Chapter 434 — How Could a Cooked Duck Fly?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
The Flood Dragon King God, frantic with alarm, was about to strike when the White Gap Deity abruptly dispersed his divine might, dropped to one knee, and sighed. "I surrendered once before. What harm is there in surrendering again? I, Bai, am willing to submit."
Shen Mu smiled. "Rest assured, Mount Hundred Years is a fine place, and you are well suited to it. Swear your oath to the Earth Lord. Once the oath is sworn, I will make you the mountain god of Mount Hundred Years, to enjoy offerings."
Half a day later, the White Gap Deity, his face dark, rode wind and cloud to Deer County beside the Surging River. He looked around and frowned: all about Deer County stood hills a hundred or so zhang high, barren mountains and foul waters — where was the ten-thousand-zhang peak of lovely scenery?
The White Gap Deity brought his cloud down and asked a farmer, "Where is Mount Hundred Years?"
"That one there!"
The White Gap Deity looked where the man pointed. Mount Hundred Years was a low mound, wreathed in the qi of death. He said angrily, "That is plainly a potter's field, a place for burying corpses! Why is it called Mount Hundred Years?"
The farmer laughed. "What happens to ordinary folk after a hundred years? They die, of course! So it is called Mount Hundred Years — after a hundred years, you are buried there."
The White Gap Deity was dumbstruck. Puzzled, he said, "Is Mount Hundred Years not ten thousand zhang high?"
"What a horned fool!"
The farmer could not hold back his laughter. "A dead man lying down is no more than a few inches tall. To the dead, is Mount Hundred Years not ten thousand zhang high?"
The White Gap Deity flew into a rage and stormed up Mount Hundred Years, crying furiously, "That wretch Shen has ruined me!"
Suddenly the Surging River beside him split with a roar, and from the water emerged an enormous head, which studied him with curiosity and laughed. "I said to myself, whose is that divine aura? So it is Daoist White Gap. What brings you here too? You said just now that one surnamed Shen ruined you — what is the story?"
"So it is Lord Dragonkeeper!"
The White Gap Deity made haste to salute from the hilltop. "I came to Jingping to bring down the calamity, and I met the master of the Nether Demon Sect..."
"Say no more, I know!"
The giant dragon in the river shook itself and became Lord Dragonkeeper, his face grave. "Is he not a plain, honest-looking fellow, the sort it is easy to bully?"
The White Gap Deity said in astonishment, "How do you know?"
Lord Dragonkeeper stamped his foot. "It is precisely because of his plainness that I became the Dragon Emperor of the Surging River!"