Chapter 294 — The Origin of the Soul
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Xu Shenghua's eyes lit up. He brought out his own tea packet and gave Shen Mu half. "Then it is settled! When I have finished my business, where shall I find you?"
Shen Mu accepted the packet. "The capital. I serve there as a Court Counselor. When you reach the capital, go straight to the Imperial Academy and ask for me."
"Good. When I am done, I will come to the capital of Jingping and find you for a drink."
The two raised tea in place of wine and drank to each other. The cups met with a clink. Shen Mu and Xu Shenghua were calm and composed — and yet their sleeves suddenly billowed, and a howling wind rushed out from behind them into the distance.
The river surface broke into sudden thunder. The water burst open again and again, and the surging waves joined into two straight lines, blasting upstream and downstream. Dozens of reports rang out before all fell still again.
The four girls on the boat took fright. Shen Mu and Xu Shenghua had been talking so amicably — how had they suddenly traded a blow?
A flicker of surprise crossed Shen Mu's face. He gave Xu Shenghua a deep look. Xu Shenghua was somewhat surprised as well. He lifted his cup to his lips.
Their tea finished, Xu Shenghua took the seven-stringed qin from Qingying and plucked it unhurriedly. The notes were slow, carrying a lofty mood, as though a god beyond the nine heavens were writing his heart in music — or perhaps offering an invitation, inviting a guest to be received beyond the heavens.
Shen Mu listened a while, then praised: "Truly a lofty mood, leapt free of the dust. It is only that I am within the dusty world, and cannot leap out of it."
Ling Yuxiu called from the riverbank: "Cowherd! Come over here, quickly!"
"Coming!"
Shen Mu called back over his shoulder, rose, and said apologetically, "I have a great many worldly matters. I will trouble you no longer — I still have the waterworks to see to."
Xu Shenghua rose to see him off. "The trifles of the red dust will only disturb your heart. Better to come to Upper Heaven for quiet."
Shen Mu leapt down from the boat and laughed. "You are too carefree. I could never live such an idle life — I like to be busy." (Hmm—) "Remember to come find me in the capital. I owe you a drink!"
Xu Shenghua nodded. The painted boat drifted on, down the river.
Aboard, Qingying came to the tea table and was about to clear the cups when Xu Shenghua said, "Do not touch them yet."
Qingying was puzzled, and hastily withdrew her hand.
Of the two cups on the table, one was the cup Shen Mu had drunk from and one Xu Shenghua's. Half a cup of water still remained in Shen Mu's; Xu Shenghua's was empty.
Xu Shenghua said to Yu Liu, "Raise the jade bottle. Guard the tea table — do not let our boat be damaged."
Yu Liu hastily stirred her primal energy. The jade bottle she held flew up and turned over, mouth downward.
A screen of light poured out of the bottle and covered the tea table.
Xu Shenghua breathed upon the table. The two cups burst apart with a crack. Xu Shenghua's cup shattered to powder, countless fragments shooting in all directions, and the blast shook the tea table into dust. But the half-cup of tea in Shen Mu's cup suddenly turned to a beam of light that split the cup cleanly down the middle into two halves — it did not shatter.
"A master."
Xu Shenghua had Yu Liu put away the jade bottle and examined the fragments of the two cups. His face was grave. "This youth is about my age, yet his cultivation is a shade stronger than mine. Remarkable indeed. These divine-fruit men of the Central Land are not to be made light of!"
He and Shen Mu had clinked cups, and taken the chance to trade a blow. In the clash of primal energy each had hidden his own divine power in that single contact. Xu Shenghua's primal energy had been pressed down a shade by Shen Mu's, and the force that came from Shen Mu's side was of the utmost hardness and fierceness, and so his cup had been shattered to powder.