Chapter 457 — Blossoms Dazzle the Eyes
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Shen Mu's face too reddened somewhat; He Yiyi had pressed so close that his heart beat faster. He said hurriedly, "I once studied the eye-opening art with Blind Grandfather, but I sought no deep understanding and did not grasp the array transformations within it. Blind Grandfather's Sacred Pupil can see through all falsehood—through the transformations of space, of arrays, of techniques. Later, when I learned the Daoist arts of calculation, only then did I understand the numerical transformations involved. The Daoist sect uses the arts of calculation to explain the ten thousand things of heaven and earth and the workings of the cosmos; and the reason Blind Grandfather's Sacred Pupil can see through all things is precisely that calculation is the truth of this cosmos. Only then did I understand that Blind Grandfather is the first of all in the array arts."
He Yiyi suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and said soberly, "If he wished to break the arrays of my Juncheng, it would be easy as lifting a hand. First place is his by right. Then who is this second master of arrays under heaven?"
Shen Mu showed an embarrassed smile.
He Yiyi's dark, glossy eyes went wide again, and she blurted out, "You are the second in arrays under heaven?"
Shen Mu said, abashed, "I would not originally have dared to call myself second, but having seen Sister Yiyi's arrays, I think I can still be second."
He Yiyi's anger rose from her heart, her pearly teeth grinding with a creak, and she said with a smile, "First place—I dare not contest it. But I am not content to sit in third. Cult Master Shen calls himself third in the art of poison, defeated Mu Yingxue, and made that girl Yingxue admit that her poison arts are fourth under heaven; and now you also name yourself second under heaven in arrays. Your studies are rather too miscellaneous. That being so, let us have another contest."
Shen Mu asked curiously, "How shall we compete?"
He Yiyi mused a moment, then smiled. "Still Juncheng. You outside the city, I within it, and here I shall not stir. If you can enter the city and find me, I will admit you are my better and resign myself to third. Not only that: from this day the He family and all the He family's power will follow your lead. If you wish to support Naikui's return to the palace mistress's seat, my He family will aid you with all its strength!"
Shen Mu laughed heartily, rose to his full height, and strode toward the city gates.
In the hall, the hundred-odd powerful figures of Juncheng looked at one another. An old woman was about to speak when He Yiyi waved a hand. "There is no need for you to say anything. I mean to take this chance to observe Jingping Kingdom's attainments in arrays. If my arrays are broken by Cult Master Shen, then when Jingping comes to attack, Juncheng will surely be broken as well; better to simply submit to Jingping. If Cult Master Shen cannot break my arrays, then we shall still have the strength to fight another day. Withdraw, all of you. Cult Master Shen and I shall play out a single game—a game that decides the fate of Juncheng, the fate of the Western Lands!"
The others had no choice but to leave Juncheng.
The city gates opened wide.
Shen Mu bade Long Qilin keep Xiong Qi'er company outside the city, then strode in. Juncheng changed at once: every building sank into the earth and vanished without a trace, and boulder after boulder floated into the air, evolving into arrays.
Juncheng's whole appearance was transformed. In the eyes of others this was merely stones shifting and taking various forms, a spectacle—hard indeed to read the array transformations in each movement of the stones; but in Shen Mu's eyes it became at once a riot of color and splendor.
Each movement of those stones brought him a pleasure beyond words; the interlocking of the various runes, the crisscrossing structures, delighted his eye and his heart.