Chapter 482 — The Register of Life and Death
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Xu Shenghua likewise produced a seal and stamped it beside the first. Shen Mu rolled up the scroll, and the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Over on the other side the demon ape Xuanliao had already flown across to retrieve the precious scroll called the Register of Life and Death. On the golden summit, Little Tathagata and the assembled monks who had attained the Way looked at one another. Neither Shen Mu nor Xu Shenghua was much to speak of in cultivation, yet together they worked as flawlessly as a seamless garment.
One had teleported the Register away; the other had sealed the golden bowl and cut the connection. Shen Mu had painted; Xu Shenghua had helped unroll the scroll.
Then Xu Shenghua had sealed, Shen Mu had unrolled, and at the last each had stamped his own seal. The whole performance was as though they had rehearsed it a thousand times — a thing of perfect, flowing grace. "Shen, do you dare speak your true name?
" came Kuiwu's voice from within the scroll. Shen Mu turned a deaf ear and said to Little Tathagata and the rest, "Kuiwu's powers are beyond the reckoning of gods and ghosts.
Know a man's name, and he can pray his soul away.
The Tathagata did not know how formidable he is, and that is why he suffered. I went to Mount Yin in the first place to be rid of him. This time he very nearly escaped the Tathagata's suppression.
In my view we should destroy him at once and root out the trouble for good.
To destroy him is a great merit!
" Little Tathagata hesitated. "Kuiwu is bound about with countless wronged souls.
If he could be delivered, it would surely be merit beyond measure. To simply strike him dead, I fear.
. . " Shen Mu frowned. "Only today do I learn that there are great Tathagatas and small.
" Little Tathagata raised an eyebrow.
"Sect Master Shen, kindly return the golden bowl.
This old monk will lead the monks of the mountain and deliver him. I do not believe he is so stubborn that he cannot be saved. " Shen Mu handed him the scroll. Xu Shenghua coughed once, and Shen Mu shook his head. They had no strength at all to fight their way out of Little Leiyin Temple with the scroll; to force their way out would be to invite humiliation. Xu Shenghua had no choice but to let it go.
"Brother Zhankong, bring me the Register. Let me have a look.
" The demon ape Xuanliao handed it to him.
Xu Shenghua unrolled the Register and started slightly: the Register was no book at all, but a sheet of paper impossibly thin. The paper was strange, like metal, sheened with a metallic luster, dazzlingly bright, so polished that a man could see his own reflection in it. Stranger still, there was not a single character on the Register, nor any pattern at all.
His gaze fell upon it, and through that mirror-like paper he could actually see the person on the other side. "What manner of uncanny book is this. .
. " Xu Shenghua's heart gave a sudden jolt.
Behind the Register stood Jing Yan, and upon the mirror-like paper Jing Yan's figure surfaced, and then a line of characters welled up: "Jing Yan. " Xu Shenghua's blood ran cold. He turned quickly to Shen Mu — and saw Jing Yan vanish from the Register, replaced by Shen Mu's figure. Yet the name that surfaced was not Shen Mu, but three characters: Shen Fengqing!
"Sect Master Shen!
" His face grave, Xu Shenghua handed the Register to Shen Mu.
Shen Mu too quickly discovered what the Register could do, and his heart was shaken.
This Register could not only mirror his name; every demon-monk on the mountain and in the fields, so long as they had a title, could be mirrored in it as well. "Against a thing like this, who could stand? " A chill ran through him.
This treasure reflected the original name — the true name! Most of the monks of Little Leiyin Temple were demons. Before they were born into sentience and their minds awakened, they had no names; once sentience came and their minds awakened, they became monks and took dharma names.