Chapter 1007 — They Are Not You

Shen Mu gazed at the tombs stretching beyond sight, and a grotesque feeling rose in his heart.

He had walked all this way, and the thirty-three heavens of the Worry-Free Land were like three different worlds. Kaihuang's old ministers grumbled and gave themselves up to despair; the new generation reveled in pleasure, drowning in wine and women.

And yet the Shen line alone fought and died, shedding blood and laying down their heads for the peace of the Worry-Free Land.

It was too absurd.

"The Worry-Free Land has become deformed — or rather, it has split apart," Shen Mu thought with a sigh.

A torn Worry-Free Land: the old generation, having abandoned the people they once swore to protect, had their dao hearts collapse; the new generation sank into a worry-free existence where whatever they thought of came into being.

The Shen family, feeling guilty toward the people and toward the old generation, and yet bound to guard Kaihuang's glory and preserve the peace of the Worry-Free Land, defended it with acts that bordered on self-mutilation.

"You will not let me return to the Worry-Free Land — is it because you fear I will end up like the Shen ancestors buried here?"

Shen Mu shook his head. In truth, the Worry-Free Land in his heart had long since collapsed, crumbled to dust, ceased to exist. He only felt that the sacrifices the Shen ancestors had made to protect the Worry-Free Land and guard Kaihuang's glory were not worth it.

"Back then it was Kaihuang who split the Other Shore World in half and carved out the Worry-Free Land, offending the Creators; and now it is a son of the Shen family who founded the Other Shore Youdu, bringing the two races back to peace."

Shen Mu said to Qin Hanzhen, "From now on, the descendants of the Shen family need not fight the Creators to the death for the sake of Kaihuang's glory."

Qin Hanzhen shook his head and walked on. "In the future, the descendants of the Shen family will still fight to the death for Kaihuang's glory, for the wars to come. That is how it is in the Worry-Free Land — but outside the Worry-Free Land, is the outside world not another Worry-Free Land?"

Shen Mu followed Qin Hanzhen onward, past one tomb after another, his heart quiet and empty. The deaths of generation after generation of forebears, the war with the Creators — he wanted to laugh but could not, wanted to weep but could not.

He could only shake his head.

Since he had come to understand things, the Worry-Free Land he had searched for so bitterly, seeking and seeking, was in the end a flower in the mist, a moon in the water.

Unless one stood in his place, it was hard to understand his mood and state of mind at this moment.

The Zhen Prince's Estate was near. Ahead, the tombs gradually thinned, and some young men and women were cultivating bitterly.

They must be the juniors of the Shen family, about Shen Mu's age — some older than Shen Mu, but not by many years; some younger.

There were not many Shen family children, only a dozen or so, and they trained harder than people elsewhere in the Worry-Free Land, like ascetics tempering their bodies, polishing their vital essence, refining their spirit consciousness.

Most of the new generation in the Worry-Free Land now prized pleasure above all; it was rare to see such diligent cultivation.

Shen Mu stopped to watch, and said to Qin Hanzhen, "Are these all that remain of the Shen family?"

Qin Hanzhen nodded. "These are all that remain. The descendants of an emperor — after a hundred generations, who still thinks you are royalty? Only you yourself think so in your heart; only you yourself still cling to that pride. If you do not strive, then when the Creators come, you will die miserably. It was only after Feng Qing returned that we could breathe easy."

Shen Mu watched for a while. Qin Hanzhen called over a little girl. "Siying, this is your cousin."

The girl was drenched in sweat; she circulated her vital essence to steam the sweat away, then looked at Shen Mu curiously and laughed. "But he is clearly the Holy Infant of the Creator race — he is terribly fierce, he scared lots of people to tears! I cried from fright back then too."

Shen Mu smiled, took out a drop of Primal Chaos essence, visualized a pearl, sealed the essence within it, and gave it to her. "Wear it around your neck. It will be very beneficial to your cultivation in the days to come."

The girl accepted it and ran off to cultivate again.

"Siying is the youngest in the Shen family, your uncle's posthumous daughter. She is not yet ten, and I am the one teaching her now," Qin Hanzhen said. "Let us go home. I will take you to the ancestral hall to pay respects to the ancestors."

Shen Mu nodded. The Zhen Prince's Estate was not large — it did not have Long Biantian's extravagant luxury — but the ancestral hall was not small. The Zhen Princess Consort and Shujun waited outside. Qin Hanzhen led Shen Mu in. He saw the ancestral tablets arranged neatly, piled together like a grand altar.

It was solemn here, the atmosphere heavy.

Shen Mu followed behind Qin Hanzhen, bowing and offering incense.

Qin Hanzhen took out the Shen family genealogy and asked, "Shall I add your name to it?"

Shen Mu hesitated, then shook his head. "I am going to fight Kaihuang. Before I fight Kaihuang, I cannot be in the genealogy. After I fight Kaihuang, I cannot appear in the genealogy either."

Qin Hanzhen was stunned.

To fight Kaihuang was to fight the Shen family's own founding ancestor. Shen Mu could not do it as the one hundred and seventh generation descendant — that would be monstrous impiety.

And after fighting Kaihuang, Shen Mu would be one who betrayed his master and disowned his ancestors; he should not appear in the genealogy. By both sentiment and reason, he ought to be struck from it.

"Must you truly go this far?"

Qin Hanzhen could not help saying, "After the fight, you will never again be able to enter the Shen family ancestral hall! When you die, your grave cannot enter the ancestral tombs — you will become a wandering ghost, and no one in the Shen family will make offerings to you!"

Shen Mu smiled. "If I do not fight Kaihuang, the Worry-Free Land will not wake. Kaihuang also hopes I will fight him, and drive him out of this Worry-Free Land. I cannot fail his expectations."

He laughed. "I am a catfish that Kaihuang deliberately released into the Worry-Free Land. He does not hope I will muddy the waters — he hopes I will stir the dead water to life, make those disappointed fish begin to swim, wake those fish drunk on dreams and pleasure. I must do the duty of this catfish well."

Qin Hanzhen was silent, then said, "Kaihuang is extremely terrifying."

"I know. In the Void Land I have already seen the traces left when he fought Heavenly Venerable Fire. Heavenly Venerable Fire's cultivation was stronger than his, yet he was still wounded by his sword."

Shen Mu said, "Among the ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Court, Heavenly Venerable Fire's strength is not the greatest, but neither is it the least. To be able to force Heavenly Venerable Fire to leave a Great Dao brand and be wounded — Kaihuang's strength is above my estimate."

Qin Hanzhen said, "His strength is not only in the sword dao. The sword dao is his strongest, but his divine abilities are no less than his sword dao."

Shen Mu nodded. "When I met him in the early years of Longhan, he was already peerless in both swordsmanship and divine abilities. When I offended Lady Yuanmu and gravely wounded Heavenly Venerable Hao, he used his divine abilities to break out of the encirclement and save me — the marvel of those abilities was breathtaking."

Qin Hanzhen was silent for a moment, then said, "I cannot keep you. Go."

Shen Mu bowed deeply and turned to walk out of the ancestral hall.