Chapter 40 — The Wind Blade First Appears, Rending the Vast Sky
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
Shen Mu knew he still had a very long road to walk in the Spirit Embryo realm. The market at Granny Temple would not close until the second day. Come evening, many people began to pack up their wares and move into the temple. The temple was exceedingly broad, guarded by stone statues, by no means an ordinary place; hidden here, the darkness could not invade—a haven of safety.
Shen Mu drove his ox cart inside and looked up to see the setting sun resting on the mountain crest, shining over this Canglang Palace. Only after entering the temple did he understand why Canglang Palace on the map was called Granny Temple—because the main hall enshrined an old woman of kind and endearing face.
The old matron had gentle brows and kindly eyes, like a little grandmother from a neighboring village, yet with a touch of cunning in them; the carving was wonderfully expressive, vivid as life. Shen Mu actually thought she bore a strong resemblance to Granny Zhu and gave her a second look, but when he looked again through his Lingxiao Heaven Eye, he got a tremendous shock.
This kind-eyed, gentle-browed old woman was actually radiating a towering, sky-scaling aura; her divine light coalesced into a colossal, immeasurably massive giant wolf, head raised to the heavens in a roar, as though it would devour the heavens! Besides the main hall there was also a front hall and two side halls, along with a spacious garden and a pond.
But the garden no longer held flowers or grass, and the pond had dried up; at the bottom of the pond lay several bones. Shen Mu leaned in to look.
They looked like fish bones, but huge—roughly six or seven zhang long—and strangely enough, these fish bones actually had a dragon's skull! The Alchemist Master called him back and fetched salve to dress his wounds.
On the other side, Blind Old Man and Silent Artisan were frying eggs; the crested fire-pheasant dragon had laid an egg the size of a coconut and was clucking "cluck-cluck-cluck" in a fuss. In Granny Temple the other villagers likewise began to light fires and cook supper. The sun was sinking beyond the western hills; after the evening meal they would sleep.
Just at that moment, a young man came running into the temple from outside, his face frantic, crying at the top of his voice: "Midwife! Is there a midwife here?
My wife is about to give birth! " The people within rose and looked at him, but no one spoke. Granny Zhu stood up, trembling, and said: "This old woman has delivered children in her time; my hands are practiced.
Can your wife wait a little?
It will soon be dark. If she can hold out until tomorrow, this old woman can make the trip.
.
. " The young man fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowing again and again, and cried: "There is no time! Please, midwife, stretch out your skilled hands and rescue us!
The child is stuck—the village midwife cannot deliver it! " Granny Zhu looked at the setting sun, a troubled look on her face.
"Help!
Help!
" The young man knocked his forehead until it bled and wept loudly: "In the last few years my wife has been pregnant several times, and every child was lost at the moment of birth—born dead! If this one is lost too, my family will have no heir! " Granny Zhu was startled: "They all died in childbirth?
" The young man nodded desperately.
Granny Zhu asked suspiciously: "If she can conceive and carry to term, it is impossible the child should die as soon as it is born. There must be something strange here.
Is your village far?
" "Not far! Barely twenty li from Granny Temple! " Granny Zhu glanced at the setting sun and let out a breath: "Less than twenty li?
You are from Zhang Family Stockade.
That is close—we can make it before dark. Blind Old Man, Shen'er, you come with me. There is something amiss. " Shen Mu was amazed.
Granny Zhu was so queer-tempered in ordinary days—he had never dreamed she could be such a warm-hearted soul.
The man scrambled to his feet and sprinted toward Zhang Family Stockade.