Chapter 103 — The Corpse-Piercing Silver Needle
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" Uncle Qiao was astonished: "A sharp sword that turns into a fish-dragon? What exactly is its shape? Tell me in detail! " He Yin described the Chubao Sword and that strange scabbard, and Uncle Qiao was profoundly shaken. He blurted out, "That is the sword worn by a first-rank minister of the court, a treasure without peer under heaven! Even our Corpse Immortal Cult has no such treasure!
How could a weighty treasure of this kind come into the hands of a young boy? Can he be the son of some first-rank minister of the court? " His eyes flickered, and he laughed.
"This sword is extraordinary.
Heaven indeed means our cult to flourish, to send us a first-rank minister's blade! I will go and take that sword back! " And with that he flashed away. He Yin frowned, thinking, "A first-rank minister's sword? That is a treasure that stands for a man's rank and station in the court.
How would a first-rank minister give his court sword into his own son's keeping? Uncle Qiao has not thought this through. .
. This matter must be reported to the patriarch at once! " He hurried in all haste toward the county seat of Dijiang. Uncle Qiao followed the tracks left by Shen Mu and the disciples of the Corpse Immortal Cult.
Suddenly he frowned slightly: he had come upon the first corpse, the corpse of a Corpse Immortal Cult disciple.
There was a thin line of blood at the disciple's throat, and no other wound; nor was there blood beside him. Judging by the wound, the tip of a sword had been drawn across his throat, cutting the two great vessels. And judging by the angle of the stroke, this disciple had been treading yellow joss paper through the air when someone struck from behind; before he could react, the sword had passed across his throat.
Yet the strange thing was that there was no blood nearby. Uncle Qiao frowned. That could only mean the disciple had not died here; he had flown on through the air a while before being dropped.
His blood had already run out in the air. What did that mean? It meant the youth who had killed him had been standing behind him!
This disciple had been treading yellow joss paper, pressing forward in search of Shen Mu's tracks, while the youth silently appeared at his back, opened his throat with a single stroke, and then pressed himself against the corpse's back, working the sword case; from the case yellow joss paper kept flying out, spreading forward across the sky.
At the same time the youth kept the disciple's corpse walking forward, so that it seemed still alive, and kept pace with the other Corpse Immortal Cult disciples. "This is corpse-control art!
" Uncle Qiao's expression shifted.
"This youth also knows corpse control!
My cult's disciples are in peril!
But then again, among the Jingping court I know of no first-rank minister skilled in corpse control. Where does this youth come from? Where did he learn the methods of corpse control? " It was deep night now, nearing the third watch. Though the moon still shone, one could not see clearly, nor see far.
Uncle Qiao could well imagine it: Shen Mu must have used the dark, controlling the corpse of the Corpse Immortal Cult disciple; when he drew near other disciples of the cult, they would surely be unprepared, and by the time they could see clearly it would be too late to dodge his sword! Corpse-control arts under heaven were not the Corpse Immortal Cult's alone; other heterodox cults and demon cults had them too, only each school's arts differed.
In the way of controlling and nurturing corpses, the Corpse Immortal Cult could be called the foremost among them, though its name was not a pleasant one.
And judging by Shen Mu's corpse-control methods, they were likely formidable indeed. To kill a Corpse Immortal Cult disciple and then control his corpse so that he seemed still alive, leaving no flaw for the other disciples to detect, was exceedingly rare corpse-control art. "Somewhat like the Nether Demon Cult's Great Corpse-Control Art. .