荒墟牧神 - 第297章 忘憂之刃 - 簡牘書房

"No Sorrow?"

Shen Mu's heart stirred faintly. He looked again at the grain of the blade, but the two words "No Sorrow" were nowhere to be seen, as though the flowing veins he had glimpsed a moment ago had been a mere illusion. Yet it had not been an illusion. The words "No Sorrow" had truly appeared.

"This sword called No Sorrow—can it have something to do with the Land of No Sorrow?"

He sank into thought. Could the Sword of No Sorrow have come out of the Land of No Sorrow?

But why had it become a broken blade?

And why, when the broken blade met that nameless metal, had it been restored as of old?

All of it seemed fated by some hidden decree: that the broken Sword of No Sorrow should fall into the hands of the Golden Palace of Loulan; that the Heavenly Sage Sect should come by that metal; that Shen Mu should steal the broken blade from the Golden Palace of Loulan; that Shen Mu should bring the heaven-foreign metal into collision with the broken Sword of No Sorrow; that the Sword of No Sorrow should be made whole again!

Too many coincidences—which meant it was no coincidence at all, but some power that had contrived them.

"Sister Yunxiang, that metal came from beyond the heavens? When did it come?" Shen Mu asked.

Si Yunxiang, too, had been left gaping, too shaken by what had happened to gather her wits. After a moment she came back to herself and shot him a glare. "It came from beyond the heavens, yes, but exactly when, that I couldn't say. We'll have to ask my Old Ancestress to look into it. And don't call me Sister Yunxiang. You say it so fondly, I'd think the honey on your tongue was hiding a wish to do me in."

Shen Mu said, a little sheepishly, "Then let the Holy Maiden take the field, and look into the origins of this metal."

Si Yunxiang drew out that mirror and turned it twice; a mirror within the mirror appeared, and the Si family's Old Ancestress stood at the other end. Si Yunxiang put her question, and the Old Ancestress said in surprise, "Is there such a thing? Wait a moment, let me look. Divine metals of this kind are generally recorded in the archives."

Before long the Old Ancestress returned, a register in hand, and said, "This is a divine metal from beyond the heavens. It appeared sixteen years ago. The record says that in the winter of that year a divine light tore across the sky and fell into the Nether Valley. Disciples of the sect went to investigate, and dozens were killed or wounded; they picked up this divine metal and presented it to the treasury."

"Sixteen years ago?"

Shen Mu was slightly startled. Fifteen years had passed since Granny Zhu had found him; the divine metal that had mended the broken blade had appeared in the winter of sixteen years ago—very close to the time he himself had been found.

"Then were there any men of the Golden Palace of Loulan in the vicinity at the time?" Shen Mu asked hastily.

Shen Mu's heart surged. So that was it!

The broken blade and the divine metal both dated from sixteen years ago. The divine metal the Nether Demon Sect had obtained and the broken blade the Golden Palace had obtained were in truth parts of one whole, and only when the two treasures were brought together would they take their complete form!

The Nether Valley of the Desolate Ruins!

"I must go there and see it for myself!" he thought.

The Old Ancestress said, "The Nether Valley in the Duck's Tongue region is a fearsome place. Later the sect sent search parties several times, but the dangers within were too many, and they withdrew again without pressing deep."

Shen Mu thanked the old lady. Though Si Yunxiang was the Holy Maiden and the mistress of the Si family, it was this old lady who truly held the Si family in her hand, and her standing in the Nether Demon Sect was exceedingly high as well. She had once been the sect's Holy Maiden, and had later yielded the place to Granny Zhu.