Chapter 649 — A Sense of Loss
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
" Pulled along by her, Shen Mu stumbled forward at a run. They turned several corners and passed through several of those sky-arching galleries, until ahead of them they met a party of consorts out strolling together.
Ling Yuxiu hastily released Shen Mu's hand, put on a dignified air, and greeted the consorts with a graceful curtsy; only after the noble ladies had passed out of sight did she take Shen Mu's hand again and go running blithely on. A few steps further and they met a great train of palace maids escorting the Empress herself.
Ling Yuxiu was startled and hastily resumed the sober, proper image of a princess, bowing to the Empress: "Mother Empress. " The Empress drew her aside and murmured with her a while, then looked Shen Mu up and down and said with a smile, "Cult Master Shen grows ever taller and handsomer.
" Shen Mu felt there was something odd in the way she looked at him - rather like a mother-in-law sizing up a prospective son-in-law; he stood to one side, his face burning. Once the Empress had gone far off, Ling Yuxiu caught hold of him again and ran him onward at full tilt. At last they came to the imperial garden, and she burst out giggling: "It is so uncomfortable in the palace - bound by one ceremony after another, never free to be myself.
The jianghu is better; there a person can live wild and merry. " Shen Mu looked about as he followed her: rare flowers and strange blossoms, a beauty beyond telling - and yet there were also plots of vegetables, with many maids watering the greens and picking off insects. No doubt the palace had no money and must grow its own food. "Sister Xiu, has the Holy Maiden Xiang also returned to Jingping?
" Shen Mu asked abruptly, admiring the scenery. Ling Yuxiu flared up: "We have not seen each other in so long, and instead of billing and cooing with me, you ask after her?
How much do you miss her? " Shen Mu said hastily, "I have proper business with her, I do not miss her!
" "She is back! The fragrant little demoness came back with me!
" Ling Yuxiu stalked forward in a huff. Shen Mu hurried after her. The two came to a flowering tree, its blossoms in riotous bloom, the tree not tall; Shen Mu took a slender branch between his fingers, bent low, and breathed in the fragrance of the flowers, a smile rising on his face.
He roused the Three Primes Spirit-Meeting Formula, and just as his nose was about to touch the petals, his primordial spirit had already left his body. Ling Yuxiu saw his profile - clear and handsome - and felt that in that moment the scent of the flowers was a little intoxicating; her heart began to beat faster, her face flushed, and her breath grew hurried.
Elsewhere, Si Yunxiang suddenly felt a stirring in her heart and hastily roused the Three Primes Spirit-Meeting Formula; her primordial spirit left her body, and there she saw Shen Mu's primordial spirit come flying.
"Holy Maiden Xiang, Princess Xiu and I are in the imperial garden.
This is urgent, so I will speak bluntly.
" Shen Mu's primordial spirit sent out its thought-waves: "The Jingping treasury is empty.
Does the Sacred Cult still have money? " Si Yunxiang laughed: "You are dallying with that little minx Yuxiu in the imperial garden, and yet you come to meet your little paramour in secret - truly the manner of a demon cult master!
Yes, the Sacred Cult has money; buying up half of Jingping would be nothing to us.
Our cult's holdings are spread across the world, every hall blooming wherever it stands. Whether in the traffic between the Central Land and the Western Land or in the digging of mines and the forging of primordial arms, the Sacred Cult has a hand, and so the money flows in without cease.
" Shen Mu thought for a moment, then said, "Let the Sacred Cult keep back what it needs for daily expenses, and donate the rest to the emperor, for the emperor to use in the treasury. " Si Yunxiang rejected it at once: "No!