Chapter 346 — So What?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Qingyou the Mountain Hermit started slightly at the sound of Shen Mu's voice. Shen Mu repeated himself, smiling at Li Zheng, whose every hope was dead and gone: "So what? Grandpa Li Zheng, so what if they failed?"
"A child."
Qingyou the Mountain Hermit laughed despite himself, shook his head, and felt a pang of melancholy. "The Human Sovereign of this age is still only a child who likes to play in the water. I too had years when my blood ran hot like his — and back then I was only a child..."
Shen Mu smiled. "They lost. The Human Sovereigns of every generation lost. Grandpa Li Zheng, you lost too. But so what? The first Human Sovereign lost — was there not a second? The second lost — was there not a third? Li Zheng, you lost — is there not still me?"
Li Zheng's face was blank; his white hair trembled as he shook his head again and again.
"I don't want you to end up like me..." he said, his voice thick with tears.
Now he was only an ordinary old man — not the Human Sovereign who had once commanded the winds and clouds, not the Sword God who had sought the Dao through the sword, but merely a crippled elder who did not want his own child to follow in his footsteps.
"I am an Overlord Body. Have you forgotten?"
Shen Mu smiled. "The only Overlord Body. You all raised me — is that not enough?"
"Overlord Body?"
Li Zheng laughed bitterly. "Overlord Body! Heh heh, I brought this on myself... Shen'er, let's go home. I beg you!"
Vital essence surged from Shen Mu; he lifted the old man in his arms upright, smiling as brilliantly as the sun of early spring, a smile that seemed able to scatter the gloom from another's heart and bring warmth and hope.
"The Overlord Body never admits defeat, never concedes!"
Shen Mu's voice carried an indefinable power to move; he straightened his back, filled with unprecedented confidence and conviction. "I will surpass you all. I will not be second in the world forever! In swordsmanship I will surpass you and become the Sword God, the sovereign of the sword dao! In medicine I will surpass Grandpa Dan; in speed, Grandpa Lame; in artifact forging, Grandpa Mo the Craftsman; in painting, Grandpa Deaf; in boxing, Grandpa Huo; in blade work, Grandpa Tu; in the Sacred Pupil, Grandpa Blind; in divine powers, Grandma Zhu! I will be first under heaven!"
Qingyou the Mountain Hermit laughed heartily. "The Human Sovereign's ambition is admirable. But can you surpass these stone statues? Can you surpass those statues in the Wasteland Ruins? And even if you could, can you surpass Kaihuang?"
His voice grew stern, as though he were scolding a small child. "You are only a child with ambition but no experience of setbacks and hardship. Go play in the water! Would it not be better to be an ordinary man and live a plain, ordinary life? The world of adults is something you simply do not understand!"
Shen Mu raised his head and looked at the stone statues, his face calm. "If I do not strive, if I do not fight, then of course I can never surpass the first Human Sovereign. But if I strive and struggle, there is still a chance, still hope. If I do not strive, do not struggle, and think only of failure, then I will have nothing at all!"
He glanced at Qingyou the Mountain Hermit. "Immortal Qingyou, since you are an immortal, will you die?"
Qingyou the Mountain Hermit shook his head. "There is no immortal who does not die."
"What can you leave behind?" Shen Mu asked.
"We bring nothing when we are born and take nothing when we die," said Qingyou the Mountain Hermit.