Chapter 245 — Quelling the King of the Vast Sea
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu, Lord Huo and the Blind Elder all nodded. Granny Zhu was beautiful, but she did not wield her beauty as a weapon; on the contrary, knowing that her beauty struck too deadly a blow, she took care to hide it, and went about in ugly guise.
The Grand Hierarch Li, however, was a different creature.
This former hierarch of the Nether Demon Cult was warped in mind. He loved Granny Zhu too much, envied Granny Zhu too much, so much that he wished to become Granny Zhu; and his comprehension of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra differed from Shen Mu's. For Shen Mu, though he too had obtained the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra, had received the scripture the woodcutter passed down upon the stone, and had comprehended the Great Unification Art, had been molded since childhood by the folk of the village, and so, though his conduct might be somewhat odd, he stood straight and walked true.
Shen Mu's Great Unification Art took the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art as its root, and was most orthodox. Among its arts were many spells and divine powers that others would reckon demonic, yet in Shen Mu's hands they were open and upright.
The Grand Hierarch Li's Great Unification Art, by contrast, was thoroughly sinister, with all the feel of the demonic path.
The Grand Hierarch Li would never let "himself" suffer the least grievance and show the world an ugly face; on the contrary, "she" would flaunt her beauty and bring ruin upon the common folk.
A single smile overturns a city, a second overturns a kingdom — the Grand Hierarch Li did not care in the least.
Shen Mu went into Granny Zhu's room to tidy up, took the various beast hides she had collected over the years, and put them into the Taotie Pouch, ready against a time of need.
Lord Huo and the Blind Elder also packed their gear. The Blind Elder's kit was simple: a bamboo staff, and a fortune-teller's banner hung with a copper bagua mirror. Lord Huo put away the spirit tablets of his wife and children, kissed each tablet, and stowed them in his bundle.
He wore a dark-blue monk's robe, like a mendicant monk who had passed through great bitterness and great calamity.
Granny Zhu's Dao-heart was still somewhat unsteady and often relapsed. Lord Huo could help her hold down the Grand Hierarch Li, while the Blind Elder was there in case Lord Huo proved unable; in that event he would strike the Grand Hierarch Li and wound him, and then Shen Mu could readily heal him.
They walked out of the village, and Granny Zhu mocked herself: "And now I need you all to protect me — even Little Shen must protect me. But I am a former Holy Maiden of the demon cult, and Old Tathagata is a Buddha. Will he lend a hand?"
Lord Huo's face showed no emotion at all. "Old Tathagata will help you. The Grand Hierarch Li is a former hierarch of the Nether Demon Cult, an existence of the same generation as Old Tathagata, and Old Tathagata counts the subduing of demons as merit; to bring down a great devil like the Grand Hierarch Li will aid the advance of his cultivation. Besides, a Buddha giving up his body to feed a demon is a common enough thing."
Shen Mu said with worry, "I fear that once they have subdued the Grand Hierarch Li, they will subdue Granny along with him."
"Old Tathagata will not do that."
Lord Huo shook his head. "He has his own principles, and his principles are his Dao, his rules. At his level of cultivation he need not think about the rules; his every word and every deed never oversteps them — he is the rule."
Shen Mu could not help but feel curious. Lord Huo and Old Tathagata were locked in deep enmity, yet by Lord Huo's way of speaking he still rather admired and respected Old Tathagata.
It was not simply that Old Tathagata had once been Lord Huo's master; Old Tathagata must truly have something in him worthy of respect.
"What I doubt now is Old Tathagata's ability."