Chapter 496 — When It Is Written Into the Annals of History
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
If everyone hid inside it, any single demon from beyond the realm could send them to a grave with no burial ground. Ban Gongcuo swallowed his anger and sneered: "Hierarch Shen, carry on like this and you will find it very hard to survive in these troubled times! We are fleeing for our lives, fleeing Xing An's pursuit—we did not come here to save people! " Shen Mu laughed heartily and shook his head: "Great Venerable, I merely wish to keep a little innocence and goodness alive in this foul, chaotic world.
" Ban Gongcuo gave a cold snort and burrowed back under the chest, grumbling: "Call me when the enemy comes! " Bai Qu'er stayed outside as well. She and Shen Mu sat on the chest; the Dragon Qilin jumped up too, lay down quietly, and was soon asleep.
"Why does the Great Venerable like to be under the chest? " Bai Qu'er wondered. Shen Mu explained, "He is keeping us safe from divine abilities that strike from below the ground.
" Bai Qu'er understood, and said, "The Great Venerable is thoughtful. " The chest stepped briskly along, heading east.
Shen Mu looked at the girl beside him.
Bai Qu'er had just lived through the upheaval of her family's ruin and her kin's death; this girl had been somewhat green and tender, but overnight a firm resolve had entered her brow, her gaze had grown bright and clear, and she had cast off her former frailty. Only now did Shen Mu notice that Bai Qu'er was not exactly like a human; she carried certain traits of the dragon race.
Hidden in her hair were two small dragon horns, concealed by two buns she had pinned up with her lovely hair.
The first time he met her he had even held her face in his hands, yet he had not noticed that pair of little horns.
Some sorrow still lingered in her brow; she wanted someone to lean on, yet she forced herself to be strong.
She was not the type of girl Shen Mu liked. From childhood the Nine Elders of Yincan Village had drummed into him that a woman's beauty lay in plumpness; the village headman, the pill master, and the cook had all told him that a girl should have a round face, a thick waist, and a big bottom. Bai Qu'er did not fit that at all. And yet, Shen Mu now felt that the way Bai Qu'er was strong within her frailty struck his heart deeply. "Are you tired?
" Shen Mu pressed down his strange feelings and said, "If you are tired, lean on me and rest a while. " Bai Qu'er murmured assent and leaned lightly against his shoulder. The Dragon Qilin's faint snoring reached her ear.
Yet she could not sleep. The moment she closed her eyes she saw the devastation of Bailong City, the figures of her mother and her uncles and elders meeting the demons from beyond the heavens in battle, the slaughter in the dark, countless people dying miserably, and her brother and sister-in-law looking back with a smile as they went to face the demons; and now and then the hideous faces of monsters in the darkness burst suddenly out of her nightmares.
"By the way, I never asked you—when we first met, you said you came here through time. " Bai Qu'er opened her eyes, leaning on Shen Mu's shoulder, and said softly, "Is it true?
" Shen Mu nodded. "Where do you come from? The past, or the future?
Is it peaceful there?
" "A very long time from now. Thirty or forty thousand years, perhaps.
Where I come from, things are peaceful enough for now—but who can say for the future.
" "Thirty or forty thousand years from now? " The girl on his shoulder was silent a moment, then murmured, "I do not know whether I can live to see that time.
Life here is too bitter—so bitter that a person cannot go on living. .
. " "You must live. The people in the chest still need you. " Shen Mu smiled and said gently, "You are stronger than I imagined. Many people—not just girls, but men too—would have broken down long ago in the face of this.
I know living is hard, but you still bear their hopes, and the hopes of your brother and your sister-in-law, and their child.