Chapter 573 — Elder Brother Makes His Move and Binds the Flood Dragon
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
Shen Mu stepped forward, looked up at the dragon, and said abruptly, "Jiang Miao, I saw you long ago, in the Surging River Dragon Palace. Your mother's soul drifted in circles around you, singing a most sorrowful song in the dragon tongue. You were sealed in the dark ice of the Dark Water Dragon Pearl, a broken sword thrust into your chest, its blade run through your heart. She used her own life to protect you, to keep you from dying, hoping someone might bring you back to life."
Tears fell from Jiang Miao's eyes. After he was revived, he had gone with Shen Yu to the Surging River Dragon Palace, and had seen his mother's bones.
"Your mother, the Surging River Dragon Emperor, was exceedingly powerful. How did she die?"
Shen Mu's face was calm. "Why is it that a broken sword pierced your heart and yet you did not die? Might the one who wounded you have deliberately spared you? His aim would have been to use your wound to make your mother expend the Dark Water Dragon Pearl to keep you alive, draining her cultivation so greatly that she could be killed. Then, someone who could come near you even under your mother's protection, would that not have to be someone very close?"
Jiang Miao's whole body shook.
"Why is it that you were sealed in ice for twenty thousand years, and this uncle of yours, so mighty in divine power, never came to save you?"
Shen Mu asked, "Where is that broken sword that pierced your heart?"
"I have kept it all along." Jiang Miao opened his mouth and spat out a broken sword.
Shen Mu's gaze fell upon the broken sword. It was this very blade that had run through Jiang Miao's heart; dragon blood still stained it.
"Do you want to know whose sword it was?" Shen Mu asked.
Fear showed on Jiang Miao's face. He shook his head. "Sect Master, my heart is in turmoil..."
Shen Mu raised his head, looked at the dragon, and said, "If the sword is yours, you can stir this broken blade and slay us with the greatest ease, and perhaps sever the chains besides. You sensed Jiang Miao's aura and have been calling to him all along; surely your purpose was this sword as well. The sword is here now, senior. Please."
The dragon narrowed its eyes and stared fixedly at him.
Shen Mu smiled.
Suddenly, halos of light swirled through the broken sword; it leapt into the air and gave forth a dragon's cry!
At almost the same instant, the chains blazed with demon light, and demon fire poured into the dragon's body, burning it into endless shudders; the divine power it had just gathered was severed once more!
Clang.
The broken sword fell to the ground.
Shen Mu went forward, picked up the broken sword, and sighed. "Jiang Miao, your mother died a wrongful death."
Jiang Miao raised his head and looked at the divine dragon before him. The dragon laughed heartily and cried in a harsh voice, "He who knows the times is a hero! Your mother and I came from the same dragon nest, both formed from the essence of the dragon vein, two dragons from one nest! Why should she be the Surging River Dragon Emperor while I could only be a Well Dragon King? The Heavenly Court promised me greater benefits; naturally I seized the chance! My own sister was my offering of allegiance! And what of telling you? What can you do to me?"
It turned its gaze viciously on Shen Mu and sneered, "That eldest senior brother of yours, whose abilities surpass yours ten thousandfold, even he could not kill me! He exhausted every means he had, and all he could do was pen me here!"
Behind Shen Mu there rose a gate that bore up the heavens, its doors flung wide open. Calmly he said, "In all this world, there is no one I cannot kill. My senior brother could not kill you, but for me it is no difficult matter."