Chapter 74 — Crimson Dragon City Changes Its Surname
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu was puzzled: "Why isn't Granny's back hunched anymore?
She seems so excited she's rolling around on the bed. .
. " The next day Shen Mu rose and found that Granny Zhu was not in the room, though breakfast had already been set out on the table.
The youth washed and dressed, ate his breakfast, went downstairs and sought out Granny Zhu and the Blind Elder; the two had the ox cart ready, and had loaded onto it the oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar, the silks and satins they had purchased. What puzzled Shen Mu, though, was that the Blind Elder was harnessing the cart, putting three oxen in front, while three more great bullocks followed behind it.
The moment those six great oxen caught sight of Shen Mu, terror came into their eyes and they trembled all over.
"Granny, weren't all six of our oxen sold?
" Shen Mu asked. Granny Zhu yawned and said carelessly, "I truly couldn't sleep last night, so Granny went out and bought six oxen.
" Shen Mu was half convinced; he saw the six great bullocks shaking their heads again and again, as if they wanted to say something, yet all they could do was low. The ox cart rolled out of the city.
It was still early morning, and there were already several carts and horses on the road, country folk who had come into the city to buy goods and were taking advantage of the early hour to return to their villages, hoping to get home before dark. Shen Mu drove to the dockyard.
The river water rolled and surged, swift and violent; along the bank many villagers were already making offerings to the River God and summoning the great river-bearer beasts. One after another, the big-snouted river-bearers on the shore savored the incense the villagers offered, puffing out great rings of smoke, and some, laden with villagers returning home, had already begun the voyage back. The Blind Elder burned incense at the riverside and summoned a river-bearer, then fed it; Shen Mu drove the ox cart onto the beast's back, and the giant set off upstream. The river ran vast and mighty, rushing from west to east.
When they had come, they had drifted down with the current; now they were going against it from the lower reaches, and the resistance would surely be great. Yet the river-bearer's speed was in no way slower than before, and at this rate they need only rest one night at the Granny Temple and they would reach Hidden Remnant Village the following day.
Before they knew it they had traveled more than fifty li by water. Granny Zhu's expression shifted slightly; she rose, took up her little basket, and said with a smile, "My work has come.
Blind Elder, the two of you go on ahead. " The Blind Elder nodded.
"Take care. " Granny Zhu leaped, and in an instant sprang into the blue void and vanished.
Shen Mu looked up and saw Granny Zhu leap into the air and not come down for a long while.
To the Blind Elder this was commonplace, nothing worth a thought; he stood with both hands on his staff, facing the wind.
Before long, Shen Mu suddenly saw a cloud in the sky behind them turn blood-red; then blood rain fell from the heavens, pouring down in torrents, and in no time it had dyed the Surging River crimson!
"What is happening in the sky?
" No sooner had the thought crossed Shen Mu's mind than a head dropped out of the blood cloud and plunged into the river. Shen Mu shuddered with cold.
In the instant the head struck the water he caught sight of its face: it was the sallow-faced woman from the City Lord's mansion, the one he had met once, and only once, before!
Shen Mu raised his head.
What was happening inside that cloud? The rain came quickly and went quickly; soon the downpour ceased, and the crimson rain that had dyed the great river seemed only an illusion, for the waters rushed on, clear once more.
Shen Mu washed the bloodstains from his body and waited a long time, yet Granny Zhu still did not appear, while the Blind Elder remained as serene as ever, not in the least worried.