Chapter 5 — The Five Elders of Lan River Come Treading the Barrens
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
The black-bearded elder among the five said coldly: "We are told the Barrens are a sink of iniquity, that demons and monsters who cannot survive elsewhere all hide here. Hence we Five Elders have brought our disciples to vanquish demons and wipe out monsters."
"Who is the demon and who the monster; who vanquishes and who is vanquished—that has yet to be decided."
Granny Zhu carried her basket on one arm and drew a pair of scissors out of it with the other. With a bleary, half-blind look on her face, she said with a smile: "This old body has not moved its bones in a long while, but at least the skills of my younger days have not all gone to waste. You five old ghosts—surely you don't want to be made into clothes by me as well?"
"You fiend! Before us you dare to be insolent? Are you worthy of insolence?"
The four elders of Lan River bellowed, shifted their bodies, crossed past one another, and hurled themselves at Granny Zhu.
At that very moment Shen Mu, straining every sinew toward Hidden Cripple Village, heard thunder rolling from behind—rumble upon rumble—and with it lightning, streaks of snow-white radiance that lit up the mountains and fields many times more dazzlingly than the sun!
He looked back. Where Granny Zhu had stood, a surging wave of qi was erupting, flinging up turf and scattered stones; even boulders of a thousand jin were caught in the sudden blast, whirled aloft, and sent howling outward with incredible speed!
"Will Granny be all right..."
Shen Mu's heart sank. Then, suddenly, he heard the water of the river splash, splash, splash, and looked up to see two vigorous young people, a man and a woman, racing across its surface at a dead run!
The man and woman trod upon the river and did not sink. Their feet fell and lifted so swiftly—far faster than Shen Mu himself could run—that the water had no time to cover their insteps before the pair had already sped far into the distance.
"Those two have reached the wave-treading that the Lame Elder spoke of. I cannot do that yet. They are stronger than I am!"
At mid-river, the pair trod onward, soon overtaking Shen Mu, and then turned from the river toward the bank, plainly intending to head him off.
Shen Mu looked back. One more was pursuing him from behind; the other two were darting swiftly among the ridges to his left. Their figures leapt up from the dense forest from time to time, running with a whistle over the treetops. But they could not keep it up for long; before long they had to land and catch their breath.
Even so, they would soon overtake Shen Mu and dash ahead of him.
"I must not let them cut me off! I have to get back to the village one step ahead of them and let the Lame Elder, Old Ma, and the others go rescue Granny!"
Shen Mu clenched his teeth. He swerved away from the riverside and, at an oblique angle, plunged into the forest.
To keep running along the riverbank would certainly mean being blocked; the two at mid-river were too fast, while the two in the forest were slower by a little. The forest was his only way out.
"Little fiend! You and that fiend killed a deer to refine an evil thing. Don't think you can escape!"
No sooner had Shen Mu plunged into the forest than one of the two men who had been waiting to intercept him suddenly surged ahead of the other. But he was a step too late: the deer of Shen Mu's transformation dashed past before him.
"No need to worry—he cannot get away!"
Ahead, the young man and young woman wore calm faces. The woman laughed lightly, her robes fluttering, and her speed abruptly redoubled; she flew from treetop to treetop after the deer in the forest. The young man, unhurried, directed the other three to close in from the flanks and press toward Shen Mu.
Shen Mu ran like a mad thing, but he could never shake off these five. Not only could he not be rid of them—they drove him farther and farther from Hidden Cripple Village, deeper and deeper into the Barrens.