荒墟牧神 - 第65章 牡丹吐芬芳 - 文瀾書苑

"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