Chapter 50 — The Fox-Spirit Maiden Enters the Wasteland Trap
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
Shen Mu nodded. "Since the court might not come to rescue him, he simply went all the way — he struck them down without mercy and drained his disciples' blood and qi entirely, lest he starve to death sealed up too long. But his method must have been different from the Dragon Mother's dragon pearl, more sinister still: it absorbed even his disciples' flesh and blood and left them as nothing but skeletons. Do you remember how, when we first entered the Dragon Palace, my monk's staff kept ringing?"
Hu Ling'er remembered: she had been lying against Shen Mu's trouser leg, trembling, and Shen Mu had even told her to move her tail.
"I first thought it was the thoughts of those dried corpses disturbing Ximilo, and that was why the staff rang without cease — but the dried corpses were dead and had no consciousness. Then I thought it was the stray thoughts of the Dragon Mother's soul; but the strange thing was that when I came to Gu Lihan's side, the staff fell silent. Clearly it was not the Dragon Mother's stray thoughts, but Gu Lihan's."
Shen Mu said, "The reason the staff stopped ringing then was that Gu Lihan no longer had any stray thoughts. His mind was made up: since we were protected by Ximilo and he could not devour us, he would simply use our hands to free himself!"
Hu Ling'er was struck dumb, mouth agape. After a moment the little fox stammered, "Young Master Mu, are you really only twelve?"
"I will not be twelve until after the autumn." Shen Mu smiled guilelessly.
"Then you are a fox spirit too, aren't you?"
Hu Ling'er said excitedly, "You must be a male fox grown into a spirit — and the thievishly clever kind at that!"
Shen Mu poured out his grievances. "You have no idea how I got through my childhood! From the time I was small I was cheated, swindled, and hoodwinked by a whole pack of old men and old women. Just before I came out hunting, Grandma tricked me into going to gather eggs from the chicken nest — it was a pheasant dragon, and it beat me till I ran all over the ground; I could not fight it at all! And Grandma just slipped over quietly and gathered the eggs!"
Before long they rounded the pool and came out of the Dragon King Temple.
Hu Ling'er worked a spell and summoned a demon wind, and Shen Mu rode the wind. The one man and one fox came to the thatched hut beside the waterfall. Shen Mu, eager to return to the village, was about to take his leave, but Hu Ling'er laughed and said, "You are filthy and stinking now — why hurry back? There is a pool right here beside my waterfall. Go down and wash first, and I will wash your clothes for you. When they are dry you can put them on fresh and clean; would that not be better? And besides, I have some doubts about cultivation I would like to ask you."
Shen Mu hesitated, and was just about to speak, when from the thatched hut came Grandma Zhu's cold laugh: "A bath? Cultivation? Tell me, is it plucking yin to mend yang, or plucking yang to mend yin?"
"Grandma?"
Shen Mu was startled and delighted. "What are you doing here?"