Chapter 501 — Chixiu Was a God All Along
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Seeing that struggle availed him nothing, he grew still and sneered: "Chixiu, my fate is decided by Heaven, not by the King of Hell! What can you do to me even if you take me? " The bird-headed god flapped his wings, and another chain flew out, binding Xing'an fast. That chain was transformed from white bone, forged as it seemed from vertebra after vertebra, no one could say how many joints.
The white-bone chain wound several times around Xing'an, and then bound Shen Mu's hands as well. Shen Mu asked, somewhat puzzled: "I can't run anyway.
Does Senior Brother Chixiu have to go to such trouble? " "Say nothing.
I detest the smell of the living. " The bird-headed god's mind stirred slightly, and the white-bone chain joined with the chain on Kuiwu Shen's body, and he led them toward Fengdu.
Shen Mu said hurriedly: "I still have a chest, and a Dragon Qilin! " "What a nuisance. " Bird-head Chixiu undid the chain.
"Wake your Dragon Qilin and hurry after me.
Don't think of running. You can't.
" Shen Mu kicked the Dragon Qilin twice.
The Dragon Qilin still did not wake.
Chixiu plucked out a feather and brushed it across the Dragon Qilin's brow, and only then did the Dragon Qilin wake, trembling and shaking.
Shen Mu comforted him: "Don't be afraid, Fat Dragon. The Patriarch is most likely here too. This time, entering Fengdu, we may well get to see him.
" The Dragon Qilin's mind reeled.
He stammered: "Didn't you say the Patriarch became a god? " Shen Mu was silent a moment, then his face brightened into a smile.
"The Patriarch became a god in Fengdu. " The Dragon Qilin fell silent, raised a claw, and wiped at his eye sockets—though at this moment he had no fleshly body, and no tears either. "I knew all along you were lying to me.
. .
" he said, head hanging.
Shen Mu thought for a moment.
"Look—in this world, you and I are dead, and yet the Patriarch is alive and well. In our world, we are alive and the Patriarch is dead.
Perhaps life and death are not as you imagine them.
Perhaps after death there is only another kind of living. There is no need for grief. " The Dragon Qilin raised his head, thought for a moment, and said with great seriousness: "But from now on you're not allowed to lie to me. " Shen Mu nodded solemnly: "I was afraid you'd take it hard, that's why I. .
.
" "I'm not a child.
I can take it.
" The Dragon Qilin's tone was calm. "That he can live in this world—that's enough for me.
. .
Sect Master, your tailbone is digging into me.
" Shen Mu stood up and stepped on his forehead, and the Dragon Qilin followed the bird-headed god through the Ghost Gate and on toward the city of Fengdu. Behind them, the chest wobbled along after them. The chest now staggered drunkenly as it walked, as if it had drunk too much wine.
Shen Mu looked back, puzzled, and suddenly remembered something: "Oh no—the chest is full of arms and legs! " No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Xing'an's great chest could hold out no longer.
Its two doors burst open with a bang—the chest had finally vomited. One bizarre person after another spewed out of the chest, and a great crowd of overjoyed skeletons was likewise flung up into the air by the chest.
"We've entered Fengdu!
" In midair, flesh and blood grew upon those skeletons, and when they landed they became naked men and women, wild with joy, who took to their heels and ran toward Fengdu! The people the chest had just spat out, meanwhile, were all incomplete—missing arms or legs, and some with a great hole through their chests, clear from front to back, lacking a heart.
Others lacked ribs, others lacked souls, others lacked divine treasuries; the things they were missing were all strange and various. These people stood bewildered.
They were the severed limbs Xing'an had collected. The chest chased after them, pursuing the people who had run off with unflagging persistence, wanting to catch them and stuff them back into the chest for safekeeping.