Chapter 1219 — Plucking Off the Divine Phoenix Plumes

The dragon scales on King Longbo's body had been plucked utterly bare. Even his reverse scale was gone, and there were no scales left to take; Shen Mu had pulled out a good many of his dragon whiskers as well, and at last he stopped.

"We are a hair's breadth from success!"

Overjoyed, Shen Mu beckoned to Feng Qiuyun and said with a smile, "Sister Qiuyun, I need to borrow a thing or two from you!"

Feng Qiuyun's face went ashen. Gritting her teeth, she stepped forward and, with a wrench, plucked out a single phoenix plume. "Every feather on this body of mine has been tempered a thousand times over. Each one is a marvel beyond price. Take one out into the world, and the people of the Yuan Realm would batter their own heads bloody over it!"

King Longbo said furiously, "The scales on our Longbo bodies are a hundred times more precious than your plumes. We have been stripped bare, and you still mean to keep your coat of feathers?"

Feng Qiuyun paid him no heed and handed the plume to Shen Mu.

"Do not fret," Shen Mu consoled her. "We are almost there. Truly, almost there."

"That is exactly what you said when you plucked the third Longbo bare," said Feng Qiuyun.

Shen Mu laughed. "This time it is different. This time we truly are almost there."

BOOM—

Wei Suifeng shook out his sleeve, and a seven-colored sun appeared in the sky. Feng Qiuyun raised her head and looked up at that many-hued sun, her face drawn with sorrow.

The plumes on her body were growing sparse. Before she knew it, half of them had been plucked out and handed to Shen Mu for his tests. Yet it was just as before: his trials would go smoothly from the start, only to fall short at the very last moment, so that the matter-energy of the plume reversed and it burst on the spot.

Whenever a test failed, Shen Mu would sink into deep contemplation, and each time it took him longer than the last.

Before anyone knew it, another half month had gone by. Even Wei Suifeng had been worn down past all temper, and despair was rising in his heart; he held on only by sheer force of will.

As the renowned Emperor Yunluo, he had weathered great storms and witnessed the rise and ruin of countless heroes, and he knew well that what destroys a man is never the world outside him, but the heart of his Dao.

How many heroes had watched the heart of their Dao collapse under defeat and never risen again?

He understood the truth of it, and yet, when the hour came, he could not help but taste despair.

"And yet our junior brother seems to have held fast to his original heart. By rights, these repeated failures should have wounded him deepest of all, yet he carries on as though nothing were amiss... no, as though he had no heart at all to wound, as if no setback ever lands on him!"

Doubt and admiration filled his heart together. "Unbending through a hundred defeats—perhaps that is why he is revered as the Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, and why I am not his equal."

Suddenly Shen Mu said, his voice calm, "It is done."

Everyone surged with excitement and hurried to look at his hand, and there, sure enough, Shen Mu was holding a whole, unbroken phoenix plume!

He gave the plume a gentle wave. Seven-colored radiance flowed from it, and the plume shone with a blinding divine light, carrying divine power of its own.

Shen Mu seemed not the least bit stirred, yet the light within his body had begun to brighten of itself, only to be forced down again at once.

"No one get excited," Shen Mu urged them. "Beware of explosions. Sister Qiuyun, I need to run a few more tests to steady the chance of success."

Feng Qiuyun gritted her teeth, reached around, and plucked a dozen more plumes. "Is that enough?" she asked, her voice urgent.

A difficult look crossed Shen Mu's face. "For tests with the Taiji divine stones alone, it should be enough. Even if something fails, the odds are not too high. But I still need to test with the Taiji origin stone, and its power is immeasurably greater than that of the divine stones. Therefore..."

Feng Qiuyun's face was without expression. She savagely plucked a hundred or more plumes, thrust the whole armful into his hands, turned, and walked away, saying flatly, "I am going to find something to cover myself. Call me when your tests succeed."

Shen Mu nodded and put the plumes away.

Wei Suifeng said in a low voice, "Junior brother, could we not do without the phoenix plumes? I think we might pluck hairs from our own heads and test with those just as well."

"Hah! I forgot!" Shen Mu cried in astonishment.

In the distance, Feng Qiuyun stumbled, pitched headlong to the ground, then scrambled up and walked on without once looking back.

Shen Mu went on testing with the Taiji divine stones a dozen more times and at last steadied the odds of success. Then he brought out the Taiji origin stone and continued his attempts with it.

The Way of Yin and Yang evolution contained in the Taiji origin stone was far more intricate and far harder to grasp. Shen Mu suffered several dozen more failures, and after each one he would take stock of it all, seeking to comprehend the way in which Taiji evolves the derivations of Yin and Yang.

Though he had not yet succeeded, his understanding of the Way of Taiji had grown deeper and his comprehension keener.

"A pity I cannot enter the Dao in dreams and use the world of dreams to deduce the Way of Taiji. Otherwise it would not take long at all to comprehend fully the principles hidden in this Taiji origin stone."

Shen Mu sighed inwardly. The Taiji origin stone held many principles profound beyond fathoming, and it was not merely a matter of matter-energy conversion; the evolution of the great Dao lay within it as well, deep and mysterious, not to be unlocked in a moment's time.

Still, in using the Taiji origin stone to convert matter and energy, he was now eight or nine parts certain, and all that remained was to make success a certainty.

Of turning their bodies of energy back into living beings with the Taichu divine stone, he was wholly certain. But the Taiji divine stones could restore only their flesh and their divine power; they could not restore their Dao arts.

The Taiji origin stone was different.

With the Taiji origin stone, the transformation could restore each of them to their most perfect state—stronger and more perfect even than before!

Of course, for those who had been stripped of every feather and scale, feathers and scales could not be restored; they would have to grow them back themselves.

Shen Mu went on testing with the plumes that remained, and at last the test succeeded. Restored by the Taiji origin stone, the plume blazed with seven-colored glory, brimming with divine power and even suffused with the Dao resonance of the Phoenix clan!

Shen Mu gave the plume a light wave; seven-colored light flashed, and with a swish it cut the great mountain ahead to powder!

"This plume is even stronger than Feng Qiuyun's original feathers!"

He nodded slightly, and Wei Suifeng, King Longbo, and the others watched him with expectant faces, waiting for him to speak.

But Shen Mu went on testing, striving to make every attempt succeed.

Before anyone knew it, he had tested his way through all the remaining plumes. The odds of success climbed higher and higher, with scarcely any chance of a slip left, and only then did he let out a breath and smile. "My friends, I can restore you now."

Feng Qiuyun came over, her face alight with excitement.

Shen Mu pondered a moment, then threw Wei Suifeng a glance. Wei Suifeng understood and said, "Restore a few Yulin soldiers first, in case of failure, and then restore the rest of us."

Shen Mu smiled. "These Yulin soldiers laid down their lives for righteousness. It is admirable."

Feng Qiuyun and King Longbo understood perfectly well why Shen Mu and Wei Suifeng had said this: they feared that if King Longbo and Feng Qiuyun were restored first, the two of them would turn traitor and seize the moment to slaughter everyone.