Chapter 148 — Anesthetic Faint
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Before long Shen Mu had chosen a second scroll, a text called the Soul-Drawing Guide, which could hook a dead man's soul up out of the underworld, and could likewise let the one who worked the rite descend into it himself. He had chosen the Soul-Drawing Guide chiefly because the Tianlu Tower held far too few arts that touched upon such matters. Shen Mu wondered: if the art were further developed, might one not draw up the soul of a man newly dead, and then bring him back to life?
Then he chose the Hongshan Sect's Talisman Edict for Commanding Ghosts and Dispatching Spirits.
The Hongshan Sect's arts were strange as well, able to borrow the power of ghosts and gods through talisman-script, which struck him as having something in common with the Way of Painting. He chose only three scrolls; to choose more would be of no benefit.
The methods he already had to cultivate were many, and the techniques and arts within the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture were as numerous as the hairs on a cow, all demanding his time and insight; there was no need to take on more. With the three scrolls Shen Mu went to see the Palace Librarian, who recorded the scrolls and the tally, and only then permitted him to walk out of the Tianlu Tower. Two days later the imperial edict of appointment came down: Shen Mu was made Erudite of the Grand Academy, granted office of the sixth rank proper, permitted to ascend to the third storey of the Tianlu Tower, and placed beyond the Grand Academy's authority.
Before the mountain gate of the Grand Academy, Libationer Bashan stood waiting. After a moment the Second Prince, Ling Yushu, came hurrying up, dragging a somewhat unwilling Ling Yuxiu behind him. "Seventh Sister, cultivating under Libationer Bashan will surely be better for you than staying here in the Grand Academy.
" Ling Yushu laughed. "Libationer Bashan is a being of patriarch rank, worth more than any number of other National Academy instructors.
Even I am envious beyond measure, and wish I could be the Libationer's disciple. So hesitate no more!
You are my own sister, born of the same womb as I; how could I ever do you harm? " Beside the mountain gate a great sturdy azure ox stood upright like a man, teasing the dragon qilin that guarded the gate, now plucking a whisker, now stroking the qilin's tail.
"Now, little sister, when will you come out and play with your brother?
" The ox lolled against the gate, a peony in its mouth, and chuckled. "Little sister, what joy is there in standing guard here day after day? Let me take you out. The wide world is full of flowers, and I promise you a fine time!
Look at this flower of mine, isn't it pretty? I'll give it to you to eat.
.
. " The dragon qilin swallowed its fury, glanced at Libationer Bashan not far off, and pressed down the urge to turn on the ox and eat it then and there. "Teacher Bashan, when do you set out? " Ling Yushu asked.
Libationer Bashan raised his eyes toward the mountain. "We are still waiting for one more.
He should be coming down.
" Ling Yushu looked at his sister beside him and felt a touch of satisfaction.
Thank goodness I was quick-witted; otherwise, if Seventh Sister had stayed on the mountain, there was no telling what mischief she and that castoff of the Wasteland might have gotten up to. Now that the two of them are being separated far apart, he will have no such chance. Ling Yuxiu was his full sister by the same father and mother, so of course his care for her was of the deepest; every other prince and princess he regarded as a rival, and Ling Yuxiu alone was his dearest sister, and he could not give wicked men the slightest opening. As Ling Yushu was thinking this, he raised his eyes and saw a youth coming down the mountain, a jangling heap of things on his back, an axe, a butcher's knife, a bamboo staff, and a great bundle besides, on which squatted a white fox.