Chapter 944 — Bloodshed at the Ancestral King Palace
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
"Do you take me for a real fool? If I were, could I have reached my present station?
Sometimes deliberate brashness is no bad thing. Take the Jade Pool affair: all ten Heavenly Venerables came, every last one covering his face so none could tell who was who. The nine of them suspected one another; only I showed my true face.
The nine of them doubted and guarded against one another, and the one they never suspected was this reckless fellow of yours.
" He clasped his hands behind his back and said without haste, "Even if Heavenly Venerable Mu delivered himself to my doorstep for the killing, I would not touch a single hair of his. He is not my enemy—at least not yet. Though he bears the title of Heavenly Venerable Mu, for now he is nothing but a small nobody with an empty name; killing him would only drag a stink onto myself. " The Great Sun Star Lord Dan Fenglai was deeply impressed and praised him: "Your Venerable is truly enlightened. Then how should we deal with Heavenly Venerable Mu's visit to our Ancestral King Palace?
" The Ancestral God King said, "Heavenly Venerable Mu's aptitude is not bad, in truth. I traded blows with him over at the Great Dark Heaven; I used my strongest weapon and fought at the Divine Bridge level, and he was able to match me. Even when I brought out the twenty-eight heavens of the Dao realm I could not take him, and instead he killed the avatar of Heavenly Venerable Yu. So keep your disciples in line and do not provoke him.
" He smiled. "Tell him I am away.
Have the disciples treat him with the utmost respect and give him no chance to stir up trouble; treat him as you would a true Heavenly Venerable. He will gain no advantage from my domain, and will soon leave on his own. " Dan Fenglai bowed and assented, saying, "Your disciple will go out to receive him. " The Ancestral God King called him back: "One more thing: watch against someone slipping into the Ancestral King Palace to assassinate him. He has already been ambushed at Langxuan Divine Palace, and there will certainly be others coming to kill him.
Do not let this down-and-out wretch die on my ground. " Dan Fenglai departed and led a retinue to welcome Shen Mu. Shen Mu looked at this Star Lord and smiled: "Great Sun Star Lord, my memory of that meeting years ago is still fresh—I nearly died at your hands.
" Dan Fenglai laughed: "Back then I did not know you were Heavenly Venerable Mu, and besides, I held back.
I merely sent avatars and the Fire Crow Army to cut off the remnants of the Chiming clan; I never treated Your Venerable as an adversary. Heavenly Venerable Mu, my master is not here, and as his junior, I shall act as host in his place. Please—" Shen Mu followed them into the Ancestral King Palace, smiling: "That night at the Jade Pool I saw someone who looked like Your Star Lord intent on killing me—quite a formidable fellow, with a host of avatars turning into a flock of three-legged golden crows flying low over the sea.
" Dan Fenglai roared with laughter: "Cultivators of the Great Sun arts are beyond counting.
How could it be me? Your Venerable jests.
" "That's true. " Shen Mu's aura was faint, and he coughed several times; he glanced sidelong at the Great Sun Star Lord's junior fellow apprentices, only to see those disciples of the Ancestral God King keeping their eyes on their noses and their noses on their hearts, blind to his display of weakness. Dan Fenglai asked solicitously, "Is Your Venerable unwell?
" Shen Mu seemed dazed for a moment, and only came back to himself after a while. His expression changed slightly; he took out a few spirit pills, swallowed them with trembling hands, and only when the medicinal force dissolved did he let out a turbid breath, sighing, "I have no soul and no spirit; I keep my life by spiritual consciousness alone. If that consciousness scattered, I would die.