Chapter 42 — In the Dead of Night, Wild Shadows Draw Near the Village Gate

At the very instant the great serpent moved, Shen Mu too sprang suddenly into the air, his pig-butchering knife like wind and rain, slashing madly at the weak place between the serpent's head and its body! The Butcher's Blade Art: Sun Scorches the Eastern Sea, a Thousand Folded Waves! This one stroke of the Butcher's demanded a momentum like the great sun first rising, like a thousand waves of the Eastern Sea piled one upon another, a blade force without equal that cleaves through all things! Shen Mu's mind held nothing at all; there was only one thought: draw the blade, cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! That head had to come off! Chhh — serpent blood sprayed, and the great snake's triangular head, big as a tabletop, parted from its body; yet still the head, jaws gaping like a basin of blood, lunged to bite the family of three ahead, as though utterly unaware that it was already dead. Just as the huge head was about to reach the family of three, Shen Mu suddenly leaped and landed atop the head suspended in midair, his feet driving down, his body crouched, stamping the serpent's jaws shut. Head and boy together dropped like a great lump of lead, crashing with a boom to the ground before the family of three, already frozen senseless with fright. The three stared blankly, dumbly, at the youth before them. Shen Mu bent down and grinned at the little girl, baring a mouthful of white teeth: "Little sister, it's all right now." Just then a baby's cry came, and a woman rushed out of the house the great snake had smashed open, laughing: "Congratulations, congratulations — mother and child are both safe!" Shen Mu hurriedly slid the pig-butchering knife back into the cowhide sheath on his back and ran back to the yard, where he saw the man already rushing excitedly into the house, while Granny Zhu came out, washed her hands, and looked back at the loving couple and child inside. "Mu'er, quite content, aren't you?" said Granny Zhu. Shen Mu watched that scene of the family of three's affection, nodded lightly, and his hand rose unbidden to grip the Xuanguang Soul-Guarding Pendant at his chest. Seeing his hand, Granny Zhu sighed inwardly. The Blind Elder came up, yawned, and said: "This business here is done, time we slept. Old woman, this house has few rooms — why don't the two of us squeeze in together..." Granny Zhu turned her head, her gaze cold and grim. The Blind Elder could not help but shiver, jabbed his bamboo staff at the ground, and turned to go: "These days even a blind old man gets snarled at. The hearts of men are not what they were. I'll sleep in the street..." "Granny, why did the people of this village never discover this great snake?" Shen Mu asked, puzzled, as he watched villagers pour into the yard and labor to drag the serpent's tail out of the tree hollow. He had lived since childhood in Yincan Village, where every villager bore some infirmity — even Granny Zhu was hunchbacked — yet in his heart the old folk of the village were each of them capable of scaling the heavens and burrowing into the earth, equal to anything. But the villagers here were mostly ordinary people; there were martial artists among them, yet their cultivation and strength were not high, and so he was doubtful. "In the Wasteland, there is only one Yincan Village." Granny Zhu's gaze was deep and distant: "Most here are ordinary folk. They are those who had no time to flee when the Wasteland was stricken, and some are people from the outer world who were driven to the point of death and fled here to escape crushing taxes and the oppression of landlords, hoping to keep alive." "The outer world?" Shen Mu's eyes lit up. "The outer world is more perilous than the Wasteland!" Granny Zhu snorted coldly. "Otherwise Granny and the Blind Elder and the rest would never have been driven to hide away in the Wasteland! Stop always thinking about the outer world!" Shen Mu scratched his head, not knowing why Granny Zhu, always so kind and amiable, had suddenly flown into a rage. Granny Zhu lowered her voice: "There is something strange about this great snake. Ordinarily no strange beast can enter the village at all, yet this great snake could hide in the hamlet, hidden away for years. I fear this snake was deliberately set loose here by someone... This manner of rearing snakes seems to be a trick of the Demon Cult. Heh heh, tonight there may well be some interesting business..." "The great snake was deliberately put into the village by someone to harm people?" Shen Mu was chilled. To do such a thing — surely that was too great a crime against one's own soul? That snake had clearly already devoured several newborn infants. What benefit could there be in rearing a snake on infants? "Mu'er, tonight some strange things may come looking for you. Even if you see them, do not move, do not make a sound. Wait until daybreak and the matter will resolve itself." Granny Zhu chuckled, showing the few scattered teeth in her mouth: "He uses the snake to draw out the essence and souls of infants, then absorbs the snake's essence to reverse his innate nature. He must have been cultivating this for many years; his powers are extraordinary. But if he did such things in the outer world he would surely be hunted down by those who purge demons and guard the Way, so he came into the Wasteland to stir up trouble. Mu'er, the one who comes tonight is beyond you. Just watch." Shen Mu nodded, his heart uneasy. The household bustled for a long while, the family weeping and laughing by turns, and only after a long time did they remember to arrange a place for Granny Zhu and Shen Mu to stay. The husband and wife gave up their main hall and inner room, inviting Granny Zhu and Shen Mu to sleep there. Shen Mu felt this was not quite proper, but Granny Zhu did not decline; she had Shen Mu sleep in the main hall while she took the inner room. Before long the two lay down. Shen Mu had meant to force his eyes to stay open, but as time wore on his lids slowly closed. When it was the third watch of the night and all sounds were still, Shen Mu suddenly shivered despite himself, hurriedly opened his eyes, and found that he could not move at all! The door of the main hall suddenly creaked open, dim light spilled through the crack, and a long shadow appeared on the floor. Shen Mu opened his mouth but found he could make no sound, could not warn Granny Zhu at all! The shadow on the floor swayed, then moved, and actually crawled up from the floor onto the wall; the shadow on the wall twisted, clawing and fanging, more hideous than ever. Cold sweat broke out on Shen Mu's brow, and he saw the shadow on the wall crawl and crawl up to the ceiling, then hang down headfirst, staring fixedly at him. Shen Mu's eyes went wide. What hung down was a shadow, a true shadow, very flat, and yet unimaginably nimble, like a martial artist who had mastered the art of boneless limbs! But this was plainly only a shadow — how could a shadow move about freely? And where was the shadow's master? Whoosh — a breath of wind blew in through the door crack, and with it drifted a small triangular white pennant, which the shadow caught in its hand and waved at Shen Mu. At that moment the door of the inner room where Granny Zhu slept suddenly creaked open a crack, and from the doorway drifted a glimmering silver bead, like the silver pellet Shen Mu had seen in Granny Zhu's room. It halted at the center of Shen Mu's brow and did not move; the bead spun round and round without making the slightest sound, and again and again threads of sword-light, thin as hairs and all but invisible, shot out from it. The black shadow on the ceiling brandished the white pennant, drifting and darting about the room, the pennant coming and going like lightning, again and again attacking Shen Mu as he lay on the bed. The bead moved as well, colliding with the pennant in utter silence, always blocking it. Though these two uncanny things fought fiercely in the room, striking left and right, no s