Chapter 449 — The Girl on the Wooden Chest
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" Shen Mu looked about him: the street was empty in an instant, every house with doors sealed and windows shut, not a soul to be seen; only Dragon Qilin and Xiong Qi'er still stood at his side, and not far off the True Heaven Palace woman lay sprawled on the ground, knocked silly by her fall. "Do you know the way to the True Heaven Palace? " Shen Mu stepped forward and asked, his face amiable.
The True Heaven Palace woman flipped upright of a sudden, and the hairpins in her hair shot like swords at his eyes, while her body darted swiftly sideways to a house beside the street, where she raised a hand and tore the god-image from the plaque above the door.
Boom — the house rose to its feet of a sudden and became a giant; two small side-rooms became the house-giant's fists, and it smashed down at Shen Mu with a roar. The hairpins halted before Shen Mu's eyes; layer upon layer of array patterns revolved in his pupils, and the hairpins melted, becoming drops of silver that fell to the ground.
Shen Mu looked up, starlight kindling in his eyes, and turned his gaze upon the house-giant that had torn itself from the earth; through the windows he saw the family within, old and young, trembling and not daring to move.
"I knew that god-image was useless.
" Two beams of light shot from his eyes and swept over the True Heaven Palace woman. "As one who wields divine arts," he said calmly, "you give no thought to these common people.
That I hold in contempt. " The two beams grew shorter and shorter, drawing back into his eyes; the madly spinning array patterns in them vanished, and the motes of starlight dimmed one by one.
The house-giant crashed down and became once more a round house, swaying twice.
Shen Mu turned to leave, and the woman on the roof stood rigid, not daring to move a muscle. Shen Mu picked up Xiong Qi'er and leapt onto Dragon Qilin's back.
The woman still stood on the roof; from below came suddenly the sound of a door opening, and the True Heaven Palace woman's face showed panic.
In a low voice she said, "Do not open the door.
.
. " Creak.
The door opened slowly, and the sound shook her; the woman shrieked, "Do not open the door —" Her vital energy could no longer hold her body together.
A line of blood appeared at her neck and another at her waist, and the two halves of her body slid apart from the waist and rolled down into the street; then the two legs below the waist fell from the roof as well.
"The Hierarch is truly merciful. " Outside the small town, Dragon Qilin could not help praising him.
"That woman struck so viciously, and yet the Hierarch.
.
. " He had barely got this far when he heard the woman's shriek from the town behind them, and hurriedly turned his head to look; he saw just the sight of her lower half tumbling down, and could not help a shudder.
Shen Mu said with feeling, "It is not mercy in me. For one who wields divine arts to strike at common folk is a taboo to begin with. We are all human — by what right are you a cut above, free to take lives as you please? In the Kingdom of Jingping and in the Desolate Ruins, when those who wield divine arts fought among themselves, they seldom brought harm on the innocent. Even in my struggle with Ban Gongcuo, we fought outside the city walls.
When Granny Zhu fought the Lord of Crimson Dragon City in Crimson Dragon City, it too was above the city, not a reckless brawl in the streets.
" Dragon Qilin shut his mouth and said no more. He had meant to praise Shen Mu's mercy in not taking the True Heaven Palace woman's life, and had not expected that the woman would die at Shen Mu's hand after all — and that the mercy Shen Mu spoke of was for the common folk.