Chapter 269 — The Beauty in the Painting
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu left Shenglin Mountain and returned to the Taixue Academy. Pei Wujiu came running over at once and laid out a banquet to welcome him back and wash the dust of travel from him.
Shen Mu's eyes went wide; not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, he smiled and said: "Why must you go to such trouble, Lord Gu?
" Pei Wujiu laughed: "We are both of the demonic path; naturally we should support one another. Sect Master Shen, is the Chubao Sword still working well?
" "It works.
I am not giving it back.
" Shen Mu explained: "The rules of our Wilderness Ruins.
. . " "I know! " Pei Wujiu roared with laughter. "I lived in the Wilderness Ruins for two hundred years; I know the rules there. Whatever is cheated or snatched away by one's own ability is never returned! Am I being too formal with you?
Look at you, standing on ceremony with me again!
Hahahaha!
I lived in the Wilderness Ruins for two hundred years; the Wilderness Ruins are half my homeland, so you and I are half fellow townsmen! The Sect Master has come back from my homeland, so surely I owed you a meal to ease your homesickness. " Shen Mu was struck dumb, and sighed: "Lord Gu, your attainments are lofty indeed. This little brother is in awe. " "I dare not, I dare not! It is Sect Master Shen who is young and gifted, a hero by birth.
" After the two had praised each other for a while, Pei Wujiu said with feeling: "The first time I set eyes on you in the Wilderness Ruins, I knew you were no common talent, that one day you would rise high; but I never thought that day would come so soon.
Sect Master Shen.
. . tsk, calling you Sect Master Shen is being too formal, is it not? Sect Master, with this upheaval, there are many vacancies among the first- and second-rank officials at court. Might the Sect Master put in a word for me? " Shen Mu was caught between laughter and tears: "Lord Gu, I am a mere fifth-rank official. .
.
" "If the Sect Master would not be so formal, you may call me Li Nuan. " Shen Mu steadied himself and said: "I am only a fifth-rank Grand Master of the Palace, with no real power in my grasp. How could I have the standing to meddle in the promotions of first- and second-rank grandees?
And to tell you the truth, the sword that killed the Crown Prince is this very Chubao Sword that I swindled out of your hands, Lord Gu.
The emperor does harbor a grudge over it in his heart, and he has his misgivings about my Tiansheng Cult as well. If I were to advise the emperor to promote you, Lord Gu, I would be doing you harm. " Pei Wujiu laughed: "That is the way of it. The Sect Master is brilliant.
Let me drink a cup to the Sect Master. " He was a man who understood things, and the purpose of inviting Shen Mu to this banquet was not to have Shen Mu petition the emperor for his promotion, but to establish a connection with Shen Mu and dissolve their former enmity.
Whether or not Shen Mu stood in the emperor's favor, he had to make this connection. The demon sect master of the Nether Demon Cult, an existence on a par with the Tathagata and the Dao Lord: to be on good terms with Shen Mu was equivalent to being on good terms with the Tathagata and the Dao Lord, and one banquet could accomplish it. Naturally, it was a bargain with everything to gain and nothing to lose.
After the banquet, Pei Wujiu personally escorted Shen Mu back to the Scholars' Lodge. Along the way Shen Mu noticed some foreigners in the Taixue Academy and could not help but feel puzzled. "After this disturbance, the new Crown Prince ordered the abolition of the treaties signed by the traitor, and the recovery of the lands.
Some foreign states took fright, and so they sent Kang envoys to come and study Jingping's culture. " Pei Wujiu saw through his doubt and said: "The Crown Prince graciously approved it, permitting foreigners to study in Jingping; certain sons of foreign noble houses study at the Taixue Academy.