Chapter 1007 — They Are Not You
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Shen Mu gazed at the tombs stretching beyond sight, and a grotesque feeling rose in his heart.
He had walked all this way, and the thirty-three heavens of the Worry-Free Land were like three different worlds. Kaihuang's old ministers grumbled and gave themselves up to despair; the new generation reveled in pleasure, drowning in wine and women.
And yet the Shen line alone fought and died, shedding blood and laying down their heads for the peace of the Worry-Free Land.
It was too absurd.
"The Worry-Free Land has become deformed — or rather, it has split apart," Shen Mu thought with a sigh.
A torn Worry-Free Land: the old generation, having abandoned the people they once swore to protect, had their dao hearts collapse; the new generation sank into a worry-free existence where whatever they thought of came into being.
The Shen family, feeling guilty toward the people and toward the old generation, and yet bound to guard Kaihuang's glory and preserve the peace of the Worry-Free Land, defended it with acts that bordered on self-mutilation.
"You will not let me return to the Worry-Free Land — is it because you fear I will end up like the Shen ancestors buried here?"
Shen Mu shook his head. In truth, the Worry-Free Land in his heart had long since collapsed, crumbled to dust, ceased to exist. He only felt that the sacrifices the Shen ancestors had made to protect the Worry-Free Land and guard Kaihuang's glory were not worth it.
"Back then it was Kaihuang who split the Other Shore World in half and carved out the Worry-Free Land, offending the Creators; and now it is a son of the Shen family who founded the Other Shore Youdu, bringing the two races back to peace."
Shen Mu said to Qin Hanzhen, "From now on, the descendants of the Shen family need not fight the Creators to the death for the sake of Kaihuang's glory."
Qin Hanzhen shook his head and walked on. "In the future, the descendants of the Shen family will still fight to the death for Kaihuang's glory, for the wars to come. That is how it is in the Worry-Free Land — but outside the Worry-Free Land, is the outside world not another Worry-Free Land?"
Shen Mu followed Qin Hanzhen onward, past one tomb after another, his heart quiet and empty. The deaths of generation after generation of forebears, the war with the Creators — he wanted to laugh but could not, wanted to weep but could not.
He could only shake his head.
Since he had come to understand things, the Worry-Free Land he had searched for so bitterly, seeking and seeking, was in the end a flower in the mist, a moon in the water.
Unless one stood in his place, it was hard to understand his mood and state of mind at this moment.
The Zhen Prince's Estate was near. Ahead, the tombs gradually thinned, and some young men and women were cultivating bitterly.
They must be the juniors of the Shen family, about Shen Mu's age — some older than Shen Mu, but not by many years; some younger.
There were not many Shen family children, only a dozen or so, and they trained harder than people elsewhere in the Worry-Free Land, like ascetics tempering their bodies, polishing their vital essence, refining their spirit consciousness.
Most of the new generation in the Worry-Free Land now prized pleasure above all; it was rare to see such diligent cultivation.
Shen Mu stopped to watch, and said to Qin Hanzhen, "Are these all that remain of the Shen family?"
Qin Hanzhen nodded. "These are all that remain. The descendants of an emperor — after a hundred generations, who still thinks you are royalty? Only you yourself think so in your heart; only you yourself still cling to that pride. If you do not strive, then when the Creators come, you will die miserably. It was only after Feng Qing returned that we could breathe easy."
Shen Mu watched for a while. Qin Hanzhen called over a little girl. "Siying, this is your cousin."