Chapter 195 — From Small Things, Great Things
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Wang Muran lifted the old fisherman's corpse, laid it across the back of the mighty stag, and drove the beast at a swift pace to catch up with Shen Mu, Imperial Teacher Jingping, and the others. In a loud voice he cried, "Imperial Teacher Jingping, I will avenge my master!"
Imperial Teacher Jingping turned his head, his expression utterly serious. "Your master's skills were not bad. Once you have learned them, before you come seeking revenge on me, first pass your craft on to disciples of your own. Do not let his skills die out with him."
Wang Muran gave a shout. Clouds gathered beneath the stag's hooves, and it ran up into the sky, gradually vanishing from sight.
"Someone invited one of Little Jade Capital's good old men to test the waters. Truly, his death is not to be pitied."
Imperial Teacher Jingping withdrew his gaze and said to Shen Mu and the rest, "Little Jade Capital is a mysterious place, aloof from the world's conflicts, with an exceedingly ancient origin. I too have only heard rumors of Little Jade Capital; this was my first time seeing one of its experts. He did have some skill, but he has fallen behind the times. They do not often come out to walk the world, nor do they witness the development of other sects' arts. Shutting themselves away to build carts behind closed doors, they easily fall behind. Remember this well: seclusion will never make you an expert."
Shen Mu and the others nodded in agreement, yet felt a chill in their hearts.
This old fisherman had actually been invited out by someone to test the waters?
Could it be that someone wanted to use the old man's life to test just how deep the waters of Imperial Teacher Jingping still ran?
"This struggle has already begun," Shen Mu thought, his eyes flickering.
Licheng.
The great army of Jingping had already attacked this place. By the time they arrived, the battle was already over.
The fighting could not have been too fierce. Shen Mu looked around and saw that the city walls here were still relatively intact. Jingping's great army had simply pushed straight through, encountered the rebel army outside the city, and annihilated them outright.
"The Grand Academy has a dedicated Array Origin Hall and Military Strategy Tower, both places where formation arts and military strategy are taught. When jianghu sects confront Jingping's great army head-on, the outcome is obvious," he thought to himself.
Licheng had not been destroyed by the war. The common people here were still relatively safe and sound. Shen Mu went to apothecaries to gather medicines, taking several kinds from every apothecary in the city.
By the time he had visited more than a dozen apothecaries, half a day had passed. When night came, Shen Mu and the others lodged at the Licheng county office. The county magistrate of Licheng had been captured and was already being escorted to the imperial court.
Before long, the aroma of medicine drifted from the county office. After about half an hour, a maidservant came out carrying a basin and poured a basinful of spent herbs onto the flagstone path.
After another half hour, the maidservant carried out another basin of spent herbs and likewise poured them on the road, for people to trample underfoot.
This happened again and again. In one night, seven basins of spent herbs were dumped.
After daybreak, Shen Mu and the others rested for another half a day before continuing south.
At an apothecary in Licheng, a middle-aged scholar dressed in a blue robe with a white inner lining stood behind the counter, flipping through more than a dozen prescriptions. These prescriptions recorded precisely the medicinal ingredients Shen Mu had gathered from more than a dozen apothecaries.
"No, no. Some of these ingredients are completely useless. Some are not wound-healing medicines at all. This young man is shrewd indeed..."