Chapter 46 — A Cry That Rouses the True Dragon

Shen Mu reached out and caught one, and took a cautious bite; down his throat it burned fiercely, fiercer than the butcher's strong liquor, and reaching his belly it kindled a searing heat that set his yuan qi stirring with unusual vigor. He circulated his yuan qi and to his surprise felt a potency like that of a Yuan-Congealing Pill, able to raise his yuan cultivation, though the gain was modest compared with the pill. "Is this creature a plant or an animal?" Shen Mu snatched up another. The wondrous being had no eyes, no hands, no feet, no orifices; it drew the moss's nourishment through rootlike tendrils, and he truly could not tell whether it was plant or animal. He ate only one, while the white fox capered about and ate her fill. The further down they went, the cooler the air grew. After an unknowable distance the burbling of water reached them: a stream ran along the mountainside, exceedingly clear, and several eyeless great fish dwelt in the pool at its end, those great fish too giving off a phosphorescent glow. To pass, one had to cross the pool to reach the passage on the far side. "Those great fish are vicious as anything! At the faintest sound they come hurtling after you, and no mistake!" The white fox whispered, "I'll throw a stone and draw them off; we dash across while they're distracted!" So saying, her paw snatched up a stone and hurled it with all her might. The stone struck the wall, and with a great splash several of the eyeless great fish broke the surface of the pool, tails thrashing in midair, four fins spread wide like four broad wings, screaming down upon the source of the sound! "Quick!" The white fox took the lead, and Shen Mu sprinted along the edge of the pool toward the far side. In his haste the youth heard only a few tremendous crashes: the strange fish had slammed into the stone wall and, gaping their monstrous jaws, bitten great holes in the rock! Mountain stone harder than anything became in their mouths as if made of tofu; had those jaws closed on a human, the consequences would have been unthinkable! Barely had man and fox reached the far bank when the strange fish, hearing their footsteps, beat their fins about and came flying toward them! "Follow me, young master!" The white fox shot into the passage on the far side, and Shen Mu ducked in after her. The passage was not wide. The great fish behind could no longer fly at its mouth, yet on their four fins they went galloping down the corridor, chasing Shen Mu and the little fox! "Are these still fish?" Scalp prickling, Shen Mu kept close on the white fox's heels. The strange fish pursued them for a stretch but could not catch them; one by one they slowly backed out of the passage and sank into the pool to lie in wait. Shen Mu exhaled. The way ahead broadened by degrees, and when they had made their way out of a trumpet-shaped cave, rippling sunlight suddenly spilled down. Shen Mu looked up and froze. Overhead a mighty current of water surged past; shoals of fish swam above his head, and he saw great golden turtles, fish large as small boats, and river beasts of colossal size. One great fish caught sight of Shen Mu and the little fox and grew excited; jaws agape, it lunged toward them, only to strike an invisible wall of water and rebound. The great fish shook its head, seemingly puzzled, waved its tail, and swam away. "The Surging River! We are beneath the Surging River!" Shen Mu's expression was strange. "The Surging River is right above us, yet the water does not fall to drown this place..." He looked ahead and his heart lurched: rows of dragon pillars stood before him, thick and tall, dozens of zhang high, rearing from the riverbed, their crowns touching the water above. The ground beneath their feet was paved with white marble; a road ran forward, dragon pillars flanking it on either side, and after a hundred zhang or so a great complex of palaces came into view. Rank on rank of dragon pillars enclosed these palace compounds, and it must have been the pillars that bore the river water up, keeping the flood from reaching here. Yet many of the palaces had already collapsed; some tremendous upheaval must have occurred here, reducing the place to ruins. The white fox capered up to the remains of a palace, and Shen Mu saw, on a wall half fallen, mottled murals: an aged dragon-headed elder banqueting his guests, and the guests were all strange and outlandish creatures — a man with a tortoise's shell, a woman with a serpent's tail, a monk, and men of flesh and blood. Crash. A pillar came down, narrowly missing Shen Mu and the little fox. The white fox padded into the half-collapsed hall. "This is where I found those ancient texts." Shen Mu drew closer. In this ruined great hall was a hidden chamber built into the wall; only now that its stone door had fallen away had the white fox discovered it. The chamber was emptied out; whatever had been inside must have been carried off by the white fox. "If we go any further, there is great peril ahead!" The white fox pointed at a towering gateway ahead, panic in her voice. "It is terrifying!" Shen Mu looked at the gateway. Beyond it he could just make out what seemed a palace, still fairly intact, not yet collapsed; what was strange was that it appeared veiled in a film of mist, and he could not make out what lay within, only that the palace seemed to float amid the vapor, now visible, now hidden. "There is something dreadful in there..." The white fox's voice trembled. "Once you reach the gateway you will feel its presence — and then your legs give way, and you cannot rise..." Shen Mu walked forward, the white fox gathering her courage to follow at his heels. The moment they reached the gateway, an overwhelming baleful aura struck him full in the face — appalling, bone-shaking, like half a clear midday sky suddenly smothered by black cloud hanging before him, and within that brooding darkness a beast of monstrous, dreadful size fixing its gaze upon him! Sacred, august, inviolable, and at the same time savage and ferocious — this was the great terror the white fox had spoken of. Shen Mu drew a long breath, steadied himself, and his mind returned to its usual calm. "Lingxiao Heaven Eye, open!" Yuan-qi patterns weaved and interlaced within his pupils, forming a second set of pupil-patterns, and he gazed through the mist beyond the gateway. Beside him the white fox had gone limp: she flopped onto the ground on her belly and, with great effort, turned herself around to crawl slowly back the way they had come. Shen Mu picked her up. The white fox hung slack in his grip. "Don't hold me... I'm dying... my heart is racing..." "You are not dying. What's in this dragon palace is dead." Shen Mu smiled. "Guess what I saw?" The white fox did not answer; her four limbs paddled feebly at the air and her tail swished back and forth, as though she wanted to crawl away, unwilling to spend one more instant here. Shen Mu laughed. "I saw the Dragon King of the Surging River!" "Ah —" The little white fox let out a soft sigh and fainted, all four legs kicking straight. After a moment she quietly opened one eye and rolled it around twice. Shen Mu tried her: "The Dragon King of the Surging River." The white fox's four legs stiffened even straighter, and her eyes shut again. "The Dragon King of the Surging River is dead." Shen Mu did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Nothing but bones are left. This Dragon King has been dead for untold years; I saw his dragon bones in the mist." The white fox's eyes flew open. "Dead?" Shen Mu nodded. "You can rest easy this time. Will you come in with me?" The white fox shook her head vehemently. Helpless, Shen Mu set her down — only to see the white fox still crawling outward, belly pressed to the ground, weak as water. He picked her up again, set her on his shoulder, and strode toward the gateway. The white fox was beside herself with fright: every hair of her snowy coat stood on end, her claws dug deep into his sh