Chapter 917 — Truth and Falsehood Reversed

Yan Shaoqing looked about him, and his heart went cold. Not far off, a jailer was hauling away the precious blood of gods and demons and setting down a great new wooden basin in its place.

In the blood river beside it, monsters were breeding out of the filth, crawling forth, stealing up onto a prisoner's body to drink his blood. Yan Shaoqing drew back his gaze.

Shen Mu was right there beside him, talking with Imperial Teacher Jingping and Emperor Yanfeng, all smiles, as though nothing had ever happened. The Dragon Qilin lay crouched at Shen Mu's feet, snoring in its sleep, and on its head stood a round, plump blue sparrow, idly preening its feathers.

Yan Shaoqing narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Heavenly Venerable, the visiting hour is over. It is time the Heavenly Venerable took his leave!

" Shen Mu said, "Your Majesty, Junior Brother, rest easy here. The day will come when you leave this place.

I will go on ahead. " "Take care of yourselves!

" Emperor Yanfeng and Imperial Teacher Jingping bade him farewell.

Shen Mu returned the courtesy, and Yan Shaoqing followed behind him the whole way, guarding him with the utmost vigilance lest he try some trick again. At the prison gate, Yan Shaoqing once more inspected the rune lock on the wooden door, more meticulously than before; he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Without pausing to see Shen Mu out of the city, he at once flew to the Judge's Hall and leafed through the official ledgers. The writing was all still there, and only then did he breathe easy and go to escort Shen Mu from the city.

Outside the walls, Shen Mu turned and smiled, "Zuo Shaobi, stay your steps. There is no need to see me further.

" Yan Shaoqing bowed and said, "I respectfully see the Heavenly Venerable off.

.

. " He froze.

The words he had just spoken were exactly the words he had spoken the last time Shen Mu had toyed with him by means of his spirit-consciousness divine art!

Cold sweat sprang out on Yan Shaoqing's brow. His divine art burst forth, and he cried out sharply, "Break!

" The world drained of color once more and turned black and white; the black and white faded, and the true world appeared. Yan Shaoqing opened his eyes and took stock of his surroundings, his forehead slick with cold sweat.

He was still standing in the great prison. Not far off, a jailer was changing the wooden basin that caught the blood; monsters were being born in the blood river, stealing onto the prisoners in their cages to drink their blood.

The Dragon Qilin still slept soundly, Yan'er still preened its feathers, and Shen Mu was still talking with Imperial Teacher Jingping and Emperor Yanfeng. Beads of sweat the size of beans stood on Yan Shaoqing's forehead.

His voice hoarse, he said, "Jiang Baigui! Is there a flaw hidden in the Three Primes Undying Spirit Consciousness you passed on to me? " In his cage, Imperial Teacher Jingping turned his head. His gaze was dull, his eyes hollow and empty, like a walking corpse; his mouth opened and closed like a puppet's: "The Heavenly Court's divine arts are too antiquated. The flaw lies not only in the Three Primes Undying Spirit Consciousness, but in Zuo Shaobi himself.

Zuo Shaobi, you were born too early; the dao methods and divine arts you once learned are all wrong by the standards of today. The spirit treasuries, for instance. " In the other cage, Emperor Yanfeng turned his head, likewise dull-eyed and hollow, his mouth opening and closing: "The spirit treasuries you cultivated in the past were the Spirit Embryo, the Five Luminaries, the Six Harmonies, the Seven Stars, the Heaven-Man, Life-and-Death, and the Spirit Bridge. But the spirit treasuries of the Jingping Reform are vastly different. You have already cultivated to the Lingxiao realm; your realm is fixed. You cannot alter your foundational spirit treasuries, and being of so high a realm, you have no need to alter them. Yet this is precisely what leaves a flaw in your cultivation method.

" Imperial Teacher Jingping said woodenly, "It is the same with the Crimson Emperor's Three Primes Undying Spirit Consciousness. That method too is cultivated through the Spirit Bridge, and judged by the Jingping methods of today it holds an enormous flaw. " Emperor Yanfeng showed a trace of a simple, artless smile: "Imperial Teacher Jingping tampered with nothing when he taught you the Three Primes Undying Spirit Consciousness.

But the undying spirit consciousness he taught you is the Crimson Emperor's undying spirit consciousness, not the undying spirit consciousness of the Heavenly River spirit treasury. " "If the foundation is not firm, the earth shakes and the mountains totter! " "It is from the flaw in your cultivation method that I made my entry! " "If the method has a flaw, then the divine arts are riddled with flaws everywhere!

" "If you wish to break my divine art, you may: abolish the Spirit Bridge spirit treasury, open the Heavenly River spirit treasury, and cultivate all over again!

" .

.

. In the two cages, Imperial Teacher Jingping and Emperor Yanfeng, one taking up where the other left off, laid the whole matter out plainly.

Yan Shaoqing's spirit consciousness erupted, and he cried out sharply, "Make me destroy my own cultivation?

I am a being of the Lingxiao realm, half a step from the Emperor's Throne.

My cultivation and dharma power surpass yours by I know not how many times over; with cultivation alone I can crush every divine art you possess! However exquisite your divine art, it cannot trap me! " "Break—" Boom! A violent tremor came, and the world drained of color once more.

Yan Shaoqing was drenched in sweat, as though he had been fished out of water.

He was still standing before the cages; Imperial Teacher Jingping and Emperor Yanfeng were still within them; the Dragon Qilin slept; Shen Mu was talking with Emperor Yanfeng and Imperial Teacher Jingping.

It was as though time had flowed back to that very moment, and nothing had changed at all.

"Break! " Again and again Yan Shaoqing spurred his spirit-consciousness divine art, crying out sharply, "Let us see whose divine art is faster, yours or mine! " He drove his divine art madly. The world drained of color again and again; before a new world could take shape it was struck once more.

For a time space fell into chaos, and the paling world was hung with more and more cracks.

At last, in the span of a single instant, Yan Shaoqing spurred his divine art a thousand times over, exceeding the limits of that world, and the whole world shattered into fragments! Panting heavily, Yan Shaoqing looked around.

Shen Mu stood before the cages, his face aghast, staring at him in alarm; and in the great prison, who knew how many monsters and jailers had been struck senseless by the impact of Yan Shaoqing's spirit-consciousness divine art. The Dragon Qilin at Shen Mu's feet had been struck by the spirit consciousness as well and lay unconscious; only that plump blue sparrow remained awake. Yan Shaoqing reached out and seized Shen Mu, fury rising to the heavens, and shouted, "You are a Heavenly Venerable, so I will not kill you.

Leave at once! " His primal breath swept up the Dragon Qilin, and he rushed out; the blue sparrow flapped along after him, crying, "Put the young master down, or I shall get rough with you!

" Yan Shaoqing turned a deaf ear.

He escorted Shen Mu out of the great prison and out of White Bone Divine City; only then did he set Shen Mu down and say coldly, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, let us part here, and never meet again! " Shen Mu laughed, "You really cannot take even the smallest joke. You kept Heavenly King Tian Shu confined in the Imperial Gate Divine Saber for millions of years, and I was trapped inside it for several years as well.

Did you ever see me grow angry? " His face dark, Yan Shaoqing turned back to the great prison.