Chapter 140 — Washing the Pots and Cauldrons

Libationer Bashan came out wrapped in a gray sable cloak, a wine gourd half a man's height in his hand. He tipped his head back and took several gulps, belched, then tossed the gourd to the green ox. "Who dares steal from my vegetable plot? Bold, I'll grant them that. " The green ox drank deeply from the gourd, belched, and breathed out a reek of fodder and wine.

"Don't know. Some muddle-headed fool of a boy, with a fox. " Libationer Bashan mused.

"So it's that boy who came out of the Desolate Ruins. He dares provoke even my little ox, and steals my vegetables too—very wild, very arrogant. I understand. You stay here and watch the garden, lest someone steal from it again. " Shen Mu returned to the front of the mountain, touched the bruise on his face, his expression shifting.

"That ox—I can't beat it in a fight, but I can drug it and bring it down. Grandpa Alchemist said, if you can't beat them, poison them. Once its hooves are bound, it won't be able to resist. . . Patriarch, what are you doing here?

" Before Shen Mu lay a cluster of thatched cottages, two or three simple rooms, nestled against the mountain and beside the water, very quiet and refined. The young Patriarch was in the courtyard washing dishes—he must have just eaten—and beside him was a white-haired old man scrubbing a pot with a loofah brush. Shen Mu had seen this old man before: Elder Dianxing of the Dark Demon Cult. Though the young Patriarch was Grand Libationer of the Imperial Academy, a man of lofty station, he had no servants or maids to wait on him; only Elder Dianxing was at his side. The young Patriarch and Elder Dianxing saw him and Snow Fox as well, but neither rose; they went on with their work.

Elder Dianxing smiled.

"The Patriarch has always lived here. Has the Young Cult Leader never been here before? " Shen Mu shook his head, bowed in salute from outside, then went in.

Elder Dianxing saluted Shen Mu; Shen Mu hastily returned the salute, went over, sat by the basin, and helped the young Patriarch wash dishes. He smiled. "Patriarch, you are Grand Libationer—why are you so poor? " The young Patriarch took a towel and wiped his hands.

"I'm used to idleness; I can't abide tall, splendid palaces.

Elder Dianxing doesn't live here either—only now that I'm old did I ask him to come, and burden him with sharing my hardships. " Shen Mu glanced at Elder Dianxing, who smiled. "I wanted a few more days of quiet.

This place suits me well. " The young Patriarch smiled. "Young Cult Leader, after you take the throne, I'll want to borrow Elder Dianxing for a few years, to wander about with me. When I die, he can help collect my corpse.

Our Holy Cult keeps no bodies—when a man dies his lamp goes out, leaving only a handful of ashes. By then Elder Dianxing will bring my ashes back.

" Shen Mu fell silent, a pang in his heart. A hero in his twilight years. Even one as mighty as Li Zheng, as mighty as the young Patriarch, could not escape birth, aging, sickness, and death; in time the years would wear away all their hot blood and grand ambition, and they would become bones in a mound of yellow earth. The young Patriarch looked at him. "A white-browed monk and a little monk have come to the foot of the mountain. " Shen Mu nodded.

After the dishes were washed he used Vermilion Bird vital qi to dry the moisture from his hands.

Elder Dianxing hung up the wok, brought over a tea table, and made ready to brew tea; Snow Fox ran over to help.

"I know. I heard the monks below are from the Great Thunderclap Temple. I went to take a look.

I know the white-browed monk—I met him before in the Desolate Ruins. Old Master Huo said he was his senior brother, called Jingming or something like that.

" Shen Mu thought for a moment, not certain of the name. "I've never seen the little monk. He seems to be the Buddha Son of the Great Thunderclap Temple.

" Snow Fox struggled to pour tea for them, but she was small, not even as tall as the tea table. Elder Dianxing hastily took the teapot, set it on the table, picked up the little fox, and placed her in a rattan chair nearby. He smiled. "Let me do it.

" The young Patriarch still stared at him. "They're blockading the gate of our Imperial Academy. " Shen Mu said, "They've been at it half the day.

I ran over to watch the commotion. This Buddha Son is truly formidable: the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra, the Dharma of Victorious Battle, the indestructible Vajra body, the Tathagata Relic Pagoda, the Mahayana Nirvana Seal, the Eighteen Arhats Seal. Patriarch, do I perhaps have some misunderstanding about our Imperial Academy? " The young Patriarch was puzzled.

"What misunderstanding? " "Are we very weak?

" Shen Mu said, bewildered, "Why are we beaten at our own gate every day? I've only just enrolled, and already twice someone has smashed up our place. Back in the Desolate Ruins, we'd have grabbed our weapons and taken them down long ago. " The young Patriarch said angrily, "That's not what I meant. I meant the Buddha Heart Buddha Son has arrived—why didn't you go, and instead went to the back mountain?

" Shen Mu smiled.

"How didn't I go?

I went, then came back from the gate, and only then went to the back mountain. The gate was in quite an uproar. " The young Patriarch grew angry.

Elder Dianxing hastily offered tea; the Patriarch drained the cup in one gulp, set it down, and was about to erupt, when Elder Dianxing hastily poured another. The young Patriarch suppressed his anger. "All the other scholars of the Imperial Academy went up to fight the Buddha Son.

Why didn't you? " "Patriarch, I already fought the Daoist Son, not long ago, and I was wounded. " Shen Mu protested, "My hand was even pierced through—look.

. . hey, where's the scar?

Anyway, I was wounded, a very serious internal injury. I've fought one bout.

Whoever wants to fight the Buddha Son can go fight him; I need to heal. Look, my face is still swollen.

Your Young Cult Leader was beaten by an ox, and you won't stand up for me—why should I stand up for the Imperial Academy? " Elder Dianxing coughed, and reminded him, "Patriarch, the tea is getting cold. " "It won't get cold that fast! " The young Patriarch slapped the table and sneered. "What do you want? For me to invite Imperial Preceptor Jingping again to expound the scriptures and teach the Dao?

I've already invited him once; if I go again, where will I put my old face?

Who else would you have me invite?

The emperor? " Shen Mu's heart stirred slightly, and he probed, "Could the emperor come lecture at our Imperial Academy? " The young Patriarch tipped his head back and drank his tea, swallowing even the leaves to quell his anger, and sneered, "Give up that hope. The emperor will never come lecture at the Imperial Academy!

Clutching at Buddha's feet at the last moment once is bad enough—how can you want to do it twice? I don't have that much face!

" Shen Mu said sullenly, "Patriarch, I was thinking—two of the three great schools have already arrived, the Daoist sect's Daoist Son and the Great Thunderclap Temple's Buddha Son. They've both come to blockade the gate. Shouldn't our Heavenly Sacred Cult also show its face and blockade the Imperial Academy's gate? As Young Cult Leader, I ought to go blockade the Academy's gate and bolster our cult's prestige. .

. " The young Patriarch slapped the table and sprang to his feet; the tea table wobbled. Elder Dianxing hastily blocked him, crying, "Patriarch, calm yourself, calm yourself! The Young Cult Leader is still a child—there's no need to quarrel with him! Calm yourself! " The young Patriarch laughed in his fury.

"You brat, do you think that apart from you, the Imperial Academy has no one who can defeat the Buddha Son? " Shen Mu smiled. "There should be, but that was in the past. Those people have already graduated from the Imperial Academy and are no longer its disciples.