Chapter 45 — The Surging River's Water Palace Opens the Dragon Gate
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu stepped forward and, through the lattice of the window, saw the white fox holding a bamboo tube in her paws, cheeks puffed out, blowing at the firewood under the cooking stove. He coughed and said, "Is anybody home?
" The white fox in the cottage started, hastily hid the bamboo tube, and in an ancient-sounding voice barked, "Who is that bawling and bellowing, disturbing this old immortal's tranquil cultivation?
I am a demon of a thousand years, and I shall grind your bones to powder and scatter your ashes. . . " Shen Mu laughed.
At the sound, the fox hastily looked up, and seeing the youth outside the window, she breathed a sigh of relief; her voice resumed its normal tone, very pleasant to the ear: "Oh, it's the young man who borrowed the wind from me the day before yesterday. I attended a feast that day and drank too much—a little discourteous of me, I am afraid. Don't stand outside. Come in. " Shen Mu walked into the thatched cottage, looked this way and that, and was secretly astonished: the place was exceptionally neat and clean.
There was a bed, a rice jar, furniture, a folding screen, and even a vanity table. The white fox rose on her hind legs and made a curtsy to Shen Mu: "My poor hut is bare and humble; I hope the young gentleman won't laugh at it. " Shen Mu returned the greeting and asked with curiosity, "Are you cooking? " The fox said, "Yesterday a sister of mine played host, and I had a few cups too much.
I woke with a headache this morning, so I am boiling a bowl of hangover soup. Please sit, young gentleman.
" Shen Mu marveled inwardly.
This white fox was even more clever than the Dark-Fanged Demon Ape, for she actually knew to cook herself some soup. It was only that she was greedy for wine and got drunk every day.
He noticed a bookshelf off to one side and went over. The shelf held some old volumes. He pulled one out; it discussed methods for breathing and guiding the breath, and included a few spells, but all were incomplete and fragmentary.
"Young gentleman, can you read? " The white fox had finished making the hangover soup. Catching sight of Shen Mu reading with rapt attention, she exclaimed joyfully, "I cannot read the characters in these books; I could only cultivate by looking at the pictures.
If you know the words, could you read them aloud to me?
" "Why not? " Shen Mu sat down. The white fox's tail stirred, and a bowl of hangover soup drifted on a breeze to the table. The fox sat opposite him, eyes bright and intent.
Shen Mu opened the first page and read aloud, "Circulate the qi through Mount Fangcun; lift the elixir of primal qi; the tiger moves below lungs and bowels; cold shakes the sea of qi.
. . " The white fox sipped her soup, listening intently, and suddenly asked, "Where is Mount Fangcun?
" "Mount Fangcun is between the eyebrows. " Shen Mu said, "Between the brows lies the spirit treasury of the primal womb.
Circulating qi through Mount Fangcun means guiding your primal qi to the brow.
However, when the qi travels to the brow, a divine sound comes from beyond the nine heavens and blocks your qi.
" The white fox tried it, then shook her head. "I heard no divine sound. " Shen Mu frowned.
Whenever he himself had guided his primal qi to the brow, a divine sound had always stopped him from breaking through the wall.
He had expected the fox to encounter the same, but she said she had not. "Is the spirit treasury of the primal womb structured differently in humans and foxes? " He did not dwell on it but went on explaining, and before long he had finished the entire scroll.
The cultivation method recorded in it had truly distinctive merits, but it did not fit Shen Mu's Overlord Body, so he could not practice it.