Chapter 8 — The Shape-Shifting Skin Granny Left Behind
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
elders and patriarchs of the demon sect came out of seclusion one after another to hunt her down, and still she escaped. To this day no one knows where she is..." "There is such a thing?" Granny Zhu giggled: "In my younger days, Granny heard tell of a man who refined his own two legs to the level of gods. His legs were hailed as divine legs. In all the world none could match his speed — only he would not walk the straight path; he took up thieving. He loved to steal, and so he was called the greatest thief under heaven. He had not yet become a god, yet his title bore the word 'divine,' and for that he drew the jealousy of the gods. When he went to the Kingdom of Yanning to steal the Emperor's Disc, the greatest thief under heaven, who had never once failed, was discovered by the State Preceptor, who struck off one of his divine legs. Yet he escaped the State Preceptor's pursuit as well, and vanished without a trace, the Emperor's Disc with him. The State Preceptor of Yanning is hailed as the first man under the gods, yet he could not keep the divine thief. He must still be keeping that divine leg of the thief's, waiting to return it to its rightful owner, no?" The smile on the Lame Old Man's face deepened. Fawning, he said: "Granny, we are all cripples of one village. It was agreed long ago that each of us has his own little secrets, and that we do not ask after one another's pasts. From this moment on I am a mute, a deaf old man, sealed lips and all." Granny Zhu gave a humph, picked up her basket and headed for the village: "Was it Mu'er who told you to come and meet me?" The Lame Old Man shook his head: "The noise of your fight with those five old fellows was too loud, the ripples too strong — we felt it in the village. The Village Head sent me to see whether you needed a hand." Granny Zhu's face changed slightly. "Has Mu'er made it back to the village?" "I saw nothing of him on the way." "Worse and worse!" The two hurried back to Yincan Village, and before they reached it they saw the sun go down and the Gloom rise from the horizon, spreading across the whole length of it, surging like a tide, higher and higher, devouring everything in its path as it came on toward them. Granny Zhu returned to the village and searched it at flying speed, and her face went ashen: "Mu'er has not come back?" The Gloom swallowed Yincan Village entire. "Granny, there is no need to fret." The Village Head, carried over by the Lame Old Man and the Alchemist, restrained Granny Zhu as she was about to shoulder a stone statue and go out searching for Shen Mu: "What should be taught to him, we have taught. So long as he has learned it, he ought to be able to live through the Ruins. Going out now would be of no use. It is already dark." Granny Zhu slumped. She knew the Village Head's words were true. The Gloom had drowned the Ruins. If Shen Mu were still alive, then he would live through the night without her going to his rescue; if he were already dead, then carrying the stone statue out to search would be of no use either. "He still has the Mystic Light Soul-Guarding Pendant to protect him..." She thought so, but Granny Zhu knew that the Mystic Light Soul-Guarding Pendant on his chest was meant only for protecting infants; the range it could guard was limited. Shen Mu had grown up, and the light of the pendant could shield only his chest. "Mu'er, you must be clever..." Granny Zhu said softly.