Chapter 1082 — The Deadlock of a Hundred Thousand Years
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Ling Tianzun stood there in silence, and it was only after a long moment that she seemed to come back to herself.
All at once, with a cry of joy, this unkempt girl charged over, snatched the hairpin from Shen Mu's hand, felled him with a single flying kick, and then fell upon him with fists and feet, beating him with the most savage ferocity. That whole pack of contrarians astride their bamboo poles came charging up as well, and the bamboo-pole ponies laid into Shen Mu with such a beating—crack!
crack! thump!
thump! —that the air rang with it.
Yue Tianzun, Yan'er, and the rest stared with mouths agape, while Long Qilin alone squinted drowsily and dozed on the ground, turning a blind eye to the whole affair.
"You stole my hairpin! I'll teach you to steal my hairpin!
" Ling Tianzun shouted between blows.
"I'll teach you to sneak away! I'll teach you to come sneaking back! Do you have any idea how painfully I've waited?
" Shen Mu curled up on the ground with his head in his hands, begging for mercy without cease.
Still seething with anger, Ling Tianzun kept up her assault, raging, "Do you know how bitter these years have been for me? After you left, everyone said I was wrong—only I knew I was right, because you are the living proof!
" Even as she spoke and struck, her eyes reddened, and she wept even while she continued to beat him.
"Everyone said I was mad—even Yun, even Yue—they all believed I was wrong, that I could never succeed!
How I wished you were at my side, if only to say a single sentence: 'You are right!
' But no, you had to run away!
You had to vanish without a trace! I'll beat you to death! " .
. .
She flung herself upon Shen Mu and burst into loud sobs, a girl who had nursed her grievances for who knows how long, and yet her hand still clasped that peachwood hairpin tightly, while her other hand seized the lapels of his robe, as though she feared he might vanish once again. Others might not have understood such a feeling, but Shen Mu knew all too well the solitude that frustration and the world's incomprehension bring; at such a time, all it takes is a single "You are right" from a fellow Daoist to summon fresh courage and hack one's way forward through thorns and brambles once more.
Shen Mu had known such a moment; so had Ling Tianzun.
Shen Mu had Long Qilin—even if Long Qilin did not understand him, at least he would encourage him.
Ling Tianzun had nothing at all.
Yue Tianzun helped her to her feet, and Ling Tianzun threw herself upon her shoulder, weeping without restraint, though her other hand still pinched the hem of Shen Mu's garment.
Shen Mu brushed the footprints off his clothes and laughed: "If you hadn't succeeded, how could I have come back?
" "I knew all along that I would succeed!
" Ling Tianzun said stubbornly.
Shen Mu roared with laughter; when the laughter subsided, he said in all seriousness, "You are right.
" "I know! " It was a long while before Ling Tianzun's emotions settled. She tossed Shen Mu aside and turned the peachwood hairpin over and over in her hands.
Yue Tianzun, meanwhile, dragged Shen Mu off to find a clean place to drink tea—finding a clean place in Ling Tianzun's courtyard was no easy task at all. The only trouble was that the little horses astride their bamboo poles were still hammering away at Shen Mu's legs; he waved them off several times, but could not drive them away, and so had to let the matter drop.
Yan'er, for her part, bustled about with the six men who had been transformed from heavenly dragons, sweeping Ling Tianzun's rooms and courtyard and setting straight the papers she had written and calculated on. "Yan'er, you've filed this scroll in the wrong place," Long Qilin said with a glance.
"Wrong?
" The little horses roused themselves at once, abandoned Shen Mu, and charged at Long Qilin, beating him with a rain of crackling thumps. Long Qilin went on sleeping, unmoved as a mountain.