Chapter 329 — The Old and New Supremes of the Sword Dao

The old man had not stirred for two months, just sitting there at the village gate, motionless, letting wind and rain and the encroaching darkness do as they pleased! That was laziness raised to an art. Xiong Xiyu, however, was badly startled. Judging by the layout of the village's stone statues, when night came the light of Yincan Village's four statues could not possibly reach this spot, and yet this scruffy old man had lain at the village gate for nearly two months without dying in the darkness.

Was he a god?

Or was it that the uncanny things in the darkness took no interest in this old fellow? Shen Mu shaved the village head's beard clean, washed his face, then trimmed his tangled white hair and tidied him up. He carried the old man into the house, stripped off his clothes and dressed him in a clean set, then went back to wash the old ones. He carried the old man out again and set him in the reclining chair, brewed a pot of tea, and asked, "Has Old Master Huo not come back either?

" The village head said, "Old Master Huo came back once. The Old Tathagata and the Dao Lord came looking for him, saying he was no longer the Tathagata.

The Old Tathagata cut off one of his own arms, saying that he could not return it to his son and daughter, but he could return an arm to him. " Shen Mu cried out, "The Old Tathagata cut off his own arm? " "He did. That arm of the Old Tathagata's was carried off by the plume-crested fire pheasant dragons.

It is right there in the chicken pen; those plume-crested fire pheasant dragons cannot chew through it.

" The village head sighed. "Old Master Huo seems a cold man, hating heaven and earth alike, but when the Old Tathagata hacked off his own arm and gave it to him, he was moved all the same.

He wept, and then he went to hold the seat at the Great Thunderclap Temple. He said that when the new Tathagata came, he would return. I reckon he will not be coming back. He is waiting for the new Tathagata, but in truth, once he sits upon the Tathagata's seat, he will find that he himself is the Tathagata. " Shen Mu was dazed. "I happen to be going to the Nether Valley; I can stop at the Great Thunderclap Temple on the way and see him.

And Grandpa Lame? Was he not always at Old Master Huo's side? " "The Lame Elder is inseparable from Old Master Huo, so of course he has gone to the Great Thunderclap Temple as a guest.

He said he was afraid Old Master Huo would come off the worse. " A shadow of worry crossed the village head's face.

"I fear that once Old Master Huo becomes the Tathagata, he will find that the whole mountain, from peak to foot, is void of all four elements. " Shen Mu had seen neither the Butcher, the Blind Elder, nor the Silent Craftsman either, and asked after them again.

The Blind Elder and the Butcher had run off with the old Dao Lord and the Tathagata, saying they were going to have a look at Little Jade Capital. The Silent Craftsman had stayed in the village at first, but the day before the Alchemist fled, he suddenly went mad, shouldered his belongings, and charged into the darkness, chasing something no one could name. He had not returned since. And Granny Zhu had not come back either; she was probably still in the Kingdom of Jingping, suppressing her inner demons and tempering her heart. Shen Mu tidied things up around the village, packing all manner of treasures and suspected treasures into two Taotie Pouches.

Then he came to the herb plot at the village gate, pointed a finger, and flying sword after flying sword plunged into the earth around the plot, boring down and cutting it free below.

Shen Mu raised both hands and made a lifting motion, and the entire herb plot rose of itself into the air; then he stowed that patch of medicinal earth away in Ban Gongcuo's Taotie Pouch. Ban Gongcuo's pouch was better than his own, its inner space larger, roomy enough to hold a whole plot of herbs. Shen Mu slung the Alchemist's medicine basket on his back and set the village head inside it. The village head said angrily, "What are you doing, you little brat?

Put me down! " "I cannot leave you here.

" Shen Mu tightened the straps of the basket. "If anything should happen to you, who would ever know?

From now on, wherever I go, Grandpa Village Head comes with me! " The village head fell silent, touched despite himself, and then laughed.

"Put me down.

Silly child, I am old, I cannot go roving anymore. Besides, I promised the King of Hell that when I die I will go to his Realm of the Living Dead.

When my time comes, a bird god will come to fetch me. " At once Shen Mu felt the medicine basket grow immeasurably heavy, as though he were carrying a mountain on his back. He knew the village head did not wish to leave the Ruins, so he blinked and said, "Does Grandpa Village Head not want to see the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping? Does the old Sword God not want to see the new Sword God?

The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping is hailed as a sage who appears but once in five hundred years, well worth seeing. " The basket on his back suddenly grew light, and a note of heroic spirit seemed to enter the village head's voice. "A new generation of Sword God? Well, then. It would be good to see him before I die of old age.

Come, let us go and meet the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping! "