Chapter 208 — Tubo's Nine Oaths
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
This golden shimmer was not the Yellow Springs at all. It was horns. The two horns atop the head of Tubo, that master of souls!
In Tubo's Nine Bends, the word yue means a bend. Nine bends: nine curves. His horns were the Nine-Curve Yellow Springs.
Shen Mu and the Demon King of Dutian had sworn their oath, and this oath was bound upon the long Nine-Curve horns of that vast, primordial deity!
Why is the breaking of a vow called a violation of the yue? Most likely it is bound up with Tubo's Nine Bends. An oath founded upon the Nine-Curve Yellow Springs: break it, and Tubo will take the oath-breaker's soul. That is what it means to violate the yue.
The oath ended, the gateway closed, and the vision before Shen Mu's eyes vanished.
"Heh, heh heh..."
The Demon King's laughter drifted over. Shen Mu asked doubtfully: "What is the Demon King laughing at?"
"Nothing!"
The Demon King laughed without cease, but could not help himself in the end. Chuckling, he said: "Boy, though you are as cunning as a ghost, you have still fallen into my snare! The oath you swore was not sworn with my true body, but with a single thread of my consciousness! Now you had best serve me honestly! And as for the script of Youdu, do not dream that I will tell you a single word of it! This thread of consciousness of mine can be snuffed out and that is that, and I do not care!"
Shen Mu was struck dumb, and for a long while could not recover his wits.
The Demon King of Dutian roared with laughter, immensely pleased with himself, comfortably savoring Shen Mu's flustered helplessness.
After a moment, Shen Mu let out a breath of stale air and murmured: "No wonder Crippled Grandpa always told me: always smile at others, and always keep a knife ready for their backs... Demon King, you are truly an old hand at it. Fortunately, I am not bad myself."
The Demon King's heart tightened.
Shen Mu said to himself: "I held something back too. I was just now scheming to summon your subjects a batch at a time and slay them a batch at a time. That way it would not count as breaking the oath."
The Demon King of Dutian was taken aback.
The two fell silent.
After a while, the Demon King said: "We are doing each other harm here. Since you do not trust me, there is no need for me to remain in your body any longer. I choose the second path. You fashion a divine-image mechanism, and I will leave your body and take up residence within it. Rest assured, once you have made the divine-image mechanism, I will pass the language of Youdu on to you."
"Done!"
Shen Mu was in high spirits. Master Huo often crafted all manner of furniture, and Shen Mu had learned no small amount of craftwork alongside him. Add to that the arts of calligraphy and painting the Lame Old Man had taught him, and the craft of smelting the Lame Old Man had passed on, and making a divine-image mechanism was no great trouble.
Shen Mu was just about to begin when he suddenly shuddered with dread, cold sweat pouring down his brow: "I nearly fell into his snare! Before I make him the divine-image mechanism, I must first summon the demon and complete the oath. Otherwise, while I am busy making the mechanism, he will pass the language of Youdu on to me, yet I will not have summoned the demon, and that would count as breaking the oath, and Tubo would take away my soul!"
The Demon King of Dutian praised him: "You are quite good. If you came to my Dutian, with that quick wit of yours, you might well survive."
Shen Mu let out a breath of stale air. In a bargain with an existence like the Demon King of Dutian, without the utmost care one would surely be devoured down to the marrow, sucked and savored two or three times over!
He went to the west room for some money, meaning to buy dark iron, cold crystal, and fine wood from the storehouse to carve the divine image, when he saw Snow Fox standing at the doorway, peering about. Shen Mu smiled: "Ling'er, why are you loitering here instead of cultivating?"