Chapter 99 — The Way of the Sage

" No sooner thought than done. He spread the scripture and found a method called the Rain-Calling Formula, and before long he had learned it.

He pushed open the window and looked out at the darkness, and could not help hesitating; then he came to himself: "This is no longer the Wastes. The darkness outside is ordinary darkness; there are still passersby in the street. There is nothing to fear.

" His heart eased. He leapt out the window, caught the eaves with one hand, gave a light push, and vaulted up onto the roof of the inn.

A wind blew in through the window lattice, and the white fox, seated on a cushion, flew out; blown this way and that by the demon wind, the cushion drifted up onto the roof and settled at Shen Mu's side. "What is that in the sky?

" the fox cried out suddenly, pointing at the moon and shouting, startled and afraid. "That is the moon.

" Shen Mu lifted his eyes; his gaze grew hazy.

"It should be the moon, I think. I saw the moon once in daylight, and it looked somewhat like this one.

. . " Even he was not certain.

When he was small, Granny Zhu had pointed at a pale silver ball in the daytime sky and told him that was the moon, very bright at night. But from childhood to manhood, Shen Mu had never seen the moon at night.

Night in the Wastes was utter darkness; nothing in the sky could be seen at all.

And in the Wastes there were no stars either. The bright moon hung clear and pure; it was the sixteenth day of the fifth month, and the moon was full.

Under the moonlight Shen Mu roused the Rain-Calling Formula, and at once clouds seethed above the inn, and then a fine drizzle began to fall. Shen Mu waved a hand and all the rain ceased; thread after thread of rain hung suspended in the air, as though time itself had stopped.

Snow Fox exclaimed in wonder, sprang up, and touched the rain threads, soaking its fur; it hurried back into the inn and worked its arts to blow its fur dry. On the roof, Shen Mu shifted his hand seals, driving his vital essence through the Rain-Calling Formula and plucking at the threads of rain. At once each thread gave out a sound sweet as strings and flutes; and as the melody rose, the rainwater turned to keen-edged water blades that struck up into the air!

The water blades flew scores of yards before their force ebbed and they turned back into flowing water. This was a haunt of merchants, mostly traders; no one questioned him practicing his arts here. "Still no good — not smooth enough.

" Shen Mu shifted his stance and plucked at the rain threads again and again.

In the rain a hundred blades crossed and clashed, killing intent brimming, and Snow Fox drifted out once more through the inn's window lattice, clapping its furry paws and crying out in praise.

The Rain-Calling Formula had a root art of its own.

Driving it with the Mystic Body Three Elixir Art, Shen Mu always felt he could not bring out the formula's full power. The power of his arts was already considerable — but that was because his own cultivation was so immense. Given a matching method, the might of that method would surely be greater still!