Chapter 785 — The Youth Plows the Wasteland
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Shen Mu dispersed the primordial magnetic Five-Finger Mountain. The water qilin crawled out of the great pit, glanced at the silly-looking Lan Yutian, and thought: "I have heard of the Earth Lord's Pact, but what manner of thing is this Little Earth Lord's Pact? Most likely it is meant to muddle me. In a while, when they are not looking, I will swallow this youth in one gulp and bolt; I doubt they can catch me..."
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than darkness suddenly fell over his eyes.
A huge head appeared in the darkness, three-eyed, with a gaping, blood-bowl mouth full of jagged teeth, while he himself seemed utterly tiny, shivering before that great head!
Then out of the darkness a heavy voice came: "You cannot eat him yet. He has only thought of it; he has not acted. Only when he acts in rebellion may you eat him."
The great head muttered: "I cannot eat him even for thinking it? I say thinking it is reason enough to start eating..."
"An Earth Lord must keep an Earth Lord's rules."
The heavy voice in the darkness coaxed him patiently: "If you keep no rules, if you simply start eating, then the next time someone swears an oath, who will come to you? Look at me: when others swear, they always come to me. Many swear to me and then break their oaths, and every one of them becomes my rations. Because I deal fairly, more and more come to me. If I ate at random, no one would deliver himself to my door."
The great head blinked its three eyes and said delightedly: "So that is the principle! I understand now: deal fairly, and others will deliver themselves to our door to be eaten! Good, good, a fine method... May I lick him without eating him?"
"No. He is nearly frightened to death by you."
"Just one little lick!"
"No! Think of the profit to come!"
...
The darkness before the water qilin's eyes scattered. Drenched in cold sweat from fright, he meekly became Yutian Zun's mount, thinking: "This Little Earth Lord's Pact is even more vicious than the Earth Lord's Pact! The Earth Lord's Pact at least reasons; the Little Earth Lord's Pact depends on the Little Earth Lord's mood. In a good mood he will eat you; in a bad mood he will eat you too..."
Shen Mu looked ahead and thought: "The direction these demigods are taking seems to lie near the Dou Niu Realm."
They pressed on. With the water qilin, the party's speed rose greatly. Deva King Buddha went on teaching Yutian Zun the runes of the Buddhist gate, and the water qilin listened at the side, astonished in his heart: "This bald youth's learning is truly deep. He expounds the Buddha dharma with perfect coherence, plain and easy to grasp, yet the principles are profound; I fear he is a great master! I had thought of eating them — it seems I took them too lightly!"
The water qilin's speed was extreme, in no way inferior to a dragon qilin, yet even borne by the water qilin they spent more than a month before they came near the small mountain village of the Martial Combat Celestial Master.
Along the way Shen Mu came upon several more instances of demigods on the road, and some demigods even struck at them.
Ordinary sorts he could hold off himself, but demigods were strong and weak alike; some adult demigods were fiercer even than true gods, and they met an adult demigod whose might rivaled the Lingxiao powerhouses!
Its aura pressed the sky into distortion — dreadful beyond words!
That demigod on the road saw that Yutian Zun was sitting on the water qilin's back and was about to make trouble, but Deva King Buddha let his aura bloom forth in full, and only then did he startle that adult demigod away.
Only then did the water qilin learn how terrifying the "bald youth" beside him was, and his heart quaked with lingering fear.
On the road Shen Mu and the others saw a number of destroyed small villages as well — villages of the ruins laid waste by demigods, the villagers eaten, bones and all.
Shen Mu frowned deeply and drew a long breath.