Chapter 19 — The Mystic Body First Awakens, Shaking the Barren Village
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
The Headman had just got halfway through this cup when he heard the clamor from the Blind Elder and Grandpa Huo. The tea at once sprayed from his nose, his eyes and his mouth, and from the small holes in his lower eyelids two thin jets hissed out, spurting up very high.
Crack.
The teacup in the Alchemist's hand was crushed as well, tea splashing across the Headman's face. The two stared wide-eyed at each other, mouths falling open of themselves, unable to close.
The Alchemist came to his senses and stammered, "The O-Overlord Body... awakened?"
The Headman wore just as blank a look, plainly not yet recovered.
The Lame Elder came limping up, nodded heavily, and laughed: "That is right, the Overlord Body has awakened! I examined him just now -- his primordial qi is three times more vigorous than this morning, and purer still, and between his brows the spirit fetus has woken, giving off a strange fluctuation, clearly merged with his consciousness! These are precisely the signs of a spirit fetus awakening!"
Shen Mu walked over. The Alchemist's mouth had opened even wider, as though two big duck eggs had been wedged into it, and the Headman's lower eyelids were still seeping water. He thought to himself, "Grandpa Headman and Grandpa Alchemist really are surprised -- though is this not a little too surprised?"
The Alchemist shut his mouth and asked hurriedly, "Shen-er, has your Overlord Body truly awakened?"
Shen Mu nodded. "It awakened when I was not paying attention."
The Alchemist nearly choked to death. "Awakened when you were not paying attention..."
The Headman finally came back to himself and chuckled. "Shen-er is an Overlord Body -- that is certain beyond any doubt. How vast is my learning? Naturally I would not be mistaken. Awakening was only a matter of course... cough, cough, cough!"
The Alchemist's face turned exceedingly strange. He hastily coughed a few times as well to cover it, then laughed: "The Overlord Body awakening is a grand thing! But Shen-er, you have only just awakened it -- you are not permitted to be proud. Your road of cultivation has only just begun. Do you understand?"
Shen Mu nodded and said that he did.
The Headman laughed. "The Alchemist speaks truly. The road of the Overlord Body is exceedingly hard; you must never, ever slacken. Alchemist, I am rather tired -- take me back to my room first."
The Alchemist understood, and took him back to the room.
Inside, the two old men looked at each other. After a good while, the Alchemist lowered his voice with an effort: "Headman, is Shen-er really an Overlord Body?"
"Of course not!" said the Headman flatly.
"Then how did he awaken..."
"How should I know?"
The two old men looked at each other again, at a loss how to explain Shen Mu's case. After a long while the Alchemist ventured, "Can a mortal body open the primordial-fetus wall?"
"A mortal body breaking the wall? I have never heard of such a thing. Shen-er is the first."
The Headman suddenly laughed. "Alchemist, perhaps Shen-er really will become an Overlord Body and walk out a road unlike any other. Was that not our aim from the beginning?"
The Alchemist laughed too. "The mortal body is the Overlord Body. Shen-er has already made his mortal body awaken; his road as an Overlord Body is about to begin. I can almost see him striking a dragon dead with a single punch!"
The Headman nodded and laughed. "Just so. Who knows -- with that spirit, that will of his, he may walk further than we ever did."
The two old foxes exchanged a knowing smile and walked back out of the room.
The Headman coughed once, called Shen Mu over, and asked how he had awakened his spirit fetus. Shen Mu recounted how, in the instant when the divine voice, the demonic voice and the Buddha voice struggled against one another, his primordial qi had smashed through the primordial-fetus wall and broken it.
The Headman's gaze went dull, and he murmured, "There is such an operation as that?"