荒墟牧神 - 第43章 妖靈踏月疾行 - 雲海書庫

The next day, Shen Mu was woken by the clamor of villagers. He rose and asked what had happened, and only then learned that the night watchman had suddenly dropped dead the night before, giving the whole village a fright.

The night before, Shen Mu had felled a tree, and a great serpent had burst from the trunk when it came down — frightening enough in itself. But no one had expected the night watchman to drop dead in the small hours as well. Now the villagers were restless with fear, tongues wagging.

The couple came carrying a tray draped in red cloth, with a few gifts of thanks laid upon it. "Old Granny, little brother," they said, "we are poor folk with nothing fine to offer. But you must accept this small token."

Shen Mu was about to decline when the blind elder said, "Mu'er, take it. Don't leave them owing you a kindness they can never repay."

Shen Mu took the few items from the red cloth and bade the couple farewell. The man smiled and said, "Little brother, with your skills and gifts, you stand head and shoulders above the rest. One day you'll be a dragon and phoenix among men!"

"What's so good about dragons and phoenixes?"

Granny Zhu said, "Dragon liver and phoenix marrow are nothing but delicacies on the dinner table. Don't be the dragon and phoenix. Be the one who devours the dragons and phoenixes of this world."

The couple exchanged looks. Granny Zhu waved her hand. "Go on home. Mu'er, blind elder, let's be off to market!"

Shen Mu hurried after the little old woman. "Granny," he asked, curious, "what happened last night? Was the night watchman the one casting the spell? How did he die? And what was that silver pellet floating over my brow last night? Last time you said everyone in our village was perfectly ordinary. So why do I feel the ordinary folk of other villages are a little different from the ordinary folk of ours?"

"Where do all these questions come from?"

Granny Zhu's head swelled. She threw a pleading look at the blind elder. He went cheerfully forward — and with a thud, walked straight into a tree and passed out cold.

Granny Zhu stamped on the blind elder's face several times, but he would not wake for anything.

Shen Mu hastily slung the blind elder onto his back and looked at Granny Zhu with hopeful eyes. She drew a needle from her basket and jabbed it into the blind elder's backside. Blood spurted from the puncture with a hiss, yet he remained unconscious.

Granny Zhu gave up, blinked, and said, "The night watchman was indeed the demon-path master who kept the serpent. He was no weakling, either. He used the Phantom Shadow Demon Art, a divine power of the Dark Demon Cult. It is formidable — impossible to guard against. I wounded his shadow with my Sand-Spitting Shadow Art, and used the shadow to injure his true body. But the demon in my heart stirred. I once promised someone that for all my life I would never harm a disciple of the Dark Demon Cult, so I only made him see sense and withdraw. It wasn't I who dealt the killing blow. That was the blind elder."

Shen Mu blinked. "What about the silver pellet? Is it the Ten Thousand Blades Sword Soul? Are you a master of the sword, Granny?"

Granny Zhu blinked and blinked too. Old and young stared at each other blinking, until their eyes ached. Granny Zhu ground her teeth and jabbed another needle into the blind elder's backside. He still did not wake.

"The silver pellet? Ahem — you mean this?"

Granny Zhu turned her palm, and a silver pellet appeared in her hand. Shen Mu nodded eagerly. "Granny, teach me the sword!"

Granny Zhu sighed. "It isn't that I don't want to teach you. It's that I can't. My swordsmanship can earn a name among the world's best, but it can never reach number one under heaven. Once you learn my sword, the one who should teach you won't be willing to. So I'll die before I pass it to you."

Shen Mu was disappointed, then his spirits lifted. "Number one sword art under heaven? Is he from our village?"

"Don't go making wild guesses."