Chapter 140 — Washing the Pots and Cauldrons
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Libationer Bashan came out wrapped in a gray sable cloak, a wine gourd half a man's height in his hand. He tipped his head back and took several gulps, belched, then tossed the gourd to the green ox. "Who dares steal from my vegetable plot? Bold, I'll grant them that. " The green ox drank deeply from the gourd, belched, and breathed out a reek of fodder and wine.
"Don't know. Some muddle-headed fool of a boy, with a fox. " Libationer Bashan mused.
"So it's that boy who came out of the Desolate Ruins. He dares provoke even my little ox, and steals my vegetables too—very wild, very arrogant. I understand. You stay here and watch the garden, lest someone steal from it again. " Shen Mu returned to the front of the mountain, touched the bruise on his face, his expression shifting.
"That ox—I can't beat it in a fight, but I can drug it and bring it down. Grandpa Alchemist said, if you can't beat them, poison them. Once its hooves are bound, it won't be able to resist. . . Patriarch, what are you doing here?
" Before Shen Mu lay a cluster of thatched cottages, two or three simple rooms, nestled against the mountain and beside the water, very quiet and refined. The young Patriarch was in the courtyard washing dishes—he must have just eaten—and beside him was a white-haired old man scrubbing a pot with a loofah brush. Shen Mu had seen this old man before: Elder Dianxing of the Dark Demon Cult. Though the young Patriarch was Grand Libationer of the Imperial Academy, a man of lofty station, he had no servants or maids to wait on him; only Elder Dianxing was at his side. The young Patriarch and Elder Dianxing saw him and Snow Fox as well, but neither rose; they went on with their work.
Elder Dianxing smiled.
"The Patriarch has always lived here. Has the Young Cult Leader never been here before? " Shen Mu shook his head, bowed in salute from outside, then went in.
Elder Dianxing saluted Shen Mu; Shen Mu hastily returned the salute, went over, sat by the basin, and helped the young Patriarch wash dishes. He smiled. "Patriarch, you are Grand Libationer—why are you so poor? " The young Patriarch took a towel and wiped his hands.
"I'm used to idleness; I can't abide tall, splendid palaces.
Elder Dianxing doesn't live here either—only now that I'm old did I ask him to come, and burden him with sharing my hardships. " Shen Mu glanced at Elder Dianxing, who smiled. "I wanted a few more days of quiet.
This place suits me well. " The young Patriarch smiled. "Young Cult Leader, after you take the throne, I'll want to borrow Elder Dianxing for a few years, to wander about with me. When I die, he can help collect my corpse.
Our Holy Cult keeps no bodies—when a man dies his lamp goes out, leaving only a handful of ashes. By then Elder Dianxing will bring my ashes back.
" Shen Mu fell silent, a pang in his heart. A hero in his twilight years. Even one as mighty as Li Zheng, as mighty as the young Patriarch, could not escape birth, aging, sickness, and death; in time the years would wear away all their hot blood and grand ambition, and they would become bones in a mound of yellow earth. The young Patriarch looked at him. "A white-browed monk and a little monk have come to the foot of the mountain. " Shen Mu nodded.
After the dishes were washed he used Vermilion Bird vital qi to dry the moisture from his hands.
Elder Dianxing hung up the wok, brought over a tea table, and made ready to brew tea; Snow Fox ran over to help.
"I know. I heard the monks below are from the Great Thunderclap Temple. I went to take a look.
I know the white-browed monk—I met him before in the Desolate Ruins. Old Master Huo said he was his senior brother, called Jingming or something like that.
" Shen Mu thought for a moment, not certain of the name. "I've never seen the little monk. He seems to be the Buddha Son of the Great Thunderclap Temple.