Chapter 54 — Three Hundred and Sixty Rooms

In the village, Elder Huo lowered his fists and said to Shen Mu, "Did you see it clearly?" "I saw it clearly!" Shen Mu mused, "Every dragon force stands for a different power. A different order of dragon forces, a different fist force. Scramble the order of a hundred Azure Dragon fist forces, and Nine Dragons Command the Wind and Thunder will yield countless variations! A man may take my first punch, but he will never take my second with the same move! Even if I throw a hundred punches, a thousand, each one carries a force unlike any other!" A rare trace of a smile crossed Elder Huo's face. "Before, your Overlord Body qi had no attribute. You could not cultivate the Thunder Peal Mahayana Sutra, and I had promised the Great Thunder Peal Temple that I would not teach the sutra to outsiders. Now your Overlord Body qi bears the Azure Dragon attribute, and still I will not pass it on to you. Yet so long as you have fathomed the principles of the fist, whether you learn the Thunder Peal Mahayana Sutra no longer matters. You have already grasped the dragon's cadence, posture, momentum, breath, and spirit; even had you never set eyes on the Hundred Dragons Chart, you could still divine its mysteries. With your Mystic Body Three Elixir Art, the Eight Thunder Peal Arts will be no less formidable than the Thunder Peal Mahayana Sutra!" Shen Mu's spirits soared. Elder Huo was ever cold as ice and seldom praised anyone; to win his commendation made the boy very happy. And Elder Huo's words had opened a door in his mind, giving rise to fresh ideas. The Nine Dragons Command the Wind and Thunder of the Eight Thunder Peal Arts dealt chiefly in dragon force — then what of the first form, Alone in the Eastern Sea, Bearing the Spring Thunder? If he watched a great river hang upside down and pour into the sea, with the sound of spring thunder in its waves, could he not grasp the essence of that form? And the Pipa Hand of the Finger-Snap Thunder — was it not bound up with music? Then there were Kuafu Chases the Sun, Wind and Thunder Urgent, and Sunlight Refines the Yang Spirit in the Air — each must have its own way of insight! The more he thought, the more elated he became; he itched to leave home that very instant and wander the four directions, observing the wonders of heaven and earth and surveying the mysteries of creation! "Tomorrow, remember to rise early and go pay your respects in the next village," said Granny Zhu with a smile. Shen Mu said doubtfully, "Granny, the next village belongs to the Nether Demon Cult. Why do they call you the Cult Leader's widow? Why do they want you to be Cult Leader? And if you refuse, why would they still kill us?" Granny Zhu stroked his head and laughed. "One day you will know." Early the next morning, Shen Mu washed, ate, and gathered the eggs. The Plume-Crested Fire Pheasant Dragon came charging in fury and fought him to a standstill. The bird's wings beat and flurried; it slashed at the egg thief with feathers like swords and opened its beak to spew a great jet of fire. Shen Mu, the Azure Dragon coiling about his body, used the Pipa Hand of the Finger-Snap Thunder and blocked the sword feathers. "Shen'er, stop fighting it. Go and pay a call on the next village," said Granny Zhu, coming over to drive the Plume-Crested Fire Pheasant Dragon away. Shen Mu hurried after her; behind him the Plume-Crested Fire Pheasant Dragon gave chase again, and Granny Zhu snarled it back. Granny Zhu led him to the next village, where the Elder of Punishments came out to meet them, sized Shen Mu up from head to foot, and said to Granny Zhu, "Cult Leader's widow, all is prepared. Three hundred and sixty rooms; the young master need only walk through them once." Granny Zhu blinked. "Walk through three hundred and sixty rooms in one go? Is that not asking the impossible?" The Elder of Punishments smiled. "If he cannot walk through the three hundred and sixty rooms, then we must ask the Cult Leader's widow to come back with us." Granny Zhu ground her teeth. "May he rest?" "Rest as much as he likes. The rooms have food and drink, beds and bedding, wound salves, spirit elixirs — everything he could want." Granny Zhu looked at Shen Mu, ground her teeth again, and said, "Shen'er, go into the three hundred and sixty rooms and pay your respects to them. Remember, call them senior brother and senior sister — not elder." Shen Mu nodded and walked toward the first room of the first wooden house, smiling. "Three hundred and sixty rooms. Who knows how long these calls will take. Granny, I am going in." Granny Zhu watched his back and suddenly said, "Shen'er, do you know what you will face once you go in?" Shen Mu turned his head and smiled. "I know. I won't let them take you away." Warmth filled Granny Zhu's heart, and she turned and left. She had picked this child up by the river all those years ago and never imagined that the infant of that day would one day share her burdens. Shen Mu entered the first room of the first house. The room was spacious, and in it sat a sallow man, his face as yellow as if he had swallowed gall, a goatee gathered under his chin, an abacus in his hand — for all the world like a clerk reckoning accounts. "Senior brother." Shen Mu came to a halt, greeted him first, then took down one by one the Slaughtering Knife, the bamboo staff, the Ximila, the Sword Concealing Satchel, the Chubao Sword, and the rest of what he carried on his back, set them at the doorway, and said, "After you, senior brother." The clerk stared in astonishment at the boy of eleven or twelve before him, then said with interest, "You know what you came here for? Did the Cult Leader's widow tell you?" Shen Mu worked his limbs, a whole body of vital essence surging fierce and glorious, and laughed. "I need no word from Granny. Of course I know!" His step suddenly exploded with power; a single stride brought him before the clerk. With a thunderous boom a peal of thunder burst from his palm — the boy's vital essence was fierce as fire! "Is it not simply a matter of fighting my way from the first room to the three hundred and sixtieth?" The clerk flung up an arm to block and felt a vast force crash into him; he was flung backward, unable to stop himself, and with a splintering crash he burst through the wooden wall behind him and tumbled into the courtyard, his feet skidding over a hundred feet before he steadied himself. Shocked and furious, he looked up through the hole in the wall and saw Shen Mu walk to the doorway, shoulder the Slaughtering Knife, the bamboo staff, and the rest again, and head for the next room. "Why am I quarreling with a child?" The clerk's rage flared, then all at once he laughed at himself and called out loudly to the other wooden houses, "Be careful, all of you! This little brat is shrewd. His vital essence at the Spirit Fetus realm is monstrous — twice what mine was at the Spirit Fetus realm! Mind you don't capsize in a ditch!" "Twice as deep as yours?" A woman's voice came, silvery as a little bell, astonished. "Such cultivation — worthy of the young master indeed. I wonder how his spells are." Shen Mu walked to the next room and pushed the door open with a creak. Inside sat a scholar, a scroll in his hands, reading with such absorption that his head swayed to and fro. "Senior brother." Shen Mu greeted him. The scholar showed alarm, then smiled. "You mean to ambush me while I return your salute? I won't give you the chance." "Chikodo!" Boom! Thunder pealed; a violent tremor ran through the room; splintered wood flew everywhere, and the scholar was hurled backward through the debris and smashed into a towering tree. Landing on the ground, the scholar shouted, "Watch out, all of you! This little devil is formidable — he has mastered demonic incantations and speaks them more fluently than our Holy Cult's own!" Boom — Scarcely had his voice fallen when another thunderclap sounded and a doddering old schoolmaster was blasted out of the wooden house,