Chapter 5 — The Five Elders of Lan River Come Treading the Barrens

He had lived in Hidden Cripple Village for fourteen or fifteen years, and the farthest he had ever gone was a little over ten li. Now he had strayed far too deep. The paths around him grew more unfamiliar and more desolate, until at last there were no paths at all.

Suddenly Shen Mu saw a valley ahead carpeted with peach blossoms, where a herd of deer lived among the peach trees. He hurried over and mixed himself into the herd.

Whoosh—a fragrant breeze flashed past. The woman alighted with her robes aflutter, glanced at the deer herd, and frowned.

"Senior Sister, where is that demon whelp?" One figure after another landed, and a boy about Shen Mu's age asked the question.

The woman pursed her lips. "He has gone into the herd."

"Kill every last one of them!"

Several youths charged into the herd, whipping out sabers and swords, and set about the deer with deadly strokes. Swift as the deer were, they were no match for these long-cultivated spirit bodies.

All five of those boys and girls were spirit bodies, and all had already become martial artists of no mean strength. Even though the deer scattered in every direction, they could not escape the slaughter, and soon they were being cut down one after another.

"Didn't you say that deer are also living creatures?"

Suddenly a human voice came from the panicked herd: "Granny killed only one deer, but you have killed a whole herd. Why do you still claim that we are the demonic way?"

"There!"

The woman's eyes brightened. She gathered her qi and plied her sword, pouring White Tiger qi into the long blade until a golden aura burst out on every side; the sword flew from her hand, slashing at Shen Mu among the fleeing deer!

Shen Mu veered in his headlong course, and the sword abruptly veered as well, still thrusting toward him!

"What martial art is this?" Shen Mu's mind reeled. "Could it be a divine power? It doesn't seem so. The Butcher says divine power is the martial way cultivated to its peak, and this woman's martial way is far below the Butcher's and the others'..."

The sword came at him from behind. The deer that was Shen Mu swerved almost flush with the ground and only just escaped. In that instant he caught a fleeting glimpse: at the sword's hilt there ran a thread as fine as silk, one end fixed to the sword, the other held in the woman's hand.

The thread was like gossamer—all but invisible.

—Thank you to so many book friends for your generous rewards, for the red banners, and to Shenhuxi UC for the Silver Ally. I am deeply grateful for your affection! The Mu Shen Ji Qidian reader QQ group: 600290060. A Qidian account is required to join. Non-Qidian readers can join QQ group 424940671, where everyone can gather to chat and discuss the plot~