荒墟牧神 - 第46章 一聲驚起真龍 - 錦書坊

Shen Mu reached out and caught one, taking a careful bite—it was scorching going down his throat, hotter even than the Butcher's strong liquor, and once it reached his belly it brought a burning sensation that set his vital energy unusually astir. He stirred his vital energy and, to his surprise, sensed a medicinal power much like that of the Essence-Condensing Pill, one that could advance his vital-energy cultivation, though the gain was far smaller than the pill's. "Is this creature a plant or an animal?" He caught another one and studied it: this marvelous being had no eyes, no hands, no feet, no openings of any kind, drawing its nourishment from the moss through rootlike tendrils, so that he truly could not tell whether it was plant or animal. He himself had eaten only one, but Snow Fox went hopping and skipping about and ate her fill. The farther down they went, the cooler the air grew. After they had walked who knows how far, the murmur of flowing water reached them: a stream ran down the mountain wall, wonderfully clear, and at its end lay a pool where several huge eyeless fish lived—fish that gave off a glow of their own. To go on, they would have to cross the pool to reach the passage on the far side. "Those big fish are vicious beyond words—the instant they hear a sound they come pouncing. Frightful things!" Snow Fox whispered, "I'll throw a stone over to draw them off, and we'll dash across while they're distracted!" With that her paws snatched up a stone and hurled it with all her might. The stone struck the wall, and at once the huge eyeless fish burst from the pool with a great splash, tails lashing in midair, four fins spread wide like four broad wings as they whooshed toward the place the sound had come from! "Quick—run!" Snow Fox led the way, and Shen Mu tore along the edge of the pool for the far side. In his haste the boy heard several thunderous crashes: the monstrous fish had hurled themselves at the stone wall and, gaping their enormous maws, bitten great holes clean through it! The hardest mountain rock seemed made of tofu in their mouths—had they closed those jaws on a person, the result did not bear thinking of! Man and fox had scarcely reached the far bank when the monstrous fish caught the sound of their footsteps; vibrating their fins, they wheeled about and came flying straight at them! "Follow me, young master!" Snow Fox shot like a wisp of smoke into the passage opposite, and Shen Mu scrambled in after her. The passage was none too wide; the big fish behind, unable to fly once they reached its mouth, took to their four fins as feet and came sprinting down the passage after Shen Mu and the little fox! "Are these things even fish?" Shen Mu's scalp went numb as he kept hard on Snow Fox's heels. The monstrous fish gave chase for a stretch, but finding they could not catch up, they backed out of the passage one by one and returned to lurk in the pool. Shen Mu let out a breath of relief. The way ahead slowly widened, and when they stepped out of a trumpet-shaped cavern, sunlight came pouring down all at once, glinting and shimmering. Shen Mu looked up—and stood transfixed. Far above his head the mighty river rolled past in flood; schools of fish swam over his head, and he saw enormous dark-shelled spirit turtles, great fish big as little boats, and river beasts of towering size. One of the big fish spied Shen Mu and the little fox and grew excited, lunging at them with gaping maw—only to strike an invisible wall of water and be flung back. The fish shook its head, seeming puzzled, then swished its tail and swam away. "The Surging River—this is the riverbed of the Surging River!" Shen Mu's expression turned odd. "The Surging River is right above our heads, yet the water has not come pouring down to drown this place..." He looked ahead, and his heart quaked: dragon pillars rose before him one after another, massive columns tens of zhang tall, standing lofty on the riverbed with their tops touching the ri