荒墟牧神 - 第46章 一聲驚起真龍 - 雲海書庫

Shen Mu reached out and caught one, and took a cautious bite; down his throat it burned fiercely, fiercer than the butcher's strong liquor, and reaching his belly it kindled a searing heat that set his yuan qi stirring with unusual vigor. He circulated his yuan qi and to his surprise felt a potency like that of a Yuan-Congealing Pill, able to raise his yuan cultivation, though the gain was modest compared with the pill. "Is this creature a plant or an animal?" Shen Mu snatched up another. The wondrous being had no eyes, no hands, no feet, no orifices; it drew the moss's nourishment through rootlike tendrils, and he truly could not tell whether it was plant or animal. He ate only one, while the white fox capered about and ate her fill. The further down they went, the cooler the air grew. After an unknowable distance the burbling of water reached them: a stream ran along the mountainside, exceedingly clear, and several eyeless great fish dwelt in the pool at its end, those great fish too giving off a phosphorescent glow. To pass, one had to cross the pool to reach the passage on the far side. "Those great fish are vicious as anything! At the faintest sound they come hurtling after you, and no mistake!" The white fox whispered, "I'll throw a stone and draw them off; we dash across while they're distracted!" So saying, her paw snatched up a stone and hurled it with all her might. The stone struck the wall, and with a great splash several of the eyeless great fish broke the surface of the pool, tails thrashing in midair, four fins spread wide like four broad wings, screaming down upon the source of the sound! "Quick!" The white fox took the lead, and Shen Mu sprinted along the edge of the pool toward the far side. In his haste the youth heard only a few tremendous crashes: the strange fish had slammed into the stone wall and, gaping their monstrous jaws, bitten great holes in the rock! Mountain stone harder than anything became in their mouths as if made of tofu; had those jaws closed on a human, the consequences would have been unthinkable! Barely had man and fox reached the far bank when the strange fish, hearing their footsteps, beat their fins about and came flying toward them! "Follow me, young master!" The white fox shot into the passage on the far side, and Shen Mu ducked in after her. The passage was not wide. The great fish behind could no longer fly at its mouth, yet on their four fins they went galloping down the corridor, chasing Shen Mu and the little fox! "Are these still fish?" Scalp prickling, Shen Mu kept close on the white fox's heels. The strange fish pursued them for a stretch but could not catch them; one by one they slowly backed out of the passage and sank into the pool to lie in wait. Shen Mu exhaled. The way ahead broadened by degrees, and when they had made their way out of a trumpet-shaped cave, rippling sunlight suddenly spilled down. Shen Mu looked up and froze. Overhead a mighty current of water surged past; shoals of fish swam above his head, and he saw great golden turtles, fish large as small boats, and river beasts of colossal size. One great fish caught sight of Shen Mu and the little fox and grew excited; jaws agape, it lunged toward them, only to strike an invisible wall of water and rebound. The great fish shook its head, seemingly puzzled, waved its tail, and swam away. "The Surging River! We are beneath the Surging River!" Shen Mu's expression was strange. "The Surging River is right above us, yet the water does not fall to drown this place..." He looked ahead and his heart lurched: rows of dragon pillars stood before him, thick and tall, dozens of zhang high, rearing from the riverbed, their crowns touching the water above. The ground beneath their feet was paved with white marble; a road ran forward, dragon pillars flanking it on either side, and after a hundred zhang or so a great complex of palaces came into view. Rank on rank of dragon pillars enclosed these palace compounds, and it must