Chapter 637 — Phoenix Courtship
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" "There is a fair lady, whom once seen I cannot forget. A single day apart, and I long for her like one crazed. The phoenix soars on high, seeking his mate through the four seas.
Yet alas, the beauty is not beyond the eastern wall. So I let the zither speak for me, and thus pour out my heart. When will she consent, and soothe my restless longing?
" Shen Mu chanted the verse aloud, his hand stroking the air. Though there was no zither and no strings beneath his fingers, his vital essence turned into zither strings that leaped and quivered and gave forth music — and it was the very same melody as the one with which the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu had hunted them down! The youth played and sang aloud, utterly unrestrained: ". .
. Would that we might be mandarin ducks, neck to neck; why not fly together, rising and dipping as one! O phoenix, phoenix, come roost with me; let me take you to wife and raise our brood forever.
Our hearts in accord, our feelings in harmony — who knows of us when we meet at midnight? Together we spread our wings and soar aloft; do not leave my longing to turn to sorrow—" The last notes of the zither circled the two of them and lingered long before they faded. His music and singing drew many skeletons; a crowd of them came running and gathered around, heads tilted to listen, and some capered and danced, accompanying him. Shen Mu dispersed his vital essence and said: "The Phoenix Seeks His Mate was written by a man for a woman.
The words and music are a man urging a woman to elope with him. They had once known happiness together; the man wants her to remember that bond, to cast everything aside and fly off with him, two birds sharing one nest. " King Buddha Sakra fell silent, then suddenly rolled over and sat up, patted the dirt from his clothes, and waved away the eavesdropping skeletons: "What are you looking at? What is there to see? Off with you, off with you. Young friend Shen, Kaihuang Heaven has thirty-three heavens in all.
Taihuang Heaven is the first, and the second is this place, called Taiming Heaven. The thirty-three heavens are in fact all connected to one another. Once we reach Taiming Heaven, we are not far from Taihuang Heaven. . . " Shen Mu went on: "I once learned this tune from Deaf Grandpa in our village. Deaf Grandpa is one of the two most learned men in our village; what he taught me cannot be wrong.
But the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu should be a woman, no? This piece was composed by a man, and for her to play it is a little strange. And in her playing there is plainly a note of bitter grievance — it seems she does not use it to kill, but to mock, to mock the one who wrote the poem and composed the music.
.
. " The wounds on King Buddha Sakra's body seemed to heal all at once.
He strode forward and said: "Above Taiming Heaven is Qingming Heaven, and above Qingming Heaven is Xuantai Heaven.
In those days this place was prosperous beyond measure.
. . " The skeletons he had driven off came crowding back like a herd of curious alpacas. Shen Mu continued: "If a woman plays this piece, and plays it to mock the one who wrote the poem and composed the music, then the one the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu means to mock is.
. . " King Buddha Sakra suddenly turned around and snapped: "What exactly are you getting at? " Shen Mu was startled and hastily shut his mouth. The skeletons, too, fled in a clattering rush. King Buddha Sakra gave a cold snort and stalked forward in a fury: "I am empty of the four elements; I have let go of everything. There is no need to speak of the past!