Chapter 210 — No Choice But to Admit Defeat
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu reattached Old Master Huo's arm and set back the Lame Old Man's leg, laid the two old men in the medicine cauldron, boiled a full cauldron of medicinal broth, stewed the pair of them, and told Snow Fox to feed the fire at the cauldron's side. He walked out of the room and saw that the sky outside had already darkened; he came out of the courtyard and found the Scholars' Lodge empty of every soul, no doubt all run off to take shelter, leaving only the Demon King of Dutian still standing in the lane by the Lodge, unable to move. Shen Mu went up and opened the belly of the god statue.
Inside the statue's belly were several hundred fine, ingenious gears. Shen Mu reached in and gave the gears two turns, and at once the Demon King of Dutian felt his legs able to move; he scrambled off and ran, but after a few steps there came again a clack-clack from within his body, and every joint locked tight once more. "Long Da, drag him back into the courtyard," Shen Mu said to the dragon qilin at the gate. The dragon qilin wagged its tail and came waddling over with its great belly, took one of the Demon King's legs in its teeth, dragged the king down, hauled him back into Shen Mu's courtyard with a great clattering, and dumped him in the corner by the wall.
"Damn your mother's egg, if you've got the guts, fight me three hundred rounds! " the Demon King of Dutian cursed. "What kind of hero are you, to lock me up like this? " Shen Mu turned a deaf ear, and quietly, serenely, mixed his spirit medicine. Lightning suddenly flared over the god statue, which tried to fly out from it, but at once runes and sigils surfaced on the statue's surface, brightening, and trapped the lightning inside.
The Demon King of Dutian cursed foully.
The surface of the god statue was stamped with the sealing runes of the Golden Palace of Loulan, runes Shen Mu had learned from the talisman treasure in the Golden Palace's vault, and quietly imprinted upon the statue when he refined it. Shen Mu too had worried that after taking possession of the statue he might still escape, and so had added this rune seal as well. His medicine prepared, Shen Mu turned to the Demon King of Dutian in the corner and said to him in all earnestness, "Tell me all the language of Youdu that you know, and I will let you out.
" "I'd sooner trust a ghost of yours!
" the Demon King raged.
"Don't imagine I'll fall for it a second time! " Shen Mu's face was all honest goodwill as he said with utter sincerity, "We can swear the Oath of Tubo. That way you may set your heart at ease. " "Set your own arse at ease!
" "Hey, hey, and you call yourself a Demon King, cursing like that? " "Love your own arse! Don't imagine I'll ever believe another word from you. If I believe one word of it, I'm your turtle grandson!
" . .
. The Lame Old Man and Old Master Huo lay comfortably in the great cauldron, the broth bubbling with gobbling blisters that burst with little pops. "Little fox, add another log.
" The Lame Old Man squinted, watching his great gold chain float up from the water, glanced back at the Demon King of Dutian still cursing away, and laughed: "This little Shen'er, he's truly grown up.
I'd thought it would take you and me both, laying hands to it, to do away with this confounded Demon King; I never thought he'd settle it himself.
Now I'm starting to worry. Not about him, about the people who set themselves against him.
Tell me, who did the boy learn to be so wicked, so vicious from?
" Old Master Huo stared at him.
The great gold chain at his own neck too had floated up out of the water, its gold lacquer nearly boiled away. The Lame Old Man said, puzzled, "Everyone in the village is good folk.
Who did the boy learn such cunning from?
Could he have gone bad only after leaving the village? " Old Master Huo kept staring at him.
The Lame Old Man laughed.