Chapter 954 — This Man's Heart-Demon Tribulation

Yun Chuxiu, burning with curiosity, asked, "Has Divine Blade Luo not cultivated the Neither-Thought-Nor-Non-Thought?

" Luo Wushuang shook his head.

"So long as I am true to my blade and true to the Dao, there is nothing in my heart to fear.

Why, then, should I fear the Great Void?

" Yun Chuxiu praised him: "Divine Blade Luo's Dao-heart is indeed eternally firm — truly worthy of being the Heavenly Court's foremost divine blade.

" She turned to Shen Mu and said, "Divine Blade Luo, like you, is doomed.

" Shen Mu smiled. "I have had a bold heart since I was a child; I have never once been afraid.

" Yun Chuxiu sneered: "You two are newborn calves that do not fear the tiger — you have not the slightest idea how dreadful the Great Void really is!

" Luo Wushuang gave her a glance, then, with eyes on nose and mind on heart, said, "Little girl, you know nothing at all of my sincere Dao-heart, which fears nothing. " Yun Chuxiu was left speechless with rage.

Even Shen Mu, a man bold enough to cover the heavens, had called her a little wench — but Shen Mu was Heavenly Venerable Mu, and a rude word from him could be borne; yet this wretch Luo Wushuang actually dared to slight her and call her a little girl.

Still, she was, after all, Her Majesty the Empress and a Heavenly Venerable besides; she was hardly about to make an issue of it with him. Shen Mu's gaze flickered and came to rest on Luo Wushuang. Sensing it, Luo Wushuang gave a cold snort and said flatly, "I will not kill you here.

Once we enter the Great Void, I will take your life.

If you are afraid, go and beg that little girl to teach you the Neither-Thought-Nor-Non-Thought.

" Shen Mu smiled faintly, paid him no heed, and turned instead to look over the other young prodigies on the ship. These young people came of extraordinary origins — disciples of Heavenly Venerables and Imperial Throne powerhouses, every one of them, with extremely profound cultivation. He examined them one by one with secret astonishment.

For all that the Jingping Reforms had brought forth a steady stream of brilliant youths, the Heavenly Court's young talents were beyond counting, as numberless as carps crossing a river.

By their cultivation and bearing, each of them was a force to be reckoned with, a person of the highest ability.

And since the Heavenly Court held dominion over the myriad worlds of all the heavens, selecting the most outstanding disciples from those worlds was no difficult task. "Eh!

" Shen Mu's eyes brightened as he noticed a young woman whose features actually bore some resemblance to the true bodies of the Empress and her sister, and he could not help asking Yun Chuxiu, "Do you have another sister?

" Puzzled, Yun Chuxiu followed his gaze. Her brows suddenly arched, and she gave a cold laugh.

She too had seen the young woman, who did indeed resemble both her and Lady Yuanmu — but the girl did not look very old, a lovely maiden in her first youth, just as she herself was. Yun Chuxiu walked toward her, the cold smile on her face melting into an innocent, artless smile by the time she reached the girl's side.

The girl started at the sight of her, and the two fell to chatting and laughing, seeming quite delighted with each other. Shen Mu watched them with considerable interest.

The relationship between this girl and Yun Chuxiu roused his curiosity.

Lady Yuanmu had died at the Empress's hand. The Empress had done away with Lady Yuanmu, borrowed Lady Yuanmu's body to return to the Heavenly Court and continue in her role as Empress, and afterward transformed into Jue Wuchen to work a secret scheme against the Heavenly Thearch.

Later, Heavenly Venerable Ling assassinated her, driving a hairpin into the back of her skull — yet the Empress's primordial spirit had fled the body, won a new life, and infiltrated the Heavenly Alliance, becoming one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables. Lady Yuanmu's body had been shut up in a crystal coffin, and the crystal coffin now lay in Shen Mu's hands.

Yet that body seemed dead without lying still: after Shen Mu obtained the coffin, Lady Yuanmu had even undergone corpse-change, trying to harm him, only to be sealed and suppressed by Wei Suifeng. Could this girl, whose face so closely resembled the Empress's and Lady Yuanmu's, be Yuanmu's reincarnation? "The Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign died but never stiffened.

The Heavenly Alliance could not kill her; the Ancient God Heavenly Thearch and Heavenly Venerable Hao alike failed to cut her down completely — and the Ancient God Heavenly Thearch, likewise, was never wholly slain.

So is Lady Yuanmu truly dead? " Smiling, Shen Mu watched Yun Chuxiu and the girl approaching, and thought to himself: "This woman is very likely Lady Yuanmu. But Lady Yuanmu died in a very early age, during the middle and late Longhan era.

She cannot possibly be merely a Divine Power practitioner. Then. . .

" His smile deepened. "Could Lady Yuanmu also be in the Heavenly Alliance?

Could she too have become a Heavenly Venerable? The Ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Court are growing more and more interesting.

. . " Yun Chuxiu came before him with the girl, and said with a beaming smile, "Heavenly Venerable, let me introduce a fine little sister to you — this is Lian Huahun, a disciple of Heavenly Venerable Hao's household.

Her skills are quite remarkable!

" The girl Lian Huahun paid her respects with elegant ceremony.

Shen Mu smiled: "Dear little sister, don't stand on ceremony — rise now. 'Blossoms wither, blossoms fly, filling all the sky; red fades, fragrance severs — who pities them?

' Sister Flower Soul's name is well chosen, and her person is lovely as well. " This was heartfelt admiration. Yun Chuxiu snorted coldly.

Beautiful as Lian Huahun was, she was far inferior to a woman like Jue Wuchen, who had been created to gather all the world's beauty into one body.

Yun Chuxiu's very flesh had been formed in the image of Jue Wuchen — yet Shen Mu had never praised her, and now he praised Lian Huahun instead.

Clearly this Heavenly Venerable Mu's aesthetic taste was seriously defective!

Lian Huahun rose gracefully, her lovely eyes blinking, and said, "The Heavenly Venerable is learned and versatile — every word that leaves his mouth becomes a verse.

" Yun Chuxiu sneered: "My name, too, has a great origin. Does Heavenly Venerable Mu know it? " Shen Mu ventured, "The water beneath the moon, bright and pure; the clouds out of the peaks, light and free?

" Yun Chuxiu shook her head. "Not so. " Lian Huahun clicked her pearly teeth lightly and said with a smile: "'Clouds rise from the peaks without a mind; amid their play, fame overturns the universe. ' Sister Yun's name most likely carries this meaning — a body without a mind, casting off all restraint, sporting through the human world, its fame shaking heaven and earth.

" Yun Chuxiu clapped her hands and laughed: "Ah, it is little sister Lian who understands me!

'More I pity the flower's weak stem, that will not move with the year's cold; how the morning snow must begrudge it, how the yin wind has blown again and again!

' Lian Huahun does not mean 'who pities her' — it means that the morning snow begrudges her and the yin wind blows her flower to an early withering.

Little sister Lian Huahun is clever — unlike those stupid men, who look intelligent yet are fools at heart. " With that, she cast a glance at Shen Mu.

Shen Mu fell silent, disgruntled.

The two girls were as thick as glue and honey, calling each other 'sister' this and 'sister' that, sweet enough to cloy. Shen Mu very much looked forward to seeing these two women tear off their masks and come to blows — that would surely be far more explosive!

"These two women are laughing so merrily, the very picture of sisterly devotion — when they finally clash, it will be an absolutely magnificent show!