Chapter 35 — Storm Clouds Rise Over the Desolate City Fair

white-haired old men who leapt up to compete for a bride, only to be hooted off the stage by the crowd. "Some villages have few men, so the contest is really meant to recruit a live-in son-in-law." Granny Zhu warned Shen Mu, "Once you are a live-in son-in-law, you belong to another village. You are not to go up there!" Shen Mu nodded. His hands were itching a little, though. The blind old man laughed. "It is no matter if Mu'er goes up. Beat this one's platform, then that one's, fight your way through every marriage contest at Granny Temple, and marry a dozen girls..." Granny Zhu glared at him, and the blind old man dared say no more and shut his mouth in a hurry. Hidden Maimed Village had fixed stalls at Granny Temple, and before long the ox cart came to them. Shen Mu helped the butcher set up the meat stall, then helped Old Man Ma unload the furniture, then propped up the iron furnace for the mute, helped Granny Zhu lay out the tailor's shop, and then fetched water and ground ink for the hard-of-hearing old man, hanging up the paintings and couplets he had written. When all was ready, Shen Mu saw a banner hung on the blind old man's bamboo staff. The old man sat before a table, and on the banner were written the words "Six Lines and Eight Trigrams, Fortune Told and Calamity Averted." He thought, "Blind Grandpa can tell fortunes too?" The pill master set up his medicine stall beside it. The butcher had already gutted the strange beast and hung up the meat. The villagers of Hidden Maimed Village began to hawk their wares, no different from ordinary folk. "Mu'er, there is an empty platform over there. Go hang up this piece of writing." The hard-of-hearing old man's brush flew like the wind. He wrote out a piece of calligraphy and handed it to Shen Mu. "Once it is hung, do not come down. Just stand on the platform. This is your business for today. If you are still standing on that platform when the sun sets, you will have passed the temple fair's test." Shen Mu looked at the writing. It read: Kicks the Yong River, no match in all the land; sweeps clean eight hundred villages of the wastes! And a horizontal scroll: First in the Spirit Embryo Realm. Shen Mu looked at the platform beside them. On it stood two glossy, shining wooden posts, and between them hung a horizontal plaque, blank, clearly the place for the horizontal scroll. "Deaf Grandpa, are they going to beat me to death?" Shen Mu asked the hard-of-hearing old man over his shoulder. Just then he saw the blind old man bring out another banner, on which were written the words "Wins and losses in the millions, place your bets and take your hands off." Plainly he meant to make a killing while Shen Mu fought. And Granny Zhu had already staked a sum at the blind man's betting stall, while the pill master excitedly laid out wound medicine at his stall, waiting for the injured to come down from the platform. Old Man Ma was making crutches and stretchers, and the butcher was there selling "Flood-Dragon Treasure Blood," a miraculous tonic for strengthening the body! Shen Mu's face went black at once. This pack of sly old men and women, each finding a way to turn a profit! "Hard-of-hearing old man, write an annotation: only martial artists at the spirit embryo realm may go up." Granny Zhu thought for a moment. "What if someone at the divine ability realm jumps up? Would they not beat Mu'er to death?" ---- A reader asked when Tales of Herding Gods will be released. Zhaizhu has discussed it with his editor: it will not be released in August, but on September first. Tales of Herding Gods will have a free public period of two months and ten days. Fan titles for Tales of Herding Gods can already be claimed; Zhaizhu's fan title is: Divine Dynasty! To claim it, open the Qidian app, tap Discover, Activity Center, Fan Title Event, search Zhaizhu, and tap Claim. Note that a certain fan value is required. The event runs until July 31.