Chapter 919 — Illusory Blossom of the Western Realm

The Western Lands.

A vast walled city came rushing past before Shen Mu's eyes; he started, and hastened to call out loudly: "Is that Sister He Yiyi coming this way?"

The running city slowed its steps. On its battlements stood several deities, who poked their heads out and said: "This is the conveyance of White Emperor City, not any sister. Who are you?"

Shen Mu said: "Heaven Venerable Mu. Might I ask whether High Heaven Academy has come under the White Emperor's banner?"

A deity on the wall said: "High Heaven Academy? You mean High Heaven? That is no power of White Emperor City. There is a man there named Qi Jiuyi, a disciple of the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu. The Red Emperor conferred with the White Emperor and split the Western Lands in half between them, and the Red Emperor gave the White Emperor half of the Southern Lands as well... What was it you said you were?"

"Heaven Venerable Mu," Shen Mu said with a smile.

The deities on the tower came to their senses and looked at one another.

Shen Mu asked: "Then how does one get to High Heaven Academy?"

The deities conferred a while, and one of them said: "Heaven Venerable, look yonder. Those pale-blue heavens are High Heaven. When you come beneath High Heaven, you may meet the people there and ask them, and they will tell you the precise whereabouts of High Heaven Academy."

Shen Mu thanked them and bade the Dragon Qilin head toward the heavens of High Heaven, saying: "I once thought High Heaven a most mysterious thing, keeping watch over the doings of Huangxu and Jingping. Only now do I know that High Heaven is merely one of the myriad heavens and worlds of the Yuan Realm, and nothing to speak of."

The Dragon Qilin said: "Sect Master, in the old days you were only a petty wielder of divine power, and you thought High Heaven a monstrous, terrifying colossus. Now you are Heaven Venerable Mu, and High Heaven looks like nothing much at all."

Shen Mu laughed: "Fat Dragon grows more perceptive by the day. And so have you. You have grown too."

The several deities watched them go off into the distance, then again exchanged looks. One deity said: "Heaven Venerable Mu has come to the Western Lands of the Yuan Realm. Should we inform White Emperor City?"

"He is bound for the Red Emperor's domain. If the strongmen of our White Emperor City blocked his road, would that not offend the Red Emperor?"

An elder deity, being the more seasoned, said: "Besides, he is a Heaven Venerable. Who would dare lay a hand on him? Let him go his way."

The deities assented, and the great city once more strode out, rolling up thick smoke as it sped away.

Along the road Shen Mu met many such land-cities, flying at great speed. All of them were conveyances used by the gods and demons of the Western Lands to travel, to move armies, to put down rebellions here and there; exceedingly convenient.

"This is a spell of the True Heaven Palace, and the True Heaven Palace comes precisely from the Outland Heavenly Court."

Shen Mu said in a low voice: "The Old Mother of True Heaven is a true god of the Outland Heavenly Court; most likely she is one of the White Emperor's subordinates..."

Because of High Heaven and the True Heaven Palace, the Western Lands had not suffered the horrors of war as Jingping had; the common folk here could still make a decent living.

When Shen Mu came to the Red Emperor's territory, he found it governed rather better than the White Emperor's lands; the people of the Western Lands dwelt in peace and contentment, and seemed no different from before.

Some girls of the Western Lands saw him, and to his surprise still recognized him, and greeted him of their own accord.

"Now there is no High Heaven Academy, only the High Heaven Divine Sect, whose sect master is the former Grand Libationer of High Heaven Academy, Xu Shenghua."

Those girls told him: "As for Qi Jiuyi, he is even more remarkable still. He thinks nothing of the sect master of the High Heaven Divine Sect. These days he dwells in the Red Emperor's travel palace and is the Young Lord of the Western Lands, commanding the gods and demons of half the Western Lands. Dreadfully imposing!"

The Dragon Qilin said excitedly: "Qi Jiuyi is my sworn brother!"

"Xu Shenghua truly is clever, turning High Heaven Academy into the High Heaven Divine Sect, into a sect."

Shen Mu sighed in admiration: "A man like him: put his mind to cultivation, and he advances with fierce courage; put his mind to love, and he is the most devoted of sages; put his mind to the ways of the world, and he is smooth on every side. He is no worse than I am—"

He asked clear the whereabouts of the High Heaven Divine Sect and the Red Emperor's travel palace, took his leave of the girls, and set off for the High Heaven Divine Sect.

The High Heaven Divine Sect was the old High Heaven Academy, beside the Red Emperor's travel palace. The Red Emperor's travel palace was built in the heavens, while the High Heaven Divine Sect was built near the True Heaven Palace.

Before many days had passed, the Dragon Qilin arrived at the High Heaven Divine Sect, and promptly abandoned Shen Mu and galloped off toward the Red Emperor's travel palace in the heavens, crying: "Sect Master, I am going to visit my sworn brother!"

"Mind you do not anger Qi Jiuyi and get yourself roasted and eaten!" Shen Mu called after him.

The Dragon Qilin cried: "Don't worry. He and I swore the oath of Tubo: we do not ask to be born the same day, only to die the same day. Sister Yan'er, are you coming?"

Yan'er flew over at once, saying: "Young Master, I will go keep an eye on Fat Dragon, lest he truly be eaten!"

Shen Mu shook his head, and entered the High Heaven Divine Sect. Xu Shenghua came out to welcome him the moment word arrived, and said with a laugh: "Sect Master, it has been some years. You have grown much thinner! Is Jingping well?"

Shen Mu said: "It is a long tale. I came to see whether you and the Western Lands have pulled through. Seeing the people of the Western Lands still reasonably settled, and you unharmed, I am relieved."

"This time we owe it to Qi Jiuyi. Without that connection of his, the Western Lands would surely have met with great calamity."

Xu Shenghua said: "Though the Western Lands have the connection of High Heaven and the True Heaven Palace, if the Heavenly Court wished to destroy the Western Lands, it would not care a whit for such a connection. Qi Jiuyi is the Red Emperor's disciple, and it was his stepping forward that preserved the Western Lands."

At the words "Red Emperor Qi Xiayu," Shen Mu could not help falling silent.

When the Heavenly Court had besieged him, Qi Xiayu had been among them; the Four Emperors had struck together and driven him to a dead end, forcing him to part from his elder brother.

The pain he had endured in severing his own soul he had never spoken of to anyone, but that taste was a hundred times worse than a knife scraping bone!

Yet what hurt him most was that, having severed his soul, he was parted from his brother Shen Fengqing; they were no longer even brothers, and he was no longer a son of Qin Hanzhen and Consort Zhen.

He was nothing but a walking corpse.

In this, the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu had had a hand.

Xu Shenghua knew nothing of what he had endured, nor how heavy and terrible the ordeal he had borne.

Nor did the people of the Western Lands know what great agony Jingping had suffered. In that catastrophe, Jingping's population had fallen from billions to a few hundred million: some had died upon the road of flight, some had been seized by the heavenly gods as rations, some had been ravaged by demons and monsters, and more still had been taken away as slaves.

Not one in ten survived; such was the state of the people of Jingping.

A nation incomparably prosperous had come to the brink of extinction.