Chapter 342 — Heart-Piercing Pain
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Shen Mu put away the golden book and precious scroll and rose. "If the Daoist Lord is so inclined, come and wait for me at the Imperial Academy in the capital. I must make a trip to Little Jade Capital and bring back several adepts of calculation from there. Oh—Daoist Lord Lin, might you gift me a copy of the Dark Maiden's Canon of Calculation?"
"Trivial." Linxuan the Daoist Lord ordered it fetched and gave it to Shen Mu.
Shen Mu accepted the Canon of Calculation, gave his thanks, and said with meaning, "Your master, the old Daoist Lord, is in Little Jade Capital as well, is he not? His allotted years are nearly spent. If there were a method for repairing the Spirit Bridge, and the spatial numerology..."
Linxuan the Daoist Lord's frame gave a slight shudder, and he said nothing.
Shen Mu walked out of the Jade Void Temple, called to Xiong Xiyu and her daughter Xiong Qi'er, who had been waiting outside, and went down the mountain.
Linxuan the Daoist Lord let out a breath of turbid air and looked at the many elders in the temple; the old priests and nuns were looking at him in turn.
Suddenly he rose and said in a low voice, "Summon all in the Daoist sect skilled in the arts of calculation. We go down the mountain, to the capital."
"Daoist Lord, think thrice!"
An old Daoist priest said in alarm, "Do you truly mean to join hands with the Nether Demon Sect? The Nether Demon Sect has the ambition of a wolf cub, and this generation's Nether Demon Sect Master is a man of grand ambition and great ability, and a treacherous heart besides. In the battle at the capital, who knows how many of our brothers he killed!"
Another old nun said, "The Nether Demon Sect's Master Shen is indeed more devious and more ruthless than Fan Xuanshu, and harder to deal with than Fan Xuanshu! Bringing the golden book this time, he surely means to draw us into his snare!"
"The enmity between our sect and the Nether Demon Sect runs deep. This Nether Demon Sect Master glares like a wolf and stares like a kite—no good man. Daoist Lord, think before you act!"
"The capital—we must go! The method to become a god—we must have it!"
Linxuan the Daoist Lord flicked his sleeve and said calmly, "Say no more, martial uncles. Sect Master Shen spoke truly: even if we do not aid him, he can still break the contents of the golden book. And besides, the Imperial Academy and Little Jade Capital have adepts of calculation of their own; working out the spatial-numerical model is only a matter of time. If our sect lags one step, it will lag at every step thereafter, overtaken by the Nether Demon Sect—left behind by the age!"
He turned to pack his bags. "Our sect needs a god of its own, a living deity to guard the Daoist sect. In an age of great upheaval, a holy ground that does not change has no way to live!"
The old Daoists did not argue further. Each went to pack his gear and to choose the disciples most outstanding in the arts of calculation, making ready to hurry to the capital.
Suddenly an old Daoist priest let out an earth-shaking howl: "Which accursed wretch has stolen the sect master's whisk?"
From another quarter came a furious voice: "Who ate my fish?"
"Who stole my landscape screen? A treasure I have kept for years!"
"Has anyone seen my Qiankun Bay? It is the potted mountain in a basin, refined from the Qiankun Bay I collected."
"This poor nun left her hairpin on the dressing table—who took it? Speak up!"
At the foot of Jade Void Mountain, Shen Mu passed the mountain gate. The old Daoist who kept the mountain stood outside his thatched hut and returned Shen Mu's clothes to him, saying, suspicious, "The Old Shadow Thief has been stealing our sect's treasures again, hasn't he?"
Shen Mu took the clothes and shook his head. "I did not see him on the mountain."