Chapter 832 — Slaying a God
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The runes were exceedingly complex, touching on too many principles; Zhe Huali could not make much of them.
Shen Mu moved on, forward and back, left and right, circling an area six zhang across again and again. Suddenly there came a crack, and a passage opened in the floor, leading straight down into the ship's hold.
Zhe Huali was stunned. Shen Mu had already stepped into the passage and was beckoning to him. He hurried after him and asked in a low voice, "Cult Master Shen, how did you know there was a door here?"
"This tower ship was most likely designed and built by my eldest senior brother. Its layout is much the same as the tower ships of my Heavenly Sacred Cult. In the Heavenly Sacred Cult's ships, the passage down to the hold should be right here, so I tried my luck."
Shen Mu smiled. "I built tower ships for the Jingping Kingdom, so I know the layout of a hull very well."
Zhe Huali was silent a moment, then said abruptly, "Cult Master Shen, is there anything you have not done?"
They came into the interior of the hull and were struck dumb by the spectacle before them.
Dragon keels ran north to south, spanning the whole interior. Though nothing but bone remained, the dragons still gave off a brilliant golden light that lit the ship's interior as bright as day.
Besides the dragon bones there were the ribs of a kun — great kun ribs some ten zhang thick, set in rows into the keels. Upon the kun bones appeared runes of strange beasts: bird patterns, fish patterns, water patterns, cloud patterns, mountain patterns, and more. These runes lit one after another, dazzling amid the golden light of the keels.
And on the vault above — where the deck should be — phoenix feathers were inlaid everywhere, seven-colored, like auspicious clouds of seven hues in the sky.
"A fine ship!" the two of them cried together.
Shen Mu stopped, took out the sword core, and looked around, his eyes flickering. "Begetting a child — that is the one thing I have not done. The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping gave me a book on begetting children. The men and women in it were so shameful."
He tilted his head, thinking of the men and women in that book, and his ears grew a little red.
Zhe Huali and the demon blade both stared, their faces caught between laughter and tears.
Shen Mu flicked his fingertip, and a silver thread flew from the sword core, measuring the ghost ship's interior, the length and girth of the dragon keels and kun ribs, and soon he had gathered all the data he needed.
Light came from beyond the passage. Lin Xiao, riding his hundred-zhang sun, flew above the great hall and let the sun's sword light wreak havoc upon it.
Before long the hall would collapse and the passage would be revealed.
Shen Mu gripped the sword core, closed his eyes, and gathered his spirit. After a moment he opened them and clenched his hand hard; the sword core became a treasured sword!
He rose into the air, sword in hand, and raced through the hull, his body like a startled swan, his sword like a roaming dragon. He unleashed technique after technique, like a scholar of letters and a gallant of letters wielding his sword as a brush, splashing ink across the dragon keels and kun ribs, and with the four walls of the hull for paper, he poured out words and gave his feelings free rein!
Soon he flew up to the vault, his body parallel to it, and wielded his sword like flying, scattering rune brands into the seams between the phoenix feathers and colored clouds.
Whoosh —
Shen Mu fell from midair, halting three zhang above the floor. His wrist flicked, and he wrote upon the ground with his sword.
Chi, chi, chi — the sound went on without cease. The ghost ship's interior was vast, a hundred li across. Shen Mu flew close to the ground, sword light like rain, and soon had written a string of runes from south to north.
His form halted abruptly, suspended in midair.