Chapter 546 — The Peerless Art of Face-Changing
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
He hesitated a moment, then ventured, "Sage Master, have you ever heard of the Heavenly Sage Sect? " "The Heavenly Sage Sect? " The Woodcutter Sage looked astonished and shook his head. "Never heard of it.
" Shen Mu's face turned ashen, and he wilted where he stood.
So the Woodcutter Sage truly had never heard of the Heavenly Sage Sect!
Still unwilling to let it go, he probed further. "Then, Sage Master, that sacred tree you left behind, and the sacred stone, and the axe marks — was there some deeper meaning in them?
" "That old locust tree still isn't dead? " The Woodcutter Sage was surprised, made a quick reckoning, and said, "That tree must be close on twenty thousand years old. I gave the old locust so many axe blows, and it lives to this day — I fear it has turned into a spirit by now.
" Shen Mu stammered, "Sage Master, that — that sacred stone.
.
.
" "What sacred stone?
Oh, you mean the stone I sat on when I transmitted the Way?
What of it? " Shen Mu felt as though five thunderbolts had struck his crown; his mind was a chaos, and he faltered out, "At every grand sacrifice, our Heavenly Sage Sect kowtows to that sacred stone, and kowtows to the sacred tree as well.
Only Sect Masters and sect elders who have won splendid merit are entitled, after death, to have their ashes buried beneath the sacred tree.
. .
" The Woodcutter Sage shook his head.
"So many rites?
Rites are the very thing I detest most. Could this Heavenly Sage Sect have been founded by that disciple of mine? Your Senior Brother never mastered the whole of my arts, but he made no end of rules; fixated on the rules, he lost the very meaning of what I transmitted to him. A hopeless disappointment, hopeless!
" The "disciple" and "Senior Brother" he spoke of was the founding patriarch of the Heavenly Sage Sect — and that founding patriarch was a figure elusive as a dragon that shows its head but never its tail; Shen Mu had not seen him in Fengdu. He had never gone to Fengdu; where he had gone, no one knew. If this truth ever got out, everyone in the Heavenly Sage Sect, high and low — the young patriarch included, and the successive Sect Masters in Fengdu included — would surely go mad! Seeing his dazed, addled look, the Black Tiger God opened his mouth, then swallowed it back, thinking, "My Lord is forever berating me at the least provocation and would never believe this brat's mind is unwell.
In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the boy's face has run through a dozen expressions. . .
" The True Deity Pang Yu came forward, examined Yu He's eyes and ears, and checked Shu You as well; seeing that neither was in any danger, he lowered his voice and said, "Young friend Shen Mu saved the two of you — will you not come forward and give thanks?
That you could walk alive out of the sand-table world is owed in no small part to his risking himself to draw off the enemy and being the first to take out three masters. " Yu He and Shu You were shaken to the core, and blurted out, "He alone killed three demon masters?
" "Counting Jiang Yi, four. " Pang Yu sighed. "Ten demon masters entered the field; four died at his hands — nearly half at a single stroke. Add the demon master the girl of the Sang Ye house killed, and the two of them between them took the greater part of the battle honors.
The rest of us, you two included, fought to the death, lost six, and killed only four. The demon race is not to be made light of — their strength is still greater than yours. . .
" He shook his head and said no more.
Yu He and Shu You each fell silent, exchanged a glance, and both tasted bitterness on their tongues.