Chapter 694 — A Reckless Spree

The closer one came to the truth, the greater the peril.

This Kaihuang Divine Man had perhaps already fathomed the truth of the darkness, yet he had failed to carry the news out of it; he had died before the boundary stele of the Tianyin Realm, and only Shen Mu's arrival had woken him. Shen Mu followed him onward. The lake beneath the bridge came more and more to resemble a vast sea, with no land anywhere in sight.

Shen Mu looked down over the bridge and dimly made out great fish in the water, dark and heavy, cruising the sea, tearing at one another in mutual savagery, devouring each other in a frenzy, yet seeming never to be filled. "These sea-beasts are corpse-ghosts too.

They eat without cease, and nothing they eat can ever sate them. " At last Shen Mu saw the end of the long bridge that lay upon the waves. The bridge ended, but the sea had no limit.

Above the gray-black ocean hung an enormous, transparent hourglass, as though wrought of slender glass.

Within it was black sand. The upper bulb was even then streaming black sand downward, most of it already run through; the black sand was nearly spent, and the black sand in the lower bulb nearly full. Gazing from afar, Shen Mu made out a small cluster of palaces beside the hourglass — small only in comparison with the hourglass itself.

Yet when he reckoned the distance and measured the scale, he found that the cluster of palatial halls must be ten li or more in length and breadth; by no means small, but like an island upon the sea. This palace cluster was joined to the long bridge.

Shen Mu looked to the rear of the cluster and found that another long bridge lay upon the waves there as well, leading he knew not where. The Kaihuang Divine Man halted and pointed toward the palaces. He was sealed by the Creation Heaven-Demon Art; he could not speak, nor could he employ any cultivation. Shen Mu thought for a moment, then produced paper and brush, saying, "If there is anything you have learned, senior, you may as well write it down.

" The Kaihuang Divine Man lifted the brush, moistened it with ink, and wrote swiftly upon the paper. Shen Mu looked: the characters were vigorous and erect as old pines, forceful indeed.

"That is the outpost of the Gloom Capital's disciples in the Tianyin Realm?

" Reading the words on the paper, Shen Mu said in surprise, "How many are there?

What cultivation do they have.

. .

Gloom Capital gods?

Then this will be troublesome. . .

Are they dead men or living? Living men. . . " Shen Mu narrowed his eyes and pondered a moment, then said, "Dead or living, they are not hard to deal with.

What is hard is this: from where do they come, and how do they enter the Tianyin Realm?

Even if I kill every Gloom Capital expert in those palaces, more will come surging in. The road from the Gloom Capital into the Tianyin Realm must be severed at the root. .

. " The Kaihuang Divine Man lifted the brush and wrote on. Shen Mu started and blurted out, "Lady Tianyin? Why do you write Lady Tianyin's name?

Was she not devoured by the starving corpse-ghosts?

Wait! I understand what you mean! " He raised his head and studied the palaces beneath the hourglass from afar, murmuring, "You are right.

To settle this matter, Lady Tianyin is essential. Senior, your plan is splendid — how is it I never thought of so brilliant an idea?

Senior, you must have been a man of the very first intelligence in the Kaihuang era! " The Kaihuang Divine Man looked utterly bewildered, brush in hand, motionless, having no notion what Shen Mu was talking about. "Though Lady Tianyin was eaten," Shen Mu said excitedly, "her husk should still exist somewhere, hidden who knows where. Only, I have never done such a thing before, and I do not know whether it can be done. . .

" The Kaihuang Divine Man remained bewildered.

Plainly what he meant to write had nothing to do with what Shen Mu was saying; Shen Mu had misread him. Shen Mu patted his shoulder and laughed. "Rest easy, senior.

I have fought the Gloom Capital's disciples before; their divine powers are not poor, but neither are they invincible.

I reckon few of the Gloom Capital's disciples here are truly the Yin Son of Heaven's own. If I do not fear the Yin Son of Heaven's disciples, how much less these. Your idea is a good one — perhaps this time we shall not only uncover the truth of the darkness, but settle the lingering threat once and for all! " The Kaihuang Divine Man grew only more bewildered, brush in hand, unsure whether he ought to go on writing.

Full of confidence, Shen Mu brought out the sword pellet. It floated before his chest; abruptly he splayed his five fingers, and from the pellet eight thousand swords flew out with a clang, like so many fine needles, every needle aimed at the center of the circle, not a hair out of place.

One after another the flying swords dropped from the bridge and plunged into the sea. Shen Mu walked forward and said gravely, "Senior, ahead lies nothing but cold steel. Though you wear a god's hide, you have no cultivation to command.

Leave this matter to me. Stay here and await good news.

I am going to make a little mischief before the gods and demons of the Gloom Capital! " The Kaihuang Divine Man grew all the more bewildered — then suddenly came to himself and hastily wrote out a passage, meaning to show it to Shen Mu; but Shen Mu had already gone far.

The Kaihuang Divine Man stood there blankly, holding up the sheet of paper, at a loss.

On the paper were written the words "Lure Lady Tianyin to attack them" — plainly worlds apart from the excellent plan Shen Mu had been praising so lavishly. Shen Mu peeled back the willow leaf at his brow and advanced without haste.

Beneath the bridge, numberless flying swords raced through the water below the surface, keeping pace with him as he went. And in the third eye at his brow, Shen Fengqing's great eyes emerged once more, peering about curiously, full of wonder at this dim world.

"So much good food. . . " Shen Mu drew the God-Slaying Mystic Saber from the Taotie Pouch and pressed his hand upon the box, his gaze flickering; he had come to the main gate of the palace cluster.

Two Daoist acolytes stood chatting by the gate. One said, "This Tianyin Realm is all gloom and darkness.

You are posted here for hundreds or thousands of years before your turn comes round again — bored out of your mind.

" The other laughed.

"If you are bored, you can always go to the Land of Pleasure.

Beauties of every kind are there, yours to use as you please, and skilled besides. Where in the Gloom Capital is there such a place of delight?

And if even that bores you, you can go kill a few of these corpse-ghosts of the Tianyin Realm. There is always some way to amuse yourself.

" "Well spoken, senior brother.

The Gloom Capital has no such gay world as that.

It is only that we stay in the Tianyin Realm so long we never see a living soul.

Eh? " The two acolytes guarding the gate suddenly caught sight of Shen Mu; their eyes went wide with bewilderment.

At that very moment two flying swords shot up from the sea, one from either side, and ran each of them through the temples. Before the two acolytes could come to their senses, their primordial spirits had been cut down by a single sword-stroke.

Eight thousand flying swords rose slowly from the sea, silent and soundless, skimming the ground, circling around Shen Mu as he walked into the palace cluster.

Behind him, a primordial spirit over ten zhang tall appeared without a sound, standing at his back, drifting forward in his wake. From all about that primordial spirit, countless threads of primal qi flew out to link with the eight thousand flying swords, controlling them by the spirit alone.