Chapter 241 — The New Generation's Human Sovereign
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The Silent Craftsman also came in, looked around, ran his rough palm over the little wooden horse, then picked up the garment; there was great tenderness in the eyes of this burly, coarse man. Shen Mu looked toward him, and the Silent Craftsman turned his head and grinned at him. "Time to go!
" Granny Zhu urged, "Back to the village for the New Year!
Patriarch, that pig you raised has grown fat. We will slaughter it for the New Year and share it out! The butcher is a good hand, and his cooking is passable too; he can put together two fine tables!
" "You dare! " The young Patriarch cried in alarm, "Do not even think of scheming after him. When you were little and saw my Dragon Qilin, you would get that thieving look in your eyes, always wanting to take him away and eat him. .
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Go away, stop rubbing against me, I am not going to pat your head. .
. Law Enforcer, hurry, drive him off! " Elder Dianxing drove the Dragon Qilin over toward Shen Mu.
The young Patriarch looked on as the Dragon Qilin dragged its hindquarters toward Shen Mu, so fat that both haunches were perfectly round, as plump as a rhinoceros in water; as it walked, each round cheek of its rear quivered without pause.
"This fellow must have been mooching food and drink off the Cult Master, and the fare was pretty good too.
When I first met him, he was a little runt the size of a cat, running over to rub against my leg and wheedle food and drink out of me. In the end, the more I fed him, the fatter he got, and then he stuck to me and would not leave. .
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" The young Patriarch sighed. How small the Dragon Qilin had been then; he could still hold him in his arms and pat his head. "What a huge ship! " When the group came before the Soul Boat, they could not help but marvel.
The Lame Elder intended to take the ship away, but Granny Zhu shouted, "You damned lame old man, even if you could move it, where would you put it? If you put it in the village, I will break your other leg! " The Lame Elder had no choice but to give it up. He asked Shen Mu how he had sailed the ship here, and after hearing Shen Mu recount his experience of piloting it, the Lame Elder's mind began to stir again.
"Become a Moon Guardian and one gains power like a god? " He ran swiftly onto the ship and touched the giant pillar, but found that nothing changed, and so he had to retreat again. There were too many mysteries in the Wilderness Ruins yet unsolved; the Soul Boat was only one of them. They walked out of the invisible barrier.
Outside, the sun already hung high; it was noon. The weather was very cold, and at some unknown time another snow had fallen.
The ground was white with snow, crunching underfoot, and the mountains too were dyed white.
Several bears were hiding in the hollow of a tree among some ruins, a mother bear embracing her cub in deep sleep. When the mother bear saw Shen Mu and the others suddenly appear, she opened her eyes in surprise, but was too lazy to move; she merely shifted her body and went on hibernating. Shen Mu looked back and saw that the barrier had vanished without a trace. The unimaginable great ship sealed within the barrier, along with the Soul Boat, and that incomparably complex cubic seal, had all disappeared from sight.
In their place was the vast, boundless forest of the Wilderness Ruins. Presumably only when night fell would this mysterious seal appear again. "Let us go. Back to the village for the New Year," the Village Head said calmly.
The group set out on the return journey. It was far from Yincan Village, still a day or two of travel.
The New Year had already passed, but fortunately everyone was safe.