Chapter 129 — The Divine Sword Hides Its Edge
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Shen Wanyun said, "He wields his sword with incredible speed—he wounded Daoist Lingyun and humiliated him before the hall, which shows his swordsmanship is his strongest suit. And to defeat more than a dozen scholars of the Lodge, he used spells, seizing control of their minds—so he is a master of spells as well. This man has scarcely a single weakness to be found."
The more Yun Que and Yue Qinghong listened, the more alarmed they became. Yue Qinghong had made inquiries about the moves Shen Mu used to defeat those many scholars, hoping to know her enemy as she knew herself, yet she still understood far less than Shen Wanyun did.
That Shen Wanyun had held the seat of Eldest Senior Brother of the Scholars' Lodge all these years was truly no empty reputation.
"A man so perfect, without a single flaw—how do you defeat him?" Yun Que murmured.
Shen Wanyun said calmly, "This concerns the face of our Scholars' Lodge, the face of our Grand Academy, the face of the scholars of Jingping. One way or another, he must lose! He is a cast-off who crawled out of the Desolate Ruins. If he does not lose—heh heh—would that not mean the scholars of Jingping are inferior to a cast-off?"
His spirits stirred, and he said slowly, "He has no weakness in any of those respects, so I set my mind to work and went looking for a weakness in his arts. And I found one."
Yun Que and Yue Qinghong were shaken, and both looked at him.
Shen Wanyun smiled. "I found the weakness in his art. When he fought you and urged his art into motion, there was the faintest, almost imperceptible flaw in the way his vital essence moved. His weakness lies there. I still need to watch him a while longer before I can know its exact place."
Yue Qinghong was won over in her heart as well, and sighed. "There is a reason we have lost to you all these years. You are indeed a cut above us."
Shen Wanyun laughed. "Without the two of you, I would never have advanced so quickly; the pace of your pursuit forced me to train as though my life depended on it. Once I have observed the exact place of his weakness, I will make my move, and defeat him openly before every scholar of the Grand Academy, to preserve the name of Jingping's scholars!"
At the Scholars' Lodge, Shen Mu walked along his way, and everywhere he passed, the scholars wore faces of dread. Clearly many had seen him drive Yue Qinghong into the brass pillar and nail Lang Nu to the boulder, and no doubt others had heard that Yun Que was knocked senseless and thrown off the cliff.
Two of the Lodge's three top experts had already been soundly thrashed by this cast-off from the Desolate Ruins. Apart from Shen Wanyun, who could possibly be a match for Shen Mu?
Shen Mu opened the door of his room and went in. Then the little fox poked her head out and called, "Does anyone still want these sword cases? If nobody does, they're going to be sold off in the capital!"
"Wait!" one of the scholars said in a fluster. "Wait! I want to buy back my sword case!"
"And mine—don't sell mine either! As soon as I scrape the money together, I'll come redeem it!"
"Little fox, my monthly allowance hasn't come in yet. Could you stretch a point and let me take my sword case back first?"
"Then you must write an IOU, and when you have the money, come take the IOU back."
Once Xue Hu'er had settled all the sword cases in the courtyard, she came inside holding a few IOUs between her fingers. "Young Master, would you check whether these IOUs are written correctly? I can't read."
Shen Mu said with a half-smile, "You can't read, and yet you dare to take IOUs? These are all fine—just keep them safe."
Xue Hu'er was delighted, and hurriedly hid the IOUs in a hole in the wall.
Shen Mu called her over. "There are still two days before the term begins. I am going to teach you the Creation Spirit Art."