Chapter 218 — Never the Light of Heaven Again
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
" Fan Yunxiao laughed: "I came out of the Daoist Sect — the old Daoist Lord drove me out, it is true — but we fire bandits have never taken life or taken virtue. Rest assured. They say there are three hundred and sixty trades, and a champion in every one; I will do this splendidly, and not fail the Cult Master's high hopes and careful nurturing! " Shen Mu was left staring, tongue-tied. After a good while he waved a hand, and Fan Yunxiao, all eagerness, boarded the remaining small ship, while the dozen or so other fire bandits strained to push the ship, shoving the iron vessel along the wooden rails and out of the workshop.
Outside, the snow had stopped; the cold was freezing, and there was hardly anyone left in the works. Fan Yunxiao shouted, "Light the furnaces, set sail! This ship shall be our new Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship!
We are done turning honest — we fly the banner of the fire bandits, and beyond lies the sky and money beyond counting! " The iron-hulled tower ship rose slowly, its speed gradually increasing, then suddenly tore through the air, and the fire bandits aboard cried out one after another: "So cold, so cold!
Boss Fan, do not stand on the deck; come in quick and warm up!
" Shen Mu watched them go, then turned back, returning to the capital with the Dragon Qilin, Snow Fox, and the Demon King Dutian. These past days the snow had fallen without cease.
Though it had now stopped, the sky was still a bleak mass of cloud, no sunlight to be seen, and the cold wind howled; everything was frozen over. "Ten days without seeing the sun," Snow Fox said, looking up at the sky. She could not stay put in the workshop and was forever running outside.
Shen Mu was slightly startled.
Ten days without seeing the sun? This snow had come rather heavily; why, after it stopped, did the sun still not come out?
He did not think much of it.
The year's end was drawing nearer, and the capital had taken on a New Year flavor, hung with lanterns and colored silks everywhere.
Shen Mu walked into the city, and there he saw tower ship after tower ship, great vessels, flying up into the sky; aboard them, besides soldiers, were certain great ministers of the court, and he did not know what they went up into the heavens to do. "It does not look like they are going out to fight.
" Shen Mu raised his head and saw the dozen or more tower ships climbing higher and higher, going only up into the high sky and nowhere else, and doubt rose in his heart. He returned to the Imperial Academy, where he found many scholars discussing the New Year; no one spoke of the ministers flying up into the clouds. Some scholars were discussing the tower ship moored before the scholars' quarters: "I wonder which rich man's son has so much money as to get himself a tower ship to ride about in. " The next day the sky was still leaden.
Pei Wujiu gathered the scholars of the Imperial Academy and said, "The Emperor has granted the New Year holiday; you may go home for the New Year.
" A cheer went up over the whole mountain.
Shen Mu looked up and saw several more tower ships rise into the air, heading for the high sky. And at that moment, aboard the Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship, Fan Yunxiao stood shivering at the bow, twisted off the icicle hanging from his nose, looked down, and said, "Number Two, where are we now? " A fire bandit looked down, made out the land, and said, "We have reached the Lan River. " "Why is it snowing at the Lan River too?
" Fan Yunxiao was astonished. Pointing at the mountains and rivers below, blanketed in white snow, he said, "That is not right.
The Lan River lies at the southernmost edge of the Southern Wilds; even in deep winter a man can go bare-armed there.
Why has the snow sealed the mountains this year?
" The fire bandits came out of the cabin and looked down, clicking their tongues in wonder. Fan Yunxiao's face suddenly changed.