Chapter 71 — I Go to Take a Life
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
The youth was sizing him up, his gaze holding a beast's ferocity. In Zhenjiang Tower the mood suddenly went still again.
Those in the tower were all long-famous experts, bearers of great powers and vast experience, and yet not one had expected that Shen Mu would trade blows with Fu Tingyue, the acknowledged first man of the Spirit Fetus realm, to earn these hundred dragon coins and settle his meal bill for Fu Yundi!
"What nerve. .
.
" Old Man Baishan sighed. "A boy with nerve like that seldom lives to manhood; as a rule they die at just that age. " Fu Yundi said with a smile, "It has not yet been settled who is to take the Dayu Netherdemon Scripture, and here we stumble upon such an unexpected diversion. Suppose we watch a while; when this amusement is done, we will settle the Scripture's ownership.
Sect Master's widow, what say you?
" The Sect Master's widow said with a smile, "What opinion could a weak woman like me have? " Ling Yuxiu gritted her teeth in secret and would have risen to call Shen Mu back; Shen Feiyue coughed once, the sound carrying a warning, and Ling Yuxiu had no choice but to sit down again.
On the platform in the lake, a middle-aged man came forward, bearing a tray on which lay a money pouch. Fu Tingyue's brows rose. "In the pouch are a hundred dragon coins.
Beat me and you take them.
But in three years, no fewer than a thousand men have come, and not one has carried the pouch away. " Shen Mu thought a moment, then asked, "You are the first among the warriors of Crimson Dragon City?
" Fu Tingyue smiled proudly and nodded.
"The acknowledged first. For a thousand li around Crimson Dragon City, among all warriors, I am first! I have beaten more warriors to death than I can count — in fair combat, beaten to death, not through my father's renown. Once a man loses to me, none has lived.
" Shen Mu nodded slightly.
"You use a weapon? " Fu Tingyue clasped his hands behind his back and smiled. "You may use one. I will do as I please.
When I wish to use a weapon, I can call it at any time.
" A clear chime rang out, and the Butcher's Knife came shrieking up and fell into Shen Mu's hand. That trick of his did not rely on refining qi into threads, but on sympathetic resonance — his vital essence resonating with the blade, the two sensing each other, drawn together like two lodestones!
His vital essence circulated ever more wildly, ever more violently; the scene of the one stroke that had slain the great serpent was reborn in him!
The angrier he grew, the more violent his vital essence, the stronger the resonance, the sharper the blade! And yet Shen Mu's face was utterly calm — a calm exterior over a wild and savage heart!