荒墟牧神 - 第30章 舊怨循蹤入荒墟 - 雲海書庫

gentleman satisfied?" Granny Zhu said, "I too have made two extra sets of burial clothes for you, free of charge; a perfect fit, I guarantee." The old man chuckled. "Satisfied, quite satisfied." Shen Mu felt the mood grow stranger and stranger; he counted quietly, and the men in blue robes together with the old man came to exactly twelve! The alchemist came over, his face grim, though his voice was gentle: "By your accent, old gentleman, you are not a local — it sounds like the accent of the southern frontier." The old man smiled mildly. "We are indeed from the southern frontier, from the region of the Li River." The Lame Elder came over, his face wreathed in smiles. "There is a Lanjiang Sect by the Li River; I hear it is a great sect, dwelling on the riverbank, with many masters among its number. I have heard that the sect master of the Lanjiang Sect is named Mu Beilan — his divine powers are beyond mortal reckoning; he can stretch out a hand and sever a river's flow." The old man said hurriedly, "You flatter me, you flatter me. This old one is indeed Mu Beilan. Our Lanjiang Sect is in truth a small sect that lives from hand to mouth, taking from the mountains when we live by the mountains and from the waters when we live by the waters; we make our living on the river. I have five junior brothers; by the kindness of fellow cultivators on every road, they are known as the Five Elders of Lanjiang." Shen Mu's heart lurched and his expression shifted. Were the Five Elders of Lanjiang not precisely the five old men who had died at Granny Zhu's hands? Could it be that this Mu Beilan had brought his people here to avenge the Five Elders of Lanjiang? He had asked for exactly ten coffins and ten sets of burial clothes — plainly they were meant for every soul in Yincan Village. Once the villagers were killed, they would be dressed in the burial clothes, laid in the coffins and buried on the spot, and then a few paper ingots and candles burned over them! And these paper boats and paper cranes, too, had been prepared for the villagers of Yincan after their deaths! Mu Beilan turned the jade thumb-ring on his thumb and said unhurriedly, "Two years ago the court offered us amnesty; the state preceptor came in person with the imperial edict to our Lanjiang Sect and sat talking of the Way with this old one. Within the burning of a single stick of incense I was won over; I accepted the edict and gave thanks for the sovereign's great grace. The emperor and the state preceptor honored our Lanjiang Sect, and made me prefect of the Wumiao Prefecture in the Southern Wilds, an official of the second rank, to govern the five Miao peoples. The state preceptor also made the Five Elders of Lanjiang deputy protectors of the Miao frontier, officials of the third rank. But we are, after all, idle clouds and wild cranes; though we were given office, we still love to be on the move." The village headman said, "The Yanning Kingdom is a sect disguised as a nation, and with the Yanning State Preceptor — called the first man beneath the gods — at the emperor's side, its fortunes have only flourished these years; it has subdued many sects and even brought the disciples of those sects into its armies, opening up territory and carving out land. Brother Mu was free and unrestrained before; to take office at court is to be bound by the laws of the court, so it is only natural that you find it somewhat hard to grow used to." Mu Beilan said, "That is why my five junior brothers, weary of stillness, thought of movement and wanted to go out and travel a while; they took the Lanjiang Five Youths into the Wasteland Ruins. The Lanjiang Five Youths are the disciples my five junior brothers took; they have a little ability, and my five junior brothers meant to take them out for experience." The Blind Elder came over leaning on his bamboo staff and said, "The Five Elders of Lanjiang went into the Wasteland Ruins for experience? With disciples in tow? The Wasteland Ruins are a