Chapter 29 — A Small Lie Draws Out an Old Mystery
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
" "You tricked me out of my cultivation method! " The figure on the wall flew into a sudden rage; the shadow grew larger and larger, soon covering the whole side hall, hideous and ferocious, and it snarled, "How dare you trick me out of my cultivation method! Little brat, I taught you out of the goodness of my heart, and you deceived me! " Shen Mu still stood outside the hall, letting the demon shadow rage before him, and shook his head.
"Senior jests. Were you not also trying to trick me into going in to release you?
" The side hall's doors gaped wide, its window lattice like eyes and its doors like a mouth, eerie and terrible, as it said chillingly, "You knew? " "We were never of the same clan to begin with.
Senior first lied that we were, then used the Great Perfection Seal to lure me, drawing me step by step closer to you—all for one of two purposes. " Shen Mu showed the simple, artless smile of the lame old man. "The first is to get me inside the hall and lure me closer and closer to the wall, so you can seize me and make me pull out the bronze spikes at the four corners.
The second is to exploit my wish to obtain the complete Great Perfection Seal and make me pull out the spikes myself. If I pulled them, then Senior would not merely catch a breath—you would break free, and eat me just as you ate the silly roe deer. But. . . " He smiled even more artlessly. "I am not a roe deer. I merely turned your scheme against you and tricked you out of two and a half seals.
" The whole side hall shook without cease, and from its doorway came a world-shaking roar: "You son of a bitch, I will kill you! Once I break free, I will kill you with my own hands!
" The cowherd of Hidden Remnant Village curled his lip, turned to leave, and shook his head. "These little tricks of yours—Grandpa Lame has played them more times than I can count. He fooled me from childhood to adulthood, even swindled me out of I do not know how many sugar figurines Granny bought me.
And you want to fool me. . . " "I will kill your Grandpa Lame!
" the figure on the wall roared.
Shen Mu turned and said earnestly, "Do not provoke him. He will swindle you right out of your underpants.
" The figure on the wall suddenly fell quiet, a quiet that was somehow uncanny, and said softly, "You said just now that we are not of the same clan? Heh heh, little brat, you think too simply. How could you and I not be of the same clan. .
. heh heh heh, young little devil. . .
" Shen Mu shivered, and suddenly recalled the divine voice from beyond the nine heavens that had come when he broke through the wall, and then recalled how he had used the demon tongue to resist that divine voice; joined with the words of the figure on the wall, it gave him some ominous associations. He hastily shook his head, drove the jumbled associations from his mind, and turned to leave.
"Heh heh heh, you and I are the same, exactly the same. .
.
" Behind him, the shadow on the wall laughed eerily. Shen Mu frowned and walked out of the Calamity-Quelling Palace. The Dark-Fanged Demon Ape hurried to meet him, glanced toward the side hall, and saw that the figure on the wall had shrunk back into it.
Only then did it relax, and it said to Shen Mu with great seriousness, "Trust? Ghost! " Shen Mu nodded, feeling the same.
"The wasteland is truly too perilous.
Honest folk like us—if we do not learn to be a little clever, we will surely be swindled clean and eaten down to the last scrap. " The Dark-Fanged Demon Ape shot him a glance, curled its lip, and said, "Trust. Ghost. " Shen Mu's face reddened slightly, and he protested, "I am no swindler. I have suffered losses since childhood, and that is the only reason I am a little clever.
But I am afraid you can no longer live in this place. The Calamity-Quelling Palace is falling apart, and no one knows when it will collapse.