Chapter 966 — Once the Treasured Blade Is Drawn, Who Can Stand Against It?

"Yue Tingge of the Heavenly Court's Dao Sect pays his respects to Heavenly Venerable Mu!

" That Daoist in dark robes had a thoroughly foul temper. He knelt, knocked his head on the ground with a few resounding thuds, then turned and stalked huffily back to the campfire, where he went on eating meat and drinking wine, and sneered, "You are nothing but a petty master of divine arts who has usurped the title of Heavenly Venerable. What I respect is your title, not the man! " Shen Mu took no offense.

"That Daoist has a truly towering temper.

" Luo Wushuang frowned slightly, thinking, "Yue Tingge, Yue Tingge. .

. that name seems familiar, somehow.

. .

" The Daoist Yue Tingge had shed his earlier arrogance and gave himself wholly to eating and drinking, only now and then flicking a glance toward Shen Mu. Shen Mu waved a hand and dismissed the banquet; all those rare delicacies, fine dishes, beauties and fine wines dissolved with a great rustle into divine consciousness and scattered away.

He clapped his hands again, and lo, beauties came forth from the void in an endless procession, a long dragon of them, and spread out a flowing feast.

"Mahaa—" All at once a monstrous head thrust over: the very divine dragon Shen Mu had visualized, staring with feverish excitement at the flowing banquet, drooling, its tail sweeping this way and that and raising a cloud of dust. Sure enough, just as Shen Mu had predicted, this divine dragon had not perished under the might of the brand of Heavenly Venerable Fire, and had actually followed their trail and come running after them.

"Could it be that while I was visualizing the divine dragon, I unconsciously thought of Fat Dragon, so that the thing I conjured turned out just like him? " Shen Mu had quite lost his appetite thanks to this dragon.

He tossed down his chopsticks and waved a hand; the dragon was overjoyed, and straightway pounced onto the feast, wolfing down food and guzzling wine. Luo Wushuang was still watching that Daoist.

In a low voice he said, "Yue Tingge, of the Heavenly Court's Dao Sect. .

. who on earth is he?

" He thought hard, certain the name left an impression on him, yet he could never place it.

The Daoist's origins were a mystery. The Heavenly Court had clearly sent only them into Taixu this time; apart from them there were only Heavenly Venerable Fire and Heavenly Venerable Void and their party.

Where, then, had this Daoist come from? And if he had been sent by the Heavenly Court long ago, how had he survived in a place so monstrously perilous?

Just then a voice suddenly came: "Heavenly Venerable Mu is a true Heavenly Venerable indeed, so dashing and gallant, followed wherever he goes by clouds of beauties. How enviable.

" Shen Mu looked toward the voice, and there stood several True Gods who had come on the same ship.

When the tower ship sailed into the land of Taixu, more than half had died; only a hundred or so had fallen into various parts of that Taixu world. In the last city a dozen more had perished, among them Heavenly Venerable Hao's disciples Xiu Youfang and Pan Chunjin. How many now remained in Taixu, Shen Mu had no way of knowing.

Last night the Taixu monsters had erupted; plainly such horrors had not occurred in one place alone.

Elsewhere too the Taixu monsters must be running rampant, and few could have survived. Luo Wushuang rose and looked at those few.

Solemnly he said, "Gentlemen, Heavenly Venerable Mu's merits cover the world; he bestowed on all living beings the grace of the method for becoming a god. Now we stand together in peril, and none of us knows whether we shall leave here alive. We ought to be of one mind, joining our strength against the strangeness of Taixu; only so is there hope of finding Heavenly Venerable Fire and Heavenly Venerable Void. What say you? " One of them glanced at him and sneered, "Divine Blade Luo, have you latched onto Heavenly Venerable Mu's leg now?

" Blade-light leapt in Luo Wushuang's eyes, like two divine blades crossing. He gave a cold humph.

"I, Luo, am famed throughout the Heavenly Court and honored as its first divine blade. When have I ever clung to anyone's leg? " Another, a young man, laughed.

"Divine Blade Luo, Heavenly Venerable Mu's leg is no proper stout leg, it is a slender one. Take care, or you may cling to the wrong one. Our journey this time is in name to receive Heavenly Venerable Fire and Heavenly Venerable Void, but in truth it is to seize the chance to make away with Heavenly Venerable Mu. Divine Blade Luo, you are a clever man; you must have seen that long ago.

" A woman said coldly, "The Heavenly Venerables had you follow us for the very purpose of holding the line and helping us kill Heavenly Venerable Mu! Would you bite the hand that feeds you?

" Luo Wushuang was torn within; he looked at Shen Mu.

Shen Mu, beauties in his arms, surrounded by a crowd of lovelies, smiled. "Rest easy, Divine Blade Luo. I have long known your purpose on this journey, and I know you do not truly wish to kill me; you only wish to test whose is superior, your blade art or my sword art. That is your heart demon, and you must rid yourself of it.

I understand your difficulty. " Luo Wushuang let out a breath and said gravely to the three, "Gentlemen, I saved your lives. Had it not been for me, you would never have lived to come here; you would have died long ago upon the tower ship. I ask that in exchange for the debt of your lives you bury the hatchet with Heavenly Venerable Mu.

.

. " "Enough, enough. " The woman said impatiently, "Divine Blade Luo, give you a face and you think you can climb to heaven? Do not forget, your duty is to protect us!

Saving us is your duty, a matter of course!

That you failed to protect us well, so that of three hundred and more only a hundred remain, is already a monstrous sin! " "Divine Blade Luo, it is the Heavenly Court that puts food in your mouth. " The young man said, "Think it over carefully. Help us capture Heavenly Venerable Mu, and when you go back you will rise to wealth and honor.

With your present cultivation and strength, you have no business staying in the Lingxiu Army as a schoolmaster; going out, you would more than suffice as a border lord. Have you never wondered why you have never been promoted?

" Another laughed.

"Precisely because you have never clung to a leg. Here is a golden chance, so do not cling to the wrong one. " Luo Wushuang's face was as calm as deep water.

Shen Mu rose, brushed aside the beauties around him, stroked the divine dragon whose belly was now round with food, and suddenly laughed.

"Divine Blade Luo, in my view we need not contest blade and sword at all.

There is no longer any need. " Luo Wushuang, eyes on nose and nose on heart, like an old monk sunk in meditation: "Why say this, Tyrant Body Shen? " "A blade would rather break than bend. " Shen Mu flicked his sleeve; the remnant banquet vanished, the beauties were gone, all scattering away as drifting divine consciousness. Leisurely he said, "I respect the blade; I respect its weight and grandeur, its swift settling of grudges and favors.

I have seen you wait forty thousand years, unchanging, for me to appear and duel you, and I admire your tenacity and endurance.

Yet when I see you so timid and cautious, so hesitant and cowering, I cannot help but be disappointed.

" Luo Wushuang's brows and eyes opened a fraction. Lightly he said, "I am timid and cautious, hesitant and cowering? " "I am a Heavenly Venerable.

That you dare challenge me is only because you take me for young and weak.