Chapter 82 — The Mystery of the Young Man's Surname
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
He did not know what exactly had gone wrong here, or why Fu Yundi should chat and laugh so freely with the man who had killed his son, as though Fu Tingyue were not his son at all and Shen Mu were.
Still less did he know how Shen Mu had managed to latch onto so thick a leg as Fu Yundi's. "A rough boor of the wilds, fit only to be king of the marketplace, never to ascend the halls of power.
"
He turned and left. When he reached the city gate, his body suddenly gave a slight shudder as the crux of it came clear to him, and he turned to stare in disbelief at the City Lord's mansion at the far end of the main street. "The Heaven-Demon Art of Creation! The Sect Master's widow!
"
He composed himself and turned away.
"Fu Yundi is already dead, flayed.
The Fu Yundi in this city is the widow of the Sect Master of the Nether Demon Sect! Jianglong City has changed hands. I fear every power-wielder under Fu Yundi has been replaced as well, swapped for those of the Nether Demon Sect.
The whole city is full of Nether Demon Sect people!
Thank heavens the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping was held up by that great ship, otherwise. . . "
He could not suppress a shudder. If the Sect Master's widow, wearing Fu Yundi's skin, had let the armies of Jingping enter the city in full, and she and her cohorts had stirred up chaos, they need only destroy the dragon pillar of Jianglong City to wipe out the Jingping army in one stroke, gravely wounding Jingping's vitality—crippling it for good, even. He looked back at Jianglong City. It had changed masters.
This was no longer a place where he, or Jingping, could strut and command the winds and clouds. This city now bore the surname Shen. Shen as well—but Shen Mu's Shen, not his.