Chapter 389 — The Spear Soul Awakens
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" He stood upon the river's surface, and from that small body of his there burst suddenly a battle-fury terrible beyond measure, an awful momentum that shot straight to the clouds; the clouds in mid-sky twisted abruptly and took shape as an enormous Xuanwu of entwined turtle and serpent — the Dark One as the Dark Turtle, dragon-headed, turtle-bodied; the Martial One as the Soaring Serpent, a thousand wings on high! Then suddenly from the riverbed came a whispering, a strange sound, like a dragon's chant and like the murmuring of the dead, and in it were dragon words and voices from other worlds.
To hear that sound was to feel a long, soft body rise slowly from the river, circling and coiling about Blind Grandpa's thin little frame. "Saduo, Mobasa, Xiqu Mituo (you are defeated, your eyes are blind, you are not worthy to possess me).
.
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" "I am defeated. " Blind Grandpa stood there straight as a rod. He was short of stature — shorter than anyone else in the village save the village head and the butcher of old — and though his body was small, the impression he gave was one of extraordinary height, of grandeur, of uprightness!
A bleakness came over his face, and he said in a low voice, "My Holy Pupil was dug out, and my Dao-heart was broken too. I am not worthy of you. Rather than say that I abandoned you, it would be truer to say that you abandoned me.
In those days I was utterly defeated, and I was not worthy to possess you. " The waves on the river grew higher and higher, the water swirling, until at the heart of the river appeared a vast whirlpool; from it came that strange voice, dread and majestic: "Xiqu Mituo, Yihe Suposuo! (Not worthy to possess me — then why have you come?
)" "I have taken back my Dao-heart!
" Blind Grandpa's brows and hair streamed, his clothes swelled outward, and his voice rolled like thunder, resounding to the heavens; his battle-fury turned incomparably keen, incomparably powerful, like a god come again into the world: "The me of old sought the utmost of the Holy Pupil — to see through all things, and yet I could not see through men's hearts! But the me of now has someone I must protect. For this child's sake I have taken back my fighting spirit, taken back my faith and my Dao-heart! " He stretched out a hand toward the river, his voice booming and shaking: "Long Tuo, I abandoned you once. Will you still follow me now? Do you still long for the glory of former days, for the days when you went to war at my side and bathed in blood?
If you wish it, if you will it, then I shall grant it! Let you taste slaughter such as you have never known, savagery such as never was — one man, one spear, slaying gods that stand in his way, slaying demons that bar his path! " Boom — the river's surface burst apart, a dragon's chant thundered, and from the whirlpool a great black dragon rose slowly out of the depths, a dragon's body built of black bone, swimming little by little from the water, countless joints cracking and snapping without cease as it circled and coiled about Blind Grandpa's small thin frame. That bone, black as pitch, quivered unceasingly, ringing with a clang, and the ringing grew louder and louder; amid the trembling, streaks of bloody light burst forth, a momentum terrible beyond measure, spreading an overbearing murderous might across the world. Blind Grandpa's palm closed in a heavy grip; the black bone dragon suddenly drew itself together, joint striking joint, sparks flying, and became a black dragon spear in his hand!
"Long Tuo, you have awakened at last!
And I have awakened too! " Blind Grandpa slung the black dragon spear across his back, joy without limit in his heart, and walked off without a backward glance, leaving Yincan Village behind: "This village — I will not come back to it! Come with me, and let us relive the years we stained with blood!
" At Mishui Pass, Shen Mu sensed a terrible aura erupt out in the Wasteland. He lifted his head and gazed for a moment, then withdrew his eyes.