Chapter 122 — Five Stars Without Peer
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The moment these words left his mouth, many of the scholars in the courtyard sensed that something was off. Just then, rain began to sift down from the sky with a soft patter.
With the rain came a strange melody — deng, deng, deng — as though some magnificent, colossal giant had made a zither of heaven and earth and strung it with the threads of the rain, paying no heed to propriety, caring nothing for gong, jue, shang, yu, and zhi, strumming away in wild abandon! Yet within that uncanny melody lurked a soul-snatching magic: the instant it reached the ear, one felt one's yuanqi scatter, one's consciousness loosen, one's spirit fetus grow languid, one's Five Luminaries fall into disorder, and an urge rise that could not be resisted — the urge to dance to the tune. The melody grew loftier and more impassioned.
Everyone in the courtyard knew something was wrong and was about to forcibly break the demonic sound technique when Shen Mu suddenly formed a hand seal and drove out a punch! Sun Scorches the Yang Spirit, Refined in the Void! The moment his fist went out, a thunderclap that shook heaven and earth burst from the center of the courtyard, battering everyone's souls into confusion, setting their spirits reeling, their willpower unstable.
At once they could no longer contend with the demonic melody; one after another they flung out their arms and legs, roaring with laughter, and began to sing and dance in the courtyard. Suddenly the melody shifted again, as though they had fallen onto a battlefield where gods and demons slaughtered one another.
Iron horses and metal spears swept at their faces and drowned them; it was so real that they could not help but strike back!
This counterattack was no small matter. Even those with a shred of lucidity left had no choice but to fend off the blows of those around them, and the very moment they raised a hand to respond, the melody breached their minds and their last defense collapsed! Boom! Techniques of every kind burst forth in the courtyard, spells flying wild.
In an instant blood was drawn; many felt the pain and came to their senses — and just then Shen Mu moved through the crowd like a phantom, and anyone who regained clarity was flicked away by a single finger! Finger-Flick Thunder-Shaking Pipa Hand! His fingers kept time with the melody — plucking, sweeping, hooking, flicking, striking, snapping, strumming — fierce beyond measure.
Amid the maddening music came thunderclap after thunderclap; the air shuddered without cease, and the sound of heavy bodies smashing against things came without pause. After a while, only Wei Yong was left in the little courtyard, still dancing and singing. Shen Mu withdrew his hand.
The rain that filled the sky vanished; the melody vanished of its own accord.
Only then did Wei Yong come back to himself. He hurriedly looked around and saw footprints everywhere in his courtyard, and his flowers and plants ruined. His face changed drastically, and he blurted, "Brother Shen, what happened? " "I borrowed your fine premises to teach a few blind senior brothers a lesson," Shen Mu said with a laugh.
"It's out of the way here — no one to interfere while I beat them.
" Wei Yong clicked his tongue and hurriedly looked toward the gateway wall of his courtyard, where scholars hung upon the wall, their heads jammed into the brick, without the strength to move. Wei Yong's face went ashen. "Brother, you have stirred up great disaster! These scholars came to the Grand Academy years before us.
Who among those who enter the Grand Academy is not a disciple of some great clan or noble house?
And now you have beaten them — how will this end? " Shen Mu said doubtfully, "If I do not beat them, am I to wait for them to beat me? The beating is done — what else can be done? " Wei Yong stamped his feet again and again. "You borrowed my courtyard to beat them.
I am of the Wei family — they do not dare touch me — but you are certain to suffer for it.