Chapter 477 — The Evil Thing
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Ban Gongcuo stood at the center of the mirror and looked all around him. He saw fracture after fracture, and the fragments of the other mirrors lay about him like transparent continents shattered to pieces, separated from one another by distances no one could cross. This mirror was a strange treasure, a prized object he had taken from the ruins.
The world within it could be laid over the real world without anyone ever being the wiser; its only flaw was that within it one could not wield divine abilities or Daoist arts. In the past Ban Gongcuo had kept this strange treasure as a means of fleeing for his life, never imagining that a day would come when he himself would be trapped inside the mirror. Now escape was no longer possible.
Shen Mu had cut the cord, and the only road left to him was to leap out of the mirror—yet the moment he leapt out, Shen Mu would run him through with a single stroke, cold steel clean through the heart. "Does Sect Master Shen mean not to kill me, but to capture me and have a talk?
" Ban Gongcuo gave up his plan to flee and made a trial of it: "Why didn't you say so sooner? " Shen Mu looked at the Ban Gongcuo in the mirror, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "When would I have had the chance?
The moment we met you had to put on a show of strength, and you meant to beat me to death—I had no choice but to strike back.
In fact, when we first met just now, didn't I say, 'How delightful, to have a friend come from afar'?
From that alone you might have known I had come to reminisce with an old acquaintance, not to take a life. So why put yourself through all this? " Ban Gongcuo nearly coughed up blood. This fellow had plainly said, "A friend comes from afar—so why don't you roll out here and die? " When had he ever said "how delightful"? Still, this was no time to wrangle over the point.
His life now lay in the hands of this brat, and he had best humor him as much as he could. "Sect Master Shen's character is as clear as wind and moon after rain, his heart broad and open—I have always admired you.
This little brother was only jesting with you, wishing to glimpse the Sect Master's mighty bearing. And now I have seen it at last; truly, it is no small thing.
I am convinced, in heart and in mouth alike. " The Ban Gongcuo in the mirror wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and sat down on the ground, smiling. "The Sect Master has come a long way. What is it you wish to discuss?
" "About the god-devil behind you. " Shen Mu raised the mirror, his face wreathed in smiles.
"Imperial Preceptor Jingping and I would very much like to meet him, to pay our respects to this holy sage of old.
Might the Great Venerable grant us the opportunity? " Ban Gongcuo's expression changed at once. The god-devil behind him—the very one that appeared upon the altar behind him whenever he performed the soul-worship sorcery!
That Shen Mu should ask after its whereabouts plainly meant he had no intention of paying respects to a holy sage; he was gathering his strength to destroy it!
"Sect Master Shen, Human Emperor Shen, how could I possibly know such a being? " Ban Gongcuo laughed in alarm.
"You know my abilities. A lowly, contemptible creature like me—the Sect Master could beat two of me with one hand.
How could I know a god-devil?
As for its whereabouts, that is even further beyond the knowledge of a weak thing of my level! The Sect Master sees clearly! " Shen Mu held the mirror shard in one hand, and with the other he poked his sword this way and that through the sand, utterly unhurried. "The Great Venerable says he does not know a god-devil, so of course he is lying.