Chapter 272 — Ghost Possession
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" "I heard people in the palace say that when a man and a woman sleep together, the woman gets pregnant.
" Ling Yuxiu said earnestly, "We slept nearly a day and a night.
I may well be with child.
" Jianqi burst out laughing. "Princess, you've got it wrong; it isn't like that.
Oh dear, it's hard to explain. The young master is a divine physician; he surely has ways to prevent conception. " Ling Yuxiu's eyes went wide.
"There are such ways?
" "Indeed there are. I've heard that some noble ladies who don't want children have alchemists prepare medicines, and then they don't conceive.
" .
. .
After seeing the three girls off, Shen Mu noticed that the yellow pear tree had come fully into bloom, its branches covered in blossoms.
"Spring has come at last. " The youth thought, "Once the first harvest of grain ripens, this year of disaster will be over.
" He washed and dressed. At home alone he had only the dragon qilin for company, and he had no mind to cook, so he decided to go down the mountain to eat. He had just stepped out of the courtyard when he saw the Libationer of Bashan coming with his robe draped over his shoulders, bellowing, "I just saw the princess and two maids going down the mountain with lanterns. Could they have come from your room? " "There's no such thing.
Senior brother, don't talk nonsense.
" Shen Mu said without a blush or a flutter in his heart, "Have you come looking for me about Ban Gongcuo, senior brother? Have you eaten breakfast?
" Bashan had always had a voice to rival the Duke of Wei's. If he learned that Ling Yuxiu and the two maids had spent the night in Shen Mu's room, the whole capital would know. To Shen Mu, it was a matter of feeling arising and being restrained by propriety; he had done nothing improper.
But by worldly reckoning it was no small thing. If word got out that he had slept with the princess, the emperor would have his head. Better to keep it hidden. "I ate at the foot of the mountain just now.
I knew you'd just come back from the palace, and after such a long stretch of weariness you're likely still hungry, so I brought you something to eat. " Bashan took out several oil-paper parcels and handed them over. Shen Mu thanked him hastily and opened them: one held a steamer basket of buns; another, meat of some exotic beast he could not name, boiled in plain water, with a red paste of fermented flour mixed with shredded scallion whites; and the last, pickled vegetables.
Shen Mu invited him inside, and they sat down to eat. Watching him wolf down his food, Bashan sighed. "The emperor is truly stingy—he sends you to heal him and doesn't even lay out a decent meal. By the way, Ban Gongcuo's Six Heavens Divine Treasury is more than half broken through. " "So soon?
" Shen Mu looked up, astonishment on his face.
To cultivate to the Six Harmonies realm was to become a wielder of divine powers. In cultivation, every realm required painstaking refinement; Shen Mu's breaking through the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury in two years was already considered very fast. He had labored nearly a year in the Five Luminaries realm and now stood at the threshold of the Six Harmonies realm, yet when he might succeed in breaking through the Six Heavens Divine Treasury, he had no idea.
When they last met Ban Gongcuo, he had been a green boy at the Spirit Embryo realm.
Now, only half a year later, his cultivation had already surpassed Shen Mu's, and he had become a divine-power wielder of the Six Harmonies realm!
This was by no means a normal pace of cultivation; it could only be called godlike speed! "There's something strange about that boy. " Bashan picked up a piece of pickled vegetable and popped it into his mouth.