Chapter 161 — The Treasured Jade Returns to Its Master
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
How is that possible? " "How is it impossible? In the Wasteland you should have seen gods and demons who have lived more than ten thousand years. In truth, there are still some terrifying things in this world—you are simply too young to encounter such beings.
" The Butcher said, "That old thing is not a god or demon, but he is not far from it. He knows many past events, many secrets. If he were not an enemy, I would not oppose him.
" The blind elder nodded. "There are indeed some terrifying beings.
Take my eyes, for instance.
. . " He shook his head and said no more.
Shen Mu's heart stirred slightly. The blind elder's eyes had been gouged out by someone, but who had done it, the blind elder had never said. What secret lay behind it? They left Loulan's Golden Palace, rejoined Ling Yuxiu, and set out for a barbarian city on the grasslands. In the city, Shen Mu bought some medicinal ingredients, then took a great cauldron from his cloth bag and said, "Grandpa Butcher, I will first boil your lower half, to refine away the Witch Venerable's blood and witch poison.
" He poured a great jar of water into the cauldron and added the ingredients one by one. When it came to a boil and the air was thick with medicinal fragrance, he placed the Butcher's lower half into the water. Snow Fox said anxiously, "Will it cook him?
" The blind elder said with a chuckle, "If you smell cooked meat in a while, then it is done.
" The Butcher said angrily, "My body cannot be split by gods—how could a pot of boiling water cook it?
" After it had boiled a while, Shen Mu observed the color of the liquid, opened a medicine jar, and from it took several dried toads, red and black, no bigger than a fingernail, and scattered them into the cauldron. The toads had been dried, but once in the water they soaked full and came back to life, darting wildly through the boiling water, absorbing the witch poison.
Before long, the toads died of the poison. Shen Mu changed the water and repeated the process, refining nine times in all, until the witch poison was purged clean. The blood in the Butcher's lower half returned to red, and the fresh blood, as though come alive, began to flow through the vessels of its own accord.
Shen Mu boiled another cauldron of water, this time with dozens of other ingredients, and cooked the Butcher's lower half again to rouse the vitality of the flesh. He kept at it until deep into the night.
Ling Yuxiu and the little fox were already asleep.
The Green Ox had gone to sleep as well. The blind elder sat on the ground, leaning on his bamboo staff, dozing. Only Shen Mu and the Butcher still kept vigil by the cauldron. Shen Mu drew the Chubao Sword and held it out to the Butcher.
"Grandpa Butcher, I cannot cut your body. You will have to do it yourself—cut away the membrane that has grown over the lower part of your upper half.
" "I have no need of your sword. I will use my own blade. " The Butcher drew the Slaughtering Knife, gritted his teeth, and cut at his own body, slicing away the membrane that had formed over the wound.
His cultivation was powerful, and he immediately sealed the wound with his vital essence, preventing it from bleeding. Shen Mu fished the lower half from the cauldron—the wound there was still fresh and needed no further cutting. Taking out jade bottles one by one, he carefully applied dragon saliva to the cut surfaces of both the lower and upper halves.
As soon as the dragon saliva touched them, fine sprouts of flesh began to grow at a furious rate, like little red worms writhing without cease.
He did not immediately join the two halves. Instead, he spun his vital essence into threads, plucking out tendons and nerves one by one, connecting tendon to tendon, nerve to nerve. The threads of vital essence pouring from his fingers and palms grew more and more, connecting sprout to sprout, membrane to membrane, organ to organ, spine to spine.