Chapter 1378 — Men Are Ever Fickle

The latter half of the booklet recorded that among the people of Jingping there were those suspected of being the reincarnated bodies of ancient gods such as the West Emperor, the East Emperor, and the North Emperor; and beyond these ancient gods there were, astonishingly, reincarnated bodies of other colossi of the Heavenly Court as well—and a great many of them! Shen Mu was struck dumb. These lofty beings had always turned up their noses at the Jingping Reforms, had even done everything to crush them, to scorn them, to obstruct them, forbidding the disciples of their own gates from so much as touching the Jingping Reforms.

Any who did come into contact with the Jingping Reforms were put to death without exception! And yet they themselves had quietly split off a soul and half a spirit and slipped them into Jingping to draw nourishment from the Reforms! For hypocrisy, truly, one could scarcely find men more hypocritical than these!

"They made ready for both outcomes long ago.

If they win, so be it. " Shen Mu pressed his palms together and shut the booklet with a soft smack.

"If they lose, they shed one skin for another and become the heroes of the Jingping Reforms, steal the fruits of the Reforms, and keep their high offices still!

Their power will never slip from their grasp!

" A murderous air hung on his face. After a moment the murderous air faded, and his features grew placid. The colossi of the Heavenly Court might divide their souls and be reborn in Jingping; so long as these people did not seize the high offices of Jingping, let them be, there was no need to trouble over them. But the instant they tried to climb into high office and wrest power from Jingping, they must be rooted out!

The Headman and the Alchemist drank their tea while watching the play of his face.

The Headman said in a low voice, "A matter to be settled with a single stroke of the sword, and our Shen'er's face still shifts from clear to cloudy—poor stuff for one who bears the name of a Heavenly Venerable. " The Alchemist nodded.

"One packet of medicine is all it takes.

No trouble at all. " "Bring the Butcher, and it is the work of one cleaver. " "The Deaf Elder could flatten them into a plane as well.

" The two traded jibes at Shen Mu's expense.

He had long since grown used to their envy; silently he committed the contents of the booklet to memory, then tossed it to them.

"You make it sound easy.

Then leave it to you two elders to handle. " The Headman's and the Alchemist's expressions shifted a little. The booklet was like a scalding taro—take it or leave it, they were wrong either way.

Killing the reincarnated bodies of Heavenly Venerables was easy; the vengeance of a Heavenly Venerable, though, was a fearsome thing indeed! Shen Mu said gravely, "The You Heavenly Venerable has not confirmed which of them is truly the reincarnated body of which of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, so for the time being we need not deal with those Ten, lest we kill the wrong man.

The rest need only be watched; so long as they do not overstep, there is no need to bother with them.

And this matter must be told to Emperor Yanxiu as well, so that she may be prepared. " Only then did the Headman set his heart at ease. He put the booklet away. "Once you killed two of the reincarnated bodies of the Xiao Heavenly Venerable, the other Heavenly Venerables will all be on their guard and will not tread on your reverse scales. They ought not to do anything out of bounds.

" The Alchemist nodded. Shen Mu had shot dead two of the Xiao Heavenly Venerable's reincarnated bodies with ten arrows; with such a thunderbolt of a method, even the Ten Heavenly Venerables must weigh carefully whether to snatch power in Jingping under Shen Mu's very nose. "There is one thing, Shen'er, that you would do well to weigh carefully.

" The Headman said slowly, "The death of the Vermilion Bird, the South Emperor, came about because the Ten Heavenly Venerables quietly and by degrees devoured the forces of the Southern Pole Heaven, replacing its middle and lower ranks with their own people bit by bit.

In time even the high ranks of the Southern Pole Heaven were replaced, so that when the Fire Heavenly Venerable attacked the Southern Pole Heaven he met with almost no resistance at all. Patience they have in abundance. " Shen Mu's face grew stern.

"I understand.

" Wei Suifeng, Granny Zhu, and the rest were ready; Jingping's tower ship was about to set sail, and Shen Mu was just about to go aboard when suddenly a beam of light flashed across the spirit-energy transfer bridge—someone had descended from the Heavenly Court into Jingping. Shen Mu stood at the prow, gazing fixedly at that bridge, and saw a beautiful girl emerge from the radiance upon the altar and come bounding and skipping down it at a run, her two very long ponytails swinging back and forth and swishing across her backside. Shen Mu was briefly startled. "Yun Chuxiu. .

.

what is she doing back in Jingping? " The girl was none other than the reincarnated body of Lady Yuanmu, Yun Chuxiu, who had taken on the likeness of the Divine King Langwan. Catching sight of Shen Mu and the tower ship from afar, her eyes lit up and she came racing over.

"Jue Wuchen! " Wei Suifeng shuddered, his hair standing on end. He had seen Jue Wuchen on the ghost ship more times than he could count; he would never mistake her!

Shen Mu said in a low voice, "It is Lady Yuanmu.

Jue Wuchen is in Consort Yan's hands now. " Wei Suifeng was briefly taken aback, but Shen Mu had already flown from the tower ship and met Yun Chuxiu, saying with a gentle smile, "Little sister Chuxiu, what wind blows you here?

The Yuan World was in such a stir not long ago—it is a great pity you had no part in it.

" Yun Chuxiu craned her neck to peer at the tower ship behind him; Shen Mu stood in her way and blocked her view. "Skulking about like that, you are certainly not off to do any good!

" Yun Chuxiu giggled.

"I had meant to come over myself. I had a Heaven-Commanding Divine Artifact all prepared, and I meant to make a magnificent entrance, overawe the Ten Heavenly Venerables, and hold the Yuan World all to myself! " Shen Mu was startled.

The Ten Heavenly Venerables' Heaven-Commanding Divine Artifacts each had their own use; if Lady Yuanmu descended with one of them, she would surely outmatch them all and leave the Ten Heavenly Venerables not daring to contend with her for the Yuan World!

Yun Chuxiu sighed.

"But then I thought: if I rode a Heaven-Commanding Divine Artifact down here, the Ten Heavenly Venerables would discover that there are eleven Heavenly Venerables in the Heavenly Court, and then I would be done for. They would drag me out. So I had to give up the notion and watch you fellows put on your swagger.

" She sighed again and again, thoroughly vexed that she could not take part in such a diverting business. Shen Mu smiled. "Then why has little sister Chuxiu come to the Yuan World after all?

" Yun Chuxiu's face filled with sorrow, and she looked on the verge of tears. Choking, she said, "I heard in the Heavenly Court that my true body has gotten loose! That good-for-nothing lover of mine let my true body out and set it to raise storms everywhere; heaven knows how many are watching my true body, meaning to give me a lesson in manners! " The corner of Shen Mu's eye twitched.

Lady Yuanmu's true body had indeed gone missing—not, of course, because he had deliberately released it, but because a corpse demon had been born within Lady Yuanmu's true body, and the corpse demon had run off of itself.

"That wicked lover of mine held my true body for more than ten years, and when he tired of playing with it he flung it away like a worn-out shoe!