Chapter 40 — The Wind's Edge First Shows, Piercing the Vast Sky
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu's eyes went wide. This unremarkable Zen staff could buy all of Crimson Dragon City?
"This staff is called Ximilo — four prongs and twelve rings. It was forged by the Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Temple. It can be used to strike a man, yes, but its worth should be enough to match Crimson Dragon City."
Uncle Ma explained, "Yet the staff's greater purpose is cultivation. Grip it, and when your heart stirs, the rings stir. Once a ring moves, the stray thoughts in your mind vanish. It is a treasure for slaying inner demons. Twelve rings can sever twelve kinds of stray thought, purge twelve kinds of inner demon. When an inner demon is born, the ring sounds, and the demon is caught in the ring and refined to ash. The staff is divided into four prongs: severing the four births, contemplating the four truths, cultivating the four immeasurables, entering the four dhyanas. Hold this staff in cultivation, and you will achieve twice the result with half the effort."
Granny Zhu's eyes lit up at once, shining bright as she fixed her gaze on the staff in Shen Mu's hand. She laughed. "Mu'er, lend the staff to your granny for a moment. There lives a great inner demon in your granny's heart, and it has plagued me a long while!"
Shen Mu handed Ximilo to Granny Zhu and asked, curious, "Granny, what inner demon lives in your heart?"
"An old bastard."
Granny Zhu sighed, her brows knit with worry. "An old bastard no refining can kill. I have slain him a thousand hundred times, and still he lives, dwelling in my heart and making trouble for me! If this time I can refine him to death with the staff, then I can finally be at ease."
Shen Mu still did not know what this old demon in her heart truly was, and Granny Zhu said no more. The staff fell into her hand and at once clattered and rang, all twelve rings shaking together, deafening to the ear.
Granny Zhu's demonic nature surged forth, and a dreadful, heart-stopping aura spread from her body. This aura did not resemble her at all — it was like another person entirely!
Shen Mu could not help but feel his hair stand on end. Another person was living inside Granny Zhu!
The blind elder, Uncle Ma, the lame elder, the alchemist, the mute, and the rest all felt their hairs rise too, and each hastily stepped back. This dreadful aura made even them feel incomparable peril!
After a moment, Granny Zhu slumped, returned the staff to Shen Mu, and said, "This thing is useless. It cannot touch the old demon. Damn it all, why can't he be killed!"
Shen Mu took the staff and wanted to thrust it behind his back alongside the bamboo cane, but the staff was too long; placed at his back, he could not walk. He had no choice but to carry it in his hand.
"Throw the thing on the ox cart. You're no monk."
Uncle Ma said, "Today is the market fair, and you have passed. You have cleared the trial. There is no need to fight further. To defeat a disciple of the Great Thunderclap Temple is itself a tremendous achievement. But that Mingxing was no disciple of the Tathagata — far from it. Do you understand?"
Shen Mu casually tossed the incomparably precious staff onto the ox cart and asked, curious, "How strong are the Tathagata's disciples?"
Uncle Ma said mildly, "I was once a disciple of the Tathagata. When you can defeat me, only then will you truly be a Hegemon Body."
Shen Mu's heart gave a slight jolt. When he and Uncle Ma practiced boxing each day, Uncle Ma used only the cultivation of the Spirit Fetus realm — and even so, Shen Mu was still beaten black and blue.
Consider: Uncle Ma had only one arm. If both his arms were whole, how terrifying would his strength be?
Shen Mu knew that in the Spirit Fetus realm, he still had a long road ahead.