Chapter 174 — Taken In as a Foster Son

Then we're of the same sect. I'm the Hierarch of the Holy Cult. " The dragon-qilin looked at him warily and sneered. "I know no Patriarch, and no Hierarch. You drugged me senseless, and I haven't yet settled that score with you. " Shen Mu laughed.

"Last time I came to fight the Daoist scion, didn't you see me walk up together with the Patriarch? You should have known then what my relation to the Patriarch was. There's no need for such caution.

" The dragon-qilin snorted. "And then you drugged me senseless. " Shen Mu said awkwardly, "Who told you to goad me into fighting that ox?

I got a beating from the ox instead. You never told me the ox was so monstrously strong. Better to dissolve a feud than to knot it.

.

. " The dragon-qilin snorted again. "And then you took revenge and drugged me senseless. " Shen Mu ventured, "How about I call the ox over and you give him a beating?

" The dragon-qilin plainly did not believe him.

"You want to drug me senseless again?

" Shen Mu had no recourse but to go up the mountain.

This dragon-qilin was somewhat thick-headed; it remembered only that he had drugged it senseless. Suddenly he halted and looked back.

The dragon-qilin had finally shifted from its spot and was following doggedly behind him. Seeing him stop, the dragon-qilin stopped too. Shen Mu walked on, and the dragon-qilin walked on; Shen Mu halted beneath the Jade Cliff and looked back.

The dragon-qilin halted as well. Shen Mu leaped up onto the Jade Cliff, and fire-clouds sprang up beneath the dragon-qilin's feet, bearing its vast bulk up the cliff after him.

Shen Mu turned and laughed.

"Why are you following me? I only drugged you senseless once and took a little dragon saliva.

Is that such a deep and bitter grudge? " "You drugged me senseless, so you must feed me and water me," the dragon-qilin said earnestly.

Shen Mu said doubtfully, "Didn't you just say someone brings you food and drink every day?

Just keep guarding the mountain gate. " The dragon-qilin lowered its head.

"It was always my master who brought me food and drink. After my master left, no one looked after me. I haven't eaten in over a month. The new Grand Libationer thinks I'm a stone, and the others at the Imperial Academy think I'm a stone too. I'm too embarrassed to beg for food. I can't bring myself to do it. And that ox, backed by Libationer Bashan, bullies me, saying I toyed with his feelings.

. . " Seeing how aggrieved it looked, Shen Mu's compassion stirred.

"All right, all right, don't be so aggrieved.

From now on you'll follow me, and I'll feed you and water you. I have money! What do you eat? " "I drink only the water of Jade Dragon Lake, and eat only a peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills a day.

" Shen Mu clenched his fists, and Snow Fox's liver quivered too.

Jade Dragon Lake was the lake on the mountain formed by the congealed qi of nine dragons; there was water in plenty, enough for the dragon-qilin to drink its fill — but a peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills a day was deadly. "Young master, the little money we have would only feed him for half a month.

" Snow Fox said softly, "I think we'd better not take him in, or he'll eat our whole fortune away. " The dragon-qilin heard this and hastily said, "I can go a bit hungry.

Half a peck a day — or a pint, would a pint do? A pint is the least I can manage. " Shen Mu waved a hand.

"I'm a pill master myself. I can mix the ingredients and refine Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills on my own, which will save some money. You won't go short of food.

But I can't keep you for nothing. " The dragon-qilin cried hastily, "You drugged me senseless!

And we're of the same sect — you're the Hierarch, you have a duty to keep me.

I'm the mount of your sect's Patriarch!

" Shen Mu's head ached. "You'll have to give me some dragon saliva every day, or I can't afford to keep you. " "Dragon saliva?

" The dragon-qilin grew wary again. Shen Mu said, "Dragon saliva is your spit.

" The dragon-qilin had plainly let its thoughts wander; it breathed a sigh of relief. "That's fine then. Oh, that's right — you said earlier you could call the ox over and let me beat him? " Shen Mu warned, "Don't push your luck, or it's half a peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills a day. " The dragon-qilin hastily shut its mouth and followed doggedly after him, terrified of losing this meal ticket.

Snow Fox kept looking back at the enormous creature. Standing, it was far taller than Shen Mu; Shen Mu barely reached the dragon whiskers hanging from its chin, and with the dragon-qilin's long qilin tail, its length must have been forty or fifty feet.

The dragon-qilin's body was covered in strange raised patterns, like natural talismans, awe-inspiring to behold. "No wonder he eats so much — he's even a bit bigger than Niu Er.

I wonder how big he is when he shows his true form," Snow Fox thought in secret alarm. Shen Mu led the dragon-qilin up the mountain to Jade Dragon Lake and first let the creature drink, thinking, "I still don't know how much a small bottle of dragon saliva is worth, but it's a spirit medicine for healing wounds, so the price shouldn't be low, surely? I hope I can earn back the cost of buying ingredients, or we'll truly be eating into our capital. . . "