Chapter 145 — Searching the Cultivator's Residence
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
He rose and said, "So long as a single day passes without my being defeated by you, for a single day I will not call you martial uncle! " With that he walked out of Shen Mu's courtyard. Shen Mu did not mind.
He looked at the little fox and the green ox. "Pack your things.
I am going to Tianlu Tower to choose a few divine arts. " The two of them were drunk and arguing loudly about becoming sworn brothers, and there was no telling whether they had taken in a word of it.
Shen Mu took his book token and walked out of the courtyard. Several menial workers came up outside, meaning to repair his courtyard and gate. He came out of the courtyard and headed for the exit of the Scholars' Quarters. Then he saw the doors of the Scholars' Quarters' courtyards open one by one, and scholars step out from their rooms, stand in the middle of the road, and face him, each silent.
Shen Mu looked back, and saw that the doors of the courtyards behind him had opened as well, and scholars too came out from their own courtyards and stood in the middle of the road. Most of these scholars were people he had beaten. Some set their sword cases upright at their feet; others had already slung them across their backs.
Besides them, there were several he had never beaten, among them Shen Yu, who had sat the Grand Examination with him, and a few other sons of great noble houses. In all the Scholars' Quarters, perhaps only Wei Yong, Si Yunxiang, and five or six others had not come out.
"Another beating? " Shen Mu laughed and walked forward. Behind him a scholar sneered, "Cast-off, don't you dare start from the end of the lane? Are you afraid?
" Shen Mu stopped and turned to look at the scholar who had spoken—he seemed to be the only one Shen Mu had beaten three times.
The others he had beaten only twice; this one alone talked too much, calling him Cast-off every time, and Shen Mu had grabbed him and used his face to write, then planted him in the ground—which counted as a third beating. The scholar could not hide his excitement.
"Cast-off, the Bashan Libationer has already pointed out your weak point. This time we will make you lose from the end of the lane to its head! " Shen Mu turned around and said earnestly, "This senior brother, what is your name? When I lose, I would like to know into whose hands I have lost. " The scholar's face slowly broke into a smile.
"I will let you know. My surname is Yan, and my name is Qinghe. " Shen Mu said gravely, "I am willing to be the first to fall at the hands of Senior Brother Yan.
I beg Senior Brother Yan to spare no instruction. " Yan Qinghe was overjoyed. He laughed.
"Though you come from the savage lands, you do know how to advance and retreat. Very well, I will not let you lose too badly.
Draw your sword! " Boom!
Shen Mu lifted his foot and took a step. His mighty frame actually rammed the air before him into a wall made of air. In the next instant the air wall shattered, and Shen Mu all but threw out a punch.
His fist smashed through the air and burst into a round white stream of qi that scattered in all directions.
"Why do you not draw your sword. . . " Yan Qinghe had no time to control his flying sword with qi. He hurriedly raised both arms to block the punch with his forearms.
He had no time at all to wield his flying sword now; were he to draw it at this moment, he would likely be beaten to death by a single punch before the blade ever left its sheath!
Whoosh— A heavy object tore through the air. The scholars behind Yan Qinghe paled and swiftly stepped aside. Yan Qinghe's figure flew backward past Shen Mu and in an instant reached the end of the lane! At the lane's end, Wei Yong was just about to open his door when a black shadow flashed past, followed by a great thud.
A man slammed spread-eagled into the lane's end wall before his eyes, his body sinking deep into the wall.