Chapter 819 — The Star River Ghost Ship

"The Dragon Lord of the Star River?"

A faint stir passed through Lord Huanlong's heart, and he probed, "And what treatment does the Dragon Lord of the Star River receive?"

Shen Mu said, "The treatment is the same as before, save that the aquatic produce of the Star River will not be yours."

Cautiously, Lord Huanlong probed further: "This so-called Star River—how wide is it, and how long? My lord, it is not that I do not trust you, but there is the precedent of the White Rift God's Hundred Year Mountain. This little dragon's humble frame is rather large; an ordinary river of three or five li cannot hold me."

Shen Mu laughed. "The Star River is, of course, vast beyond measure—not a whit smaller than the present Surging River. And it teems with fish and shrimp. Your rations need never be a worry."

Lord Huanlong was overjoyed, yet still uneasy. "If I could be the Dragon Lord of the Star River, that would of course be good. But I keep fearing you mean to trick me. The White Rift God's Hundred Year Mountain..."

Shen Mu said, displeased, "Will you do it or not?"

"I will! I will!"

Lord Huanlong decided on the instant, and laughed: "To stay here and be bullied day after day by the demigods of the Surging River—better by far to go and be the Dragon Lord of the Star River, where at least I can throw my weight about! Only, my lord, how is the pact with the Earth Lord to be erased?"

"There is no need to erase the Earth Lord's pact. You need only sign a supplementary Lesser Earth Lord's pact."

Shen Mu taught him how to make the pact, and Lord Huanlong did as he was told and concluded the Lesser Earth Lord's pact. Then Shen Mu paid him no further mind, and set the Human Emperor Qikang and the Human Emperor Yishan to sensing the power of the Star River and reshaping the seventh Divine Treasury.

Lord Huanlong's great head stood upright above the Surging River. He waited a while, and saw only Shen Mu hurrying to and fro, never telling him where the Star River lay. At last his patience gave out, and he laughed, "My lord, where is the Star River?"

Still Shen Mu ignored him. The dragon qilin, being kind at heart after all, said, "Lord Dragon, the Surging River is the Star River. You are at this very moment within the Star River."

Lord Huanlong was dumbstruck, and still did not understand.

The dragon qilin shook his head and sighed. "You—you are, after all, the founder of the Huanlong Classic, a master hand at raising dragons; but toward people you are as pure as a blank sheet of paper. The Surging River is the Star River; the Star River is the Surging River unsealed. When the Sect Master saw the Surging River turn into the Star River, he felt it a loss to have enfeoffed you as Dragon Emperor of the Surging River. All the aquatic produce of the Star River belongs to you; the river holds countless treasures, dragon palaces and dragon mansions of every kind, demigods of the water beyond counting, and the treasures that dynasty after dynasty have sunk into its waters. The Sect Master has been aching over it for more than a year now; only the Earth Lord's pact kept him from taking it back."

Lord Huanlong was dazed, his mind a blank.

Beside him the water qilin too wore a face full of sympathy, and said to this dragon lord, "How crafty... how wise and mighty is Brother Pi's master? The reason he did not cancel the Earth Lord's pact with you is that the Surging River is the Star River, and there was no need to cancel it. As for the supplementary Lesser Earth Lord's pact, that is what he will use to take back the treasures of the Star River. Heh heh, that Lesser Earth Lord, now, he is what you would call ferocious..."

Lord Huanlong still wore a face of blankness.

Shen Mu, meanwhile, was busy checking the progress of the two Human Emperors, seeing whether they could sense the power of the Star River. This point was of the utmost importance.

Human Emperors are all outstanding men, mighty ones who had each led the age for several hundred years. If they could not sense the power of the Star River, then other divine arts practitioners would certainly find it even harder.

Fortunately, the Human Emperor Qikang and the Human Emperor Yishan soon sensed the power of the Star River, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

"If the Patriarch and the Grand Patriarch can sense the power of the Star River, it is only a matter of time before they open up the Star River Divine Treasury. But for other divine arts practitioners to cultivate to their stage is still rather difficult. Those who can open the Star River Divine Treasury should be few in number."

Shen Mu reckoned that, judging by Jingping's present standard of education, those divine arts practitioners with a sufficiently solid foundation and sufficiently high aptitude and comprehension ought to number some tens of thousands.

Tens of thousands is already a great many; yet set against the whole population of Jingping, it is still far too few.

For the Star River Divine Treasury to wholly replace the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury would, he feared, take hundreds or even thousands of years!

That would require the descendants of the mighty ones who opened the Star River Divine Treasury to multiply, and require yet more divine arts practitioners in the future to open the Star River Divine Treasury.

Moreover, Jingping's cultivation methods would all need reform and improvement. The old methods were every one of them cultivated in accordance with the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury; the path to be walked hereafter must be cultivated instead through the Star River Divine Treasury.

"Revising the methods is an enterprise of inconceivable magnitude."

Shen Mu sighed inwardly. Jingping's methods are simply too many, and revising them demands men of surpassing talent and wisdom.

The Star River Divine Treasury links the Heavenly Palace cultivation system with the Divine Treasury cultivation system, joining them into one whole. Divine arts practitioners know little of the Heavenly Palace, whereas the gods have experience cultivating within the Heavenly Palace; therefore the revision of the methods also requires the gods' help.

"In the years, the decades, the centuries to come, great masters who shake the ages will surely be born one after another."

The sky was growing late. Shen Mu's gaze flickered in the darkness as he watched the surging river. His eyes seemed somewhat profound: "Only, how many years can Jingping hold out? Time waits for no man..."

Suddenly a light shone up from beneath the water, brighter and brighter, making the riverbed as bright as day.

Lord Huanlong, like a bird startled by the bow, flew up at once, transforming into a divine being with a dragon's head and a man's body, hovering over the river surface and staring in panic at the light below.

Shen Mu summoned him and asked, "What is that thing in the river?"

"A ghost ship!"

Lord Huanlong's scales bristled, every dragon scale keen-edged, and he spat froth as he said, "It is a ghost ship! Those ships have appeared again!"

Shen Mu was taken aback. "A ghost ship?"

The crowd flew swiftly to the riverbank and looked down. Beneath the river surface an ancient and enormous warship was slowly rising from the depths, wrapped all around in thick black vapor like so many chains.

This ship was of tremendous size, comparable to such behemoths as the Dawn Boat and the Soul Boat. It moved slowly through the water, and what gave off light were the lanterns, one after another, upon the ship.

The whole ancient warship was steeped in water, yet the lanterns had not gone out—a thing to make men click their tongues in wonder.

The ship passed by a dragon palace at the bottom of the river and lit that palace too. Through the dimness the crowd could make out that within that dragon palace several demigods had actually swum out from the halls and raised their heads to look at this strange ship.