Chapter 246 — Truth Hidden in the Illusion
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
" The blind elder too found it hard to fathom, when suddenly the dragon qilin said in surprise, "I think I've been here before. .
.
" Shen Mu was puzzled, and laughed. "You and the Patriarch have been to this place? " The dragon qilin shook its head. "No.
I mean, last night I was ridden here by a god. " They passed a village.
The people there were remnants of the Wasteland, and all wore expressions of helplessness. Shen Mu went up to ask, and an old man said, "Yesterday something happened, we don't know what. Within a few hundred li around, who knows how many Dragon King temples were destroyed. In many of them the dragon gods enshrined there had their heads cut off!
We always used to go to the Dragon King temples to make offerings and pray for favorable weather. Now that so many Dragon King temples and Dragon God temples have been wrecked, everyone's hearts are unsettled.
.
. " Shen Mu was greatly shaken, and hastily questioned him in detail.
The old man said, "Last night the wind and rain came on fierce. Everyone in the village was woken.
We saw the darkness outside, and above many people's houses there was nothing but water. The water floated above the rooftops and did not fall. " Shen Mu was stunned. Water floating above the rooftops? "The sound of waves was loud, terribly loud. Light came shining out of the water, and many people saw dragons!
" The old man said, "It was as if a whole sea hung in the sky. The cries of battle came down from above. This old man saw lightning cracking and slashing through the sea, and it did not stop until the fourth watch. When day broke, the water in the sky was gone.
Only many great trees looked as though it had rained all night, their crowns all wet.
Then we found that who knows how many Dragon King temples and Dragon God temples had been destroyed. Some who lived in the temples said they saw the stone dragon statues fly out.
" Shen Mu's eyes went wide. The stone dragon statues had flown out? "They say there was also a monk who lived in the Valley of Divine Dragons. In the middle of the night he saw a divine king carrying a blade, riding a fat, plump monster, come charging in. With one stroke he cut down the Dragon King of the Valley of Divine Dragons, then picked up the dragon's head and left. . . " When Shen Mu had finished gathering news, he came back and told the blind elder, Granny Zhu, and Lord Huo.
They all looked at one another.
This was far too strange. What had happened last night seemed both real and illusion: a stone statue delivering an imperial decree in the darkness, the Heavenly King's statue raising a blade to kill a dragon, the dragon qilin ridden like a horse the whole night through. And now the Wasteland's remnant folk here spoke of a sea hanging upside down in the sky, and of dragon gods and Dragon Kings beheaded. Strung together, these things made it clear: what had happened last night was real.
"That stone statue last night, the one that delivered the decree, said His Majesty had sent the decree from the Land of No Sorrow. There's a great deal wrong in that.
" From Granny Zhu's mouth came an aged voice: "This old woman believes.
. . " "Amitabha! " Lord Huo transformed into a great Buddha and suppressed Granny Zhu's mind. On the other side the blind elder also struck, freezing Granny Zhu in place.
The two of them, frantic with worry, at last managed to suppress the demonic nature within her.
Shen Mu wiped away cold sweat and urged them on: "Hurry, hurry. The sooner we reach the Great Thunderclap Temple, the better, before the Great Hierarch Li pops out again to make trouble!
" They hurried onward, and before they had gone far they saw the Valley of Divine Dragons.
The valley held countless statues of divine dragons ringing a great lake, and at the center of the lake stood a statue of a Dragon King.