Chapter 65 — The Peony Exhales Its Fragrance

"Damn it—my fourth-rank official seal! " Shen Feiyue's face changed drastically.

He hurriedly felt at his waist: the fourth-rank official seal was gone, and cold sweat rolled down his forehead. Losing an official seal was no small matter, but as a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, he could still hush the affair up. What chilled him far more was that he had never sensed when the lame old man had made his move and stolen the seal. If the lame old man had not gone for the seal, but had instead driven a blade into his back.

.

. He could not help but shudder.

The Seventh Young Master's face burned red; "he" clutched his chest and had the palace maids crowd around him, a wall of them, watertight. Just now the lame old man had filched several treasures off "his" person, and only when he slipped away the chest wrap binding "his" bosom did he discover that "he" was a woman.

The one thing the lame old man tabooed above all in his thieving was touching a woman; that was the only crack he showed, and Shen Feiyue seized the opening. The lame old man had no choice but to flee.

"That lame old man is the Shadow Thief who slipped deep into the imperial palace's inner courts and stole the Heavenly Emperor's Jade Register—the thief who stole heaven! " Shen Feiyue pressed down the shock in his heart.

Seeing that the Seventh Young Master was unharmed, he let out a breath and said, "Young. .

. Young Master was startled.

This officer is incompetent. .

. " Pei Wujiu, sealed in the mystic ice, was even more shaken: the lame old man had actually stolen the scabbard of the Chubao sword from right beside him! Not only the scabbard of the Chubao sword—the Netherworld Soul-Devouring Banner in his other hand had been stolen by the lame old man as well! He was at this moment frozen in the mystic ice.

How hard, how cold the mystic ice was, to freeze even a great master like him so that he could not break free. Back when Shen Mu tricked him with the sword, he had exhausted his vital essence before he could send the Chubao sword's hilt out of the mystic ice.

And this lame old man had ignored the mystic ice entirely, a single light touch—a hand of gods and ghosts—and he had simply made off with both his Netherworld Soul-Devouring Banner and the scabbard! "Lord Gu, this lame old man, back in the day, went deep into the imperial palace's inner courts and, before the eyes of countless imperial masters, strolled unhurried into the palace treasury. The countless traps and killing arrays in that treasury were all useless; he stole the Heavenly Emperor's Jade Register, and no one could stop him. " Shen Feiyue said, "It was only thanks to the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping's intervention that one of his divine legs was cut off.

But even the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping could not hold him; he fled far away with the Heavenly Emperor's Jade Register and vanished without a trace. " Pei Wujiu was aghast and fell silent. After a moment he said, "He is missing a leg, and he can still work such sleight of hand?

Is that a divine leg or a divine hand? " Suddenly, from ahead of the tower ship came the mournful cry of a giant beast.

Shen Feiyue's heart lurched; he rushed to the bow, and his pupils shrank. Before the ship stood a spider web, stretched across the Yong River, locking off more than ten li of water! The giant beast hauling the ship crashed into that web and struggled, unable to break free. Then the river split apart, and a spider of monstrous size crawled slowly up from the depths, dragged the beast onto the web, spun silk without cease, and sank its fangs into the beast's body.

Even though many officers and soldiers aboard flew their swords with vital essence, even unleashing divine powers, they could not drive that giant spider back—they could not even cut the web! Soon the giant beast shriveled, leaving only a skin. Shen Feiyue's body trembled; the hand pressed to his sword trembled too. He wanted to cleave that giant spider in two, yet dared not move.

He saw, by the riverbank, an alchemist with a medicine basket on his back, in plain blue robes, utterly ordinary—but his face was ruined beyond recognition, hideous beyond words. The alchemist beckoned, and the giant spider at the river's heart began to gather its web, crawling along a single strand toward him. Smaller and smaller it grew, until at last it became a tiny bean and burrowed into the alchemist's basket.

With the web gone from its path, the tower ship drifted downstream once more.

Faintly, Shen Feiyue heard a voice at his ear: "Tell the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping to keep his crooked schemes off the Wasteland. Careful he does not provoke us old cripples.

. .

" Pei Wujiu, in the mystic ice, said in a trembling voice, "It is the Poison King. . . " Shen Feiyue forced down the pounding of his heart, steadied himself, and shouted, "All officers and soldiers, hear the order: take up the oars and row.

Back to Jingping! " The ship had gone two or three li when suddenly an officer said, voice shaking, "General Shen, there is someone on the river! " Shen Feiyue ground his teeth, his face ashen, and said coldly, "What demons and monsters dare block my ship? Do they take me for clay?

Ram him dead—" He had barely spoken when he suddenly saw the man on the river: only the upper half of him, the lower half cut away at the waist by some unknown hand.

That strange man held two bizarre great sabers, standing on a reef at the river's heart. Suddenly, saber light tore the sky, earth-shaking.

Shen Feiyue looked up and saw the clouds above split apart by that dreadful saber aura! Then the saber light fell, chopping down to meet the tower ship!

Splash— The great waters of the Yong River parted to either side; the river itself was split in two, cut into two rivers by that single blade! "Seven Stars Divine Treasury, open! " Shen Feiyue roared.

Within his body one divine treasury after another burst open with a thunderous roar, dreadful vital essence erupting, transforming into two giant dragons that smashed into the ship's flank and drove the tower ship a hundred zhang sideways! That saber light grazed the hull and cleaved upstream, splitting the river along its path; the Yong River was torn open for more than ten li before it finally closed again behind the strange man at the river's heart.

"Heh heh.

Beating the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping's disciple is no fun. Beating the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping—that is fun.

.

.

" The strange man on the reef sheathed his saber, planted both hands on the rock, and with a sudden burst of strength leaped into the high sky and vanished. Shen Feiyue fought down the trembling in his legs and cried, "Steady the ship, steady.

.

. " His voice shook so badly he could not hear his own words.

He had no choice but to sit down first and regulate his breath, yet his mind was a tangled hemp. Pei Wujiu was even more terrified than he.

Trembling, he said, "The Heaven Blade!

The one who once laid his blade across the heavens and died at the hands of the gods—the Heaven Blade is still alive. .

.

" Shen Feiyue's face shifted between light and dark. "This inconspicuous little village in the Wasteland—how has it gathered such a pack of old monsters?

The Divine Spear, the Heaven Blade, the Shadow Thief, the Poison King. .

. Besides these few, what other dreadful beings live in that village. . .

" He looked at the Yong River geography map. The map he had painstakingly drawn along the way was still aboard; those vicious fiends just now had not destroyed it, which let him breathe easier. "No!

" He suddenly understood: those fiends had not destroyed the Yong River map because they did not wish to—but because they disdained to.

These old monsters were confident that even if he carried the map away, the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping would never dare invade the Wasteland! "Why did they not kill us?

" asked the Seventh Young Master, a woman dressed as a man. "Disdain.