Chapter 241 — The New Generation's Human Sovereign
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
They returned the way they had come. When they reached the empty village, Shen Mu walked into the room with the double-happiness character pasted on it, picked up the baby's garment, and studied the character Shen embroidered on it. When one cares, one's judgment is clouded.
The first time he had come here, his heart had been disturbed, and for a long time he had been unable to calm himself, so he had found it hard to discern any clues. The things the Alchemist had brought were almost identical to the character Shen on the baby's garment, as if stamped from the same template; yet on close inspection, some slight differences could still be made out.
Shen Mu had studied calligraphy and painting under the Deaf Elder. Had he been able to calm his heart and look with an ordinary mind, he would also have seen that the character Shen on the baby's garment differed slightly from the one on his jade pendant. But at the time, his heart had surged and plunged, swung between great joy and great sorrow, and that had clouded his judgment.
Now, as he examined it closely, the character Shen on the baby's garment had likely been traced and then embroidered stitch by stitch onto the cloth; it was indeed different from the one on his jade pendant. The other villagers, meanwhile, had gathered around the Village Head and the Patriarch, asking what they had encountered, what they had met with aboard that ship. The Village Head shook his head.
"It was too dangerous inside.
We did not go deep, only circled the outer edges, and nearly died. Fortunately, the Silent Craftsman was with us, and we were able to withdraw safely. " The crowd immediately asked the Silent Craftsman how he had known the way of survival, and how he had led the Village Head and the Patriarch in and out again.
Shen Mu walked out of the courtyard, nursing the same doubt. Even the Dutian Demon King had said that if his true body descended, it would take him a year or two to find a way of survival into that shattered giant vessel. So why had the Silent Craftsman been able to enter it so easily? The crowd pressed him for a long while, but the Silent Craftsman said nothing, only wore a simple, honest smile; when pressed too hard, he would utter two sounds: "Ah, ah. " The crowd then looked to the Deaf Elder.
The Deaf Elder and the Silent Craftsman were the closest of friends, and the Deaf Elder understood the Silent Craftsman's mind best; many words that no one else could understand were translated by the Deaf Elder. But at this moment the Deaf Elder looked just as bewildered, clearly also unable to tell what the Silent Craftsman's two "ah" sounds meant.
"This Silent Craftsman, he never says a word!
" Granny Zhu said angrily, "One of these days you will choke on it and die! " The group rested in the small village, while the Dragon Qilin clung to the young Patriarch's side. Now the creature had grown lively, rubbing against the Patriarch this way and that.
The Patriarch made as if to strike him, which drove him a little farther off, but the next moment he came pressing back, raising his dragon tail covered in reverse scales and rubbing the young Patriarch's clothes into a mass of holes. "You have eaten yourself too fat!
" The young Patriarch said with bitter grief, "I have already told you, I am about to die of old age, I do not want you anymore, stop rubbing against me. . .
Do not think of jumping into my arms, I cannot hold you now! Shoo, shoo, go away!
" The Blind Elder, meanwhile, was pestering the Dutian Demon King, asking about matters of divination and arts.
The Dutian Demon King was somewhat wary of the village people, yet he answered with all his effort, though he only answered the Blind Elder's questions and did not take the initiative to teach him any deeper arts.
The Alchemist bustled among them, checking their injuries and treating them. Shen Mu walked into that house. Though it might not have been his parents' home, being here gave him a feeling of peace.