Chapter 1001 — The Twentieth Sword

Kai Huang leaned back against his seat, held out a palm with the five fingers splayed, and said with a smile, "This is the number I mean to give you! " Shen Mu burst out laughing, crossed one leg over the other, draped an arm along the back of the chair behind God King Shujun's head, and said unhurriedly, "Copying me again.

Why not make it ten, Shen Tianzun? " God King Shujun was thoroughly uncomfortable, but since nothing remained of him save a great head, he could hardly brush the hand away. "Put that leg down!

" Qin Hanzhen had finally reached her limit.

The veins stood out on her brow as she hissed, "Your leg hair is showing!

What sort of decorum is this? You are not even wearing anything underneath!

" Shen Mu hastily lowered his leg and sat up straight, hands folded.

God King Langwan gave a low laugh and helped him draw up his red robe to cover the leg.

On either side, the armies of Wuyou Township and of the Creators bristled with murderous intent, poised to begin the slaughter at any moment, yet up here on this platform the air was no longer so frantic. Shen Mu said with a smile, "For my father's sake, I will spare your dignity and not beat you today.

In a few days I will go home and look around; you have my brother forge the Nether Capital of the Other Shore as fast as he can, and I will send the Creators to help you. " Qin Hanzhen frowned. "Don't go home!

I forbid you to go back! " Having said this, she stole a glance at Kai Huang's expression.

Yan Yunxi said with a smile, "King Zhen, don't be like that. A moment ago we were speaking of the great matter between the two races; now there is no harm in a little talk of family. Mu Tianzun has drifted abroad ever since he was born, and now that he has come to Wuyou Township, to keep him from going home for a look would offend both feeling and reason. " Shen Mu said with a smile, "What the Heavenly Master Zixi says is sound.

I came this time precisely to find Wuyou Township, to go home and see my father and mother and my elder brother, to see Kai Huang. How could I reach my own doorstep and not go in? " "Go back and get beaten?

" Qin Hanzhen said angrily, and again glanced at Kai Huang.

Shen Mu was unperturbed. "Back then I did not lose, and now it is even less possible that I lose.

Kai Huang, am I right? " Kai Huang rose and said mildly, "It would be good for you to go home and look around. Today we have settled a peace pact between the two races; I too must return and make preparations for a few days, let Fengqing open the Nether Capital of the Other Shore, and establish the cycle of life and death in the world beyond. So then, when will Mu Tianzun come to Wuyou Township to visit his kin?

" Shen Mu said, with great courtesy, "In two months. Forging the Nether Capital of the Other Shore will take time; it is a vast undertaking, after all. The God King and I will marshal the strength of every Creator clan to help my brother create the Nether Capital.

" Kai Huang said with equal courtesy, "Then I shall await your honored arrival two months from now. Heavenly Master, Hanzhen, let us go back.

" Shen Mu and God King Langwan saw them off. Kai Huang said hastily, "Please, no need to escort us.

Wuyou Township is very near; a turn of the heel and we are there. " Shen Mu watched them walk off the platform with his eyes.

Qin Hanzhen turned her head and said softly, "Don't go back! " Then she returned to Wuyou Township with Kai Huang and Yan Yunxi.

"Sister, will settling a peace pact with Wuyou Township stir up resentment among the Creators? " Shen Mu asked, turning his head toward the woman beside him. God King Langwan shook her head. "You are the Holy Infant. Your decision is the decision of every Creator, and of the ancient spirits as well; they will not oppose you.

When all is said and done, we Creators are a race of failures who merely hid ourselves away here. We have no great ambition; we are people who seek only peace and survival. " She paused, then said, "I will tell them of the promise of this peace pact through divine consciousness. When they see the world that will come of establishing the Nether Capital of the Other Shore, they will understand what you have done.

And the ancient spirits in the Great Void who have turned into monsters will find peace as well; that will make them respect you all the more.

" Shen Mu thanked her. God King Langwan saw that his gaze had never left the Thirty-Three Heavens of Wuyou Township, and knew how keenly he longed for home. "Do you truly mean to wait two months before entering Wuyou Township?

" Shen Mu smiled. "Of course not.

I will sneak in quietly, naturally, and see what Wuyou Township has made of itself in these twenty thousand years.

" God King Langwan blinked her bright eyes, deeply curious as to what he had in mind. "Kai Huang's reforms move from the top down.

Once the gods and demons of the upper tiers have reformed, they pass the fruits of that reform down to the common people. " Shen Mu's eyes glittered. "Then what is taught in the academies and halls of learning in Wuyou Township must be the supreme arts of Kai Huang's Heavenly Court. They spare no effort to teach mortals, so that they may become miracle-workers, become gods. So in these two months I mean to travel through Wuyou Township beginning from its lowest heaven, Taihuang Heaven, and observe whether its divine arts and ways of the Dao have advanced or fallen back from what they once were. " God King Langwan laughed.

"You still mean to fight Shen Ye, then?

" Shen Mu did not deny it. A faint smile surfaced on his face. "He is Shen Tianzun; I am Mu Tianzun. A million years ago we already could not bear the sight of each other, only back then we never settled who was stronger. Now that we meet again, kinship remains between us, yet we still cannot bear the sight of each other.

That being so, a fight is the better course. Know your enemy and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be in danger. " A sly light flickered in his eyes. "These days he has spent all his strength on opening the Nether Capital of the Other Shore, and he must also soothe the common folk and the gods and demons of Wuyou Township so that they set aside their hatred. He has no leisure to watch me, no leisure to study my arts of the Dao and divine power, while I can trace out, from every clue and thread, the mysteries of his sword way of the Thirty-Three Heavens.

" God King Langwan hesitated. "I must soothe the Creators, and I must also marshal them to help Big Head, to help your brother create the Nether Capital of the Other Shore. I fear I will have no leisure to go with you.

" Shen Mu felt a pang of regret.

He greatly liked the feeling of having God King Langwan at his side.

This woman was incomparably clever. As an enemy she had terrifying means of dealing with her foes; as a friend she would exhaust every ability to help her friends.

And God King Langwan was a woman of stunning beauty, yet she did not press upon him as Yun Chuxiu did. With this goddess king beside him, Shen Mu felt that even his own mind ran far more nimbly than usual. But God King Langwan had to leave to attend to real business; he could not keep her by force.

The three of them returned to the great camp of the Creators.

Shen Mu watched her depart, and Shujun, at his side, said, "This Goddess King is a remarkable woman, and her cultivation is formidable, far more formidable than mine in my day. " Shen Mu said with some regret, "It is a pity she was visualized into being. There is no such perfect creature in this world.

. .

" "Visualized into being?

" Shujun could not help laughing.

"What are you thinking?

" Shen Mu was startled. Shujun shook his head. "A divinity visualized into being cannot wield divine-consciousness arts, nor can it open a divine treasury or a heavenly palace as you do. Her divine-consciousness arts are stronger than mine, and she has both a divine treasury and a heavenly palace.