Chapter 245 — Quelling the King of the Vast Sea
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The Blind Elder raised his head. "Does Old Tathagata have the strength, can he hold down the Grand Hierarch Li? The Grand Hierarch Li is an existence that runs neck and neck with him."
No one spoke further.
Among the three great holy lands of the jianghu — the Daoist sect, the Great Thunderpeal Monastery, and the Nether Demon Cult — the Grand Hierarch Li, as former hierarch of the Nether Demon Cult, was a figure at the very summit of the jianghu, an existence that could stand on equal footing with Old Tathagata.
For Old Tathagata to refine and absorb him would, I fear, be exceedingly difficult.
"The Great Thunderpeal Monastery stands on the border line between the Desolate Ruins and Jingping Kingdom."
Lord Huo said, "It is said that the God-Severed Mountains are the range a god cut apart, hewing out a chasm to sunder the Desolate Ruins from Jingping. There is a legend in the Great Thunderpeal Monastery: when the god came cutting as far as Mount Sumeru, the monks upon the mountain sat upright, filling the whole summit, sworn to live or die with Mount Sumeru. The god was moved by the monks' sincerity, and so went around Mount Sumeru; every other range was cut in two down the middle, and only Mount Sumeru was preserved whole."
The Blind Elder laughed. "I say there must have been someone of consequence up on Mount Sumeru. Otherwise the god would never have bothered whether the monks up there lived or died."
Mount Sumeru stands at the junction of the Desolate Ruins and Jingping — Jingping on one side, the Desolate Ruins on the other. This holy mountain lies far from Yanbian and Mishui, but not far from Qingmen Pass in the Northern Frontier, only four or five thousand li away.
From Yincan Village to Mount Sumeru is a little under thirty thousand li. Shen Mu's stride was slower than Granny Zhu's, Lord Huo's and the others', and walking the whole way would take six or seven days.
The nights in the Desolate Ruins are too perilous, so they could travel only by day, which added more time.
Had they flown, two days would have sufficed; but Shen Mu's cultivation was not high, and running at full stretch through the air, he would have to stop and rest and recover his primal breath after a hundred li or so — so better to walk.
Shen Mu brought out the dragon-qilin to serve as a mount; the dragon-qilin could just barely keep pace with Lord Huo and the rest, and would not slow them down on his account.
Toward evening they came to an old temple. It was a desolate, uninhabited place, and within the old temple were only a few strange beasts, which paid them no heed when they arrived, but lay sprawled lazily beside the Heavenly King statue.
"Little Shen, come and pray." The Blind Elder took out several sticks of incense and beckoned to Shen Mu.
Old and young hurried to the Heavenly King statue, stuck the incense into the battered censer, stepped back three paces, and prayed with one voice: "This humble one is a man of Yincan Village, his home beside the river; passing by your precious temple, he begs to borrow this treasured ground to rest his feet, and is uneasy in his heart at having disturbed the master of this place. This humble one has from childhood suffered weak kidneys and a frail body, his primal yang leaking away too soon..."
"Bah!"
Granny Zhu said angrily, "Blind Elder, you have taught Little Shen nothing but wickedness!"
The Blind Elder laughed. "Old Mother Zhu, you are not afraid of being harvested, but we are. If you do not believe me, ask Little Shen whether the prayer I taught him works."
Shen Mu nodded again and again. "It works! When Qixia heard the prayer, she did not harvest me."
Granny Zhu did not know whether to laugh or to cry. She called Shen Mu over: "Come, lend a hand with the cooking." Shen Mu came over, and Granny Zhu said in a low voice, "The Blind Elder is full of wickedness. Do not always learn from him."