Chapter 1524 — I Am the Unfettered Wind
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
"I am the wind..." "The free and unfettered wind!" He panted hoarsely, striving to quicken his steps, and the words that rose from his mouth were those the lame old man of Hidden Maim Village had taught him when he was small. "When my speed is fast enough, when my heart is calm enough, when I feel my body light enough, then I can feel the power of the wind." His steps grew faster and faster, and gradually wind rose beneath his feet. "Then I can catch up to the wind, tread upon its tip, and soar free and unfettered through the sky..." He walked upon the air, faster and faster. "I am the wind, the unbound wind; no one can catch me..." Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth; his skin burst open; he ran on, driving his speed higher and higher. He pointed Tai Yi's staff at the gaunt stranger's brow, at that vertical eye. His own eyes were a blur; his vision grew dimmer and dimmer. "I am the wind, the youth who runs chasing the wind..." He stumbled in the air, yet strove to quicken his pace. Suddenly a gaunt figure came to his side, and an aged yet gentle voice sounded by his ear: "Shen'er, give me the staff." A strong hand took the staff from his grasp. Shen Mu's pupils slowly contracted, his gaze focused, and he saw the lame old man's face. "Don't go." He reached out and caught the old man's sleeve: "Don't go — you will die..." The lame old man pushed his hand away, his steps light, and became a streak of flowing light speeding into the distance, raising the tip of the staff toward the gaunt stranger's brow. Shen Mu's mind was thrown into chaos; his feet could no longer tread upon the tip of the wind, and his body fell helplessly from the high sky. "Don't go—!" he cried with all his strength. The lame old man's blue robe flapped; he left a trail of azure light in the air. In that moment his form broke through space, broke through his own limits. "I am the wind! The unbound wind!" His voice exploded in the air: "The wind no one can catch—" Chi! Tai Yi's wooden staff, together with the lame old man's figure, pierced into the vertical eye at the gaunt stranger's brow. After a brief silence, a terrifying fluctuation suddenly erupted! The gaunt stranger's head burst apart; his body crumbled without cease; chunks of shattered stone fell from the air; piercing light swept out, and a surging wave of qi blasted Shen Mu away. He slammed hard into the ground, tumbling and rolling, and only after a long while came to a stop. Shen Mu struggled to rise, but could not. A staff whirled through the air with a whoosh and suddenly planted itself in the ground before him. Shen Mu looked up and saw red blood running down the staff. He raised a hand and gripped the staff tightly, hugged it to his chest, and the tears in his eyes flowed down together with the blood on the wooden staff. He held the staff and lay there like a child, and for a long, long time did not move at all. That old man could no longer fight him for candied hawthorns; could no longer steal him back.