Chapter 793 — The Earth Mother Venerable God
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu smiled faintly and bade the Dragon Qilin and the Water Qilin wait outside. "Brother," he said, "let us go in."
Gongsun Yan led the way, and Yu Tianzun, dazed and muddled, followed Shen Mu into the underground palace.
Outside the hall, the Water Qilin hung its head, trembling, not daring to look at the old dragon, still less to raise its eyes and take the measure of that phoenix.
The phoenix stood before them, leisurely preening its feathers, while the old dragon coiled about a pillar, head lowered, its dim old eyes fixed on them as though guarding against thieves. Its head was bigger than the Dragon Qilin and the Water Qilin put together.
The Water Qilin grew more and more unnerved. Beside it the Dragon Qilin rustled about, and from somewhere produced several spirit pills. "Will you eat one?" it asked the old dragon.
The Water Qilin groaned inwardly — but then the old dragon uncoiled, came down from the pillar, and transformed into an old man with a dragon's head and a human body. He took the pills, tasted one, and praised them: "Refreshing! Why have you, youngster, not taken human form? The path you walk is still the crude path of the demigods, growing by eating. That path has been proven a dead end. Only in human form do you gain a divine treasury and a heavenly palace, and only then can you cultivate."
The Dragon Qilin asked humbly for instruction: "The Cult Master taught me the Ancestral Dragon Grand Mystery Art, saying it is a technique of the Emperor Throne tier. But whenever I cultivate it, something always feels wrong. The Cult Master said I have qilin blood, and the art does not suit me well."
"So that is it," said the old dragon. "Dragons are born from dragon veins; I too was born from a dragon vein, and the Ancestral Dragon Grand Mystery Art is the highest of all secret arts. But your blood carries qilin blood, so it is indeed hard for you to cultivate it. I have no qilin techniques, but there are many qilin here. You may go and beg some superior arts from them. Come with me!"
The Dragon Qilin followed him.
The Water Qilin's eyes went wide. "He is that easy to talk to?"
The old dragon led him to an imperial tomb and bellowed in a coarse voice, "Lu Shouyi! Lu Shouyi!"
A stone qilin gradually shed its stone, becoming a fiery qilin of awe-inspiring majesty. "Dragon King, why do you call me?"
"There is a junior here with the blood of both my dragon clan and your qilin clan, but he has no qilin cultivation art. Teach him a few."
The old dragon added, "I ate his spirit pills, so I must give him something in return."
The fire qilin looked the Dragon Qilin over. "So it is the youngster from just now. Have you any more spirit pills?"
The Dragon Qilin hastily produced some. "A moment ago I saw how mighty you were, brother, and did not dare come up and speak."
The fire qilin was rather pleased with himself. "We are charged with guarding the imperial tombs; naturally we must be somewhat mighty."
Suddenly the qilin before the other tombs revived one after another, each alighting on auspicious clouds around the Dragon Qilin, laughing, "How fragrant, how fragrant!"
The Dragon Qilin brought out more spirit pills and gave them away. "When I passed by just now, I was so frightened by you brothers that I wet myself."
The qilin were much gratified. "We were only trying to scare you, to keep petty thieves from slipping in."
The Dragon Qilin took out every last one of his spirit pills; the old dragon took a share too. Everyone was soon calling him brother, and the talk grew lively.
An inexplicable emotion moved the Dragon Qilin's heart. "Thank goodness the Cult Master, because I carry both dragon and qilin blood, refined his spirit pills to suit the tastes of both clans. Otherwise I could never have struck up a conversation with them."
"Brother, your bloodline is both dragon and qilin, which makes things troublesome. No wonder you find it hard to take human form."