Chapter 419 — The Emperor's Seal Appears in the World
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Your attainment in sword technique has now surpassed mine; in the way of the sword you are still a little beneath me.
But if you go to Heaven Above, your end will be the same.
" The Imperial Preceptor frowned. "Then what is to be done?
" "We do not go to Heaven Above. We intercept it.
" "Whoever comes down from Heaven Above, we kill," said the Village Head. "One comes down, we kill one; they all come down, we kill them all.
Do not worry about that true god — if he wishes to come down, he needs blood and flesh enough for the sacrifice. " "Then.
. .
" The Imperial Preceptor looked to Shen Mu and said in a low voice, "May I presume to ask for the Human Emperor's Seal?
" Shen Mu brought out that great seal, black as black could be.
It was in no way remarkable to the eye, yet it had been forged by every clan and every sect together, each bringing its finest treasure, and it stood for the authority of the Human Emperor. Shen Mu raised his brows.
To bring out this seal was to declare that he, the Human Emperor, had stepped from behind the curtain onto the stage, and it would bring him no small danger. Just as with the Village Head in those years: once one became Human Emperor, one must risk life and death for the human race — and some of the arrows in the dark came from the human race itself!
By the teachings of the village folk, a thing like the Human Emperor's Seal should be thrown as far as it could be thrown; yet the village folk had also taught him to bear responsibility, to have a sense of duty. The nine elders of the village had each taught him different things, sometimes contradictory things, and he had to choose for himself, and follow his own heart. Shen Mu drew a long breath.
"Village Head, how is this seal to be used? " "Pour your vital essence into the seal," said the Village Head, "and we shall lend you a hand. " Shen Mu did as he was told, driving his vital essence into the Human Emperor's Seal, and it seemed that a spirit within that lump of black iron was roused, welling out of the seal and returning to its master. At once Shen Mu felt a thunderous roar in his mind, as though the seal held within it unyielding champions, one after another, unyielding spirits, one after another.
His vision blurred, and he seemed to see a host of people in rags walking toward him, and behind them countless common folk — the people of every sect and school of Jingping, of every race: the forebears of all who dwelt in this land. Their faces were sallow with hunger, seamed with the marks of wind and frost and war; many were maimed or crippled, and in their eyes still lingered grief and dread.
That was an age of despair, a time of disaster everywhere, when gods and demons wrought havoc; and it was the Human Emperor who led them, hacking a path through the wilds, out of that despair and into this new land.
They brought out their treasures, each one, and set the imprint of their spirit within them, melting the treasures down and forging them into a single great seal, which they reverently offered up to this man. "He who holds this seal is the Human Emperor!
" Their spirit ripples became voices that burst in Shen Mu's mind: "Let the Human Emperor's Seal appear — and none shall fail to follow! " Shen Mu's heart and spirit shook; and just then Imperial Preceptor Jingping and the Village Head each surged with power, rousing the Human Emperor's Seal. With a hum, the seal rose into the sky and gave off a dazzling radiance.
The unyielding spirit within the seal took on substance: the phantom shapes of patriarchs who had founded sects and emperors who had founded nations were projected from the seal, imprinted between heaven and earth, figures of towering stature. Waves of terrible spiritual force rushed out in all directions, and those who shared the same blood and the same inheritance heard the call of their ancestors, summoning them to come.