Chapter 6 — A Lad Treads the Wind and Escapes the Ape's Jaws
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Senior Sister Qing's skill with the qi-guided flying sword was becoming more formidable by the moment—not that she was controlling dozens of swords; she was making a single sword flicker out dozens of sword flowers!
Shen Mu abruptly recalled the Lame Old Man's words: "Do not think about whether the place beneath your feet can bear your weight. As long as you run fast enough, water is flat ground, grass is flat ground, air is flat ground—everywhere is an open, level road!"
He pushed off with his toes and sprinted madly. Behind him, sword-light shot skyward, shredding the crown of the great tree where he had been standing into fragments!
Two youths sprang into the air, landed atop the trees, and watched in dismay as Shen Mu, treading one great crown after another, howled away like a gale, his footsteps so fast they left one gaping.
"That fellow is younger than we are—how can he be so fast? And his cultivation seems... seems even a bit better than ours..."
The two youths had barely reached this thought when they saw Senior Brother Qu shoot up in a puff of smoke and pursue Shen Mu, swifter even than Shen Mu himself.
"Senior Brother Qu is truly worthy of a martial artist at the peak of the Spirit Embryo stage. His strength is far beyond ours."
The two sighed in admiration: "Now that Senior Brother Qu has taken the field himself, this little fiend's doom is sealed."
Just then, an immense shadow rose abruptly from the mountain forest. A furry palm the size of a mat swung around and struck Senior Brother Qu a single slap as he raced across midair!
Senior Brother Qu was spun like a top, flew backward, and crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom, tumbling and rolling who knew how many times before he stopped. Scarcely had he sat up when he vomited a mouthful of blood and cried sharply: "Do not go over! That is Nether Ape territory—a Nether Ape lives there!"
The other four stopped at once. The shadow in the forest was a black ape of appalling size, with blood-red eyes and protruding fangs. Beating its chest with both fists, it roared at them in a voice that boomed like war drums: "Little one! Die!"
And Shen Mu, who had been sprinting ahead moments before, was also swatted down by the Nether Ape, landing beside its huge foot, motionless—dead or alive, unknown.
Senior Sister Qing said quietly: "Even Senior Brother Qu was severely injured by a single slap from this Nether Ape. The little fiend took a slap from it, too. He should be dead already, should he not?"
Before her words died away, she saw Shen Mu, lying beside the Nether Ape, quietly turn his head, open his eyes, and steal a look at the ape. Senior Sister Qing jumped with fright: "This fellow is not dead!"
The massive dark Nether Ape roared hoarsely a few times. Seeing that no one dared come forward, it desisted. It lowered its head, looked at Shen Mu, reached out two fingers, and turned him over: "Little one, dead?"
And there lay Shen Mu, eyes bulging, blood flowing from all seven orifices, tongue lolling out—obviously dead beyond any doubt!
The Nether Ape grunted, tossed Shen Mu's 'corpse' aside, plopped itself down, pulled up a tree, and leisurely ate its leaves.
"So fierce, and yet it turns out to be a vegetarian." Shen Mu, still bleeding from his seven orifices and staring with round eyes, quietly shifted his shoulders, inching himself outward.
The Nether Ape whipped its head around. Shen Mu's 'corpse' did not move a jot. The ape stared at him fixedly. Shen Mu's 'corpse' still did not move a jot.
The Nether Ape reached out a finger and poked the 'corpse.' Finding it ice-cold and already stiff, it said with deep satisfaction: "Little one, dead." Then, paying him no further heed, it turned back to eating leaves in earnest.
From afar, Senior Sister Qing could not hold back: "Big fellow, do you not find it strange that the little one's corpse went stiff so quickly?"