Chapter 188 — Who Can Tell Male from Female
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
That was the aftermath of the divine arts of the experts in Tianbo City. Blood trickled from the corner of Shen Mu's mouth; his eyes were wide, his chest so constricted he could not draw breath. After a moment he suddenly gasped in great gulps, and a tearing sound came from his lungs — they must have been injured by the shock.
He panted a few rough breaths, then took Xue Hu'er from his bosom. She too was badly hurt and had fallen unconscious. Shen Mu hastily took a jade vial from the Taotie Pouch, pried open her mouth, and poured a few drops of dragon saliva down her throat.
After a moment the fox came slowly to. She lay dazed for a while, then said in a tearful voice, "I lost Long Da!
" The dragon qilin could not walk easily, so Xue Hu'er had summoned a whirlwind by magic and set the beast atop it, floating in midair.
Those surges had come and destroyed her spell, and the dragon qilin had been flung away, high and far. "It's all right," Shen Mu comforted her.
"Long Da can heal himself.
It's only that his wound is on his backside, and I fear he can't reach it to lick it. Besides, I lost Shen Wanyun and the others too.
" "Long Da is worth a lot of money. " Xue Hu'er wept. "Shen Wanyun and the rest aren't worth anything.
.
. " Shen Mu rose, circulated his vital essence, and expelled the clotted blood from his chest. Then he picked her up and said, "Let's go find them.
" He had barely spoken when his body suddenly went taut. From deep in the forest came the sound of falling trees, and a great serpent came gliding slowly out of the woods, shouldering the trees down to either side.
That great serpent was the very one that had destroyed the tower ship carrying Shen Mu and Wei Yong and the others on their way to the capital!
The monstrous creature Long Jiaonan kept!
"Cough, cough, cough. .
. " A violent coughing came from the serpent's head.
Shen Mu looked up and saw, seated on the snake's flat skull, a man in garish, tattered clothes, coughing and spitting blood.
His flowered robe was riddled with holes, the powder and rouge on his face smeared, his whole appearance wretched beyond words.
"You destroyed Tianbo City — you destroyed my Yulong School!
" Long Jiaonan rose unsteadily to his feet atop the serpent's head, half weeping, half not, his gaze fixed on Shen Mu. Shen Mu's heart went cold, and he began to retreat step by step, unhurried.
Long Jiaonan was an expert; he had once stood off the mounted archers and sword guards outside the capital, and even they had not been able to hold him — he had withdrawn unscathed.
"Who are you, really?
" The crested serpent raised its head and looked down at Shen Mu. Long Jiaonan shrieked, "Did the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping send you?
" Shen Mu said not a word. He retreated to the side of a great tree, then in a flash hid himself behind it.
Long Jiaonan screamed and reached forward; his vital essence became a huge hand that crunched the great tree to splinters!
But behind the tree there was no trace of Shen Mu. Long Jiaonan went mad.
He raised both hands forward, and the earth shook without cease as sharp spikes of rock thrust up from the ground — taller than the trees, filling a circle dozens of zhang across, like a forest of stone.
"Fled? You can't escape.
" The giant serpent undulated forward, crushing spike after spike of rock. On its head Long Jiaonan seemed to be injured; his body writhed upon the serpent's skull like a human snake. After writhing a while, his head suddenly split open, then his face split too, and from beneath the head and face another head emerged. He went on twisting his body like a snake, and before long he had shed a human skin.
Long Jiaonan stood up stark naked, fetched a new set of clothes, and dressed himself piece by piece, looking all around.
Then he giggled and said, "I know you haven't gone far. You're still lurking nearby — I can feel your gaze. You're admiring my body. .