Chapter 233 — Folding Paper into a Boat
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Once Shen Mu's wounds had healed, he left the village carrying the gifts he had prepared for the Xuanliao Demon Ape and set off toward the valley of Mizai Palace. He had scarcely stepped past the village edge when he saw a strange beast dragging a corpse along the ground; at the sight of him it gave two flustered, low hisses and the fur along its neck bristled upright.
The river murmured on. More strange beasts came leaping up from beneath the water — fish-headed, man-bodied — and made for the other corpses. These too halted in alarm when they saw Shen Mu, flattening themselves against the ground and not daring to come a step nearer.
Shen Mu paid them no mind. In the two days he had spent nursing his injuries, pursuers from among Jingping's masters of divine ability had found their way here one after another, and not one of them had reached the village before he put an end to them, using whatever common objects lay ready to hand.
Some of the things in that village were terrible beyond measure. Besides the insects in the earthenware jars, there was the rake for gathering grass, the curtain cloth of the blacksmith's shop, the water vat, the sword pellet beneath Granny Zhu's bed, the butcher's whetstone, the chicken trough — and the washbasin the Dragon Qilin had carried off to use as its dinner bowl.
There was no small number of those hunting Shen Mu. Apart from Long Jiaonan's band of formidable figures, there must have been several other companies of masters from the various sects; in the two days of his convalescence, many had tracked him to this place.
Yincan Village was not hard to find. Built along the river, it stood only a little over a thousand li from Jianglong City, and Jianglong City lay not far from Jingping's frontier; anyone determined enough to search could find it.
Shen Mu reckoned that forty or fifty people had found their way here in those two days — all of them dead now, of course.
"Long Jiaonan hasn't come. Has she lost her way? Or was she finished off on the road? Or perhaps..."
Whenever he was in the village, Shen Mu felt a pair of eyes fixed on him from beyond its bounds, like a great venomous serpent lurking in the dark, ready to strike at any moment.
"She's close by?"
This walk out of the village was meant to draw her into the open.
Long Jiaonan bore him a hatred deep as blood. The destruction of Yulong Sect had been his doing and his alone; had Shen Mu not summoned a demon in Tianbo City and called up the Dutian Demon King, Yulong Sect would never have been wiped out so easily.
Shen Mu walked to Mizai Palace and found the place thick with wild beasts, but neither the Xuanliao Demon Ape nor the Dragon-Elephant was among them.
He searched all around and found no trace of them, and the beasts in the valley knew nothing of cultivation and could not speak, so there was no asking where the Demon Ape had gone.
Shen Mu had no choice but to turn back to Yincan Village. Two more days passed, and at last he could sit still no longer: the year's end was very near now, only two or three days off, and still Granny Zhu and the headman had not returned!
"The old folk of this village — not a moment's peace will they give a man!"
He went to Mizai Palace once more, and once more there was no sign of the Xuanliao Demon Ape; his heart grew more restless with every hour.
"Fatty Long, get up!"
Shen Mu packed his things, fed the insects and the Crested Fire Pheasant Dragon once more, then wiped the ding character from the Dutian Demon King's body, roused the Dragon Qilin, and said, "We are going deep into the Wasteland to look for them!"
The Dutian Demon King stretched out his limbs and sneered, "Even a half-divine being like old Kuisou goes into the Wasteland and never comes back. What use are you?"
Shen Mu shook his head. "My strength may be nothing much, but I have helpers. Demon King, you are of the Heavenly Demon clan yourself, are you not?"