Chapter 17 — The Spirit Embryo Breaks the Barrier, Revealing the Demon Body
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Xian Qing'er's face abruptly contorted, twisting into an expression of incomparable ferocity and ugliness. The little girl's body began to swell, and from her lower half came a series of ripping sounds as jointed, knob-boned legs burst through her skirt and stabbed into the ground with sharp metallic clangs. Her frame thickened and lengthened until she had become a great centipede woven entirely of bone! Behind her torso, a carapace of bone rose high, hunching her body forward, and she spread arms composed of bare bone, fingerbones like claws, razor-sharp. At the back of her skull sprouted curved, antler-like bone spurs; her face was a web of ridges and gullies, indescribably dreadful. From her mouth burst a piercing shriek, like the hoarse cries of countless women scrambled into a single voice, and she howled, "Get in here!"
Shen Mu looked up at this bone-covered woman-centipede, startled, and shook his head. "No."
The monster in the temple shrieked in rage. Her legs skittered swiftly, circling the temple again and again, until she suddenly hurled herself at the ancient doorway—only for a great clanking to ring out. The oasis shuddered, and massive chains swung and swayed.
Shen Mu hurriedly looked over. One end of each chain sank into the river and wound around the great golden Buddha within the temple, while the other end was locked onto the monster. Golden rings hung all over her body, and the chains were clamped to those rings, so that whenever she lunged for the temple gate, the chains dragged her back. The monster gnashed and clawed, but she could not take half a step beyond the temple door.
Shen Mu seated himself at leisure, breathing slowly as he resumed cultivating the Mystic Body Three-Pellet Art, restoring his strength.
After a moment, the monster settled down. Unable to wrench free of the chains, it wheeled abruptly and charged the golden Buddha, crying, "Damned thieving baldy! You've imprisoned me here! Are you trying to starve me, you old scoundrel? This brat burned no incense for you, so why won't you let me eat him?"
The Buddha image withstood the collision, unmoving. The creature flew into a fury and circled the statue, and who knew how many white bones stacked behind it were sent flying by her thrashing.
Shen Mu glanced back, secretly shocked: the bones were all human. How many people had died in this little ruined temple!
Before long, the monster in the temple quieted once more. She picked up the bones one by one and hid them behind the golden Buddha, then fixed her bloodshot eyes upon Shen Mu outside the temple with a dead, unwavering stare.
"Baldy... meat delivered to the door, meat delivered right to the door..." She came to the back of the temple gate again, staring at the back of Shen Mu's head, drooling like an endless stream.
Soon after, she transformed back into the little girl Xian Qing'er, her clothes hanging half open, tittering, "Young man, come and be shameless with me—"
Shen Mu's concentration was unshakable. He turned a deaf ear. At last his strength was restored, his vital energy returning to its peak—indeed, he sensed it had grown not a little over this grueling day of cultivation.
A thought stirred in his heart. He roused his vital energy, silently chanting the demonic melody, and once again assailed the Spirit Embryo Barrier.
"Qikeduo, Suomoye, Banruo Banruo Suomoye, Qikeduo Banruo Suomoye..."
The instant his vital energy charged toward the Spirit Embryo Barrier, rumbling erupted from the ancient temple. Strange markings beneath the golden Buddha's gilding began to flow with streaks of blood-red light; veiled though they were beneath the gold leaf, the gilding itself blazed into dazzling golden brilliance!
BOOM—