Chapter 431 — Carrot and Stick

This place was still tens of thousands of li from the capital.

Flee tens of thousands of li, and still there was no escape?

And that great gourd at the Fragrant Well - what manner of weapon was it, after all? Shen Mu straightened his robes and walked toward the Fragrant Well, his stride neither hurried nor slow. A moment ago he had been burning with frantic haste; now, on the contrary, his heart had eased.

"The people of the city must not be allowed to leave," he murmured.

Si Yunxiang gave a slight start. "The city folk are this deity's hostages," Shen Mu said softly.

"Let them go, and once his hostages are gone, he will at once activate that great gourd and bring down calamity!

" Si Yunxiang could not suppress a shiver and cast him a glance. The power of those weather weapons was far too great. When the Quake Cauldron had been tested at Grandmother Zhu's mountain villa, it had not brought even one percent of its might to bear before it blasted the Imperial Tutor of Jingping, the village warden, and a host of other masters with injuries; its force had spread across several hundred li, shaking heaven and earth throughout the entire radius! Rather than let the city's people flee, better to keep them at the very center of the weather weapon's eruption, so that even in death they would suffer less.

"Cough, cough! " He coughed twice, not in pretense, for his body was genuinely frail.

At that very moment, coughing came from the vicinity of the Fragrant Well, and a voice arrived on the heels of the coughs, sneering between hacks: "Little wretch, you chased me all the way here - do you not fear I will activate the Five Thunder Gourd?

" "The Five Thunder Gourd? " Shen Mu walked toward the Fragrant Well, mounting the stone steps, with Jiao Wangshen and the others following at his side. He smiled: "So this treasure is called the Five Thunder Gourd, is it? May I ask which five thunders dwell within it?

" Jiao Wangshen looked over the courtyard ahead, knitted his brows, then shook himself; his frame at once shrank smaller and smaller until he transformed into a youth in sapphire-blue robes.

His features were rather fierce, yet he was not ill-favored. Long Qilin also shook himself, but only managed to suck in his belly, which then popped back out again. Xue Hu'er hastily covered her face, mortified beyond measure, and said, "Fat Dragon, don't you ever call me Sister Ling'er again.

It would be the death of my shame! " The other flood dragons bared fangs and claws, bawling "maha, maha," shaking this way and that, yet not one changed into human form; like Long Qilin, they all simply sucked in their bellies, which then plopped back out. "These lads have gotten much fatter since they attached themselves to the young master - look at those little paunches!

" Xue Hu'er surveyed the dragons with a solemn little face, thinking: I must tell the young master to ration their food! None of these flood dragons had ever learned the art of transformation. The Dragon-Keeper had raised them purely for battle in the old days, never conceiving of them as disciples, and so had never taught them to speak human speech.

Shen Mu led the company up the steps and into the courtyard. It was vast, more like a great manor, and at its center lay the Fragrant Well for which Zijing City was famous. The Fragrant Well was a celebrated historical site in Zijing.

Legend had it that this had once been a desolate tract. Long ago, a company of refugees fleeing pursuers came to this place with no water to drink, and many died of thirst.

So the people prayed to heaven, and a miracle appeared: the earth split open with a turning motion, revealing an enormous deep well, and the water within even carried a fragrance.

Hence it was called the Fragrant Well. Around the well stood a great walled courtyard, and beyond the walls guards were stationed in force, with no small number of awakened masters ringed layer upon layer within and without. Now every one of those awakened masters lay sound asleep on the ground, not a single one conscious - plainly the handiwork of that deity.

"The five thunders are actually divided by direction: east, south, west, north, and center - the five great cloud-thunders. " Shen Mu walked into the courtyard and saw that the Fragrant Well itself had disappeared.

The great shaft had been pried apart, and from within rose a colossal gourd. To call it a gourd was not quite right, for it more resembled something cast from green jade, standing over five zhang in height, its surface covered with runes and marks that were like clouds yet not clouds, like dragons yet not dragons, like thunder yet not thunder. Beneath the gourd stood a one-horned man in a sorry state, wounded, with several broken bones piercing through his skin and jutting out, gleaming bone-white, deeply unnerving. One of his legs was broken as well - a blur of blood and mangled flesh, the bones smashed, most of the foot rotted away. Shen Mu could not help a stir of compassion and asked with concern, "Brother, how are your wounds?

" "You're the one who made them. What do you think they're like? " The one-horned man shot him a sour glance.

His injuries had been smashed into him by Shen Mu's Crescent Moon, beaten into complete crippledom, pursued without cease the whole way here - and now the man came feigning concern to ask after his wounds.

Shen Mu flushed and smiled apologetically. "A physician's heart is a parent's heart. To be frank, I once studied medicine and am known as a divine healer, most compassionate, forever treating the sick and saving the wounded. I cannot bear to see others hurt. That is why, seeing your wounds, brother, I could not help but be moved to pity.

If you could but trust me. .

.

" "I cannot!

" The one-horned deity sneered.

"Say no more. Hidden within this Five Thunder Gourd are five thunderclouds. Small as clouds go, they can at most cover the entire territory of Jingping.

Within the clouds lurk the Fire-Bell Divine Soldiers; at the sound of their bells, the whole nation is buried in thunder! You hunted me down all this way - do you not fear I will trigger the Five Thunder Gourd? " Shen Mu stepped forward, leaned against the Five Thunder Gourd to rest, and laughed. "How could I not fear?

But if I had not come after you, would you not have triggered it all the same?

You would not have stopped at the Five Thunder Gourd. I suspect you would trigger every other weather weapon as well. The Five Thunder Gourd alone might not send every subject of Jingping to their deaths, but if you activated the others, that would be a true heaven-sent catastrophe. What shall I call you, brother?

" The one-horned deity glanced at Jiao Wangshen in his youthful form. Jiao Wangshen said, "My lord, he is Bai Xi, a Zero God of the Upper Heaven. " "Senior Brother Bai Xi. " Shen Mu grew solemn. "You did not trigger the Five Thunder Gourd at once, which suggests there is room for discussion. Since that is so, why not discuss?

" Bai Xi's two eyes were set far apart, and though small, they were perfectly round. "What discussion do you want?

" Shen Mu smiled.

"Go to the Wasteland Ruins, turn into a stone statue, and you live. " Bai Xi roared with laughter, his voice resounding like a great bell, and sneered: "You, a mere brat, would have me willingly turn into stone?

I am, after all, a lofty deity of the Upper Heaven. If I struck such a bargain with you, would I not be a laughingstock to all the world?

" Shen Mu refined a furnace of spirit pills to heal himself and replenish his vitality, then said, "What terms does Senior Brother propose?

" "I trigger the Five Thunder Gourd, you let me go, and I will not so much as touch the other weather weapons! " Shen Mu swallowed the pills and answered in a languid, sickly voice, "No. " Bai Xi's small eyes contracted sharply. "Do not push me into a dead end!