Chapter 41 — One Push of the Blade Shows True Mastery
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
When Shen Mu ran at full tilt he stirred up wind, and Granny Zhu and the blind elder simply sat upon its crest, borrowing its force to carry them along. This so-called wind's edge is like the crest of a wave: waves are made by flowing water, wind by flowing air, and the wave-crest of wind Shen Mu had just raised was the wind's edge.
The young man on Shen Mu's back slid down at once and led the three of them at a quick pace toward his own house, calling out, "You three, you three, hurry!"
Shen Mu set the matter of the wind's edge aside and walked up to the house. Looking around, he saw that this village was far larger than Yincan Village, home to a hundred-odd families, its houses plain and old and rough.
In this family's yard stood a great tree, its crown covering half the house, and the woman in labor lay in the room beneath that crown.
A village woman poked her head out of the room. "Her waters have broken. Boil some hot water, quickly! Eh? It's the old midwife from Yincan Village. Good, then mother and child will surely be safe!"
Granny Zhu cast a glance around her and understood at once. "Mu'er, open your eye and look about for anything strange. If there is something, deal with it yourself; I'll go in to deliver the child. Blind Elder, you be careful too. Don't let yourself be taken by surprise."
"Lingxiao Heaven Eye, open!"
Shen Mu opened the Lingxiao Heaven Eye and looked all around. Suddenly his gaze came to rest upon the dense crown of that great tree, and his hair stood on end; he nearly cried out aloud.
He saw that the trunk within the crown was very thick -- a trunk at a glance, but on a closer look, a great snake as thick as a water bucket!
The serpent hid within the crown, half its body sunk inside the tree itself; the lumps that now and then bulged from the trunk were the stretches of the serpent's body left bare.
Judging by what he could see of it, the snake's length must be beyond anything he had ever known. The other half was surely coiled among the roots beneath the tree, buried in the earth -- bigger even than the green flood-dragon snake Uncle Ma and the others had caught!
The whole tree, crown and all, gave off a dense black vapor that shrouded the house!
Just then the serpent was flicking its scarlet tongue, lowering its head toward the room where the woman lay in labor, drawing breath in and blowing it out again -- doing something Shen Mu could not name!
Fearing he had seen amiss, Shen Mu dispelled the Lingxiao Heaven Eye and looked with his naked eyes: the great tree was still a great tree, and no serpent. He opened the eye again, and there the snake still coiled in the crown, waiting to devour the soul of the child the woman would bear!
Clearly, in the years past the mistress of this house had conceived and given birth, and every infant born had had its soul eaten by this serpent!
Rage flared in his heart. "Blind Grandfather..." he said, low.
The blind elder remained utterly unruffled. "The granny said to leave it to you," he said serenely. "So handle it. This will be your first hunt. Be quick -- the child is about to be born."
Shen Mu steadied himself, walked straight to the foot of the great tree, and breathed in and out, slow and even.
His primal qi stirred from stillness into motion; with the fury in his heart it circulated faster and faster, grew more and more vast!
The primal qi within him surged and crashed, and the fire of his rage burned hotter still!
Zheng --
Suddenly the pig-butcher's knife on his back resonated with the quaking qi in his body; ringing, it leaped from his back and flew up above his head!
Shen Mu raised his hand and gripped the knife. His qi went berserk, pouring madly into the blade. He swung!
Swung with every last ounce of his strength!
Let the qi erupt, let the fury erupt -- a full and glorious eruption in a single stroke!
Cut!