Chapter 842 — Who Comes Forth to Die?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
" One of the Daoists said hurriedly: "Replying to the Sect Master: first several Uncle-Masters came to the Daoist Academy. One of them was Uncle-Master Tianhong. He made a circuit of the Academy and told us that Azure Ram Palace had been robbed, plundered by a thief, and that they had come to see whether the thief had slipped into the Academy. " The Azure Cloud Sect Master nodded: "They were sent by me to inform you.
They are all elders of the Daoist Palace. " The Daoist Palace was where the elders of Azure Cloud Heaven resided, while the Daoist Academy was where the Daoist arts and divine powers were studied; its members were mostly young disciples, quick of thought and swift to react.
The Daoist shot him a glance and said cautiously: "And then our Academy was robbed—by none other than Uncle-Master Tianhong, one of the Uncle-Masters you sent to inform us. He went through the whole Academy.
First one senior brother found his treasures missing, then everyone discovered they too had been robbed, their finest treasures spirited away without a soul noticing. So we all rushed out to look for those Uncle-Masters. " The Azure Cloud Sect Master frowned: "Everyone went out? " The Daoist said hastily: "The disciples of the Lords of the Zhou Tian Stars stayed behind, drawing star constellation array charts.
They were not robbed. When we got outside, we found that every palace and every court had been robbed—the twenty-four halls and the twelve courts, all plundered.
We searched everywhere, and then we found Uncle-Master Tianhong, stripped naked and thrown into the treasury of the Hall of Vast Dharma, a filthy sock and a pair of underdrawers stuffed in his mouth, his primordial spirit sealed. That thief had impersonated Uncle-Master Tianhong and robbed all of Azure Cloud Heaven.
So we sealed off Azure Cloud Heaven, meaning to hunt the thief out. Passing the Daoist Academy, we saw blood seeping from under the door. We opened it, and the senior brothers from the Heavenly Court were all lying dead inside. . . " The Azure Cloud Sect Master gritted his teeth and said coldly: "A fine trick, luring the tiger from the mountain!
The thief drew you away in order to strike at the Heavenly Court envoys!
Have you found him? " "Not yet. Just now, as we hurried here, we heard that someone had found Abbess Yuxiao, her primordial spirit sealed, her mouth stuffed with underdrawers, buried with straw covering her head. . . " The Azure Cloud Sect Master could hold his fury no longer and was about to erupt, when Shen Mu suddenly gave a cough and said, calm and mild: "Sect Master, Azure Cloud Heaven has indeed suffered a thief—we were robbed as well. But the one who killed the disciples of the Lords of the Zhou Tian Stars was not that thief. It was Lin Dao Lord and I who did it. " At these words, the Daoist Palace erupted. Thunder roared in the Azure Cloud Sect Master's head; his vision went black and he staggered.
Shen Mu sat on his throne, lightly tapping the dragon-head armrest with his forefinger, and said calmly: "I came as a guest; Dao Lord Lin came to visit kin. We should not have killed anyone in our host's house.
But our host's guests were plotting against Jingping, refining some Heavenly Diagram to destroy Jingping. Since they meant us no courtesy, we had no choice but to act.
An honest man does nothing in the dark—we killed these running dogs of the Heavenly Court, and of course we must inform the Sect Master of it. " The Azure Cloud Sect Master was thrown into confusion, and the other old Daoists had no idea what to do either; they stared blankly at him, waiting for him to speak. The young Heavenly Court Daoist sprang to his feet and sneered: "Fu Yuntian, the disciples of the Heavenly Court's Lords of the Zhou Tian Stars died in Azure Cloud Heaven. That is a guilt you cannot bear.
Now that the true murderer stands before you, what are you waiting for?
Waiting for Azure Cloud Heaven to be wiped out root and branch?