Chapter 714 — The Full Moon Hangs in the Sky

The further Shen Mu walked, the more everyday primal soldiers he saw. Near the Yongjiang Academy, scholars were testing flying carts that could carry passengers through the air; their furnaces were small, consuming far less elixir stone than a tower ship, and they were plainly meant for short flights. He also saw scholars building Ice Dragon Boxes and peddling them to the wealthy households nearby. The Ice Dragon Box was perfectly square, like a great cauldron, but it had a lid, and four bronze dragons crouched at its four corners; once elixir stones were supplied, the azure dragons breathed out, exhaling icy vapor.

Set in a house during the summer, it cooled the air, and food could be stored inside the Ice Dragon Box without spoiling easily. Note 1. By the river were mines, where countless automatons dug ore while scholars stood by, supervising and keeping records. He also saw many scholars designing floating cities, building miniature cities out in the wilderness with the intention of making them drift in the sky.

"Has Jingping's formation art advanced this far? " He went up to examine the formations.

Some of those scholars came from the Tiansheng Academy and knew him as their Grand Libationer; in a fluster they brought out their formation diagrams for his inspection. Shen Mu could not help being astonished.

The diagrams for the floating cities used a formation structure akin to those of Little Jade Capital in the heavens and the Tiansheng Sect's Mount Shenglin, the kind that borrows the methods of heaven and earth. Such a structure already surpassed his own attainments in formation art.

"If I did not devise it, then who did?

" Shen Mu was dumbstruck. "Could Blind Grandpa have run off to Mount Shenglin and Little Jade Capital and tinkered out the formations there? " Jingping's divine arts changed with each passing day, and it truly startled him.

From the time he left Jingping in search of Yan Jingjing, to his meeting with the Woodcutter Sage and the Old Angler, to the affair of the Tianyin Realm, and then his return to Jingping, barely four months had passed in all, and Jingping's divine arts and methods had advanced to such a degree. Truly remarkable! But perhaps a little too remarkable! "There must be more at work here than Grandpa Silent Craftsman and Blind Grandpa.

I fear Teacher Woodcutter is pushing it too.

His learning is the most motley of all; from what the Old Angler said, the reforms of the Kaihuang era were set in motion by Teacher Woodcutter. " Shen Mu mused.

If the Woodcutter and the people of Yincan Village were driving Jingping's divine arts forward, then Jingping would indeed grow strong in a short time, and the common folk's food, clothing, shelter, and travel would all improve greatly. It would also free those with divine powers to cultivate and to study deeper arts and methods. Yet the crux of it all was still elixir stone. These everyday primal soldiers demanded far more elixir stone. Spirit stones could be dug from the mines, but cultivating medicinal herbs was rather more difficult.

He came to the front of the Yongjiang Academy and could not help but stare blankly.

Before him lay a vast expanse of fine farmland, all of it planted with medicinal herbs, and a great many scholars of the Yongjiang and Tiansheng Academies were in the herb fields, wielding creation divine arts. The art they used was the Earth-Origin Art of Creation, yet it differed from the old Earth-Origin Art of Creation, seeming to be mixed with many creation arts of the Chiming era. Shen Mu halted the dragon qilin and stood at the edge of the herb fields to watch. The academy scholars used the Earth-Origin Art of Creation to help the herbs grow and to nurture their medicinal properties, so that herbs which needed years or decades to mature could be harvested in a mere few hours.

"These herbs are growing splendidly. In a little while they can be harvested. . .

Shen'er!

" Shen Mu heard Master Dan's voice and hurried to look. Master Dan was inspecting the herb fields, and Deaf Old Man was there too, with the High Minister Su Yunzhi in attendance.

Su Yunzhi was a first-rank minister of Jingping; she had long since opened her divine bridge and cultivated into a deity, and her strength was considerable. When Shen Mu had met her in the capital she was still an old woman; now she had grown in reverse, becoming a beautiful woman of about thirty, every gesture and movement radiant with grace. Deaf Old Man had grown ears; Master Dan still wore his bronze mask, just as ever.

Shen Mu saw many Tiansheng Academy scholars here; they must have been brought by these two, their purpose being to instruct the Yongjiang Academy in the arts of creation. Shen Mu stepped forward and said with a smile, "Grandpa Dan, how goes your creation art? Why do you still wear the mask?

" Master Dan touched the mask on his face and shook his head. "I am old already. I had rather not show my true face. Lest.

. .

ah. " He sighed. Deaf Old Man sneered. "So being handsome makes one remarkable?

How vulgar. " Master Dan laughed. "It does make one remarkable.

" Deaf Old Man pretended not to hear. The two of them loved to bicker; Shen Mu was long accustomed to it and paid it no mind.

Deaf Old Man looked at Shen Mu and asked, puzzled, "Why have you come to the Yongjiang Academy instead of the Tiansheng Academy? " Shen Mu's eyes flickered, and he smiled.

"I was passing by, so I came to see Lord Dragon-Keeper, and to pay a visit to Grand Libationer Su. " Su Yunzhi smiled with pursed lips.

"Grand Libationer Shen jests. You so rarely come to my Yongjiang Academy, while I am forever running to the Tiansheng Academy to find you, hoping to consult you on some difficult question of teaching, only I never find you.

" Shen Mu gave a hollow laugh and stared at a flower without speaking.

Seeing his expression, Master Dan and Deaf Old Man understood at once.

Master Dan smiled.

"High Minister Su, I am somewhat tired; I shall go back and rest first.

In another hour you need only have the scholars harvest the herbs. Remember to keep some seeds. " Su Yunzhi assented.

Master Dan and Deaf Old Man turned and walked toward the Tiansheng Academy. Shen Mu quickly followed.

Deaf Old Man said, "One look at your face and I know no good has come of your visit. Out with it. What is it? " "I suspect Lou Yunqu is about to use the Book of Life and Death against this place, to wipe out every living soul in Lizhou Prefecture," Shen Mu said.

"What?

" Master Dan and Deaf Old Man cried out together. Shen Mu said hurriedly, "Grandpas, lower your voices. Do not beat the grass and startle the snake. " Master Dan trembled and quickened his steps.

"Let us hurry back and pack our belongings and leave this place, and go back to Bazhou at once.

No, back to Yincan Village! Bazhou is not safe either! " Shen Mu hurriedly caught his hand.

Master Dan struggled hard but could not break free; he was at the Life-and-Death realm now, but his cultivation was slow, and his flesh was far inferior to Shen Mu's. "Grandpa Dan, you may as well stay here.

" Shen Mu smiled.

"So long as Lou Yunqu does not come to kill with his own hands, and it is only the Book of Life and Death, I can still catch it. " "Catch it how?

" "When you die, I will bring you back to life. " Shen Mu smiled. "Rest easy.

So long as the flesh does not rot, summoning your souls back will not be much trouble. " Master Dan hesitated and looked at Deaf Old Man. Deaf Old Man said, "What use is summoning our souls back?

Can we beat Lou Yunqu and the others?

" "No. " Shen Mu shook his head.

"Before Taihuang Heaven fell, Lou Yunqu and his two companions once met the First Ancestor Human Emperor, and the four of them went to the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge.