"Young Master Xu, is the tribute wine from the imperial palace to your liking?"
In the Listening Rain Pavilion on Flower Lane in the Imperial Capital, pipa strings clashed and chimed, zithers rustled and thrummed, vertical flutes wailed softly, and several young girls sang and danced. Qin Mu poured wine for Xu Shenghua and said with a smile, "This is imperial wine brought by the Sixth Princess. I rarely drink, so I can't tell good from bad. How does it taste to you?"
Ling Yuxiu, dressed in men's clothing, glanced this way and that with her beautiful eyes, feeling anxious yet a little excited. "The cowherd actually brought me out to visit a brothel! If Father Emperor finds out, he'll surely have his head! So this is the Listening Rain Pavilion, the most famous brothel in the capital? It doesn't seem as salacious as the legends say..."
Hu Ling'er was on familiar terms with the girls of the Listening Rain Pavilion and had long since run off to chatter away with the girls she knew well, no one knew about what.
Although Xu Shenghua had set foot in this place of worldly pleasures, he still seemed untouched by the dust of the world. Sipping the fine wine, he said, "The wine of the palace is good, but it is not as fragrant and crisp as the wine of the High Heavens. It must not have been cellared long enough. If Cult Master Qin were to drink the fine wines of the High Heavens and then taste this, he would be able to tell good from bad."
Ling Yuxiu looked at the young man sitting across from Qin Mu, feeling somewhat curious. Xu Shenghua was exquisite, as if carved from jade—he did not seem like a real person at all.
Not a single flaw could be found in his appearance, and the same went for his clothes, his manner, and his speech.
Qin Mu, sitting across from him, however, had many little flaws.
Qin Mu was not as handsome as him. Though not bad-looking, he still could not compare to Xu Shenghua. Qin Mu was somewhat strapping, giving an impression of overflowing vigor. Even though he had been toiling busily these past days with hardly any time to sleep, Qin Mu still looked full of spirit.
Xu Shenghua, on the other hand, seemed reserved and steady, unmoved even if the sky collapsed, his heart like still water.
Sometimes Qin Mu was humble to excess, and sometimes arrogant to excess. Though kind-hearted, he could be rather wicked at times. At times he was oblivious to romance, yet at other times he could pluck at your heart until it bloomed like flower seeds scattered in spring, bursting forth blossom after blossom.
Sometimes Qin Mu did things cautiously, so airtight that not a drop leaked through; at other times he was rough and reckless, charging ahead without weighing anything, often stirring up trouble.
Sometimes he was very clever, but when he was foolish, he could make you grind your teeth in frustration.
Yet none of this could be seen in Xu Shenghua.
Xu Shenghua was like a perfect man in whom no fault could be found. To describe a man as beautiful was excessive, but to describe him that way was not excessive at all.
Such was the man he was. Friend or foe, everyone felt in his presence like they were bathed in a spring breeze.
"Fake. Not like a real person at all."
Ling Yuxiu glanced at the two girls behind him and felt a bit of sympathy for them. She could see the burning feeling in their eyes whenever they fell upon Xu Shenghua, but clearly, these two girls had set their feelings on the wrong target.
A perfect person like Xu Shenghua could never fall in love with them. Even if he did, they would not dare accept it, for they were not perfect themselves, and it would leave them forever mired in their own inferiority.
Such a love would not last long; it was nothing but flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water.
"The first time we met, I did not know that you and I would be enemies."
Qin Mu set down his wine cup and said, "When I learned of it, I was very sad. We could actually have become friends. But it's just as well—I need an enemy like you."
He broke into a smile. "There are only a few people in this world as outstanding as you and me. If we were all friends, that would be far too disappointing."
Ling Yuxiu stretched out a finger and poked him, saying in a low voice, "Cowherd, be a little more humble..."
Qin Mu laughed. "I'm merely speaking the truth."
Behind Xu Shenghua, Yu Liu said with a smile, "The Human Emperor is truly not humble. The High Heavens are not the lower realm, and Young Master Xu of the High Heavens is no mortal of your lower realm. How could you presume to compare yourself with Young Master Xu?"
Xu Shenghua shook his head. "The Human Emperor can. As the heir of the Hall of the Human Emperor, which battled the High Heavens for twenty thousand years, why could he not stand comparison with me? To insult him is to insult me."
Yu Liu flushed red.
Xu Shenghua said, "The reason I came down the mountain this time was to eliminate the new Human Emperor. When I met Brother Qin, I took him for the Dao Son of the Dao sect, never imagining that he was the very Human Emperor I was searching for. Only later did I learn that I had missed him. Since coming to the lower realm, I have met many outstanding figures of the younger generation and exchanged pointers with them, but none of them pleased me. When I think it over in the end, it is still Brother Qin who impressed me most."
Qin Mu poured wine for him and said with a smile, "I promised you I would treat you to a drink. Once this drink is finished, whether I beat you to death or you beat me to death, it will be a joy and a blessing, with no regrets left behind."
Xu Shenghua raised his cup in a toast. The two of them lightly touched cups and each drained his own.
Qin Mu said with feeling, "Both of us are Overlord Bodies, yet there is true and false between us. That you were able to find me is no coincidence—it is the link between the Overlord Body and the fake Overlord Body. You and I are fated to be enemies and will never be friends."
"Overlord Body?" Xu Shenghua was bewildered.
"So Brother Xu does not know about the Overlord Body either."
Qin Mu pointed at himself and smiled. "I am the Overlord Body, and you are the fake Overlord Body. There is a mysterious connection between us. It is not that you being a disciple of the High Heavens and I being a disciple of the Human Emperor means we are bound to fight to the death—it is that you and I are both Overlord Bodies. You are the fake Overlord Body, and I am the true one. You must kill me to seize my fortune and become the true Overlord Body."
Xu Shenghua grew even more bewildered.
"It is only natural that Brother Xu does not know all the ins and outs of this."
Qin Mu said in all seriousness, "The lore of the Overlord Body is extremely hidden; not many people know of it. Look—the two of us are the most outstanding people in this world, yet you happened to become a disciple of the High Heavens, and I happened to become the Human Emperor. Is that a coincidence? It is not!"
The young man clenched his fist and declared sonorously, "It is the workings of fortune between Overlord Bodies!"
Xu Shenghua was dumbfounded. Only after a long while did he say slowly, "I am an Overlord Body? But my master Yu Jun never said anything of the sort."
Qin Mu's expression was grave. "The Overlord Body is the strongest of all constitutions! Was it not easy for you to learn anything in the past—everything mastered after a single lesson, and one thing illuminating all the rest? Before the other four great spirit bodies had even learned something, you had already finished learning it."
Xu Shenghua nodded and said, astonished, "So this is the Overlord Body."
"That's exactly it!"
Qin Mu set down his wine cup and said excitedly, "Have you also sensed that everyone else's cultivation is not as profound as yours, and that with the same divine abilities, theirs are never as powerful as yours?"
Xu Shenghua nodded once more and said, "By the time I was fourteen, I no longer had a rival in the High Heavens. Even my master, who sealed himself away in the Divine Treasure realm, does not have magic power as deep as mine."
Qin Mu's gaze was utterly sincere. "That is the Overlord Body!"
Xu Shenghua murmured, "So this is the Overlord Body... But why does Brother Qin say you are the true Overlord Body and I am the fake? How does one tell the true Overlord Body from the fake one?"
His expression was very earnest.
Qin Mu poured wine once more and said with a smile, "If you cannot beat me, then you are the fake Overlord Body. Come—two Overlord Bodies like us should drink a full cup!"
The two took up their wine and drained it. Xu Shenghua shook his head. "Without fighting, how do you know who wins? Maybe I am the real one and you are the fake. Fate has its own designs in the unseen—it is you who would seize my fortune, wanting to become the true Overlord Body."
Qin Mu was taken aback and scratched his head. "Perhaps that is possible too. Come, another jar for the true Overlord Body!"
He smacked open two wine jars, pushed one before Xu Shenghua, and hugged the other to his chest, tipping his head back to gulp it down.
Xu Shenghua frowned. Though he had drunk wine before, he had always been moderate, stopping after a light taste, never abandoning himself to a hearty drinking bout. But Qin Mu had already upended his jar and drained it, so he had no choice but to lift his own and drink it down.
Ling Yuxiu poked Qin Mu with her finger again and whispered, "Cowherd, you're nearly drunk—stop drinking!"
Qin Mu finished the jar with a long swallow, tipsy now, and said with a laugh, "It's rare to meet someone of the same kind, so of course we drink until we're dead drunk. Little sister, go fetch some more wine from the palace."
"There's none left. These last three jars are all I brought over. Father Emperor had people take the palace's tribute wine out of the palace to sell, to raise money to fill the imperial treasury."
Ling Yuxiu shook her head. "Some of my ornaments and clothes were taken away and sold by Father Emperor too."
Qin Mu roared with laughter, thumped the jar down heavily on the table, and rose to his full height. "I had planned to drink myself drunk, sleep it off, and then settle life and death with Brother Xu. I never expected the wine to run out, leaving me neither drunk nor sober. Brother Xu, let's go."
Xu Shenghua set down his wine jar and stood up. Jing Yan hurried over with a damp towel, and Xu Shenghua wiped his hands and the corners of his mouth. "Let's go."
The two walked toward the door, and Qin Mu turned back to say, "Sister Yun'er, put it on my tab."
Fu Qingyun said with a smile, "You jest, Cult Master. The Listening Rain Pavilion is the Cult Master's property to begin with. What tab is there to run?"
Ling Yuxiu's face went black. "The damn cowherd runs a brothel! No wonder this fellow took me out to visit a brothel—it turned out to be a brothel of his own!"
She strode quickly outside, Hu Ling'er hurrying after her, with Yu Liu and Jing Yan at their side carrying the pipa and the jade vase.
Loud clangs boomed from beyond the Imperial Capital—it was the Forge Bureau hammering out the parts and components of the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon. Qin Mu and Xu Shenghua walked out of the capital side by side and came to the Forge Bureau.
Yu Liu and Jing Yan could not help feeling anxious. This place was full of Qin Mu's people, and they could not help fearing that Qin Mu might suddenly order these experts to cut Xu Shenghua down on the spot!
Qin Mu led Xu Shenghua into the Forge Bureau and said, "Brother Xu, what do you make of the bearing of the State of Yankang?"
"Most extraordinary."
Xu Shenghua looked over the pill furnaces and mechanical giants within the Forge Bureau and could not help but praise, "A craftsmanship that rivals nature itself!"
Qin Mu brought over a huge component and gently stroked the patterns on it, examining the forging work. There was no deviation. "This cannon has cost me a great deal of heart's blood. I have gathered countless masters of arcane calculation and will spend every treasure in the treasury of the State of Yankang. Two months from now, this cannon will be complete. If you are still alive then, you must come and see it. This cannon is meant to slay the gods of the High Heavens."
Xu Shenghua's heart trembled slightly. He studied the patterns on it carefully, his face turning a little grave, then went to look at the array patterns on another component.
Qin Mu let him look his fill, standing with his hands behind his back, waiting in silence. He thought, "A heart thrown into disarray before battle—you have already lost. Brother Xu, you have lived through far too few life-and-death duels!"