Chapter 35 — Storm Clouds Rise Over the Market of the Desolate City

But when they reached Granny Temple, Shen Mu was still given a fright. The temple fair was larger and more clamorous than he had imagined. Around the ruins of Granny Temple there stretched a market ten li long, filled everywhere with stall after stall, people coming and going, bustling and crowded, clamorous beyond measure.

These were not the people of ten li and eight villages, but the villagers of every village within a hundred or two hundred li around—more than half of them had gathered here!

"On the Misfortune-Averting Palace's map, this place is not called Granny Temple, but Azure Wolf Palace," Shen Mu said in surprise, not knowing why it had been renamed Granny Temple.

The ox cart drove into the market. Shen Mu saw all kinds of strange and unheard-of things laid out on one little stall after another. There were also those at the market who shaped sugar figures, who cooked and prepared food, who performed acrobatics, who breathed fire, who sold strange beasts, who sold ores, who sold jewels, who sold their daughters—a vast array, everything one could wish for.

"This humble one and his daughter are from Qijia Village. Passing through your honorable locality, we seek neither fame nor profit, but only because my daughter has reached the age of fifteen and has not yet been promised to a family. Therefore we hold a martial contest to seek a husband, hoping to find a gallant of surpassing martial skill..."

Shen Mu saw that up ahead it was very clamorous. He stopped the ox cart and craned his head to watch. It turned out to be a martial contest for a husband at Granny Temple, with men and women fighting fiercely on the platform. He watched for a few glances, lost interest, and continued forward, only to see that Granny Temple actually had several platforms for martial contests to seek husbands.

These platforms were all built on earthen mounds, and on them were young men and women from various villages, many of them young martial artists. Of course, there were also white-haired old men who leaped onto the platforms to compete for a wife, and the crowd below booed and hooted them off.

"Some villages have few men, so the real purpose of their martial contest to seek a husband is to recruit a live-in son-in-law."

Granny Zhu warned Shen Mu, "Once you become a live-in son-in-law, you are a person of another village. You cannot go up there!"

Shen Mu nodded. He did feel a little itch in his hands. The Blind Elder laughed and said, "It would not matter if Shen'er went up. Fight this family, then fight that family, challenge every martial contest platform at Granny Temple, and marry a dozen or so girls..."

Granny Zhu glared at him. The Blind Elder did not dare speak, and hurriedly shut his mouth.

Hidden Remnant Village had fixed stalls at Granny Temple. Before long the ox cart arrived at these stalls. Shen Mu helped the butcher set up the meat shop, then went to help Old Man Huo carry the furniture down, then set up the iron furnace for the Silent Craftsman, helped Granny Zhu arrange the tailor's shop, and then helped the Deaf Elder draw water and grind ink, hanging up the paintings and couplets the Deaf Elder had painted and written.

When all was prepared, Shen Mu saw that on the Blind Elder's bamboo staff hung a banner, and he sat before a table. On the banner were written such words as "Six Lines and Eight Trigrams, Fortune-Telling and Averting Calamity." He thought to himself, "Grandpa Blind can tell fortunes too?"

The pill master set up his medicine stall beside them. The butcher nearby had already slit open the strange beast and hung up the meat. The villagers of Hidden Remnant Village began to hawk their wares, no different from ordinary people.

"Shen'er, there is an empty platform beside us. Go hang up this piece of calligraphy."

The Deaf Elder wielded his brush like flying and wrote a piece of calligraphy, which he handed to Shen Mu. "After you hang it, do not come down. Just stand on the platform. This is your business for today. If you can still stand on the platform after the sun sets, then you will have passed the temple fair's assessment."

Shen Mu looked at the calligraphy and saw that it read: Kicks the Surging River, no match in hand; Sweeps clean eight hundred villages of the Desolate Ruins! There was also a horizontal scroll: First in the Spirit Fetus Stage.

Shen Mu looked at the platform beside him. On the platform were two glossy, shining wooden pillars, and between the pillars hung a horizontal plaque. The plaque was blank—it must be the place for the horizontal scroll.

"Grandpa Deaf, will I be beaten to death?" Shen Mu turned his head and asked the Deaf Elder.

Just then, he saw the Blind Elder beside them take out another banner, on which were written the words "Win or Lose a Million, Place Your Bets and Take Your Hands Off." Clearly he intended to make a great profit while Shen Mu fought on the platform.

And Granny Zhu had already placed a bet at the Blind Elder's gambling stall. The pill master excitedly took out wound medicine and set it out on the medicine stall, waiting for the injured to come down from the platform. Old Man Huo was making crutches and stretchers, while the butcher was there selling "Dragon Blood Treasure," a divine medicine for strengthening the body!

Shen Mu's face immediately went black. This pack of sly, wicked old men and old women were finding every way they could to do business!

"Deaf Elder, write an annotation. Only martial artists at the spirit fetus stage may go up."

Granny Zhu thought for a moment and said, "What if someone with divine powers leaps up? Would they not beat Shen'er to death?"