Chapter 159 — The Blind Man's Twin Pupils

Those were a pair of eyes, and the owner of those eyes flew aloft, patrolling over the grasslands; the two gazes came drooping down, golden and resplendent, shining across the steppe, sweeping past the little village at the foot of the hillside and then away into the distance. Shen Mu let out a breath of relief, opened the door, and looked up into the sky, where he saw those two great stars trailing columns of light that shrouded six or seven li of country in every direction, drawing farther and farther off. "Brother Bashan.

. .

I wonder how he is faring.

.

. " He was, in truth, deeply worried. What had just passed over must have been a mighty one of Loulan's Golden Palace, a being of the Witch King's rank, come searching along this way; the Green Ox had left no trace, and this village lay hidden among mountain woods, its people all old folk who slept early and lit no lamps, and so the Witch King had not discovered it. But the fact that this Witch King flew hither and thither searching for them meant Libationer Bashan had not managed to hold him back; most likely Libationer Bashan was already wounded, or else had fallen into an encirclement.

"Sleep! " Shen Mu tossed Ling Yuxiu a small jade vial and said flatly, "Little sister, dragon's saliva works wonders on the wounds you carry.

Anoint your body with it first, and the moment you are done, sleep.

At first light we set out at once! " Ling Yuxiu nodded and went inside; after a while the girl pushed the door ajar and poked her head out, her black hair hanging down over her breast, one smooth shoulder bared while the rest of her hid behind the door, and said, a little bashfully, "Ox-boy, there are places I cannot see, and it is awkward to apply. .

. " "I will help you! " Snow Fox came running over eagerly and laughed. "I will do it for her — no need to trouble the young master!

" Of that night, nothing more need be said.

The next day, before the sky was fully light, Shen Mu was already up, limbering his limbs; the village elders were up too, and there came the sound of chickens being fed, of sheep driven out of the fold, of old men greeting one another, until Shen Mu in a daze thought himself back in Yincan Village in the Waste.

"You two little lovebirds, are you up yet?

Breakfast is ready — come eat at my house! " came the old granny's voice from beyond the door. Shen Mu answered her, roused Ling Yuxiu and the Green Ox, hauled Snow Fox out of the bedding, and stepped out of that ramshackle house. Just then a voice came from outside the village: "Here is a village.

Let us go ask the way. " "Ask what?

It is impossible for me to lose my way! " sneered another voice, full of fire.

"I went there in my day, and I laid siege there a hundred days on end.

How could I possibly lose my way?

" Shen Mu was startled, and an expression of disbelief came over him; he hurried toward the village entrance. "There is no harm in asking.

You said you remembered the road, and what came of it?

You dragged me wandering over these grasslands for the longest time — and I am no scoundrel like the Lame Elder, to run so fast. .

. " Shen Mu hastened to the village entrance, and there he saw a blind old man coming along, tapping and poking the ground with a bamboo staff, and beside him an unshaven old man with only his upper half, two butcher's knives thrust into his back, a fearsome sight. Shen Mu was both startled and overjoyed; he ran over at once, and without a word hoisted the half-bodied old man up, squeezed him hard, then flung him aside and threw his arms around the lean, withered blind elder in a tight embrace.

"Zaifu, did I not say we had taken the wrong road again? " The blind elder hastily turned his head aside to avoid Shen Mu and struggled, saying to Zaifu, who had been dumped in a corner wearing a blank look, "You brought me out beyond the frontier — and what came of it? You brought me running back to the Waste, back to our own village!

Shen'er, let go!

You are squeezing me to death! Where is the village headman? Has Grandma come back too? Master Alchemist — Master Alchemist, stop hiding, I can see you! " After a while the blind elder and Zaifu paid their respects to the village elders, and the village elders, seeing that these two were older than themselves and crippled besides, were filled with admiration and secretly praised them for being all the stouter for their years.

Ling Yuxiu came out of the house, her hair freshly washed; at the sight of the two old men she took fright and darted back inside, her heart pounding: "Those are the two old men who frightened me and young General Shen on the Yong River that day! " Shen Mu drew the village elders aside, took out the cloth bag at his waist, tipped up its bottom, reached in and rummaged about; after a while he hauled out two legs, then dragged out half a body besides, and said, "Grandpa Tu, is this the glittering golden lower half you lost? " "No.

This is not my body. " Zaifu studied that glittering golden lower half; after a moment he cut a slash across one of the legs with his knife, felt the golden blood that welled out, and said doubtfully, "This body seems to be the Witch Venerable's. I fought a bout with the old rascal and know his blood well.

This lower half is mostly dead already — of no more use. " Shen Mu too stepped up and touched the golden blood. It had half congealed, yet still it held a trace of fiery nature, and one drop of it crawled about on his fingertip, seeking to burrow into his body. Shen Mu hastily stirred his vital qi and transformed it into Vermilion Bird vital qi, burning away at it without cease; only after no small effort did he scorch that drop dry, and he said, "If this is the Witch Venerable's lower half, then Grandpa Tu's lower half must be on the Martial Venerable.

" "That old rascal admires me — admires me to such a degree as this?

" Zaifu stroked his beard and said smugly, "Then the son he bears — is he his son, or mine? " The stubble on his face was hard as steel spikes, and as his hand passed over it, it gave a rasping crackle. The more he thought on it, the more pleased he grew, and he could not help roaring with laughter. The blind elder said slowly, "And if he truly bears you a son, or a whole litter of sons — will you acknowledge them, or not?

" Zaifu was struck dumb; then his face fell, and all his smugness vanished into thin air. Having flattened Zaifu with a single word and left him utterly crestfallen, the blind elder turned to Shen Mu and said, "Shen'er, how do you come to be here?

" Shen Mu recounted the whole business from beginning to end, and the blind elder cried out, "You actually went to blockade the gates of Loulan's Golden Palace? What audacity! This time I came out with Zaifu precisely to go to Loulan's Golden Palace; we have learned that Zaifu's lower half was carried off by the Golden Palace.

Zaifu says he means to fetch it back, though whether it can still be rejoined, no one can say.

" Shen Mu laughed.

"If the lower half is dead, it certainly cannot be rejoined.

But since Grandpa Tu's lower half is on the Witch Venerable, then the Witch Venerable must have grafted it on while it was yet alive.

Only find the Witch Venerable, cut off his lower half, and I can help Grandpa Tu restore his body! " The blind elder smiled.

"A trifle.

That scoundrel Zaifu will be whole at last — before, he had not even a bird to his name. " Zaifu was outraged.

"I can manifest a body with my vital qi — how have I no bird? I can piss and I can shit! " The two fell to quarrelling again, quarrelling until Shen Mu's head ached. Shen Mu hastily said, "Brother Bashan is still trapped in Loulan's Golden Palace, and to this day his life or death is unknown.

You two elders. . . " Zaifu shook his head.

"Never mind that scoundrel. He has no gate on his mouth; he blurts out everything, gabbling on and on without pause.