Chapter 216 — Hooking Souls, Drawing Spirits
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Wei Yong looked this way and that, then suddenly caught sight of Shen Mu. He waved hurriedly and cried out excitedly, "Brother Shen! Brother Shen! Over here!"
The Duke of Wei wished he could press this fat boy down into the earth and stuff a few pairs of foul socks into his mouth to stop his nonsense.
Fortunately, the Dark Demon Cultists all around seemed not to hear Wei Yong's shouting at all; every one of them sat as straight and upright as before.
Shen Mu smiled at Wei Yong and, gathering up the hem of his robe, walked up onto the platform.
Wei Yong was startled. He dropped his voice in a hurry. "Don't go up on the platform, don't go up — that's where their Sage Master gives his instruction..."
"Shut your mouth, you little wretch!" the Duke of Wei snarled.
Wei Yong shut his mouth in a hurry. The Duke fumed: "I have kept my lips sealed tight all my life — how did I ever get a descendant with a cracked gong for a mouth? Can you not see what is right in front of you?"
Wei Yong was struck dumb. Shen Mu walked to the platform, turned around — and the Dark Demon Cultists below rose and bowed in salute. "Cult Master! Sage Master!"
Shen Mu nodded. "No need for ceremony, all of you. Sit."
They all sat down again.
Wei Yong's mouth fell open, his face slack with astonishment. For a long while he could not pull himself together.
The Duke of Wei sighed and muttered, "I said long ago that there was something wrong with that Ban Gongcuo, that the Sorcerer Sovereign Louluo Sutra was somewhat unorthodox — and sure enough, something was wrong. Now it seems it must be the Dark Demon Cult's own Cult Master and Sage Master who has come in person. The Dark Demon Cult, choosing a youth as its cult master — no small audacity..."
On the platform, Shen Mu seated himself. "Who here is versed in arts and techniques for searching out souls and spirits?"
A woman rose and bowed. "Reporting to the Sage Master, I have some small accomplishment in that line."
Shen Mu nodded. All at once he deployed the Soul-Pulling Charm. Behind him a ghastly portal took shape, black mist pouring from it, so that even the light given off by the burning oil in the iron cauldrons dimmed.
And at that moment everyone saw the souls of Sun Nantuo and the assembled monks standing within the ghastly black mist.
"We obey your decree."
The mirror-light shone upon Sun Nantuo's soul, piercing it through and falling upon the air behind him. Images appeared in that mirror-light — the things Sun Nantuo had lived through, flashing past like flowers glimpsed from a galloping horse, running back from the instant of his death, until soon it came to the memory of the siege of Heavenly King Lu.
"Yun Boshan, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince; Ting Yanju, Grand Guardian to the Crown Prince; Cui Mingzhi, Junior Preceptor to the Crown Prince; He Yanqing, Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince; and..."
The Right Protector Envoy, Xue Bi'e, recorded the names that surfaced in Sun Nantuo's memory. Her gaze came to rest on the last of them, and her pupils narrowed. "And Ling Yuxia, Crown Prince of Jingping."
Shen Mu nodded. "Write them down. Find the moment. Send them on their way."
The Right Protector Envoy wrote down the name of the Crown Prince of Jingping.
The Duke of Wei was deeply shaken. He opened his mouth, but said nothing.
The Dark Demon Cult was insolent beyond all measure — to send even a crown prince on his way, and that crown prince of Jingping!
Yet it was not his place to speak. Though Jingping flourished in its time, its prosperity was no more than a matter of the past two hundred years and more; only after the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping rose did Jingping rise with him.