Chapter 198 — The Cult's Prestige
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu smiled bashfully and said, "There are a few more than I thought—barely nine."
"Nine such figures?"
Imperial Teacher Jingping's heart was struck with awe. Were all nine of them figures like Mojiang?
If so, then the origins of this Cult Master of the Youmo Cult were rather terrifying!
"There are still nine others like me. My path is not a lonely one."
A gratified smile crossed Imperial Teacher Jingping's face, and he murmured, "I had thought that apart from me, no one else had walked to this step. Now my heart is suddenly at ease…"
Shen Mu looked at him curiously, and it suddenly occurred to him: if he used the Qingxiao Heavenly Eye on Imperial Teacher Jingping at this moment, would he be beaten to death for it?
He very much wanted to see whether Imperial Teacher Jingping and Li Zheng were the same kind of existence.
Of course, Imperial Teacher Jingping was unfathomable to him. The man's cultivation was unfathomable; his temperament was unfathomable too. There were a great many things about him that seemed to contradict one another.
To rashly use the Qingxiao Heavenly Eye upon him would very likely provoke his wrath.
"Imperial Teacher Jingping, the Palace Master is speaking to you. Why do you not answer?"
Shen Mu looked toward the voice and saw that the speaker had come up from below the platform, wearing a bronze mask. This bronze mask was unlike any other, with exaggerated features: long, wide ears, a hawk-beak nose, an exaggeratedly large mouth, two pillar-like eyes, very broad eyebrows, and a hole in the forehead, as though made ready for an eye upon the brow.
Then Shen Mu saw that beneath the forehead of the mask there was indeed an eye.
At the center of this man's brow grew an eye!
"What kind of technique is this?" He was slightly taken aback.
Imperial Teacher Jingping looked toward the bronze-masked man, then his gaze passed over him and settled upon Qiu Dieyi, Palace Master of Liqing Palace. "Palace Master Qiu of Liqing Palace," he said. "Your technique, the Lihentian Sword Art, is said to be a sword formula handed down by the gods and immortals—of sundered love and lingering grief."
His gaze fell upon the next person, and he said, "Of Sanqi Fort: Fort Master Che, Che Zhengli; Fort Master Yu, Yu Qingsheng; Fort Master Li, Li Fei. Fort Master Che's technique is the Heavenly Demon Mystic Forbidden Art, a forbidden demonic art of the Daoist orders. Fort Master Yu's technique is the Five Gu Dragon-Transformation Art—raising gu worms into dragons. Fort Master Li refines poison into power; as for the name of her technique, I am not clear on it."
That Fort Master Li chuckled and said, "There is a technique even Imperial Teacher Jingping does not know? This old woman's art is called the Poison-Transforming Three Immortals Mystic Art; it excels at turning poison into cultivation power."
Imperial Teacher Jingping's gaze fell upon yet another, and he said, "Daoquan Zhenren has always healed the sick and saved lives—why have you too joined the rebellion? More than ten years ago the Yongjiang flooded, plague ran wild, and the pestilence spread throughout all Jiangnan. Zhenren treated the villagers and gave them medicine, and your fair name filled the world. I wished to invite you to take office in the Grand Academy, but you declined, and in the end you were granted only the title of Zhenren."
Daoquan Zhenren said gravely, "Those whose paths differ cannot take counsel together. Imperial Teacher Jingping, when I refused office in those years, you should have seen that you and I are not of the same path. You have gone too far—you would wipe out every Daoist order under heaven—and I had no choice but to come and stop you."
Imperial Teacher Jingping was silent a moment, then said, "I destroy the Daoist orders of the world in order to heal more people. Look at what I have done these years—how would you judge it?"