A Fire Element Divine Yuan Pill was tucked into the center of the Crimson Fire Spirit Pill; no wonder it had tasted a little spicy on the tongue! "Sect Leader, there's something wrong with these pills!

" the Dragon Qilin cried. It peeled open several more and tossed the Fire Element Divine Yuan Pills into the river, eating only the outer skin. Shen Mu blew on the golden flute and made a green flood dragon give the Dragon Qilin a beating.

The Dragon Qilin howled piteously, and never dared to be picky about its food again. As Lord Dragon-Rearer swam toward the Desolate Ruins, it taught Shen Mu a deeper level of the Dragon-Riding Art.

The Dragon-Rearing Scripture it had given him had indeed held something back — many crucial points had not been recorded in it. Shen Mu studied with all his heart and played no tricks.

Half a day later, he had learned the Dragon-Riding Art in full, and then asked how to summon the power of the True Dragon Lord. Lord Dragon-Rearer said, "The True Dragon Lord was refined into a treasure by someone or other, and has already become a treasure of fortune. It can never become a true dragon again.

But if you place this treasure within the True Dragon Nest, the True Dragon Lord can draw in the dragon qi of the Nest, and with a special cultivation method, draw in the fortune of the True Dragon Lord. Whoever wears the True Dragon Lord will see his cultivation advance by leaps and bounds, a thousand li in a single day! But I have never learned such a method. I imagine the being who took the True Dragon Lord must have imprinted that method into it. Once you have seized its fortune, you will be the True Dragon Lord! "

"A special cultivation method? "

Shen Mu was briefly startled, then hastily described the Nine Dragons Emperor Art he had learned from Emperor Yanfeng, and asked, "Is that a fortune-seizing method? "

Lord Dragon-Rearer pondered a moment, then shook its head. "That method seizes only qi; it relies on dragon qi for cultivation, and is not a fortune-seizing method.

We dragons are born of heaven and earth, and from birth inherit the energy and information of the cosmos, which we turn into speech — the dragon tongue.

Every dragon, once born, is naturally proficient in the dragon tongue and has no need to learn it. The writing on the True Dragon Lord and on the Nest is our race's script.

I have seen only the writing on the True Dragon Nest, never that on the True Dragon Lord. But from what I saw on the Nest, it does contain a fortune-seizing method, though it is incomplete. "

Shen Mu's heart stirred. The complete fortune-seizing method could only be learned by bringing the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor and the True Dragon Nest together. Legend had it that a god had bestowed the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor upon the ancestors of the Ling family, as a symbol of imperial authority. The Ling family's Nine Dragons Emperor Art had come from that Tablet, a method comprehended from its contents. And Emperor Yanfeng, a talent granted by heaven, had perfected the Nine Dragons Emperor Art, raising it to the point where it could stand against the Great Yu Hidden Demon Scripture and the Thunderpeal Mahayana Scripture! One could well imagine what a terrifying method would emerge when the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor and the True Dragon Nest, those twin treasures, were joined as one!

"Dragon Lord, teach me the dragon tongue! " Shen Mu said abruptly.

Lord Dragon-Rearer taught him the dragon tongue as it knew it, and said, "The dragon tongue of our kind is hidden in the bloodline. The purer the bloodline, the more of the dragon tongue one knows. I am no true dragon; there are words in the dragon tongue whose meaning even I do not know.

"

Shen Mu committed the syllables and written forms of the dragon tongue to memory, his head swelling as he did. The strokes of the dragon script were peculiar, seemingly composed of one dragon after another, with scarcely any discernible pattern.

And without pattern, there was no possibility of deducing the meaning of the other characters he did not know.

What was more, the dragon tongue was pronounced differently from human speech, carrying a peculiar rhythm; some syllables a human throat simply could not produce.

To converse with dragons in their own tongue was well-nigh impossible. Shen Mu memorized the dragon tongue Lord Dragon-Rearer taught him, then took out the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor from his breast. This time, looking at the Tablet, he could suddenly make out the meaning of some of the characters, symbols, and patterns — but Lord Dragon-Rearer's knowledge of the dragon tongue was incomplete, and he still could not recognize all the writing on the Tablet.

The dragon tongue on the Jade Tablet shifted ceaselessly, leaving him dizzy and muddled as he stared. Shen Mu closed his eyes and shook his head, murmuring, "Only a true dragon can recognize all the script of the dragon race.

Where am I to find a true dragon to teach me the whole of the dragon tongue?

"

"There are true dragons in the Desolate Ruins," Lord Dragon-Rearer said quietly. Shen Mu's spirits soared, and he looked up sharply. Ahead, Mishui Pass was in sight.

Lord Dragon-Rearer's speed was truly terrifying; in only half a day it had carried them to the Desolate Ruins. Mishui Pass had been sealed off by the Jingping Kingdom's army, which had thrown up a fortified camp there. For Lord Dragon-Rearer to pass, it would have to destroy the great city. Shen Mu at once made Lord Dragon-Rearer stop, and everyone jumped down from the dragon's back and entered Mishui Pass.

Feng Xiuyun came out with a crowd to welcome them and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Sect Leader!

"

Shen Mu said with a smile, "No need for such courtesy. It grows late; we'll rest here for the night, and enter the Desolate Ruins tomorrow.

Hall Master Feng, see to the guest rooms.

"

The Blind Elder said with a grin, "The girl's not bad-looking.

.

. Prepare a fine feast. Tonight your Sect Leader weds a second time and bows in the marriage hall.

"