Chapter 122 — Five Stars Without Peer
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Ai, ai, what is to be done.
. .
" Shen Mu walked outward, laughing. "If they come to teach me a lesson, they had best be prepared to be taught one themselves. " He walked out of the courtyard and saw head after head poking out from the courtyard wall.
Shen Mu looked them over once, then strode on. "Cast-off.
. . " One scholar woke and said weakly, "You dared to ambush us.
When we recover, you are dead. .
. " Shen Mu's face darkened.
"Say the word cast-off again, and I will beat you every time I see you!
" "Cast-off! " Shen Mu pulled this scholar out of the wall, hauled him to the front of his own dwelling, and let his yuanqi burst forth, stretching the man's body ramrod straight.
Using him as a giant brush, he wrote upon the wall with the blood from the scholar's head.
Shen Mu wrote two lines of characters, then wrote another line upon the lintel, and then slammed the blood-smeared scholar to the ground.
He drove the man into the earth until only his head showed; furious and frantic, the scholar passed out. The other scholars woke one after another, pulling their heads out of the wall, each wearing a look of shame, their expressions shifting like weather. They had been caught off guard by Shen Mu's assault — and it was no assault upon their bodies but upon their souls, the hardest thing of all to guard against.
Had it been a spell aimed at their bodies, it would have been easy enough to defend; their cultivation was not far below Shen Mu's, and they had the advantage of numbers. Had Shen Mu launched a sneak attack, he could have felled at most one or two of them. But a spell aimed at the soul was a different matter entirely.
With his improved Finger-Flick Thunder-Shaking Pipa Hand, Shen Mu had seized direct control of their souls, commanding their soul-consciousness; and when they tried to break free, the move Sun Scorches the Yang Spirit, Refined in the Void sent their souls wandering again, so that one after another they were struck down, knocked unconscious with their heads through the wall before they had any chance to strike back. Wei Yong said hurriedly, "Senior brothers, I am of the Wei family of the Ducal Mansion; I have nothing to do with this! " The dozen or so scholars looked at one another. One sighed, "We have been made fools of this time, ambushed by a new arrival, our face lost entirely.
Brother of the Wei family, do not spread word of this; leave us a little dignity. " Wei Yong breathed a sigh of relief. "Rest assured, I have always kept my mouth shut and will never speak of this to outsiders. Senior brothers, what do you plan to do?
" "Naturally, regain our face. " Unable to bear staying, the scholars poured out in a mass. "We lost face badly today. Once our wounds heal, tomorrow we take back our dignity!
" "He caught us unawares today and took us by surprise; tomorrow we will make him pay!
" Wei Yong clicked his tongue and muttered, "Brother Shen grows more formidable by the day. He sent Daoist Lingyun flying, and now this — even I was caught off guard and controlled by his demonic music. But with these fellows on their guard, tomorrow may be rough for him.
After all, they came to the Grand Academy years before us; what they have learned and comprehended far surpasses ours. In the Grand Academy's Heaven-Record Tower lie the supreme teachings of every sect and school.
.
. " As the dozen or so scholars passed Shen Mu's courtyard, they glanced up without thinking and saw two rows of blood-dripping words written on the wall in blood: "Sweeping the capital, no match to be found; kicking eight hundred Grand Academy scholars around!
" Upon the lintel were four more words: "Five Luminaries Unrivaled!