Chapter 1294 — A Pair of Invalids
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
. " Outside the banquet, the vertical eye at the center of Shen Mu's brow was open, and he waited quietly. The Taishi in the Egg at his brow complained, "Fellow Daoist, are you not afraid Celestial Venerable Hao will turn on you on the spot and kill you? You humiliated him so brutally and stripped him of all authority; he hates you to the bone!
" "Daoist brother, you may be worldly, but you do not understand the human heart. " Shen Mu's divine sense rippled as he smiled. "If I were Celestial Venerable Hao, I would certainly feign the look of a man gravely wounded and at death's door.
The weaker I pretended to be, the less those with treacherous intentions would dare to move against me.
Then I would use a few small means to establish my authority; the crowd would be terrified, and no one would dare to move against me at all. The one Celestial Venerable Hao means to overawe is not me. With you protecting me, if he strikes at me he cannot kill me, and instead he would expose the fact that his cultivation has not yet recovered. Once he exposes himself, the other Celestial Venerables will not let such a rare opportunity slip. " Taishi in the Egg thought it over, and indeed it was so. "So when we meet, we shall still be courteous to each other, as though nothing had ever happened.
" Shen Mu looked at the divine being who had come out to receive him, and his aura suddenly slumped.
The divine being cried out in alarm, "Celestial Venerable, you are wounded?
" Shen Mu nodded weakly and raised his arm trembling; the divine being hurriedly supported him and led him toward the feast. Shen Mu's divine sense rippled on: "Celestial Venerable Hao and I will exchange only pleasantries.
The one man who can truly let him establish his authority before the crowd while keeping his true depths hidden is Yin Tianzi. " Taishi in the Egg was stirred. "Why do you say that? " "Yin Tianzi is Celestial Venerable Hao's trusted confidant, closer to him even than Celestial Venerable Huo.
The two once shared a bond that survived death itself.
Yet when I hunted Celestial Venerable Hao, Yin Tianzi stood by and let him die; therefore Celestial Venerable Hao means to use him to establish his authority. " His breath as faint as a thread, Shen Mu was helped into the feast in full view of everyone, his body trembling, and sat down shaking like a sieve, as though he had spent the very last of his strength. His divine sense carried on: "Yin Tianzi knows as well that because he did not save Celestial Venerable Hao, he has earned his resentment, and the way to erase that resentment is to be beaten by Celestial Venerable Hao.
Celestial Venerable Hao beats him to set his mind at ease: once he has been beaten, the resentment will be gone, and Yin Tianzi will go on serving him with all his heart, never again daring to harbor divided loyalties. " Taishi in the Egg fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "The human heart has so many twists and turns? Can one not unify the world by invincible martial might alone? " Shen Mu let out a long breath and said, downcast, "Celestial Venerable Hao, Celestial Venerable Xu, my lords all, pray forgive me; I am wounded and cannot observe the full courtesies. It was to save Celestial Venerable Hao that the Great Emperor gravely wounded me. " At these words the feast fell into an even deeper silence.
Some divine being had been eating meat, and the meat hung at his lips, forgotten, unchewed.