Chapter 372 — The Silent One's Wooden Box

"It seems I must bring out my Golden Dragon Vat and use its magic to locate my little dragons! " The Dragon Herder Lord reached for his Taotie Pouch — and grasped only empty air. His face turned ashen in an instant. He had given his Taotie Pouch to Shen Mu so that Shen Mu could refine pills to feed the dragons — and now, of course, it was in Shen Mu's hands!

His Golden Dragon Vat was inside that Taotie Pouch!

"That simple-looking brat. .

.

" The Dragon Herder Lord ground his teeth with a harsh grating sound, and the friction of his sharp teeth even struck sparks: "The next time I meet someone with an honest face, I will tear him to pieces first and ask questions later!

You think taking my Taotie Pouch means I cannot find you?

You are far too naive!

" The Dragon Herder Lord raised his hand and yanked out a great handful of hair from his head.

His hair was curly — every strand was crooked and bent, not a single one straight. Not only that, but his hair had branches. Each strand bore four branches, splitting off at two points along its middle. And when the hair was pulled from its follicles, the roots emitted a yawning sound, like young dark dragons opening their mouths to breathe, eyes heavy with sleep.

The Dragon Herder Lord muttered incantations under his breath. After a moment, he blew a breath across the curly hairs in his palm, and they floated up from his hand, came alive in midair, and upon landing transformed into small dragons.

These small dragons swelled in the wind, and in an instant grew into black flood dragons two or three zhang long — slender bodies, slender legs, slender necks, long thin limbs — and they raced off in all directions across the mountains. "If you are not in the sky, you cannot run far.

" The Dragon Herder Lord's expression shifted between dark and light. He tore another handful of hair from his head and repeated the process, and hundreds of slender-waisted black flood dragons flew into the distance.

He tore out several more handfuls, nearly stripping his head bare, before he finally stopped. Thousands of black flood dragons moved with incredible speed. Each was responsible for a square li, and soon they formed a search net thousands of li wide, sweeping forward.

These black flood dragons would sniff out dragon aura. No matter how well Shen Mu hid the Heavenly Emperor Jade Tablet, it was useless — as long as he had flood dragons or a dragon qilin by his side, these black flood dragons would catch the scent and find his trail!

"No one has ever dared deceive me like this.

When I find you, I will make you wish you could die but cannot! " In Jiangyin Commandery, Shen Mu looked at the wooden box and still felt somewhat uneasy.

He said: "Placing the Heavenly Emperor Jade Tablet here — can it really deceive the Dragon Herder Lord?

The Dragon Herder Lord has taken the dragon nest, and the Heavenly Emperor Jade Tablet is the True Dragon Lord nurtured within that nest. It is exceedingly supernatural!

" "Ah-bah! Ah ah ah? " The one holding the wooden box was a sturdy old man, his face weathered by wind and frost.

He waved a hand, grinned, and opened his mouth — there was no tongue inside.

Shen Mu nodded: "I know. How would I dare doubt Grandpa Silent Craftsman's abilities? I am only worried that if the box cannot shield the resonance with the dragon nest, the Dragon Herder Lord will find his way here.

The Dragon Herder Lord is a god of the Heavens Above, a master of dragon husbandry — he is exceedingly formidable!

" Just moments ago, while fleeing for his life, he had encountered a silver boat slicing across the sky like a silver shuttle. He had hastily called out "Grandpa Silent Craftsman," and the silver boat had flown back — Silent Craftsman was indeed aboard.

Shen Mu had quickly explained the situation, and Silent Craftsman had withdrawn his flying boat. The boat turned into a pile of silver pellets that fell into the wooden box, and he told Shen Mu to put the Heavenly Emperor Jade Tablet inside as well. "Ah," Silent Craftsman said indifferently.

"Grandpa Silent Craftsman, you must not underestimate him. " Shen Mu's expression was grave; he felt Silent Craftsman was being too careless.

He said: "By the way, the village head said you went to chase a ship. What ship?

Did you catch it?

I also encountered a ship, and on board I saw my father.

" The smile vanished from Silent Craftsman's face. Looking somewhat dejected, he picked up the wooden box and walked forward. Shen Mu hurried to follow him: "Grandpa Silent Craftsman did not find that ship?

" Silent Craftsman remained crestfallen.

He made a series of gestures, meaning that the ship had gone to a world he could not enter, and that he had been driven back by a powerful figure from that world.

After a moment, a voice suddenly rang out, startled and delighted: "Human Emperor Shen, what are you doing here? That dragon qilin of yours is truly remarkable — it actually ran ahead of us!

" Shen Mu looked toward the voice and was slightly taken aback. There sat Wang Muran, Long Yu, and Mu Qingdai upon a great deer, travel-worn and dusty, making their way toward him.

The dragon qilin was smug beyond measure, its tail shooting straight up like a flagpole, casting a disdainful glance at the great deer from Little Yujing. The great deer's eyes went wide, its mouth fell open, and its little tail, which had been raised, immediately pressed flat against its rump, tucked tight, its expression one of awe.

When the great deer saw the flood dragons large and small around Shen Mu, all trailing after the dragon qilin, its awe deepened further. Shen Mu was astonished: "It took you more than three days to get here?

" In those three days, he had run from the capital to the Taibai Sword Sect, then from the Taibai Sword Sect across eighty or ninety thousand li straight to the center of the Ruined Wasteland, and then run all the way back! But if he said this aloud, these three probably would not believe it.