What do they intend to do with it? "

Shen Mu blinked, somewhat bewildered.

Just then an officer on the ship strode quickly beneath the canopy, dropped to one knee, clasped his fists, and said, "General Shen, there is someone on the bank spying on us! "

The young general beneath the canopy raised his brows and turned to look toward Shen Mu. Shen Mu's heart lurched: when that general's gaze swung over, it was as though two incomparably brilliant beams of light shone forth, and all before his eyes went blinding white—he could see nothing at all. Snow Fox and the Xuanliao Demon Ape cried out in alarm too and clapped their hands over their eyes.

Only the dragon-elephant, head down and busy with its pine needles, noticed nothing amiss. "Only ordinary villagers by the river, that's all.

"

General Shen closed his eyes and dozed.

"They cannot even withstand my gaze. No threat.

Pay them no mind.

"

"Yes, General! "

The officer hesitated, then said, "Seven months ago, by imperial order, General raided the household of Yan Zheng, Minister of Rites. Yan Zheng has long enjoyed a spotless name at court and in the country, and often spoke up for the lesser sects; he himself came out of the Huaqing Sword Sect, and his standing in the court was very high. General raided his house and threw him into the imperial prison; the Emperor ordered him beheaded, and General oversaw the execution. I fear our journey will not be a peaceful one—Yan Zheng's surviving partisans will likely strike at us along the way. "

General Shen sneered. "It was the Emperor who ordered the raid; it was the Emperor who ordered Yan Zheng's execution.

What has that to do with me? Yan Zheng was a fisher of fame. He even lodged a complaint with the throne, claiming the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping meant to rebel and demanding that the Emperor put the Imperial Preceptor to death at once—sheer rebellion! For the sake of a scrap of reputation he dared to estrange the Emperor from his own Imperial Preceptor, to plot sedition. Death cannot atone for his crime. If not him, whom do we kill?

"

He rubbed his temples and sighed. "The Emperor ordered me to search his house and oversee his execution precisely because I am a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, raised up by the Imperial Preceptor's own hand. By making me do the searching and the overseeing, he means to tell court and country that his favor toward the Imperial Preceptor is at its height, and to make those treacherous ministers give up the notion. A pity that some cannot read the times or grasp the imperial will, and so court their own deaths. "

The officer said, "But this time, I fear fame-seeking fellows will lie in ambush for us. .

.

"

General Shen waved a hand. "That is precisely what I want—to draw out Yan Zheng's partisans and wipe these rebel ministers out in one sweep!

"

He rose and walked to the bow, watching the rolling river bear its ice floes rushing downstream, watching the peaks and cliffs on either bank. Calmly he said, "The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping ordered me into the Wasteland to map the Surging River for the sake of the realm—so that in time the Wasteland may be brought into our dynasty's territory. And these traitors, unable to appreciate the Imperial Preceptor's painstaking design, still dream of killing me and throwing the realm of Jingping into chaos. Do they not deserve to die a hundred deaths? "

At that moment a young lord emerged from the cabin. He was not fat; only his face had a certain babyish plumpness, and at the center of his brow was a red dot.

Holding a folding fan, he said with a smile, "A man like that, and he still carries the name of an honest official, a loyal minister and righteous gentleman—it makes one laugh and weep at once! Such loyal ministers and honest officials are best wiped out to the last man! "

General Shen hurriedly turned and saluted him. "Seventh Young Master. "

The Seventh Young Master lifted his head to look at the mountain.

The shadows of Shen Mu and the Xuanliao Demon Ape on the ridge came down and fell exactly over the tower ship as it sailed.

"General Shen, I have heard that the natives of the Wasteland are all folk forsaken by the gods. Is that so?

" asked the Seventh Young Master.