Chapter 208 — Tubo's Nine Oaths
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
If one could grasp forty or fifty percent of a language, then every part one did not grasp became a cipher, and from the words before and after, the meaning of each cipher could be guessed.
This was precisely what Shen Mu did.
He had known nothing at all of the demon tongue to begin with. It was only by a chance turn of fate that he had heard it at Xuane Pass in the Wilderness Ruins, and so he memorized it. Later, in the Palace of Averting Calamity, he met a demon god sealed within the wall, who taught him the Seal of Great Perfection, and thereby he came to understand a portion of the demon tongue's meaning.
Once he understood part of it, he could infer yet more of the demon tongue from his meager store of knowledge alone, as though cracking a code.
The Demon King of Dutian's thrice-sworn oath had contained a great deal of the demon tongue, in its purest form. Shen Mu had long known that the language of gods and demons concealed a fearsome power within it, and this time the Demon King's thrice-sworn oath had driven his command of the demon tongue's vocabulary to a terrifying level.
If the Demon King of Dutian would swear yet another oath with him in the human tongue, then Shen Mu could set it against the demon words he had failed to understand just now, and master their meaning completely!
The Demon King had not wronged him in saying that he had seized the chance to steal learning.
By now, conversing with the Demon King in the demon tongue was no longer difficult, but for the sake of prudence he judged it better to use the human tongue, so that he might fully command the meaning of every word and phrase, and not be led into some snare.
Shen Mu's gaze flickered: "Then will the Demon King swear the oath or not?"
The Demon King of Dutian sneered: "I will, of course I will!"
He knew Shen Mu meant to use this chance to master the demon tongue completely, but there was nothing to be done about it, for otherwise only one path remained: to kill Shen Mu.
And even if he killed Shen Mu, he was no more than a sliver of consciousness and magic power, and would perish with Shen Mu's death.
"Souls, return! Tubo of the Nine Bends, Fuqi, behold my body!"
The Demon King of Dutian's voice rang out, calling upon Tubo's true name, rousing the attention of this ruler of Youdu. This time he used the human tongue, so naturally he could not play tricks or tamper with it.
Shen Mu attended closely to the meaning of every word, most cautious and careful, weighing each again and again.
Gradually, Shen Mu sensed an inexplicable force surging in from the deep spaces. With the Demon King's voice, this force grew stronger and stronger, and then took shape in his mind as half a gateway.
The Demon King of Dutian finished reciting the oath and looked at Shen Mu.
Having set the demon tongue against the human tongue, Shen Mu's grasp of the former was now more complete. Only then did he recite the oath in turn. Scarcely had he uttered the words "Fuqi, behold my body" when he felt a pair of eyes fall upon him, or rather, not upon his body, but upon his very soul!
His soul shuddered, and he felt the vast, boundless might of the master of souls.
That was a being who ruled over all souls, possessed of limitless power. He had not the slightest interest in flesh, only in souls.
If one broke the oath, he would descend and take away the oath-breaker's soul!
Shen Mu went on reciting the oath, and gradually another half-gateway appeared before his eyes. This half-gateway joined with the Demon King's half to form a single complete gateway.
And beyond the gateway, he saw only endless darkness.
Yet beneath the gateway, Shen Mu "saw" yellow springs, or rather, what could not quite be called the Yellow Springs. It was a golden, glittering current winding through nine bends and eighteen turns, growing ever thicker toward its depths, like a celestial river.
And at the bottom of the endless Yellow Springs, he "saw" a pair of utterly emotionless eyes.