Chapter 940 — The Plague God Descends

In Yaochi, new maidservants had replaced the old, and these newcomers were more attentive than ever, more skilled at tending a person's needs even than Yan'er. Their faces wore smiles, their figures were soft and graceful, and they were diligent besides—any request could be satisfied. Shen Mu knew that they had seen how the maidservants before them had died, and feared for their own lives; that was why they were so careful.

Only, for now, he had no power to change the Heavenly Court. After the harrowing upheaval of the previous night, the Heavenly Court remained as peaceful and serene as before; though the disturbance had been enormous, no one in the Heavenly Court spoke of it, as though nothing had happened at all.

The Yaochi incident had caused too great a stir; to conceal it completely was impossible. The reason people did not speak of it was simply that they dared not. Still, those with clear eyes in the Heavenly Court could see its situation plainly.

The Heavenly Court seemed unbreakable, yet the Yaochi incident of the night before showed that this colossus was in truth riddled with holes, in danger of splitting apart at any moment. The coming of Heavenly Venerable Mu had merely hastened that process of division, sharpening the contradictions that had once lain hidden until they could no longer be reconciled.

Most eyes remained fixed upon the Yaochi incident; it was the first great matter Heavenly Venerable Mu had stirred up since arriving in the Heavenly Court—and the very first thing he did was split the Heavenly Court asunder!

The Yaochi incident of the previous night was the first eruption of the Heavenly Court's hidden currents. If there was a first time, there would be a second and a third; the contradictions within the Heavenly Court would grow ever sharper, until at last they could not be contained!

Yaochi quieted, and it was not until two days later that the Yun family's Grand Ancestress came to Yaochi at the head of the Yun widows, saying she had come to visit Yun Jianli. This Grand Ancestress was the beloved wife of Heavenly Venerable Yun, and in the days of Longhan she had been the Empress of the Xiaohan Heavenly Court.

Later, when Xiaohan was defeated in war—its people dying, surrendering, or fleeing—of Heavenly Venerable Yun's line only this Grand Ancestress escaped, and she was with child at the time. Because of Heavenly Venerable Yun's status, the Longhan Heavenly Court did not make things hard for her; the Heavenly Emperor brought her and her son into the Heavenly Court, established the Yun Estate, and enfeoffed her as Lady Yunxiao.

Yet then the Yun family's blood curse appeared: generation after generation, the eldest sons of the Yun family died suddenly upon reaching adulthood, leaving behind a house full of widows.

Though many of the widows remarried, no small number remained, so that the Yun Estate was filled with formidable women of forceful character, fiercely protective of their own, whom no one dared lightly provoke where the men of the Yun family were concerned. Accompanying Lady Yunxiao and the others was a historian of the Heavenly Court, who recorded the meeting.

Heavenly Venerable Mu received Lady Yunxiao in person; the two sides held cordial talks in the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, conducted friendly exchanges, and shared their views on the present age of prosperity and flourishing in the Heavenly Court. In truth, however, Lady Yunxiao came in towering fury, leading her host to demand satisfaction; from the first she wanted to seize Yun Jianli and haul him back to be locked up, and she reproached Heavenly Venerable Mu for placing Yun Jianli in danger.

Yun Jianli's wife even struck out at Shen Mu, intending to give this Heavenly Venerable Mu a sound beating as a warning to others. Such were the "cordial talks" and "friendly exchanges" recorded by the historian. The historian, deafened by the clamor of these women, was then invited away by Qi Jiuyi to drink; in truth he recorded very little.

Only when these fierce women heard that Shen Mu had completely lifted the Yun family's ancestral blood curse did their anger turn to joy, and they apologized to Shen Mu again and again. As for the two sides exchanging views on the Heavenly Court's prosperity, that consisted of Shen Mu inquiring of Lady Yunxiao about the great powers of the Heavenly Court, while the old and young widows of the Yun family all talked at once, spilling out every matter great and small of the Heavenly Court's various palaces and halls, airing all manner of stale old grievances.

The Heavenly Court's historian, plied drunk by Qi Jiuyi and Long Qilin, had no choice but to record it all in the oblique style of the Spring and Autumn Annals. Lady Yunxiao then led the Yun family's ancestresses and grand ancestresses back to the Yun Estate in a swarm, bringing Yun Jianli's son along as well; Shen Mu removed the blood curse from the little one, and joy filled the whole Yun household.

Only this time, that Creator hidden within the Heavenly Court did not appear. "Heavenly Venerable Mu, my husband has in truth always wished to see you once more. " Lady Yunxiao looked very young, but deliberately made herself appear old: a golden crown of phoenix feathers on her head, a dragon-headed staff in her hand, the hair at her temples dyed white, all to seem as aged as possible.

She threw a glance at the women; the Yun widows understood, and surrounded the historian so tightly he could not stir. The historian wished to step forward and hear just what Lady Yunxiao and Shen Mu were discussing, but the Yun Estate widows hemmed him in and he could not break free, secretly fretting all the while. Lady Yunxiao and Shen Mu walked and talked. "My husband spent his whole life waiting for Heavenly Venerable Mu to appear once more.

He often said he wished to set down a code for the Heavenly Alliance—one must not be too good to bad men, nor too bad to good men; one must be better to good men, and worse to bad men. Yet this, he said, he had failed to achieve. Nearing the end, he perceived that the Heavenly Alliance had already become too good to bad men, and too bad to good men. " Shen Mu looked down at the path, then raised his head.

"Those words are simple, but very hard to carry out.

The world is always too harsh with good men, and too tolerant of bad ones. " "He actually left something behind, entrusting me to pass it to you.

" Lady Yunxiao said, "Only at the time I was with child, and after great hardship I escaped the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, unable even to protect myself. Even had I survived, I could not have kept that thing safe.

So I gave it to the Dao Ancestor. The Dao Ancestor was a close friend of my husband's; in his keeping the thing would be safest. " "The Dao Ancestor? " Shen Mu halted.

"Sister-in-law gave that thing to the Dao Ancestor?

Then what was it that Heavenly Venerable Yun left behind? " Lady Yunxiao said, "A box. What exactly was inside it, I do not know; I never opened it to look.

" Shen Mu nodded slightly.

"Heavenly Venerable Yun's wisdom ran deep; I am far beneath him.

What he left must carry profound meaning. A pity that when I came to the Longhan Heavenly Court in those years, I came and went in haste, and could not speak with him at length. Who could have known that one parting would be forever? " Lady Yunxiao said, "Just now Jianli said he means to descend to the lower realm.

I will not permit it. The lower realm is too dangerous—sheer foolishness!

He has barely been freed of the blood curse, and now he wants to go down and seek death—would that not be the end of the Yun family line? Heavenly Venerable Mu, you are close to him; help me persuade him. " Shen Mu smiled. "Does Sister-in-law think the Heavenly Court is safer, or the lower realm? " "Naturally the Heavenly—" Lady Yunxiao paused, then understood, and smiled.