Chapter 1007 — They Are Not You
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
The girl was drenched in sweat; she circulated her vital essence to steam the sweat away, then looked at Shen Mu curiously and laughed. "But he is clearly the Holy Infant of the Creator race — he is terribly fierce, he scared lots of people to tears! I cried from fright back then too."
Shen Mu smiled, took out a drop of Primal Chaos essence, visualized a pearl, sealed the essence within it, and gave it to her. "Wear it around your neck. It will be very beneficial to your cultivation in the days to come."
The girl accepted it and ran off to cultivate again.
"Siying is the youngest in the Shen family, your uncle's posthumous daughter. She is not yet ten, and I am the one teaching her now," Qin Hanzhen said. "Let us go home. I will take you to the ancestral hall to pay respects to the ancestors."
Shen Mu nodded. The Zhen Prince's Estate was not large — it did not have Long Biantian's extravagant luxury — but the ancestral hall was not small. The Zhen Princess Consort and Shujun waited outside. Qin Hanzhen led Shen Mu in. He saw the ancestral tablets arranged neatly, piled together like a grand altar.
It was solemn here, the atmosphere heavy.
Shen Mu followed behind Qin Hanzhen, bowing and offering incense.
Qin Hanzhen took out the Shen family genealogy and asked, "Shall I add your name to it?"
Shen Mu hesitated, then shook his head. "I am going to fight Kaihuang. Before I fight Kaihuang, I cannot be in the genealogy. After I fight Kaihuang, I cannot appear in the genealogy either."
Qin Hanzhen was stunned.
To fight Kaihuang was to fight the Shen family's own founding ancestor. Shen Mu could not do it as the one hundred and seventh generation descendant — that would be monstrous impiety.
And after fighting Kaihuang, Shen Mu would be one who betrayed his master and disowned his ancestors; he should not appear in the genealogy. By both sentiment and reason, he ought to be struck from it.
"Must you truly go this far?"
Qin Hanzhen could not help saying, "After the fight, you will never again be able to enter the Shen family ancestral hall! When you die, your grave cannot enter the ancestral tombs — you will become a wandering ghost, and no one in the Shen family will make offerings to you!"
Shen Mu smiled. "If I do not fight Kaihuang, the Worry-Free Land will not wake. Kaihuang also hopes I will fight him, and drive him out of this Worry-Free Land. I cannot fail his expectations."
He laughed. "I am a catfish that Kaihuang deliberately released into the Worry-Free Land. He does not hope I will muddy the waters — he hopes I will stir the dead water to life, make those disappointed fish begin to swim, wake those fish drunk on dreams and pleasure. I must do the duty of this catfish well."
Qin Hanzhen was silent, then said, "Kaihuang is extremely terrifying."
"I know. In the Void Land I have already seen the traces left when he fought Heavenly Venerable Fire. Heavenly Venerable Fire's cultivation was stronger than his, yet he was still wounded by his sword."
Shen Mu said, "Among the ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Court, Heavenly Venerable Fire's strength is not the greatest, but neither is it the least. To be able to force Heavenly Venerable Fire to leave a Great Dao brand and be wounded — Kaihuang's strength is above my estimate."
Qin Hanzhen said, "His strength is not only in the sword dao. The sword dao is his strongest, but his divine abilities are no less than his sword dao."
Shen Mu nodded. "When I met him in the early years of Longhan, he was already peerless in both swordsmanship and divine abilities. When I offended Lady Yuanmu and gravely wounded Heavenly Venerable Hao, he used his divine abilities to break out of the encirclement and save me — the marvel of those abilities was breathtaking."
Qin Hanzhen was silent for a moment, then said, "I cannot keep you. Go."
Shen Mu bowed deeply and turned to walk out of the ancestral hall.