Chapter 5 — The Five Elders of the Lan River Come Treading the Wastes

Mu saw, in a valley ahead, peach blossoms covering the ground, and a herd of deer living among the peach trees. He rushed over in haste and mingled with the herd. Whoosh— A scented wind swept past. The woman, sleeves drifting, landed on the ground. She looked at the herd of deer ahead and frowned. "Senior Sister, where is that demon brat?" Figures dropped down one after another. A youth about Shen Mu's age asked. The woman jerked her chin toward the herd. "He has mingled with the deer." "Kill all these deer!" Several youths charged into the herd, drew their blades, and fell upon the deer without mercy. Fast as the deer were, they could not outrun these Spirit Bodies long tempered by cultivation. These five youths were all Spirit Bodies, and all had already become martial artists of no small strength. Even as the herd scattered and fled, they could not escape the slaughter; one deer after another was cut down. "Did you not say that deer are also lives?" Suddenly a human voice came from the midst of the panicked herd. "Granny killed only one deer, yet you have killed a whole herd. Why then do you still call us the demonic path?" "There!" The woman's eyes lit up. Gathering qi into her sword, she channeled White Tiger Qi into the blade; golden qi radiated in all directions, and the sword flew from her hand, slashing toward Shen Mu amid the fleeing herd! Shen Mu veered and ran; the sword abruptly veered as well, continuing to stab toward him! "What martial art is this?" Shen Mu's mind went blank. "Could it be a divine ability? It does not seem so. Butcher Grandpa said divine abilities come when the martial path is cultivated to its utmost—and this woman's martial arts are far below Butcher Grandpa and the others..." The sword came killing from behind. The elk that Shen Mu had become turned almost flat against the ground, barely dodging it. In that instant of dodging, he caught a fleeting glimpse: from the sword's hilt ran a thin line, one end joined to the sword, the other held in the woman's hand. The line was fine as silk, almost impossible to notice.