Chapter 452 — The Ancient Bronze Bell
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Long Qilin, though, was delighted. The moment it carried Shen Mu out of the city it broke into a furious run, swift as wind and lightning, far faster even than it had been in the desert.
For all that he could be delicate of feeling at times, he was no Ge Ke; hearing Shen Mu say with his own mouth, to the Patriarch's own son, that the Patriarch was not dead but had ascended to godhood, the fat brute was beside himself with joy and redoubled his efforts.
Shen Mu felt a little guilty about deceiving him.
"That skeleton poling the boat in the sea of fog outside the Realm of the Living Dead must be Daoist Lingjing."
Shen Mu thought: "If he is Daoist Lingjing, then the Patriarch is most likely in the Realm of the Living Dead as well. The village head gave me eight Fengdu coins; I must enter Fengdu again and find out the truth!"
He took out the map of the Western Lands that Ge Ke had given him, spread it open and studied it on every side. After a while he finally located the True Heaven Palace and Fangxiu City. He raised his head to judge his own position, then pointed out the route to Long Qilin, and they raced off to the southwest.
Directly ahead of them a great mountain barred the road. The mountain's form was strange, like a giant standing there, with two peaks growing down from the giant's shoulders; but what was stranger still was that the two peaks, as they descended, suddenly swelled thick and round, like two great bells hanging to the ground.
The post road, reaching this point, split in two, passing between the two great bells and skirting the body of that strange mountain.
When Long Qilin came running to this place, Shen Mu looked up and saw a woman in black robes and a black skirt, graceful and ethereal of figure, drifting up the mountain.
She alighted at the head of that strange mountain, where a golden, glittering talisman hung, as though stamped upon the summit.
Shen Mu's pupils contracted sharply: the woman was peeling that talisman from the summit!
"Not good! Fatty Long, charge through!"
He had barely spoken when the great mountain suddenly shook with a rumbling roar; the enormous mass lifted a foot, and stone of unimaginable weight was drawn up out of the earth, as though a mountain peak were being pulled from the ground!
Shen Mu knew things were bad. The Worry-Free Sword left its sheath behind him and shot with a swish straight for the woman on the summit!
To catch the bandits, catch their chief first. This mountain's transformation into a mountain giant must be sustained by the power of some expert who had awakened the mountain spirit; kill this woman, and the process of transformation should be cut short!
The woman glanced back and sneered: "You killed a disciple of the Yu family. I don't care if you're the King of Heaven himself, you'll be buried with them!"
The mountain giant pulled one leg free and set it on the earth, sending soil flying, then wrenched the other leg out with effort, and only then rose slowly to its feet.
When the mountain giant stood, clouds hung at its waist, and the two bell-shaped secondary peaks were lifted up as well; the rock upon those peaks came rattling down, and boulder after boulder fell from the sky, soon piling up and choking the road.
As the mountain giant rose, the woman on the mountain rose with it, and the Worry-Free Sword spun whirling, turning into the Drilling Sword form and shooting straight for the clouds.
The Yu woman atop the giant's head also sensed the danger. She gave a soft cry, and flying rings streamed out one after another; with a slap of her hand, countless rings flew to snare the Worry-Free Sword stabbing up from below!
Ding, ding, ding, ding, a burst of explosions dense as rain. The rings slipped over the Worry-Free Sword and shrank at once, only to be shredded by the spinning blade.