Chapter 878 — The Shadowed Maga Codex
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Shen Mu settled into the Great Black Palace with perfect ease. Each day was given over to cultivation or to idle wandering, and he seemed wholly at his ease, as though he harbored not the slightest wariness toward Great Black Heaven or the grim, sinister palace itself.
Within the Great Black Palace, lamps burned bright, yet the moment one stepped beyond its walls, darkness swallowed everything, as though every ray of light were devoured by the dark, and one could see only a short way.
He had left the Great Black Palace several times, and no one had barred his way; yet Shen Mu would walk a little distance into the darkness and then turn back of his own accord, his face wreathed in smiles, seemingly delighted.
Only Dragon Qilin was unhappy. He treated the demoness who refined spirit pills for him with great severity, faulting her pills for their poor texture, their wrong flavor, the impurity of her elixirs, her faulty methods of refinement—finding fault with everything.
The demoness had been scolded to tears more than a dozen times. At last she could bear it no longer, and covering her face, she fled weeping.
"Sect Master, that girl has a foul temper," said Dragon Qilin, chewing on a spirit pill as he spoke to Shen Mu. "She can do anything, yet she can do nothing well—she cannot even refine a decent pill."
Shen Mu picked up a spirit pill and tasted it, then nodded. "Her technique is wrong, and she has not purified the spirit medicine. There are small flaws in the heat, the timing, the proportions—every aspect—so that the texture, the flavor, and the efficacy all deviate slightly."
Dragon Qilin felt he had found a kindred spirit. "She does it wrong, and still has the face to weep—shameless."
Just then, a voice came from outside, furious: "Who dares bully my cousin? Cousin, do not cry—I will go beat him to death to vent your anger!"
Shen Mu smiled. "Here it comes."
Dragon Qilin asked, puzzled, "Sect Master, what is coming?"
The demoness who had just been scolded to tears now returned, leading a demon-race youth. She raised a hand and pointed at Shen Mu, weeping like pear blossoms in rain, choking out, "It is him!"
The demon youth looked at Shen Mu and sneered. "You bullied my cousin? Even if you are a guest of my master, Great Black Heaven, I will not tolerate it. Today you must give me satisfaction!"
Shen Mu paid him no heed, but explained to Dragon Qilin, "These past days, Great Black Heaven has made no move. He keeps me in the Great Black Palace to gamble another round with me, yet he truly has no confidence of victory. Even with disciples he himself taught and raised, he is not certain they can defeat me. Therefore he needs to stir up trouble."
Dragon Qilin remained somewhat confused.
Shen Mu smiled. "If his disciple comes of his own accord to provoke and challenge me, then this battle falls outside the terms of our wager. Even if his disciple dies at my hand, he does not lose the bet between us. And his other disciples may take the opportunity to watch the fight, observing my Dao arts and divine powers from the shadows, so as to find a way to counter me."
Dragon Qilin suddenly understood, and even the demon youth who had come charging in with such ferocity felt a chill in his heart.
Dragon Qilin shot the youth a glance. "Then, Sect Master, what fate awaits the first of Great Black Heaven's disciples to step forward and stir up trouble?"
Shen Mu sighed. "He is pushed out by his fellow disciples to die."
The demon youth's expression changed drastically, and he clenched his fists tightly.
Shen Mu went on, unhurried. "After he dies, his fellow disciples will have seen a few of my divine powers. They will study them, and then send out a second man to die, using the methods they have devised to continue dealing with me."
Dragon Qilin asked curiously, "Sect Master, and then?"