Chapter 104 — The Wicked Brood Leaves the Village
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Granny Zhu turned around and blinked. "Who's leaving the village?
"
The Village Head laughed. "I may be a plain man, but I can hear the tune behind the strings. These past days you've eaten poorly and slept worse; plainly you can't go on staying here, and you must be off to look for Shen'er.
"
Granny Zhu said, vexed, "So you've seen through me after all. I'm leaving!
I won't stay here any longer! "
The Alchemist coughed and said, "If you leave the village, who will help you hold down your inner demon? While we were here, Cult Master Li's primal spirit dared not run wild, but if you go, I fear you won't be able to keep Great Cult Master Li in check. Cult Master Li's attainments in the demonic path ran very deep; on the eve of death he turned himself into a demon seed and planted it in your dao heart, living on through your dao heart and waiting always for the moment to bite back. You cannot wear him away, you cannot hold him down, and so he will bite back: he will snuff out your primal spirit and seize your flesh. "
Granny Zhu's eyes flickered. "He won't seize my body. "
"Because he loves you too much? "
The Alchemist sneered.
"Then you're wrong.
If he seizes your body and is reborn in it, then he is you; and what he loves is not you but your shell.
Once he has become you, he may love himself. He is your inner demon, and you are his; by being reborn in your body he overcomes his own inner demon. Cult Master Li means to use you to temper himself. He wants to become a god. "
Granny Zhu gave a shudder, then suddenly laughed. "Alchemist, you've said so much — can you be rid of this inner demon of mine? "
The Alchemist fell silent. Fan Xuanshu's primal spirit was already planted in Granny Zhu's dao heart; he could not be rid of it.
Nor he alone: Lord Huo's Buddhist dharma could not do it, nor could the Village Head's sword root out that demon in the dao heart. The only one who could be rid of that inner demon was Granny Zhu herself; all they could do was help her hold it down.
"I've lived here more than forty years. If you can't be rid of him, what use is it for me to stay on? "
Granny Zhu took up her basket and set off without a backward glance. "I'm going to find Shen'er.
I keep fretting that he isn't eating enough, isn't dressed warm enough, that people push him around. Don't worry — if I can't hold old devil Li down, I'll come back! "
The Village Head and the Alchemist frowned together.
Granny Zhu slung the basket over her shoulder and came to the riverside. She called up a River-Bearer, climbed onto its back, and went down along the river.
After the River-Bearer had gone a hundred li or more, Granny Zhu suddenly started. In the middle of the river an old blind man was walking along on a staff. Her face went black at once; she reached out, hauled the blind man up by the scruff, set him down on the River-Bearer's back, and scolded, "Blind Elder, are you going to hold me back too? "
The Blind Elder looked blank, then smiled apologetically.
"So it's Granny.
I was walking along perfectly well — hold you back from what? "
Granny Zhu said, half believing and half doubting, "You've come all this way at first light — is it not to block my road and keep me from leaving the village?
"
The Blind Elder protested his innocence. "You go yours, I go mine. Why would I hold you? By the bye, where is the old dame headed? Might you give me a ride?
"
Granny Zhu blinked her dim old eyes and laughed. "I'm for the Kingdom of Jingping.
Would you like a lift? "
The Blind Elder clapped his hands.
"Jingping is just where I'm going! "
Granny Zhu stared at him wide-eyed and hard; the Blind Elder wore a look of utter innocence. Granny Zhu sneered, "What business have you in Jingping?
"
The Blind Elder said mildly, "My eyes are blind. I'm going to find the man who dug them out.
"
Granny Zhu's heart jumped.