Chapter 839 — The Chief Culprit

Shen Mu thought for a moment, then said, "He ought to know. He is younger than you, but not by much. When it comes to antiquity, he ranks among the very top of the human race, second only to the Seven Heavenly Venerables.

There is surely a great deal he knows!

" The Imperial Heavenly Venerable's spirits soared. They flew into that band of azure glow, and as the green light before their eyes receded, what came into view was Qingyun Heaven. Shen Mu looked back: outside, the sun was already setting in the west, yet here the sun still blazed bright on high.

He looked upward; the sun in the sky was no true sun but one built by the Daoists of this place, and he could see many Daoists flying in and out of that solar orb. "Dao Master Lin, the various branches of your Dao lineage have attained extraordinary heights in the art of numerology!

" Shen Mu said to Lin Xuan.

Dao Master Lin Xuan was greatly pleased and laughed. "All things in heaven and earth can be described by numerology.

Our Dao lineage devotes itself exclusively to this art, so it is only natural that we have achieved something.

" His mood lightened considerably, and he looked around, nodding again and again. The terrain of Qingyun Heaven was mountainous, with rivers and peaks everywhere, but the place was not large—roughly the size of the old kingdom of Jingping, a hundred thousand li across.

And yet, small as the sparrow was, it was complete in all its parts; Shen Mu was even surprised to see a man-made moon and a man-made starry river. The stars in the moon and the river were not large—round, bulbous spheres of about a hundred zhang across, and many of them bore a single palace. Each of those stars could just barely hold one palace; a second would have made it crowded.

Some Daoists were swimming through the starry river, shifting the positions of the stars to form astral arrays, while elderly Daoists beside them showed them how to lay out the formations.

Surveying the vault of heaven as a whole, the stars, the constellations, and the array of the starry river together composed the shape of a towering deity: the twin rivers of stars formed its eyes, nebulae traced the texture of its skin, and the constellations built the structure of its body. "The Heavenly Duke?

" Shen Mu clicked his tongue in wonder and laughed. "Qingyun Heaven actually forged the form of the Heavenly Duke out of stars! Such a level of numerological skill is supremely brilliant indeed!

" Yuchen said, "Naturally.

Our Dao lineage excels at numerology, and the Heavenly Court values us for precisely that: it has us compute the Heavenly Dao and analyze the physical structure of the Heavenly Duke. The Daoists of Qingyun Heaven often go to the Mystic Capital to survey and map the Duke's bodily frame.

Many disciples of the Dao lineage serve upon the Duke's person. " A corner of Shen Mu's eye twitched violently. The Heavenly Court had the Dao lineage compute the Heavenly Dao, map the Duke's physical structure, and then, here in Qingyun Heaven, piece together a body for the Duke out of stellar arrays—what could the Heavenly Court intend? A sense of dread rose in his heart: "To replace him!

The Heavenly Duke is in peril!

Once the Duke is removed, the Heavenly Court means to fashion a new one! " "Your Jingping Dao lineage may be beneath notice, but it is, after all, a tiny offshoot of the true Dao lineage," Yuchen said to Lin Xuan.

"Since we spring from the same root, this once I will permit you to acknowledge your origin and return to the fold. " Daoist Zha raised an eyebrow, feeling most displeased.

Dao Master Lin Xuan said, "Thank you, Elder Brother Yuchen. " Yuchen looked at Shen Mu and frowned slightly.

"As for Shen the Overlord Body—you truly should not have come to my Qingyun Heaven.

The Heavenly Sage Sect is also called the Dark Demon Sect.

To subdue demons and guard the Dao is the bounden duty of the Dao lineage, and Jingping, moreover, is a target the Heavenly Court wishes to root out. " Shen Mu gazed at the firmament, his eyes coming to rest upon the Heavenly Duke, and smiled. "For public reasons and private alike, I had to come.

Had I not, the heavens would soon change. " Yuchen looked at him, sensing that his words carried profound meaning, but he did not dwell on it.

"That over there is the Dao Palace. I shall take you to pay our respects to the Grand Master of Qingyun Heaven. Whether the Grand Master will receive you, I cannot say.

" The Dao Palace stood at the very center of Qingyun Heaven, ringed by mountains, with twenty-four halls surrounding it—these twenty-four halls surely corresponded to the twenty-four divine kingdoms under Qingyun Heaven's command. Qingyun Heaven belonged to the Qingyun School, one branch of the Dao lineage, and its scale was already vast beyond imagining; since the Dao lineage must surely have other branches as well, one could well imagine how awe-inspiring the true Dao lineage was!

When the party arrived outside the Dao Palace, they all dismounted from their mounts. Yuchen bade them wait outside while he hurried up the stone steps, tier upon tier, toward the golden hall at the summit.

The steps climbed along the mountainside, and from below, no one could count how many there were. "Is this how they treat guests?

" Daoist Zha laughed in fury and pulled a steel fork from his Daoist cap, shouting, "At least we come from the Dao lineage!

Even if we are not orthodox, there is no reason to leave us out on the doorstep!

Dao Master, let us fight our way in and turn the place upside down! " Lin Xuan waved his hand. "Since we are guests, let us do as the host pleases.

We shall simply take a look around.

" The Dao Palace was immense, and many Daoists were practicing their arts. Shen Mu and the others came to a place where Daoists were drilling their techniques. A crowd of disciples stood before a bronze wall more than ten zhang tall and more than a zhang thick. An old Daoist said in a slow, measured tone, "All things in this world are made up of countless particles; so it is with the human body, and so it is with bronze walls and iron bulwarks. Once you see through this principle, you can alter the structure of your own flesh, making the vibration frequency of your bodily particles equal to that of the bronze wall, and then you can pass through the wall. Master the art of passing through walls, and no forbidden technique or sealing formation under heaven will be able to stop you. Watch me. " He walked up to the bronze wall, stepped slowly into it, passed out the other side, then came back through.

"Now you may try. " The young disciples were delighted and tried one after another; some dashed themselves against the wall until their heads bled, but others passed straight through.

The old Daoist narrowed his aged eyes, watching the disciples practice and from time to time pointing out an error. Dragon Qilin watched the scene, full of curiosity, and could not help saying, "Elder, you are one disciple short!

There were seventeen just now, and now there are only sixteen!

" The old Daoist counted and was thrown into a panic. He hastily slapped the bronze wall, and a disciple whose cultivation was not yet up to par, stuck fast in the middle of the wall, was knocked out by that palm—he gasped for breath, having nearly died.

The old Daoist looked at Dragon Qilin and praised him: "You have a natural aptitude for the Dao. Would you be willing to enter our Qingyun School and cultivate under me? " Dragon Qilin shook his head.

"The Dao lineage's art of passing through walls is somewhat similar to the Heavenly Sage Sect's Shadow Demonization Art, and somewhat similar to Grandpa Lame's Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Swapping Hand," Shen Mu said after watching for a while, speaking to the Imperial Heavenly Venerable. "There is only a slight difference in the application of principle.

Once the underlying law is clear, learning it is not hard.