He had finally changed his address and called Shen Mu uncle-master; though Yun Que and Yue Qinghong were surprised, they asked nothing.

Shen Mu said in a deep voice, "Naturally, we perform the rite and summon the demon god.

" Yun Que was startled and blurted out, "We have never learned the Hongshan Sect's arts — how can we summon a demon god?

" "I have learned it.

" Shen Mu carried over that demon god statue, placed it on the altar, and planted four white banners at the corners, saying, "I will summon the demon and call this demon god here.

The Hongshan Sect used thirteen people to perform this art, but I believe one person can perform it just as well — it is only a little more troublesome. " Yun Que hesitated: "If we summon a demon god and slaughter the great army of the Kingdom of Jingping, all nine branches of our clans will be exterminated. . .

" "Rest easy.

There must be some technique to summoning a demon god; it cannot simply be allowed to attack at random — otherwise even the summoner would die. " Shen Mu's eyes flickered, and he exhaled a turbid breath: "If I summon a demon god and turn it against Tianbo City, I think we can cut our way out in the chaos.

. . You keep watch on all sides and stay alert.

I will perform the rite. " The others hurriedly took up positions around the altar. Shen Mu took out the talisman treasures, read through the runes from one thousand and twenty-four planes once, committing them to memory, then studied the runes on the demon god statue, comparing them one by one.

After a long moment of thought, he began the rite. His primal qi burst forth, and threads of primal qi lifted the thirteen talisman treasures into the air around the demon god statue. Obscure and profound ancient words issued from his nose and mouth, and his primal qi began to drive the talisman treasures to change, making the runes upon them light up one by one, shining upon the demon god statue and igniting the runes branded all over its body. Shen Wanyun and the others were astonished.

The language from Shen Mu's mouth was not the language they spoke in daily life; it was somewhat similar to the tongue the Hongshan Sect used when summoning demons, but it seemed even more profound. "It is the demon tongue," Si Yunxiang said quietly.

The runes on the demon god statue lit up one after another.

To simultaneously control thirteen talisman treasures required memorizing more than a thousand runes and their positions; though Shen Mu had not yet fully mastered the Taixuan Calculation Classic, his powers of memory had advanced greatly, and he controlled them with ease. Half an hour passed, and most of the runes on the demon god statue had been lit by him. At the same time, as he chanted the demon tongue, he felt himself gradually establishing a connection through this statue with a certain being in another dark world deep in time and space. At this moment, a dozen or so Daoists arrived at Tianbo City carrying another demon god statue.

When Commander Lin Ding saw these Daoists, he hurried forward to meet them and smiled: "You gentlemen of the Hongshan Sect have come at just the right time. Your junior brothers and sisters are in the city summoning the demon — they have been at it for some time now. "