Flowers tumbled through the sky in a profusion of unearthly splendor. Amid the scattered petals a beautiful woman came treading upon blossoms, descending aslant through the air. The petals drifted and whirled; one of them fell before Shen Mu with a tinkling ring.

He reached out his hand, but the petal melted away like a snowflake.

"Formed of primal essence?

" Shen Mu was startled. Then he caught sight of the face of the woman descending from the sky, and his heart began suddenly to pound violently.

He had learned painting and calligraphy under Old Man Kui. Old Man Kui's brushwork was without peer; he could paint every beauty beneath heaven. Yet even his brush, Shen Mu feared, could scarcely have captured this woman's face and bearing.

Looking upon her, Shen Mu at last understood what was meant by beauty unmatched through the ages, and unbidden he recalled an ancient rhapsody Old Man Kui had taught him. Her motions: like a light cloud veiling the moon; drifting, like snow whirled back by the wind.

Her features: plump and slender in just measure, tall and short in fit proportion.

Her shoulders seem carved, her waist like a bound of white silk. Her neck is long and fair; her white flesh shows bare. No perfumed unguent added, no leaden powder applied. Her cloudlike coiffure rises high, her long brows arch in delicate curve. Red lips glow bright without, white teeth gleam fresh within; bright eyes glance with grace, dimples rest upon her cheeks.

Her rare form is lovely and elegant; her manner is calm, her body at ease. Tender feeling, graceful bearing, charming in every word. Her dress: a raiment unmatched in this world, a form that answers the paintings.

Clad in gossamer robes of glittering sheen, earrings of jasper and greenstone bright.

She wears headdress of gold and kingfisher plumes, strung with bright pearls to light her body. On her feet, patterned shoes for distant wandering; trailing behind, the light hem of misty gauze.

It seemed that only this ancient rhapsody could describe her manner and appearance.

The woman was too beautiful, beyond all reckoning; no brush could paint such a face, still less capture her spirit and grace. Was she really Granny Zhu?

"Could the old woman have killed so beautiful a lady and put on her skin?

" Shen Mu could not help shivering at the ominous thought. "Hey! Cowherd! "

Suddenly a girl's voice came from behind him.

Shen Mu turned, saw no one, then looked up: a girl sat on the eaves of a temple, her skirt reaching her ankles and baring white, exquisitely delicate skin. Her bare feet dangled almost onto Shen Mu's head, her toes arching and curling playfully, swinging to and fro.

The girl's eyes curved into crescents. "Cowherd, come up here.

From this spot you can see far, and see clearly. "

Shen Mu leaped onto the eaves and sat down beside her.

He caught a familiar fragrance on the girl, and misgiving stirred in his heart. She had two locks of hair combed down the sides of her cheeks, making her face like a sunflower seed, bright of eye and white of tooth; when she smiled, her eyes curved like crescents. She said with a grin, "Am I fat?

"

Shen Mu nodded and answered honestly, "You comb your hair down both sides of your face to make it look thinner, but if you brushed the hair aside, it would still look plump and round. "

The girl was annoyed and kicked him with her foot. Her shoes were off, set beside her, and her feet were bare.

"A fat face is inborn," she said angrily. "I can't help it! "

The two of them dangled their legs over the edge of the eaves.

Shen Mu braced his hands against the roof, feeling that the girl beside him looked somehow familiar, and that fragrance even more so, and doubt grew in his heart. Ahead and to one side, the gates of the Crimson Dragon City Lord's manor flew suddenly open, and out marched a hundred or more people in grand procession. Each one's aura was exceedingly powerful, each bore himself with lofty dignity and uncommon bearing, all of them divine-power practitioners of Crimson Dragon City with formidable reputations.

What a tremendous display of might! The man at their head was tall and powerfully built, with tiger eyes and a bear's waist, walking with a dragon's stride and a tiger's step, possessed of an aura that made the heart quail. His beard bristled out to either side; his features, though hardly handsome, still carried a certain manliness. Behind him loomed the faint phantom of a god-demon, an eight-armed deity with eight kinds of ritual weapons in its hands, surely a manifestation of his primal essence.

Its aura was extraordinary. "The sect master's widow seized the Nether Demon Sect's sacred scripture, the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture, that safeguards the sect, escaped the pursuit of the sect's Holy Elders and Holy Patriarch, entered the Desolate Ruins, and vanished without a trace. "

The Lord of Crimson Dragon City laughed heartily.

"I have worried for your safety, madam, thinking of you morning and night. I never expected you to be safe and sound; it quite sets my heart at ease.

You have endured in hiding for over forty years without emerging; surely you have studied the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture through and through. This time, coming forth from the mountains, you must no longer fear the sect's elders and patriarch, am I right? "

The widow of the Nether Demon Sect Master laughed and chatted amiably with the Lord of Crimson Dragon City, like old friends of many years.

Yet the Lord of Crimson Dragon City dared not draw near. He said invitingly, "Madam, my humble abode happens to be hosting a banquet for honored guests. Hearing of your gracious arrival, I hurried over. It would not do to keep my guests waiting long. Will you not come and grace my humble home with your presence?

"

The beautiful woman smiled lightly. "Very well.

I too would like to meet the lord's honored guest. I shall impose upon your hospitality, then. "

"You jest, madam. This way, please!

"

"That is the Lord of Crimson Dragon City's Eight Aspects Heavenly God Art, a most formidable technique. "

Beside Shen Mu, the girl said in a low voice, "They say the Lord of Crimson Dragon City, Fu Yundi, has already cultivated to the Life and Death Realm and successfully broken through the wall of the Life-Death Divine Treasure.

He is one of the rare masters of the Desolate Ruins!

"

Shen Mu looked at Fu Yundi.

His Eight Aspects Heavenly God Art was indeed extraordinary; if unleashed, it would surely manifest the Heavenly God in eight aspects, with all eight directions taken in at a single glance, able to strike enemies on every side. Shen Mu praised, "It is truly a formidable technique. "

The girl grew interested.

"Cowherd, you are quite formidable too. What technique do you cultivate? "

"The Mystic Body Three Elixir Art. "

Shen Mu said, "My name is Shen Mu. What is yours?

"

The girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. "My name is Yuxiu.

"

Shen Mu said, "Yuxiu, as in 'spirit and excellence'?

"

Surprised, the girl said, "How did you know my surname is Ling?

"

"Ling Yuxiu?

That is a lovely name.

"

Shen Mu admired it a while, then said, "If your face were a little thinner, it would be worthy of the name.

"

Ling Yuxiu, annoyed, kicked him again, put on her shoes, and jumped down from the eaves.

"I am not speaking to you anymore! "

Her feet touched the ground, she took two steps, then turned back with a doubtful look.

"Why are you not following me? "

Puzzled, Shen Mu said, "You said you were not speaking to me.

Why should I follow? "

"So petty!

"

Ling Yuxiu beckoned with a grin.

"I have a way into the City Lord's manor.

Right now it is all abustle in there. Let us go and have some fun! Would you not like to see what the great figures of the Desolate Ruins are doing, and what they are saying? "

Shen Mu's heart stirred slightly.