Chapter 885 — Attaining the Dao Amid Mortal Dust

With no chance to feed anyone, Yan'er had no choice but to look after Shen Mu instead; Shen Mu bought her some sunflower seeds and had the girl shell them one by one for him to eat.

"Young Master, will you eat a demon god?

" Yan'er caught up a demon god mighty as a mountain and tempted him.

Shen Mu shook his head.

Yan'er was much cast down; she ate that demon god, then flew out and caught herself a deity, and tempted him: "Young Master, will you eat a deity? " Shen Mu shook his head.

When Yan'er had eaten her fill she gave a great belch. They came to the Yujing Academy.

Wang Muran's Yujing Academy was a little inferior to the other academies; the most renowned holy ground of Jingping in its day had fallen behind for being too aloof, having failed to reform at the first opportunity and turn Little Yujing's accumulated depths into an attraction for scholars.

Yet it was here that Shen Mu encountered the First Ancestor Human Sovereign; and besides the First Ancestor, the Human Sovereigns of every past generation had come here too, becoming instructors of the Imperial College and teaching the scholars.

Little Yujing had from the first been a fragment of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court of old; the First Ancestor held deep feeling for this place, and in the years when his will lay sunk in despair, it was here that he had turned to stone. The Second Ancestor, the Third Ancestor, the Qikang Human Sovereign and the rest were all the most outstanding talents of the twenty thousand years since Kaihuang's fall; revived and returned to the world, they were naturally greater than ever they had been. These Human Sovereigns had each reopened the Heavenly River divine treasury, and their strength was extreme.

And they had carried on the manner they had kept as the tyrants of Fengdu, making the Yujing Academy a loud and clamorous place. The First Ancestor Human Sovereign likewise moved the texts of Yuming Palace to Little Yujing, which raised the Yujing Academy immensely.

Shen Mu brought Yu Tianzun here to study.

More than ten days passed, and he had learned all the fruits of the reforms, but Yu Tianzun had not, so he had no choice but to wait.

"Human Sovereign Shen, you are very concerned for this little fatty. " The Qikang Human Sovereign carelessly rubbed the little fatty's chubby cheeks, squashing Yu Tianzun's mouth into a flower, and said with a laugh, "Could it be you mean to raise him as the next generation's Human Sovereign?

" Shen Mu's eyes brightened; he had never thought of how to arrange Yu Tianzun's future.

He wished only not to fail the old Yin courier's hopes, to raise Yu Tianzun into an existence no less than in his former life, once more a Tianzun to shake the world.

But he could not carry Yu Tianzun with him forever; perhaps he might raise him into the next generation's Human Sovereign. "We Human Sovereigns grow stronger with each generation," the Qikang Human Sovereign said, all smiles.

"Do you think that in the future he will be able to beat you?

" Shen Mu said modestly, "The Human Sovereign Hall does indeed have that tradition, and Brother Yu is truly extraordinary, far surpassing me; only, after all, I have an Overlord Body.

. . " The Qikang Human Sovereign sneered.

"Leave the little fatty here. We old fellows will teach him together, and I guarantee you he will beat your Overlord Body till you cry for your father and mother!

" Shen Mu roared with laughter—and in truth he did leave Yu Tianzun there, instructing: "Do not teach him cultivation arts, and do not teach him how to open his divine treasury. Whoever dares teach him, I will beat till he cries for his father and mother!

" The Human Sovereigns of every past generation sneered, minded to teach this betrayer of his forebears a lesson; Shen Mu hastily called the dragon-qilin, took Yan'er up, and went off with a roar. "Young Master, where are we going?

" Yan'er asked with a smile, seeing his high spirits.

"The Eastern Sea!

" Shen Mu pointed far to the east and said in a great voice.

Yan'er asked curiously, "Has the Young Master tired of the demon gods and deities on dry land? Craving seafood?

The demon gods in the sea are a bit fishy.

" "We are going to seek out Guixu! " Shen Mu laughed long and loud.

"To seek the traces of Wei Suifeng, founding patriarch of the Heavenly Sage Cult, my eldest senior disciple brother—and see what secrets he left for me in Guixu!

" The dragon-qilin ran on joyously, racing for the Eastern Sea; once above the water, the exultant beast trampled ten thousand waves to pieces. Months later, the dragon-qilin floated belly-up on the sea's surface, and no matter how Shen Mu pounded it, it would not get up and go on.

"By the maritime chart Qu'er gave me, the place where she saw Longbo should be near here.

" Shen Mu looked east and looked west, checked the chart again, and still found nothing.

He untied the willow leaf at his brow, and his spirit-consciousness sank into the Shen Continent.

Courteously he said, "Lord Heaven, can you see me? " After a moment, Lord Heaven's avatar said, "I can!

What is it you want this time? " Shen Mu said hurriedly, "May I trouble Lord Heaven to help me find Guixu.

" Lord Heaven glared at him. Shen Mu's face did not change.

After another moment, Lord Heaven gave a cold snort. "The surface of the sea is perfectly flat.

There is no Guixu here.

" Shen Mu was stunned, and looked then to the Molten Earth Lord, who paid him no heed at all.

He had no choice but to withdraw his spirit-consciousness, and with a whoosh opened a Gate of Heaven's Mandate behind him, and waited obediently outside the gate.

After a long while, a small boat came drifting slowly up through the gate, the old Yin courier standing in its prow.

"You Tianzun, might I ask the way to Guixu? " Shen Mu asked.

The lantern in the old courier's hand nearly guttered out; silently, he shook his head.

Shen Mu pressed him: "Then the land of Longbo?

" The lantern in the old courier's hand quivered; across the gateway he raised a hand and pointed in one direction.

"Thank you.

" Shen Mu was courteous, and made to close the Gate of Heaven's Mandate.

"Wait!

" The old Yin courier thrust a hand out through the gate; the lantern whooshed its light onto Shen Mu's face, and behind the lantern the old man's expression was far from kindly: "You called me out here only to ask directions?

" Shen Mu nodded.

The hand that held the lantern trembled a little; behind the lantern the old man drew a long, long breath, and forcing down his temper, said, "Seeing as you have looked after Yu Tianzun.

.

.

where is Yu Tianzun?

Where have you dumped Yu Tianzun?

"