Chapter 1005 — The Noble Spirit of Heroes, Awe-Inspiring Through All Ages

The old man lifted his head and shot him a cold glare. "In ancient days there were righteous men who remonstrated at the cost of their lives, who carried their coffins to court. The emperor was muddled and deaf to all of it — why should I not burn paper for him? Burn it I will!

I have burned it for twenty thousand years, burned it until even in death he clawed his way into the Nether Capital and made himself its richest man! " Shu Jun laughed heartily and teased him: "If you mean to be a righteous man, then burn your paper in the presence of Kaihuang Shen Ye himself. Why burn it out here in these barren hills where no soul ever comes?

Who are you burning it for? You are no righteous man. " The old man's shoulders sagged, and he dropped down onto the ground, muttering: "You're right. I am no righteous man.

Had I been one, I would have carried my coffin to court twenty thousand years ago and remonstrated at the cost of my life. I finished that coffin long ago.

. . only I lost my nerve, and never dared carry it to court.

.

. " He flicked his sleeve, and a black coffin flew out — the very coffin he had made in those years, meaning to carry it to court and die in remonstration.

Shu Jun studied the black coffin.

Its surface gleamed with a high polish, as though it had been stroked over and over again.

He could not help laughing: "You old fellow — you've polished that coffin to a shine. Plainly you're a man who looks before and behind and never once arrives at a decision.

" The old man flew into a rage, about to explode — then thought it over, and saw that it was true. He had not dared carry the coffin to court, and so day after day he sat facing it, stroking it, turning it over, never able to screw up his resolve — and so of course it had been rubbed to a sheen.

Shu Jun was making ready to mock him further, but Shen Mu stopped him. "How should I address you, Elder? " Shen Mu asked.

The old man answered listlessly: "Of Kaihuang's Heavenly Court, Junior Guardian of the Four Assistants: Fang Youji. Now a keeper of graves in Qingming Heaven — a watcher of tombstones.

" Shen Mu said: "A Junior Guardian is a rank of the first order. How have you sunk so low as to watch graves? " Fang Youji rose.

"You are the Mu Heavenly Venerable; whatever you say is right. I am not much good with the sword — only with divine abilities.

I use my divine abilities to imitate sword arts. This one is called the Qingming Tribulation-Heart Sword! " He used his divine abilities to perform a sword art.

At once a fine rain filled the sky, bleak and desolate.

Though it was only an imitation, Shen Mu could still glimpse the sword Dao hidden within that single stroke. Kaihuang had founded this sword art to temper the heart in tribulation — to mourn the deaths of peers and comrades-in-arms, to make offering for the passing of his elders, to shape the present from the ancient past, to temper his own Dao heart, and no less to test the Dao heart of his opponent. This sword demanded exceedingly much of the Dao heart.

To face it with an unsteady heart was to lose.

The Junior Guardian Fang Youji performed it once through, and said: "I am imitating his third sword with divine abilities. It is a divine ability after all; it cannot fully reveal the subtlety of his sword Dao. If the Mu Heavenly Venerable cannot discern the wonders within, I can perform it several more times.

" Shen Mu closed his eyes, then opened them and smiled.

"There is no need. " Fang Youji hunkered down again and burned paper for that nameless grave. "The Mu Heavenly Venerable may go on to Xuantai Heaven.

Guardian of Xuantai Heaven is the second of the Four Assistants, the Junior Assistant Gao Baixun. " Shen Mu thanked him, and left with Shu Jun, not troubling to seek out Qingming Heaven's academy for study. Shu Jun looked back. The old man was still burning paper — but no longer weeping over how miserably Shen Ye had died. Instead he sat by the fire wearing a smile, his face roasted red by the flames.

"This Junior Guardian of Kaihuang's seems to be wishing you would beat Kaihuang. " Shu Jun said, puzzled: "The old devil really is biting the hand that feeds him — and enjoying it, too. Sheng Ying, now I know why you insisted on walking everywhere. Turns out Kaihuang has so many masters under him to feed you moves.

" Shen Mu smiled.

"An old steed in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand li; a brave man in his twilight years still burns with ambition.

Kaihuang has led his army of gods and demons into hiding in the Worry-Free Land, but not everyone there is willing. Men of aspiration do not truly hope that I will defeat Kaihuang; they only want to borrow my hand to spur him on, to stir the ambition of this one-time leader. " He said softly: "In truth, they also hope to stir their own ambition.

When the divine dragon that once commanded the winds and clouds curls its body in a tiny muddy pool and lifts its head to the sky, what it remembers is the way it coiled and rolled among mist and cloud — not wallowing in the mire. " "I think you're talking about me. " Shu Jun laughed aloud.

"I am that divine dragon you speak of!

" Shen Mu laughed heartily, and the two of them climbed into Xuantai Heaven.

Ahead the woods were broad and dense, and someone within was teaching, his voice loud and ringing: "Universal love is called benevolence; to act rightly is called righteousness; to proceed from this is called the Way. How is this to be understood? " "Universal love is benevolence; to practice benevolence, to realize benevolence, is righteousness; to walk on along the road of benevolence and righteousness, practicing it without cease, is the Way.

This saying means investigating things to extend knowledge — knowing, and then acting upon it. " "To know and to act, the union of knowledge and action, is to attain the Way. To know and not to act — that is Kaihuang!

" . .

. Shen Mu and Shu Jun walked forward, and there they saw a schoolmaster in a tall cap, a scroll in one hand and a teaching ruler in the other, declaiming the classics with passion.

His students were a crowd of monkeys, dressed in clothes: some squatting on the ground scratching their ears and cheeks, some perched in the trees picking lice from one another, bounding and leaping, never still for a moment. When the monkeys saw Shen Mu and Shu Jun approach, they hastily tore off their caps and robes and scattered in all directions, flinging their clothing and headgear all over the ground. The schoolmaster was furious.

"Decorum!

Where has your decorum gone? You wretches, you run at the first sight of an enemy! Feh! " His eyes bulging with rage, he charged at Shen Mu, his teaching ruler whirling as he performed a sword art of exquisite subtlety.

At the ruler's first motion came a stroke of the Xuantai Heaven-Quelling Sword, bearing straight down upon Shen Mu!

"Others fear you — I, Gao Baixun, do not! " Shu Jun moved to block him, but Shen Mu held him back.

The schoolmaster Gao Baixun whirled his ruler, performed the Xuantai Heaven-Quelling Sword once through, then turned and fled, crying: "The enemy is formidable — it is not that I will not fight, I am copying Kaihuang and running away!

" With that he fled clattering on his wooden clogs into the woods. Shu Jun was dumbfounded.

Gao Baixun poked his head out again and shouted: "I am no match for you two, so I certainly will not tell you that the Grand Tutor Zhou Jingmeng waits for you in Yuanming Heaven, to avenge me!

" Shen Mu said hastily: "How does one get to Yuanming Heaven? " Gao Baixun raised a hand and pointed, brimming with decorum and righteous dignity: "I will die before I tell you. I will never tell you that the road to Yuanming Heaven lies over there!

" "My thanks.

" Shen Mu bowed in thanks, and set off that way with Shu Jun. Shu Jun limped after him, one foot high and one foot low, and glanced back.