Chapter 1638 — The Long Night Without Dawn

The Alchemist was silent a moment, then said, "Shen'er, the Overlord Body was indeed a fiction. Yet all along this road you have swept everything before you on the strength of that one conviction. Who under heaven has won what you have won? Who has your talent? You are no Overlord Body, and yet you have done what even an Overlord Body could never do."

"Grandpa Alchemist, you saw my success. Did you see how much heart's blood I paid for it?"

Shen Mu suddenly lost control of himself and cried aloud, "From the moment I learned I was an Overlord Body, I began to fight with all my might! I began to use my wits, to rack my brains to the last drop! I was afraid. Afraid of failing the hopes you had of me! Afraid of disgracing the name of the Overlord Body! Afraid of the eyes you kept on my back! Again and again I fought to the death, again and again I nearly died, not because I believed I was an Overlord Body, but because I did not want you to be disappointed in me!"

His voice cracked with exhaustion. "And afterward? Afterward I came to Jingping, and I became the Hierarch of the Celestial Saints. I should never have learned of the reforms, never have learned of revolution, never have listened to the way of the sages, never have become Jingping's Imperial Preceptor! Once I took all that on, I could only fight the harder, stake my own life in the gamble! The Overlord Body? There was never any Overlord Body! There was only what an ordinary man like me bought with his life!"

The Alchemist was stunned, and fell silent.

Shen Mu panted heavily, and his face eased again. He walked over to the Alchemist and the Village Chief, his voice carrying a note of helplessness. "Grandpa Alchemist, Grandpa Village Chief, I am tired. I do not want to keep pretending to be the Overlord Body. Your hopes for me are too high. I cannot do it. Do not stop me."

The Village Chief opened his mouth, and all that came out was a sigh.

Shen Mu staggered onward. Suddenly space leaped, and Yue Tianzun, appearing and vanishing like a ghost, set Granny Zhu, the Blind Old Man, and the Mute Artisan down before him, and said hurriedly, "I am going to fetch Tiandao, the Painting Sage, and Ma Rulai!"

Shen Mu shook his head. "Yue, there is no need to go to such trouble."

Yue Tianzun said not a word, and was gone in a flash.

Shen Mu looked at Granny Zhu, the Blind Old Man, and the Mute Artisan, and smiled through his tears. "Granny, Blind Grandpa, Grandpa Mute, I am tired. I do not want to fight on any longer. I want to go home. I want to go back to Hidden Maimed Village. I want to be a boy again."

Granny Zhu had meant to argue with him, but at these words her heart softened at once. Wiping her tears, she said, "Then go home. And none of you are to speak!"

She glared at the Blind Old Man and the Mute Artisan. "No talking him out of it! Going home is fine. This world was never yours to carry! Go home, Shen'er. We will go back and build ourselves another Hidden Maimed Village."

Shen Mu dragged his heavy steps past them. The Blind Old Man and the Mute Artisan turned their heads and stared blankly at his back. The Blind Old Man opened his mouth and quavered, "Shen'er, if we go back, what of the Lame Old Man? Can the Lame Old Man still come back?"

Shen Mu stopped, his body trembling.

"The Lame Old Man cannot come back..."

The Blind Old Man's voice shook. "And Hidden Maimed Village is no longer the Hidden Maimed Village it was. We cannot go back, Shen'er..."

Thud.

Shen Mu dropped to his knees and bowed his head.

The Blind Old Man walked around behind him and seized his shoulders. "If the Lame Old Man were here, he surely would not want to see you like this..."

"I can see no hope at all..."

Shen Mu let out a howl like an old wolf, his head bowed to his chest, and wept aloud, "I can no longer see any hope! Do not force me any more! We have already lost. I cannot gamble with the lives of everyone!"

He wept his fill, then turned and knocked his head heavily on the ground before the Village Chief, before Granny Zhu, before the Blind Old Man and the rest. "I have failed Grandpa Lame. I have failed the hopes you set on me. But I..."

He raised his head. "must do this."

The Village Chief sighed and helped him to his feet. "Shen'er, go and do it. We will wait for you to come back."

Shen Mu turned and walked toward the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge, Langwan following behind him.

In the Upper Capital of Jingping, Ling Yuxiu stood at the head of Jingping's civil and military officials, watching all of this in silence, her heart wrung as though by a knife, her face unmoved.

"Your Majesty, will you not stop the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping?" one minister asked.

Ling Yuxiu shook her head. "There is no need to stop him. He is no longer your Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, and I will soon no longer be your sovereign. When the Retired Emperor arrives here, I will abdicate. I will leave Jingping with him and live out my days in seclusion..."

The officials looked at one another, and no one made a sound.

Step by step, Shen Mu climbed onto the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge. Looking at the spirit-energy light ahead, he drew a long breath, and was about to step into the bridge.

Suddenly Yuchenzi came running from afar, crying loudly, "Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, wait! Wait!"