Chapter 826 — Beyond All Scrutiny

His gaze went dull, and for a long while he could not collect himself. Suddenly the old man reached out to draw his sword — only to remember that his divine sword had already shattered.

Shen Mu asked curiously, "What is Li Zheng doing?

" "Kill the Dragon Keeper! " Li Zheng said with killing intent reeking from him, "This matter is of grave importance, and now that the Dragon Keeper knows of it, naturally we must kill the dragon to seal his mouth! " The Dragon Keeper's face turned the color of earth.

Shen Mu laughed.

"The Dragon Keeper has rendered meritorious service — how can we kill him just because he knows a little secret of mine?

Rest easy, Li Zheng. He has already sworn the pact of the greater and lesser Earth Earls; he would not dare turn traitor.

" The Dragon Keeper nodded frantically. Li Zheng had no choice but to let it go. He said, "Are you confident you can break this uncanny divine art? " Shen Mu stretched his body and walked outward, saying, "This divine art of the Ling Heavenly Venerable has been broken before — by the Four Emperors! " Li Zheng came to a realization and followed in his footsteps.

"That is right — the Four Emperors once came to this ship. There are seals of the Four Emperors upon the deck, sealing those black coffins. This shows that the Four Emperors — Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger — came here, and they broke this divine art and left this place! " Shen Mu nodded.

"At that time, the Ling Heavenly Venerable's divine art was still imperfect, which is why it caused the unstable material state of this ship.

Every time the ghost ship traverses through time, matter is recombined. Since there is a flaw, since the Four Emperors could find it, then so can I! " They left the great hall.

The lantern flew around them, up and down, its light shining in all directions.

From the distant deck came the old dragon's mournful horn-call: "Heaven and earth may change, but the constant number thirty-six does not change!

The unchanging constant, thirty-six — what does it mean. .

.

" Shen Mu furrowed his brow slightly. "Is that old dragon the Longbo or the Dragon Keeper? Or perhaps the Ancestral Dragon King who will go mad in the future?

" An ill feeling rose in his heart. If it were the Dragon Keeper or the Ancestral Dragon King, would there not be two of them?

"There must be more clues aboard this ship!

" A thought suddenly struck him, and he hastily called the lantern to a halt, asking, "Lin Xiao, where are the other Feather Forest soldiers? Why are you the only Feather Forest soldier aboard this ship? Where did the others go? " The bird-headed, human-bodied little man sitting on the lantern's threshold said, "Has the Lord forgotten? Please follow me.

" He flapped his wings, and the lantern flew forward. Shen Mu followed quickly, his heart stirring with excitement: "I possess the Feather Forest Army's tally of command. The Feather Forest Army recognizes the tally, not the man.

If I can obtain the aid of the most powerful army of gods and men of the Longhan Heavenly Court, then I can finish off everyone else aboard this ship, and then gather the combined strength of the Feather Forest officers and soldiers to break the Ling Heavenly Venerable's divine art! " This tower ship was immense beyond measure.

Behind the tower pavilions and great halls ahead lay the drill grounds of the officers and soldiers — an exceedingly vast and level expanse, sufficient to accommodate several thousand gods and demons drilling their formations. The moment Shen Mu arrived here, he sensed something was wrong.

He could distinctly sense hundreds upon hundreds of extraordinarily powerful auras — yet he could see no one at all!

Li Zheng and the Dragon Keeper also furrowed their brows.

They too had sensed it — those were the auras of hundreds upon hundreds of gods and demons, each one terrifying beyond measure!

Yet when they looked out, they saw no gods or demons whatsoever.

"Lord, turn around," said the little man in the lantern. The three of them — Shen Mu, Li Zheng, and the Dragon Keeper — did as they were told and turned around. The little man in the lantern said, "Now turn back slowly. " The three of them did as they were told and turned back slowly.

From the corners of their eyes they glimpsed upon the drill grounds one towering god or demon after another — yet the instant their gaze touched these gods and demons, these fearsome beings immediately disintegrated, dissolving into nothingness! Shen Mu whipped his head around and, in a blur, saw hundreds upon hundreds of gods and demons standing upon the drill grounds, majestic and awe-inspiring — but the very next instant these gods and demons collapsed and vanished! Shen Mu turned his back once more, and again sensed those gods and demons, but the next moment when he turned his head, he could still only see the collapsing phantoms of those gods and demons!

"When the mist swept in that year, their fleshly bodies and primal spirits all decomposed, becoming an unobservable state. The moment one observes them, they collapse and vanish.

" The little man in the lantern's expression dimmed as he said, "No line of sight can make contact with them, nor can they be touched. I was one of the fortunate ones — I was not enveloped by the divine art within the mist.

At that time, the old Lord extinguished the sun within the lantern, and I thus escaped the calamity. " Shen Mu sat staring blankly, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. His voice hoarse, he said, "This ghost ship will traverse through time and space thirty-six times — thirty-six times to a single cycle? " The little man in the lantern nodded.

More cold sweat appeared on Shen Mu's forehead. "Then the first traversal will return to the very moment the mist erupted? " The little man in the lantern nodded again.

Shen Mu's voice trembled somewhat.

"That is to say, we too will be struck by that divine art, and become the same state as the Feather Forest officers and soldiers — become unobservable matter? " The little man in the lantern shook his head.

"The Lord survived.

Moreover, you lived aboard this ship for a very long time — until death. "