荒墟牧神 - 第18章 荒墟少年非善類 - 雲海書庫

e demon! You are a fiend of the blackest malice!" Shen Mu made no answer. He walked straight up to the Buddha statue, hesitated a moment, and finally decided to follow the blind old fellow's seasoned advice, saying with elaborate respect: "This lowly youth has been frail and sickly since childhood, his kidneys weak, his original yang leaking before its time..." Hearing this, the monster's eyes bulged round as saucers; it laughed in wheezing, blood-choked huffs between coughs: "Young lad, you recite your kidney deficiency and your frailty to a Buddha statue? The statue is not about to harvest and devour you!" Shen Mu shot it a glare: "Kikedo Samaya..." The statue shook: "Abomination!" The monster's soul fled to the heavens; it begged for mercy at once, crying: "Stop chanting! Spare my life!" Shen Mu fell silent, though the golden Buddha still got out one more mantra, refining the monster to the point of vomiting blood. Shen Mu looked the place over and found nothing of value, though the mountain of white bones heaped behind the statue gave him a start. Lord knows how many people had died in this wrecked temple, killed by the creature. The lad could not help shaking his head: "Bones hidden behind a Buddha statue; the statue has become your accomplice, shielding your crimes so that more souls walk into the trap. If I were to have the statue refine you to death, it would only count as merit for the statue. I will not do it. Monster, what treasures does this temple of yours hold?" The monster, trembling, said: "What treasures could I have? I was suppressed here by a thieving monk; he scraped away every treasure I had." "Kikedo..." "Don't chant!" The monster forced an ingratiating smile. "All these years I have kept house here, and aside from an occasional indulgence of the tongue I have gathered a few decent things. You may have them." With that it struggled to its feet and lurched up to the roof of the hall, where it gave a gentle poke. A concealed panel in the ceiling swung open. What tumbled out of it, clattering down, was all manner of weapons, armor and the like, and among them a few garments, mostly women's belly bands, though from the fabric they were plainly clothes only the wealthy could afford. "That is all there is," the monster said with an apologetic grin. Shen Mu frowned, disappointed. "That is all? Nothing like a miraculous elixir?" "If there were elixirs, I would have eaten them long ago." The monster stretched its centipede's body, joints crackling, and chuckled with a rasp: "I have been locked up here too long; I wanted to eat everything. Elixir pills taste even better than these people do, how could I let them slip by? Do not look down on these weapons; every one of them is a fine thing. They are treasures born within the Sixfold Divine Repository, nourished from birth by their own primordial energy, terrifying in power. They are called primordial-essence divine arms." Half-believing, half-doubting, Shen Mu reached down and picked up a goose-wing saber. Its weight was shocking, dead and heavy in his hand, far heavier than the butcher knife on his back. Yet oddly, the butcher knife was many times the size of this plain-looking blade, and lighter. The goose-wing saber was long and narrow; the butcher knife, broad and thick. Shen Mu drew the butcher knife and tapped it lightly against the goose-wing saber. There was a single clear clang, and the saber snapped in two, its point falling to the floor. The monster's eyes stuck wide open. It stared dumbly at the butcher knife in his hand and could not find a word. Utterly disappointed, Shen Mu tossed the broken saber aside. "Who forged that knife of yours, the one like a chopping block?" The monster yelped, stammering: "A primordial-essence divine arm, nurtured by a master of the Sixfold realm, and it breaks at a touch! A knife like a chopping block, no ordinary person could have forged it!" Shen Mu ran his fingers along the butcher knife. The blade was cold, a chill dri