Chapter 889 — A Beauty Among the Flowers, Fair as Jade

" The neck behind Her Highness the Empress's face coiled about Shen Mu's body; her cheek touched his cheek, rubbing gently back and forth, and she said with a giggle, "Sister Empress always makes me watch the house, always makes me stand guard here until I'm bored to death.

I waited so long, and at last a handsome young brother has come. " She put out her tongue, and that tongue was no young girl's little fragrant tongue but a forked tongue, long and soft and nimble, and licking Shen Mu's cheek she laughed, "Has young brother come on our sister's orders?

" Shen Mu betrayed nothing.

"I have indeed come on the decree of Her Highness the Empress. " The face suddenly pressed itself to Shen Mu's chest to listen to his heartbeat, and chuckled, "Your heartbeat's rhythm has not changed, nor has the pressure of your blood flow. If you are lying, then you must be an expert liar.

" Shen Mu laughed. "Sister, how would I dare lie?

" The beautiful serpent burst out laughing.

"Sweet of mouth. The password.

" Shen Mu's heart sank, and the corner of his eye twitched; the beautiful serpent's expression changed drastically, and with a swish she cinched tight around him, raising her head high and laughing, "So you truly are an expert liar!

You nearly fooled me!

Hee hee, I have been longing to eat you this while, and now at last I can break my fast on meat! " Her mouth split apart, wider and wider. Just then Yan'er's clear, ringing voice came over, carrying boundless delight: "What a cute.

. .

big bug!

" The azure sparrow flew over on beating wings, her body grown immeasurably vast, and seized the beautiful serpent's neck in her beak, tearing at it with all her strength.

Shen Mu, half strangled, hastily turned his body into a shadow to slip free of the bonds, clung to the ground, and fled at flying speed.

The beautiful serpent, caught by the neck in the azure sparrow's beak, let out a shrill and piteous cry: "Little bird, I am no bug! " Yan'er clenched down on her neck and kept retreating, and one step back carried her more than ten li; the beautiful serpent was stretched longer and longer as more and more of her body was drawn out of the flower wall.

Shen Mu had scarce freed himself from the shadow state when he saw the azure sparrow stride over above his head, the beautiful serpent stretched taut as a bowstring.

"Sister Yan'er, that is no bug, it is an ancient god!

" Shen Mu hastily called out, "An ancient god of Guixu!

" "It's a bug!

" The azure sparrow revealed her true form, manifesting her dragon tail and becoming the full dragon-sparrow shape; her bird claws too became thick dragon talons, and she strained backward with all her strength, meaning to drag this "big bug" wholly out of the flower wall and devour it, crying, "It's a big bug! A bug has grown inside this flower! " Shen Mu and Dragon Qilin shuddered with dread: the beautiful serpent had already been stretched several hundred li long and still was not fully drawn free.

"Then it is an ancient-god bug!

" Shen Mu said in a fury of exasperation.

Suddenly, within this world inside a flower, the soft stamens swayed and writhed, and atop the stamens one face after another of Her Highness the Empress emerged, crying prettily, "It hurts—" "Little bird, you're hurting me! " One after another the stamens, their height beyond reckoning in li, twisted their bodies like snakes, darting to and fro, and pounced at the dragon-sparrow swift as lightning!

Yan'er was instantly elated: "This bug has grown so many heads!

And it's bigger than I imagined, enough to eat for a long while!

" She beat her wings and rose, now huge, now tiny, dodging the stamens' attacks; at one moment she swept both wings down and cut the stamens until they bled, at the next she opened her beak and spewed the Vermilion Bird's sacred fire, burning the stamens until they gave off pitiful, delicate little cries, and at the next she roused the heavenly thunder and bombarded them this way and that.

Shen Mu, with Dragon Qilin, flew swiftly toward the meeting point of the two worlds, heading straight for those two palaces, one red and one black, keeping clear of the aftermath of the two titans' divine powers. Yet in the heavens above, Yan'er and that many-headed beautiful serpent fought ever more fiercely, and the power of their arts grew ever stronger, forcing him to dodge without cease. "Will anything happen to Sister Yan'er?

" He glanced back in the midst of his haste, and saw that the dragon-sparrow Yan'er had become was displaying abilities beyond the domain of the South Emperor's and the East Emperor's thunder and fire; her arts had turned strange. Each time her body moved, a whole series of mirror images appeared, thirteen in all, and the mirror images possessed the strength of her true body, attacking those beautiful serpents without the slightest disadvantage!

Thirteen Mirrors Layered.

"Could the Moon Heavenly Venerable have passed her own skills on to her?

" Shen Mu was dumbstruck for a moment, then suddenly felt a flicker of anticipation: if he could learn the Moon Heavenly Venerable's crowning art from Yan'er, that would be a stroke of great fortune! Yan'er's battle with that ancient god of Guixu grew fiercer and fiercer, forcing him and Dragon Qilin ever farther off to avoid the aftermath of their divine powers.

At last they reached the meeting point of the two worlds. Shen Mu walked up to the red palace, and Dragon Qilin poked his head in to peer around, saying, "Could there be enemies in here too?

" "Crow's mouth!

" Shen Mu flew into a rage, kicked him flying into the palace, and Dragon Qilin let out a miserable scream; he screamed for a good long while, and his voice was still perfectly loud.

Shen Mu's mind eased, and he walked into the palace, saying with a smile, "Dragon Fatty, stop howling, there's no enemy—" He suddenly froze.

Dragon Qilin had been kicked onto a crystal coffin, his four claws hooked over its four corners, lying there not daring to stir.

What Dragon Qilin feared most in the world was anything uncanny; Shen Mu had kicked him onto a coffin and scared him witless, and he stared at the corpse in the crystal coffin and screamed without pause.

Shen Mu shook his head and stepped forward, saying, "You've followed me so long, and still you can't take the strange as ordinary?

I—" He saw the face within the crystal coffin, and his mouth fell open, his eyes went wide, and he could say no more.

Lying in the crystal coffin was another Her Highness the Empress, only a little different from Her Highness the Empress aboard the ghost ship: this Empress in the coffin bore a small black mole between her brows, whereas Her Highness the Empress on the ghost ship bore a red one!