Chapter 474 — A Fatal Flaw
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
A dull ache throbbed at the Old Mother of True Heaven's temples. Shen Mu had pushed the Black Tortoise Pearl into her hand again — and if the task was merely to find a person, what need was there for the Black Tortoise Pearl?
This was plainly yet another test!
"Is this brat born in the year of the fox?
He has tested me five or six times already, and still he tests me! " The Old Mother of True Heaven returned the Black Tortoise Pearl to Shen Mu, her gaze gentle, and said with a faint smile, "To find a person, such a treasure is hardly needed.
Cult Master Shen, do you have a portrait of the Great Venerable? " Shen Mu was like a blind old man with his eyes wide open, blind to her bewitching, captivating smile; swiftly he drew a portrait of Ban Gongcuo and handed it to her.
The Old Mother of True Heaven was patient. She cast her spirit-summoning art and roused the white clouds in the sky, the rocks, the trees, questioning each in turn, and after a while she found at last where Ban Gongcuo had gone.
"The arts of the Palace of True Heaven are quite something.
Turned to a constable's work, they would make the finest of hands.
" Imperial Preceptor Jingping mused, "Perhaps we might have disciples of the Palace of True Heaven enter Jingping and serve as female head constables.
" The Old Mother of True Heaven said softly, "The Imperial Preceptor's insight is extraordinary.
" Imperial Preceptor Jingping's face was expressionless. "A crude notion.
Not worth mentioning. " All along the road, the Old Mother of True Heaven attended to the food, drink, and daily needs of Shen Mu and Imperial Preceptor Jingping, pouring tea and water for the two of them, washing their clothes, cooking their meals, a smile forever on her face, the very picture of a virtuous and considerate woman.
But Shen Mu and Imperial Preceptor Jingping took it wholly for granted; Shen Mu even made her go feed the Dragon Qilin, waiting upon that great fat brute.
The Old Mother of True Heaven never uttered a word of complaint and remained gentle and attentive as ever, yet in her heart she had no ground to stand on at all. Shen Mu wore an air of innocent artlessness, his mouth sweet as if smeared with honey, calling every woman he met "sister" — and yet he was a wooden post; no matter how she tempted him, he stayed dull and blank, without a spark of interest. Imperial Preceptor Jingping was more formidable still: the man seemed to possess no feelings whatsoever, knowing only how to do things, utterly unmoved by her charms.
As for the Dragon Qilin, that fellow was worse yet, forever fixing its eyes on its own washbasin of a feed bowl, solemnly and seriously counting every spirit pill in the basin — not one missing would do. And when it was not eating, the beast fretted that its hide would never grow back, that the lightning-scorched scales, blackened and riddled with holes, could never be restored; it complained that it was no longer as handsome as before, schemed over how to coax more rations out of them, and waged a war of wits against the Old Mother of True Heaven until her head was near to bursting.
"I swear I will do them in! " Time and again the Old Mother of True Heaven could hardly keep herself from striking, only to find that before Imperial Preceptor Jingping she had no opening whatsoever.