Chapter 1250 — Joy Falls from the Heavens
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
Yet the Life-and-Death Treasuries of the Heavenly Court's great army were all sealed; seen from the Grand Void's Nether Capital, they flickered with the light of runes, set there, surely, by masters of formation arts guarding against assault from the Nether Capital.
Beyond that, the murderous formations in those divine cities blazed with arrogance that reached the heavens; even within the Grand Void's Nether Capital he felt their unspeakable peril, enough to make a man halt and turn back.
"It will be no easy thing to slip into the city. Better to walk a little closer, and then reveal myself outright. As Mu Heavenly Master, Fire Heavenly Master and Void Heavenly Master would not dare destroy me before a million troops."
Shen Mu lifted his foot to stride forward — and suddenly saw ahead cherry blossoms strewn in profusion, grass grown tall with orioles on the wing; all the world turned bright and living in an instant, lending the Nether Capital other colors.
In that grove of cherry trees orioles sang and swallows danced, the melody lilting and sweet, and there was the murmur of running water. Before he had even seen the scene, a clear pond rose unbidden before Shen Mu's eyes: on its banks many women plucked the qin and sang softly; in the pond young women lifted the water, baring arms white as snow, five fingers white and slender as scallions.
Shen Mu laughed despite himself, and walked toward the cherry grove.
He parted the flowers and brushed aside the willows, breaking into that land of soft enchantment.
A few steps in, he saw several garments hanging upon the cherry trees, thin as cicada wings, soft as silkworm silk.
Shen Mu stopped and looked, then walked on; suddenly a garment slipped from a tree and fell upon his shoulder. He took it down — it was a white dudou.
He picked up the dudou and held it to his nose: a faint, clean fragrance.
Shen Mu clutched the dudou in his hand; it crumpled into a ball, so light and sheer it seemed to weigh nothing at all.
He walked two steps more, and heard the music grow clear. Rows of houses with red tiles and white walls appeared before him, and fences of woven bamboo, not tall, only to the chest.
Beyond the fence lay a clear pool, and many women sported at its edge: some barefoot in wet shorts, running to and fro; some seated on the bank plucking the qin; some cradling pipas; and some, with lips of fiery red and mouths like cherries, holding a grape between their teeth and pressing down upon another girl in white, feeding her the grape mouth to mouth.
And the white garment on that girl was already wet; eyes closed, she took the grape from the red-lipped girl's mouth.
Shen Mu peered through the fence, and saw that the clear pool was spread over with red robes. A woman rose slowly up out of the red robes, half her body showing, and laughed with a titter: "Mu Heavenly Master, and yet you dare only to watch from outside, afraid to come in?"
The women by the pool all turned their heads to look, laughing: "Mu Heavenly Master, whose fame runs the world over, turns out to be a lecher — daring only to look, not to enter."
Shen Mu laughed aloud: "Yin Tianzi truly knows how to enjoy himself, keeping so many beauties about him. I think this red apricot of his will be leaning out past the fence before long."
The woman in the pool rose slowly, like leaping flame; her pale toes touched the water's surface, and with red robes wrapped about her she alighted on a throne at the pool's edge. The other women surged toward her, some lying on their sides, some nestling close, gathering around her.
Shen Mu pushed the fence open and went in. With a slight act of visualization a throne appeared of itself, and he seated himself at the pool's edge facing the women, and said with a smile: "I am not yet married. May I ask whether Yin Tianzi might part with one of his treasures?"