Chapter 91 — The Watcher Under the Moon
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
He had gone mad after death. The Village Head rose and was about to leave when suddenly the face in the ground said, "The jade pendant of the Land of No Sorrow?
"
The Village Head halted and hurriedly turned back.
"You know where the Land of No Sorrow is?
"
"Of course I know. "
The face in the ground seemed to have recovered a shred of sanity. "We Moon Herders came out of the Land of No Sorrow. The Moon Guardian's token was forged in the Land of No Sorrow; even the Soul Boat came out of the Land of No Sorrow. .
. Yes. The Moon Herders, the Moon Herders! "
He roared with laughter, laughing until the tears ran down in streams.
"Dead, they are all dead, their corpses could not even be pieced together.
Ha ha, dead!
I ran, I ran, I was a coward, I threw them away, heh heh.
. . "
The Village Head frowned.
"Where is the Land of No Sorrow? "
"Grandma praises me, I am a good baby. .
. "
The Village Head sighed. Seeing there was truly nothing to be learned, he rose and left. He came to the dock and saw that his legs and his hands had vanished again.
He sighed inwardly, then caught sight of the gold coin on the wooden post and smiled. "Shen'er is the careful one, after all. "
He took out the gold coin.
It gave off a faint and ghostly glow. The Village Head held the coin up and waved it at the mist, and before long a flat boat came drifting over, a lantern hanging from it. The Village Head floated onto the boat and stood alone at its prow, and the little boat drifted into the mist.
This mysterious land held many unsolved riddles; perhaps some day he would have the chance to explore its secrets. But that would be after his death, surely? "Fellow Daoist Lingjing is freer than I am, wandering everywhere, witnessing so many marvelous things. Only after I am dead, I fear, will I be able to set down the burdens in my heart.
"
He thought silently, "Only by then I will be dead, and can only remain in this Realm of the Living Dead. I will never be able to explore the unknown wonders of this world. "
The little boat reached the entrance to this place, and the Village Head saw Shen Mu running like a madman, the Great Nurturing Nether-Demon Sutra turning into thread after silver thread that wove and cut and cut down the skeletons lunging at him.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Shen Mu saw the flat boat drifting toward him and likewise breathed a sigh of relief, joy filling his heart. He had only his two last trump cards left now, the Great Nurturing Nether-Demon Sutra and the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor, and he could barely hold on.
Just then, the strange world behind them suddenly turned hazy — hazy — and a loud cock's crow rang out.
"Damn! It is dawn!
"
The Village Head's face changed. He sprang into the air and swept Shen Mu up, hurtling outward at furious speed! The two of them burst out of that wondrous world. Shen Mu's foot sank, and he trod upon the surface of the Yong River, the waves washing over his instep. They had returned to the Yong River. He hurriedly turned to look, and saw that world as though it were a painting drawn in mist, scattered away by the wind, gone in an instant; even his jade pendant gave no further sign.
As the darkness receded, that world vanished wholly from the Wilderness Ruins, as though it had never existed. The entrance to that world would appear again the next night — but where the entrance would drift, no one could say.