Chapter 1006 — That Senior's Home
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
They came to Longbian Heaven. The extravagance here surpassed even Yulong Heaven. In the heavens below, the garrison commanders still trained troops and arrayed formations out of fear of the Creators' attack; here there was no trace of that anxious air at all, only enjoyment, pleasure, and abandon in a sea of desire. Shen Mu and Shu Jun did not linger, but pressed on to the next heaven, Pingyu Heaven.
"Little Shen.
" Qin Hanzhen and his wife were waiting at the entrance to Pingyu Heaven, and must have waited a long while.
Consort Zhen smiled.
"So Little Shen has come after all. Your father knows you best; he said you would surely come to probe Kaihuang's sword art.
" Shen Mu gathered up his robe and bowed to the ground before them. "When I don the red robe I am the Sacred Infant, and so I have shown the two elders scant courtesy.
I have come now to beg forgiveness.
" Qin Hanzhen hastily raised him. "We gave you no grace of upbringing, fulfilled no duty of teaching, gave you no soul.
How dare we call ourselves your father and mother? " Consort Zhen wiped the corner of her eye and smiled.
"I truly wish I had borne two sons. " Qin Hanzhen said, "On the road you have traveled you must have suffered many trials. His Majesty's old subordinates are loyal to him to the death, and they would surely have obstructed you in a hundred ways. I know it has been hard on you.
" Shen Mu was struck dumb.
Consort Zhen said, "Your father is Prince Zhen; it would not do for him to go down and meet those old fellows directly.
Their tempers are strange, and their talk is all sneering and innuendo. I told your father to go and find you, but he said those elders know their measure: they would surely strike at you, but would not take your life, at worst they would wound you, and there was no need for him to go. And if those old men drove you back, so much the better.
" Shen Mu was struck even dumber. Shu Jun chuckled.
"Those old subordinates of Kaihuang, loyal indeed, and obstructive in a hundred ways. " Qin Hanzhen led him toward the Prince Zhen Manor.
"You have come back so rarely.
I will take you to see the ancestors of the Shen family. We will not speak of your duel with Kaihuang; first let us enter the family gate.
Half the territory of this Pingyu Heaven belongs to the old Shen family.
" Shen Mu assented. He followed Qin Hanzhen and Consort Zhen, and as they went he saw grave mounds one after another, stretching as far as the eye could see. "These are all forebears of the old Shen family. " Qin Hanzhen said, "The Shen family knew that Kaihuang was resolved to migrate to the Worry-Free Land, and that it would cost him the hearts of his officers and men; and so, from the fourth generation onward, the Shen family took it upon themselves to fight the Creators. They are all here, generation after generation, all here.
Kaihuang had thirty-four children.
In the course of founding Kaihuang's Heavenly Court, thirty-three of them died in battle.
The ancestor of our own branch died in the campaign of the migration to the Worry-Free Land. He took his six sons and blocked the Heavenly Court's pursuit; his body was never found, and no one went to look for it. " Qin Hanzhen said, "He did not enter the ancestral tombs. Kaihuang's descendants of the third generation died on the way into the Great Void.
They went in first to scout the path, and only one came back alive to tell Kaihuang that all was safe.
By our generation, I am of the hundred and sixth, you the hundred and seventh, the old Shen family's numbers have grown very few, and every generation must shoulder the burden of guarding the Worry-Free Land. When the Creators come, the Shen family is the first to charge out, to be at the very front.
Your mother did not want you to come back out of worry over exactly this.