Chapter 34 — At the Ancient Temple of the Waste God, Paying Homage to the Merciful Venerable
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
Shen Mu severed his seven swords with a single slash, and with one move of the Unbound Demon Seal drew the man's very soul into his palm—this showed that Shen Mu's primal qi cultivation surpassed his by a wide margin! Huo Ye went on: "Without the tempering of real combat, it is hard for you to bring out your true strength.
This is exactly why the Five Elders of Lanjiang brought their disciples into the Desolate Ruins for training. To shut oneself up in bitter cultivation, training furiously all alone, can never make one a true expert.
Therefore. .
.
" A look of anticipation appeared on Shen Mu's face. He had been waiting all along for Huo Ye, Granny Zhu, and the others to allow him to go out hunting, and now at last the chance had come! "Therefore, after discussing it with Granny, the Blind Elder, and the others, we have reached a decision.
" Huo Ye said with the utmost gravity: "You may come with us to the temple fair. " "To the temple fair market?
" Shen Mu's face fell, and he murmured: "Can't I go hunting? " Huo Ye smiled, patted him on his small shoulder, and said: "Going to the fair is also a trial. Only when you have passed the trial may you leave the village on your own to hunt.
Work hard! " Shen Mu did not know whether to laugh or cry. The temple fair was a grand gathering of the nearby villages; he had heard Granny Zhu speak of it.
The fair days were usually the first and fifteenth of the month, and villages within a hundred or two hundred li would all come, bringing out their wares to exchange what they had for what they lacked. Whenever the fair day came, Huo Ye, the Butcher, the Blind Elder, the Silent Artisan, Granny Zhu, the Deaf Elder, and the Pill Master would all journey to Granny Temple, twenty li away.
But in the past Shen Mu had never been allowed to go to Granny Temple for the fair; each time he was made to stay behind and keep the Village Head and the Lame Elder company.
And the Lame Elder was worse off than he: Granny Zhu said the Lame Elder had light fingers, and strictly forbade him from going to the fair, for fear that he could not restrain himself and would steal it clean.
Compared with going to the temple fair, Shen Mu would in truth rather go hunting.
There were still two days before the fair on the first of the month.
Shen Mu continued his cultivation, and now and then ran off to the valley of the Calamity-Quelling Palace to spar with the Xuanliao Demon Ape; in his spare hours he went to the Pill Master's shop to lend a hand and, in passing, learned to refine Condensed Origin Pills. The Pill Master kept several birds whose bodies blazed with fiery light; whenever he concocted medicines, these birds would fly in through the window to help.
After he had ruined more than a dozen furnaces of spirit medicine, even the Pill Master's face turned somewhat green. Fortunately Shen Mu at last produced one furnace of spirit embryos, which eased the Pill Master's expression a little. Shen Mu promptly took this batch of Condensed Origin Pills for nurturing the Azure Dragon primal qi and hurried off in high spirits to the valley of the Calamity-Quelling Palace.
The Pill Master thought of reminding him to first test whether the Condensed Origin Pills would kill a man if eaten, but after a moment's thought he held his tongue. "Last time I refined Condensed Origin Pills for Shen'er, I too forgot to check whether the medicine's power would kill a man. .
. " the Pill Master thought to himself: "The Xuanliao Demon Ape is a big fellow; in any case, he won't die from eating them.
.
. he shouldn't die from eating them. Let him go. But this time, every one of the pills Shen'er refined is as big as a fist—will the Xuanliao Demon Ape truly not die from eating them?
"