Shen Mu was filled with gratitude.

He swept a long bow all the way to the ground and said, "I thank you for your guidance, Senior; your junior will keep it engraved in his heart. " Pei Wujiu smiled.

"If you know what gratitude is, then train as quickly as you can and slay the soul of the Dark Dragon Mother! If you come up against any difficulty, do not hesitate to ask me. " Shen Mu at once set the Crimson Heart Art in motion.

The art required him to regard his cinnabar field as a tract of farmland: he had to slash and plow within the field, plant a spark of fire, and then make ten suns rise above the field to nourish that spark until it swelled into a furnace within the cinnabar field, blazing with a roaring holy flame!

Only after he had achieved something there could his Crimson Heart be said to have taken its first form.

Once the Crimson Heart had achieved this first small completion, he could control a sword: the sword followed his thought, and where the heart arrived, the sword arrived. Easy to say, but hard to do. Holy flame was not easy to obtain, and forging a Crimson Heart was harder still—that was why the art was divided into nine turns. If Shen Mu could refine himself through only the first turn, his qi's command of the flying sword would far surpass what it had been, and catching up with the soul of the Dark Dragon Mother should be well within his power.

"Oh?

Your foundation is truly excellent! " Pei Wujiu was taken aback: in the space of a few breaths, Shen Mu had already slashed and plowed his cinnabar field, planted the fire seed, and caused ten suns to rise in unison above the field to nurture it.

This showed that Shen Mu's cultivation was exceedingly deep. An ordinary martial artist—let alone summoning ten suns—would find it hard even to plant the seed; he would need a steady stream of miraculous elixirs to replenish his vital energy before he could grow enough fire seed. Shen Mu, however, had needed no elixirs at all; in one single breath he had filled his cinnabar field with fire seed, and his vital energy had turned into ten suns blazing down upon the field.

Amid the martial artists of the Spirit Embryo realm, such cultivation was a rarity under heaven! "At this terrifying rate of progress, perhaps he will not need ten days, nor even two—by tomorrow he can complete the first turn of the Crimson Heart Art, cut down the Dark Dragon Mother's soul, and set me free! " Pei Wujiu's eyes glittered.

"Such an outstanding young genius. I truly hate to kill him. " His heart lamented.

"But this Wasteland is a place abandoned by the gods. Not only the people who live here—even an insect is guilty and must die.

What is more, I am hungry. It has been over fifty years since I last ate anything. .

. " The time Shen Mu needed to complete the first turn was even shorter than Pei Wujiu had imagined. By now night had fallen, and the sky outside was gradually growing bright; light filtered through the waters of the Yong River and fell upon the dragon palace at the bottom.

Shen Mu rose to his feet. At a flicker of thought, his vital energy coiled around the Chu Bao sword, and with a tearing sound the blade pierced the layered mist, coming and going as swiftly as light or lightning—impossibly fast!

Again and again the Chu Bao sword hissed through the air; in the space of an instant Shen Mu drove the treasured sword through a hundred thrusts, enough to dazzle any eye.

He knew no sword technique, only this single simple movement of thrusting, yet he was even more formidable than a true sword-sect heir like Yan Qing of the Lanjiang Sect! This Crimson Heart Art was truly amazing!

Shen Mu bowed once more to Pei Wujiu and said with deep sincerity, "Thank you for teaching me this art, Senior. Your junior will never forget it to the end of his days.

" Pei Wujiu laughed heartily.

"You are extremely gifted, and that is why you could grasp it through and through in so short a time and complete the first turn of the Crimson Heart. That little fox at your side could never train as quickly as you.

Hurry now—drive your sword and slay the Dark Dragon Mother! " Joy swelled in his heart: deliverance was at hand, and even a master of his standing could not help his mind swaying, torn between hope and fear. "This lad saved me, and his talent is so great that I really cannot bear to kill him. .

. " Just then, Shen Mu turned on his heel and walked out of the dragon palace with the Chu Bao sword, his figure swallowed in the thick mist.

Pei Wujiu blinked, still dazed, and before he could collect himself, Shen Mu had already left the dragon palace with the Chu Bao sword and Snow Fox, walking away without a moment's pause.

"Come back here! " Pei Wujiu's roar came after him, harsh and furious: "You rotten little wretch!

You break your word! I taught you the art, I gave you the sword—why will you not slay the Dark Dragon Mother?

" From beyond the palace, Shen Mu's voice grew ever more distant: "Senior, it is true that the Dark Dragon Mother killed many martial artists who entered this place, using the Dark Water Dragon Pearl.

But the pearl only turns its victims into dried corpses, walking dead. In the dragon palace there were also many sets of bones that did not die beneath the pearl; they did not become dried corpses, but skeletons.

" Pei Wujiu was taken aback. "You little wretch—when did you notice? " "The moment I entered the dragon palace, I noticed. " Pei Wujiu gnashed his teeth. "Are you truly only twelve years old?

Can a twelve-year-old see all this, reason it all out, and turn my plan back on me without showing a thing?

" "Your junior will not turn twelve until this autumn—I am eleven right now.

. . " Shen Mu's voice grew softer and softer, until it faded into nothing.

A torrent of furious curses burst from the dragon palace, loud and ringing, reaching the ears of Shen Mu and Snow Fox, who were already far away. Snow Fox poked her head out from his robes and asked uneasily, "Young Master Mu, how did you know he meant you harm?

" Shen Mu said, "When we first arrived, I drove the mist back with my staff, and many dried corpses fell from the air. Did you notice that, apart from the corpses, there were also many dry skeletons?

" Snow Fox nodded.

She had noticed. Some of the skeletons had been crushed by the falling corpses, and these skeletons still wore clothes. "The clothes the skeletons wore were official robes.

" Shen Mu went on: "Pei Wujiu said he brought his disciples into the Wasteland on a training expedition and discovered this underwater dragon palace. His disciples were supposedly killed by the Dark Water Dragon Pearl.

But one who is killed by the pearl should have all the blood and vital energy drawn out of him and become a dried corpse; he should not become a skeleton.

Since they did not die by the pearl, how did they die? " Snow Fox suddenly saw the truth and hurried to say, "In Pei Wujiu's other hand he leaned on a Nether Soul-Devouring Banner, a very sinister thing! His being sealed in the ice was a gradual process—he must have used that banner to kill his disciples. " "When he was sealed in dark ice by the Dark Water Dragon Pearl, he could not break free, and he knew he was bound to be trapped there for a long time. Officialdom is full of endless jostling and betrayal.

His disciples bore the name of protégés, but they were all officials of the state of Jingping, with no true master-disciple feeling between them; they were unlikely to inform the court and come to his rescue. After all, everyone stood to gain if the post of Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince fell vacant. " Shen Mu nodded.