Chapter 892 — Seeking Aid by the Map

This middle-aged man was none other than Wei Suifeng. Hearing this, he laughed heartily, his spirit soaring, and said, "I have found it in the main. Yet I cannot achieve it in the Longhan Era; I must return to my own era to do so. The Sage Master said that the Three Establishments make a sage, and I lack only the establishment of merit."

Shen Mu could not help saying, "Senior Brother, the Three Establishments making a sage was merely a jest of our teacher's; it cannot be taken seriously. Though I do not know what you intend to do, our teacher told me that you have already gone astray. If you keep on exploring, it will truly be perilous. In my era, I have never even laid eyes on you!"

Wei Suifeng was briefly taken aback, then smiled. "The Sage Master's words cannot be wrong. All my life has been for the Three Establishments to become a sage. The sage I mean to become is one even our teacher could not become in his whole life. He aided Kaihuang, and yet never built the achievements he desired; his heart of the Way was never perfect. Junior Brother, I mean to become a sage who surpasses our teacher, and to thoroughly resolve the wretched fate of the people of the world! There is no need to dissuade me—my mind is made up."

Shen Mu said no more.

Wei Suifeng smiled. "You once said you followed the geographical map I left you and found your way here. Had I not left you the map, would you not have been unable to find this place? For me, giving you the map is a matter of the future; for you, it is a matter of the past. So then, if I do not give you the map in my future, can the future be changed?"

Shen Mu was silent for a moment, then said, "Senior Brother, I have never seen you in my era. The map was shown to me by you through your own divine weapon. I do not even know whether you were alive or dead at that time."

Wei Suifeng laughed aloud. "I am certainly still alive, you may set your mind at ease! That we senior and junior brothers could meet again across twenty thousand years is truly wondrous. I have a way to let you remain in this era. How about this—let us go together to the outer world, explore the truth of history, and build achievements even our teacher never built! I now have sufficient strength, and will no longer be as cautious as before."

Shen Mu shook his head. "I need to go back. I will not stay here."

Wei Suifeng frowned again. "Why are you so stubborn?"

He suddenly smiled. "It seems I am just as stubborn. By the way, when I was on my way back, I met Ling Tianzun in the mist. She asked me to give you this."

He took out a peachwood hairpin, his gaze flickering, and said with a smile, "This hairpin is Ling Tianzun's treasure. She seems to be trapped in the Heavenly River. She gave me the hairpin and entrusted it to me to pass to you. May I borrow it for a while?"

This was exactly what Shen Mu had been waiting for. He raised his hand to seize the hairpin, but Wei Suifeng moved his palm and clutched the hairpin in his fist, saying, "Junior Brother, lend me this hairpin for a time."

Shen Mu was enraged and held out his palm. "Give it to me! Last time, Ling Tianzun stuck the hairpin into the back of Lady Yuanmu's head, leaving it for me, and you snatched it away!"

Wei Suifeng said hurriedly, "I truly need this hairpin. Junior Brother, I will return it to you in the future. I will leave it here in Guixu, rest assured—just lend it to me for a while!"

Shen Mu meant to snatch it by force, but just then the undercurrents of Guixu erupted.

Wei Suifeng shot up into the sky, flying beyond the heavens at the moment the flowers bloomed, and laughed. "Rest assured, in the future I will leave the hairpin here!"

"Wei Suifeng, you bastard!"

Wei Suifeng vanished, laughing. "When you return to your own era, go to the hall to look for the hairpin. I will leave you a geographical map!"

Shen Mu was stunned.

After a moment, the gushing undercurrents ceased.

Shen Mu came back to his senses and at once shouldered the crystal coffin on his back and walked toward the Dark Flower World.

Inside the crystal coffin, Lady Yuanmu's corpse grinned, watching expectantly as the Dark Flower World drew nearer and nearer.

Though she was a product of corpse transformation, the Dark Flower World was, after all, the place of her birth, and it held an immense attraction for her. Moreover, once she entered the Dark Flower World, she could marshal the Great Ways of that world to break Wei Suifeng's suppression and this crystal coffin.

Shen Mu stood before the Dark Flower World, set down the crystal coffin, and undid the willow leaf between his brows, calling out loudly, "Heaven Lord, keep close watch on this corpse for me—do not let my brother eat her!" With that, he stuffed the crystal coffin into the Shen-character Continent.

The corpse flew into a towering rage.

Shen Mu was unmoved. He leaped into the Dark Flower World and vanished into the darkness.

When his feet touched ground and he opened his eyes, he saw at once that he was in the Dark Flower World, while Long Qilin's voice came from the Red Flower World, scolding Yan'er: "...I told you not to eat so much, not to eat so much! And you went and ate anyway! Let us see how you explain this to the Cult Master when you get back!"

Shen Mu hurried toward the two palaces at the meeting point of the two worlds. Long Qilin caught sight of him and was both startled and delighted, calling out loudly, "Cult Master, we received the jade tablet you carved and have been waiting here all along! Sister Yan'er ate the beauty snake, and she seems to have become..."

"Shut up!" Yan'er's voice came.

Shen Mu dimly made out a round, plump green sparrow perched on Long Qilin's head. He had no time to look closely, and at once rushed into the Black Palace, searching it swiftly.

Suddenly his gaze fell upon an altar in the Black Palace.

Around the altar flew star sand, forming a river of stars.

Shen Mu said furiously, "Again!"

He calculated swiftly, worked out the flaw in the star river formation, and at once plunged into the formation, reaching out to snatch up the red cloth upon the altar. Beneath the red cloth lay a peachwood hairpin.

Beneath the hairpin was also a sheet of parchment, upon which a line of writing was inscribed.

Shen Mu breathed a sigh of relief. Without pausing to read the writing on the paper, he hastily grabbed the peachwood hairpin, thinking, "Senior Brother is as good as his word—but what was that round, plump green sparrow just now?"

Just then his gaze fell upon the parchment. The handwriting was Wei Suifeng's, and there were only four words: "Follow the map and save me!"