Chapter 857 — Strange Tales of the Southern Realm

Face black as a thundercloud, Shen Mu walked into the Daoist Academy of Learning still eating his peach. He looked back: the peach grove that spanned ten thousand li was there yet, and deep among the blossoms it still smiled in the spring wind.

The woman in the grove remained there still, hidden away from the world.

Yet Shen Mu knew the Moon Lord of Heaven would not stay in the peach grove forever; when the time was right she would surely come out again. The peach grove was a strange heaven, and that this heaven had appeared within the Yuan Realm meant the Moon Lord of Heaven was not resigned, that she harbored a mind to enter the world, that she had not wholly cut away her feelings for it.

Her teaching of Qi Xiayu was proof. Qi Xiayu was her disciple, going out in her place, walking the world in her stead, the very emblem of her intent to engage with it.

And stranger still, Qi Xiayu had been recommended to the Moon Lord of Heaven by the Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Sparrow, and was bound to her by a thousand and one threads; she might be called the Southern Emperor's disciple as well.

There was much here worth turning over in the mind. "Qi Xiayu is the disciple of both the Southern Emperor and the Moon Lord of Heaven; the two of them reared her and made her a powerhouse of the Emperor Throne.

And after several betrayals, Qi Xiayu rose from leader of the Phoenix Clan beneath the Earth Mother's banner all the way to Southern Heaven Crimson Emperor of the outer Heavenly Court. " Shen Mu gnawed the peach down to the pit, his eyes flickering, a smile of keen interest on his lips, thinking, "And the Heavenly Court has in the Archive Pavilion a rune-inscribed jade slip of the Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Sparrow — plain proof that they long ago set their hearts on replacing her. In the era of the Supreme Sovereign the Southern Emperor had already cultivated a replacement for herself: she removed the previous Crimson Emperor and raised that one into a Crimson Emperor of the new generation.

When the Heavenly Court wished to kill her, she could feign death and slip free, then let the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu inherit her power.

She loses nothing, and passes from light into shadow. " Shen Mu blinked. That Sister Vermilion Sparrow in her scarlet robes, standing at the prow of the tower ship on the Heaven River, was cunning after all — it was a little beyond what he had expected.

The blind old man had not come back to the Daoist Academy; no doubt he feared the girl Yan'er, and had fled. Shen Mu was not worried for his safety: for all his ravenous curiosity, the blind old man's Holy Pupils and Heart Holy Pupils were rare in all the world, and in the arts of formation he was second to none in Jingping. So long as he did not deliberately court death, no peril would find him. The Lord of Heaven Yu took little interest in the arts of divination, yet in these days he had learned the Daoist arts of number seven parts of eight, and the Dragon Qilin was even more accomplished; only the Water Qilin slept through every lecture. Shen Mu took his leave of Dao Master Lin Xuan. "Dao Master, you too must find a master of high attainment to shatter the Divine Bridge divine treasury and open the Heaven River divine treasury. If you cannot find such a one, then go to Yongjiang Academy and seek the First Ancestor, the Human Emperor; he has the strength for it.

" Dao Master Lin Xuan gave thanks. "Rest assured, Sect Master.

The Sect Master of Qingyun Heaven should command such strength as well.

Now that you leave the Dao Palace, where do you mean to go? " "I mean to go to Lanjiang Academy and Yujing Academy, then wander through Jiangling Academy, the Grand Academy, and other academies besides, to study the fruits of their reforms over these years. " Shen Mu glanced around and lowered his voice: "The Yuan Realm's seal is broken.

The true and false Earth Mothers have both appeared; the two powers contended and both were gravely wounded, and so have made no move until now. Yet one of these Earth Mothers is backed by the Ancient God, the Heaven Emperor, and the other is an ancient god herself; neither will stay quiet, and both are waiting for their moment.

When those two Earth Mothers stir, the Daoist Sect cannot hold, and neither can Jingping. Should the Daoist Sect be in danger, Dao Master, lead the scholars into the peach grove, and you will be safe. " Dao Master Lin Xuan felt a chill. "Sect Master, when you entered the peach grove a few days ago, did you discover anything?

" "There is a friend of mine in the peach grove. She means no harm.

" Shen Mu did not speak plainly. "In these days you should also send men to bring the common folk in from every region, and make ready early, in case the Earth Mothers stir.

Every life saved is a boundless merit. " He took his leave and departed. Dao Master Lin Xuan looked toward the peach grove and thought, "An old friend of Sect Master Shen? The Sect Master's acquaintance is truly wide. " Shen Mu left the Daoist Academy and headed for the Southern Wastes. Peach pits hung all over the Dragon Qilin's head; the Dragon Qilin felt that the girl on his head, the one at the Sect Master's side, had never once paused, forever peeling peaches to feed the Sect Master.

Shen Mu, stuffed to bursting, could not stop belching; at last he had finished off all of Yan'er's stock, and he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Now there is nothing left to feed me, is there?

" Yan'er said in a fluster, "I am quick.

I shall fly back to the peach grove and pick more. Don't wait for me! " Shen Mu hastily caught her hand and begged for mercy.

"Good sister, don't keep feeding me.

I truly cannot eat any more.

Let me refine a few spirit pills for you, and you can feed them with those. " The Dragon Qilin, the Water Qilin and the Lord of Heaven Yu all looked hopeful at once. Shen Mu refined more than a dozen furnaces of spirit pills in a single breath, sorted them into kinds, and told Yan'er which were for the Dragon Qilin, which for the Water Qilin, and which the Lord of Heaven Yu might eat.

"Don't feed them too many," he said. "They will get fat.

" Yan'er took the pills, skipping with excitement.

Where she stowed them was anyone's guess, but the moment she turned her palm over, there they were in her hand. The girl hopped about on the Dragon Qilin and the Water Qilin, feeding the three of them, bustling here and there, happy at heart, more fulfilled than she had ever been.

Watching the chit bustle, Shen Mu nursed a private headache.

"It won't be long before the three of them are fat as balls. . .

And there is not much spirit medicine left in my Taotie Pouch; I must find a city and buy some herbs. " A few days later his spirit medicine was entirely spent.

Jingping was so vast these days that he found no city along the road, and had no choice but to travel on. Yan'er, with no one to feed, could not sit still.

Shen Mu hurried to comfort her: "Another dozen days and we shall reach Lanjiang Academy; there you can buy more herbs. Sister Yan'er, bear with it a while. " Yan'er bore it five or six days, and could bear it no longer.

All at once she became a little blue sparrow, beat her wings, and flew off, crying, "I am going to forage! You go on ahead; I shall catch up soon!

" Shen Mu had no time to call her back; he saw only the little blue sparrow fly out over a vast sweep of divine mountains and vanish into the divine mists among the peaks. Shen Mu had no choice but to have the Dragon Qilin press on. Before long the sky suddenly darkened.