Chapter 967 — Frenzy and Demonic Possession
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
They will never get out, they will surely die there! And then I am safe. . . " Luo Wushuang caught up with Shen Mu and said quietly, "Something is wrong with this Master Yue.
Could a man penned up here for over ten thousand years have gone mad? " Yue Tingge flicked him a glance and sneered, "One-Hand, you think far too little of me.
Never mind ten thousand years — a million years would not drive me mad! I simply do not trust those Heavenly Venerates. " A moment before he had been incoherent; now he was lucid again: "In those years the Heavenly Venerate Shen became Kaihuang and founded his false dynasty, the Kaihuang Heavenly Court.
The Ten Heavenly Venerates of the Heavenly Court meant to deal with him, and as I was then the foremost of the Heavenly Court's Four Great Heavenly Masters, the strategy against him was of my devising. " Recalling the past, he was rather pleased with himself: "Kaihuang was, after all, the Heavenly Venerate Shen, one of the five founding elders of the Heaven Alliance — who would dare to remove him openly? And if he led his followers into the Heavenly Court, he would become one of the strongest powers in the Court's Heaven Alliance. He must not be allowed to take the Alliance in hand again; so the method I employed was to strip him away layer by layer, to seep in drop by drop through a thousand small holes.
" His voice quickened with excitement: "The Longhan Heavenly Court made contact with the Kaihuang Heavenly Court, even fostered its growth. Kaihuang's strongest subordinate, Di Yiyue, was beguiled by Yin Tianzi, and with him the War Heavenly King Li Youran and the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu; the Court's power seeped little by little into Kaihuang's own, splitting his Heavenly Court from within. Then, when it burst out all at once, Kaihuang's forces could be torn up root and branch! " Proudly he said, "Against such a scheme Kaihuang was helpless, and in the end the Kaihuang Heavenly Court was overthrown in a single morning. But he was an outstanding man: seeing how the wind blew, he began to lay his plans, secretly forging the Sorrowless Land, and in the end slipped free.
Still the Ten Heavenly Venerates were uneasy, and they ordered me to seek out the Sorrowless Land. My merits were supreme, but I knew well enough the principle — when the cunning hare is dead, the running dog is cooked. . . " He hunched his head down between his shoulders, peering east and west with the utmost caution, and chuckled: "I know too many of their secrets.
They all want us dead. Sending me to find the Sorrowless Land was only a pretext; in truth they wanted me killed! " Shen Mu and Luo Wushuang exchanged looks. This Master Yue had gone crazed again. Lady Yuanmu's attempt on his life had been mere chance.
As one of the Ten Heavenly Venerates, Lady Yuanmu had led her people into Taixu, in truth also to seek the Sorrowless Land; but Taixu was too uncanny, and to preserve herself Lady Yuanmu had slaughtered every one of her subordinates. Master Yue was a man of wisdom and once could have seen this clearly, but by now he had lost his wits somewhat. ".
.
. Last time they failed to finish me off, and this time they have actually sent three Heavenly Venerates to kill me! Heh heh. The Fire Heavenly Venerate and the Void Heavenly Venerate I tricked and delivered into that death trap.
But there is still a third Heavenly Venerate — the Heavenly Venerate Mu. .
. " Malice came into his eyes and he glared viciously at Shen Mu; then of a sudden the malice vanished, his gaze turned shifty and evasive. Skulking in the corner of the street, stealing glances at Shen Mu from time to time, he whispered to the roasted beast's leg: "Should we trick the Heavenly Venerate Mu into that death trap as well, and let him die there.
. . No, that will not do. He may not be an enemy, and he has done us the kindness of teaching the art of becoming a god. . . You are right.
We will not kill him. We can kill One-Hand instead.