Chapter 764 — The Burden of Heavenly Venerable Yu
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Desolate ruins hid a crumbling village.
At first light, Shen Mu and the old netherworld envoy brought Heavenly Venerable Yu to this small village—the place where Shen Mu had once lived, though now it was occupied by crested fire-pheasant dragons. In the village, Shen Mu stewed a chicken, stir-fried a few dishes, and went into the butcher's house to dig out a jar of wine that had been buried beneath the bed. —He had eaten a ghost banquet at the Heavenly Benevolent Sage Manor, and none of it had any taste, so he was craving real food.
And now that Heavenly Venerable Yu had just been restored to life, he too was somewhat hungry. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Shen Mu and the old netherworld envoy went to the bank of the Yong River and watched the surging water race past.
The old envoy shaped a divine power between his hands and was about to fling it into the roaring waves when Shen Mu hastily pressed down his arm and shook his head. "There are countless living beings in the Yong River, not to mention its Dragon Emperor, the Dragon-Rearing Lord. Are you now so mighty you want to blast every creature in a whole river to death?
"
The old envoy thought for a moment, then dissolved the spell. "Is it because part of his soul is missing, or has he truly lost his memory?
"
Shen Mu looked back. In the village, feathers flew and chaos roiled; packs of crested fire-pheasant dragons chased Heavenly Venerable Yu this way and that, pecking him until his head and face ran with blood, utterly bedraggled, until they finally knocked him to the ground. Several male fire-pheasant dragons planted themselves on the youth's body and crowed cock-a-doodle-doo at the sun. The old envoy sighed, shaped another spell, thought about it, and scattered it as well.
"Look at him. What trace of his former self is left?
The Heavenly Venerable Yu of old was so dashing, so carefree. Now even crested fire-pheasant dragons dare to bully him. "
Shen Mu went over and chased the dragons away. Heavenly Venerable Yu scrambled to his feet and patted his clothes, sending a cloud of chicken feathers into the air.
"I cannot make out what caused his amnesia, either.
Something is missing from his soul—less than a tenth of it is absent—but his three souls and seven spirits are all still here. "
Shen Mu mused, "In that case, I think we should return to Youdu and ask the Lord of Earth to find where his lost soul went. If he is still amnesiac after the soul is found, then there is something wrong with his head. "
The old envoy nodded and turned around.
Heavenly Venerable Yu had been backed into a corner of the wall by a crowd of fire-pheasant dragons, and was crouching there with his hands over his head. "If he doesn't recover his memory, how can he survive in this cruel world?
" The old envoy shook his head. Shen Mu walked up, raised his hand, and swept it forward. A tongue of fire turned into a fiery dragon that lunged about in every direction, driving the fire-pheasant dragons away.
Heavenly Venerable Yu's eyes lit up at the sight, and he said happily, "That's a wonderful way to do it! " Whereupon he waved his own hand. The fire-pheasant dragons nearby had been edging closer; at his motion they shied away in alarm, but then saw that nothing at all had happened after his wave.
Enraged, they lunged at him again. Heavenly Venerable Yu hurriedly waved once more, and a streak of fire like a dragon shot out, shaking its head and lashing its tail.
The fire-pheasant dragons fled in every direction, but one was too slow to dodge and was scorched black. A smell of cooked meat drifted through the air.
Heavenly Venerable Yu stood dumbstruck, staring at his own palm in disbelief, then ran to the charcoal-black dragon and cried aloud, grief-stricken at the creature's death. He wanted to bury the corpse, and dug a pit between sobs.