Chapter 344 — Little Jade Capital's Hidden Mystery
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"This Water Mirror Sky of Little Jade Capital is truly extraordinary."
Shen Mu studied the Water Mirror Sky beneath the dragon qilin's feet and could not stop marveling. The Water Mirror Sky was a wondrous thing: seen from below, it showed a vast blue sky, and at night a deep starry heaven. Yet only upon arriving atop it did one discover that a whole other world lay within.
The Water Mirror Sky held Little Jade Capital aloft, cut off from the world. Standing here and looking down, one could see wisps of white cloud drifting over a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers, gathering and scattering, now and then revealing the lie of the ranges below, and long rivers like dragons.
"What kind of treasure was the Water Mirror Sky refined from?"
Shen Mu suddenly leaped down from the dragon qilin and reached out to touch it; the feel of it was truly like water. He cupped a handful, and it stayed in his palm, then ran out through the gaps between his fingers.
He stood up and stamped his foot; ripples spread across the surface of the water mirror and dispersed in all directions.
"Strange. It is not water, and it is not air. What on earth was it refined from?"
His astonishment only grew. "Is there a treasure-refining material in this world that I do not know of? No. I must get to the bottom of this!"
He was full of eagerness. Having followed the Silent Craftsman for so many years, learning the arts of forging iron and tempering treasures, Shen Mu had long since formed the habit; now that he had come to Little Jade Capital and met a treasure-refining material he had never seen, he naturally had to study it thoroughly. It was force of habit.
He opened his Azure Heaven Eye and carefully examined the structure of the Water Mirror Sky, trying to find the composition of the water mirror in the runes imprinted upon it. But to his disappointment, he could not find even the runes of the water mirror.
"This is impossible! The Water Mirror Sky is plainly a treasure; and since it is a treasure, it must bear imprinted runes to enhance its power. There is no way not a single rune can be found!"
Shen Mu was stunned. He had seen the sealing arts of the gods as well; the beehive seal in the underground space of the Nether Valley, for instance, had runes within it that flickered bright and dark. The forging techniques used in the Water Mirror Sky surely could not surpass the methods of the gods, could they? How could no rune at all be visible?
The dragon qilin had already reached Little Jade Capital and climbed onto one of the floating island immortal mountains in the sky. Xiong Xiyu looked back and saw that Shen Mu was still up on the Water Mirror Sky "playing with water," and could not help but smile. "This Sect Master Shen, this Human Emperor Shen, looks so mature, but in his heart he is still a child."
Qingyou the Hermit and the others hurried forward to greet them, holding the Human Emperor's Seal high in both hands. They glanced at the dragon qilin's back and saw a mother and daughter and a Li Zheng who had been hewn into a human stick, and everyone hesitated a moment.
Qingyou the Hermit smiled and said, "Human Emperor, please take back the precious seal!"
Li Zheng, rocking chair and all, flew down from the dragon qilin's back, but he did not take the Human Emperor's Seal. He shook his head and said, "I am no longer the Human Emperor. I have abdicated and yielded the throne to a worthy."
Qingyou the Hermit hurriedly looked at the mother and daughter, hesitating inwardly: "The present Human Emperor is a woman? Well, that is no wonder. This woman looks far from weak; she is already a figure of sect-master rank, no small matter. Only, she does not look like a woman of the Central Plains; she seems to be from the Western Lands..."