Chapter 235 — A Youth Borrows a Boat
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Thud. Thud.
The corpses of Daoist Chiyun and Daoist Shaoyuan toppled forward. Shen Mu sheathed his sword and looked up; Long Jiaonan had already gone far, and that red snake was swift — not easily overtaken.
"Tonight the netherworld's constables will have more wandering souls to collect. A pity I could not send Long Jiaonan on her way. That woman is sharper than the rest — at Tianbo City too, she slipped away."
Shen Mu let out a breath. Long Jiaonan was alone now; one hand cannot clap. If she dared to pursue him again, she would surely die.
That the fight had gone so crisply was chiefly a matter of coordination. Daoist Chiyun's cultivation and strength were by no means weak, in no way inferior to Long Jiaonan's.
Daoist Chiyun carried a sword case on his back, which showed that the sword was his greatest strength; the Demon King Dutian blocked that sword with eight arms, which let Shen Mu charge without the least scruple right up to Daoist Chiyun's side.
The Xuanliao Demon Ape's strength lay in sheer power, and with the Fanji Twelve-Ring Zen Staff and the Thunder-Cry Mahayana Sutra, that power was enough to stun Daoist Chiyun — after which a single sword stroke from Shen Mu reaped his life.
Long Jiaonan's fighting strength, meanwhile, rested chiefly on that great red snake, which she had refined nearly to the point of becoming a jiao-dragon; but the Dragon Qilin was its match, overpowering the great red snake and forcing Long Jiaonan to leave Daoist Chiyun unreached.
Unable to come to his rescue, Daoist Chiyun had only one road left: death.
But if Long Jiaonan fled, Shen Mu had no way to bring her down. Were he to give chase himself he would certainly die, and the Demon King Dutian, the Dragon Qilin and the Xuanliao Demon Ape could not match her pace — so he could only let her go.
"Big fellow, did Little Tathagata of Little Leiyin Temple give you any trouble?" Shen Mu asked.
The Xuanliao Demon Ape shook its head, pointed at itself and said, "I, am called, Kong."
Shen Mu waited a good while. What the Xuanliao Demon Ape had given him was his Dharma name — but since when did a Dharma name consist of a single syllable? Was his Dharma name Kong-something, or something-Kong?
The Xuanliao Demon Ape took it for granted that he had understood, and said no more. This ape begrudged every word as though it were gold, and truly would not utter one syllable beyond what was needed.
"It is just as well for you to cultivate under Little Tathagata. He too understands the Thunder-Cry Mahayana Sutra, and he attained the Way as a being of another kind, so he can better guide your cultivation."
Shen Mu waved a hand. "The grown-ups of my household have gone missing, and I still have to search for them; I cannot linger here. When you have the time, come home — Ling'er misses you too!"
The two took their leave of each other.
Shen Mu set off in the direction the netherworld's constable had pointed out. This time he no longer felt Long Jiaonan's gaze; no doubt the woman had concluded she could not kill him, and so had no choice but to withdraw.
"I wonder how the battle between Little Tathagata and Daoist Lingjing is going."
Much as Shen Mu's mind dwelt on that fight, finding the village headman and the rest mattered more. He sat on the Dragon Qilin's forehead as it traveled on, while the Demon King Dutian stood upon its back, his four faces turned to the four directions, watching for any stir around them.
The deeper into the Desolate Ruins they went, the mightier the strange beasts grew; some were already no weaker than the Dragon Qilin or the great red snake. Fortunately, most such beasts kept to their own territories.
Having lived in the Desolate Ruins since childhood, Shen Mu had a fine knack for telling one beast's territory from another. He avoided those territories all along the way, and the journey passed with alarms but no true danger.
"Go on a little farther and we reach the Eastern Heavenly Gate."