Chapter 258 — How Could Anyone Blame You?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" "I have not seen him. " Shen Mu pondered a moment and asked, "Where has the Emperor gotten to? " "He is at Bazhou Prefecture, five thousand li from here. " The Dark Demon Cult disciple said, "The Emperor went south first and rooted out those great clans in the south that refused to release or sell grain, and only then went north; he has just now reached Bazhou.
Bazhou is still more or less at peace.
" Shen Mu steadied himself and asked, "And the capital?
How many first-rank officials were left behind?
" "The Crown Prince was left to hold the regency, along with the officials of the Crown Prince's faction.
" Shen Mu's face turned grave: the capital had the Crown Prince as regent, yet the Crown Prince had run off to Great Thunderclap Temple; the Poor Master, Perfected Lord Tian and the rest had nearly died by the hand of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and were saved by the Old Tathagata, who said they had entered the Buddhist order and would no longer concern themselves with worldly affairs; and now the Poor Master and his companions had come out again.
Add to that the Crown Prince's going to see the Old Tathagata, and the matter grew very great indeed.
"They all say the imperial court is the greatest holy land under heaven; I wonder, if it truly came to blows with Great Thunderclap Temple, which of the two would come out the better? " "Right now the various halls are all doing relief work in different places and are hard to reach; to gather all the halls together, I fear it would take a month or two.
" Shen Mu waved a hand and went off on his own, riding on the Dragon Qilin's back toward Bazhou.
Bazhou was still five thousand li from here, a long road; at the Dragon Qilin's pace, even without rest it would take until the next day, and adding rest along the way, he reckoned they would not reach Bazhou until the following night.
"If only that treasure ship of mine were still here, this would be much easier. A pity it was destroyed. " Shen Mu ordered the Dragon Qilin to travel at full speed and promised it a dou of rations a day; the Dragon Qilin roused its spirits and went racing toward Bazhou on clouds of fire. Before anyone knew it, night had fallen.
Shen Mu looked up at the stars, made out their direction, and ordered the Dragon Qilin to keep going.
When the sun rose, even the Dragon Qilin could bear no more; exhausted, foam at its mouth, it could not run, its steps slower and slower. Shen Mu made it stop, looked all around, fixed their position, took out a geographical map of Jingping and studied it closely: less than a thousand li remained to Bazhou.
Shen Mu let out a breath of relief, fed the Dragon Qilin, and walked on without hurry or delay, letting the Dragon Qilin rest its legs. They had not gone far when a house appeared in that poor mountain backwater; it must have been newly built, everything about it new.
Shen Mu walked over and was just about to knock when the door opened and a woman stepped out and came face to face with him; both were startled.
"Shen'er? " The woman's face was peerless beyond compare; seeing him, she started violently, looked all around, and said doubtfully, "How did you find your way here? I went to such trouble to shake off the Blind Elder and Master Huo, and you found me all the same.
" Shen Mu was startled and delighted at once: "Granny, how come you are here?
" Then he grew wary: "Are you Granny, or are you Fan Xuanshu? " Granny Zhu turned sideways to let him into the house and said, "I have the old demon suppressed for the time being.
Though the Old Tathagata could not do away with him, he wounded him badly; we are now evenly matched, so I made a pact with him. At night he comes out; in the daytime I come out. " Shen Mu said suspiciously, "If you really are Granny, why go out of your way to avoid Master Huo and Grandpa Blind?
Why hide here? " Granny Zhu shot him a glare.
"You little wretch, you dare suspect even your granny?