荒墟牧神 - 第509章 無邊驚悚 - 簡牘書房

Even Yama himself could not help recoiling in astonishment. He whirled around to fix Shen Mu with a piercing stare, his black cloak undulating like waves, as if lifted by a wind born beneath its folds: "Youdu? You were not born in the Land of No Worries—you were born in Youdu?"

Shen Mu still could not make out the face beneath the black robe. He nodded. "My parents were traveling from the Land of No Worries toward the Waste when they fell into an ambush. The people aboard our ship were cut down in droves; those who survived fled to Youdu, and it was there that I was born."

He had uncovered the truth of his origins in the Nether Valley. From the images inscribed in the time-imprints of that treasure ship, he had learned that his mother had been carrying him at the time. The ship had been attacked by gods and demons, driven deep into the earth of the Nether Valley, and wedged between the seals of the two realms.

To escape the gods and demons from beyond the heavens, his mother had led the survivors to take refuge in Youdu. Shen Mu must have been born there; afterward, for reasons unknown, he had been carried away to the Waste after his birth and had drifted down the upper reaches of the Yong River to wash up at Yincan Village.

Granny Zhu, hearing the cry of an infant, had fetched him back to the village.

That he was born in Youdu—of this there could be no doubt.

"You were born in Youdu..."

There was a note of disappointment in Yama's voice. "I had thought it was the old swallow returning at last, come to lead us on in battle once more and finish the work left undone. Little did I expect the swallow who came to be a new one. A new swallow would still have been welcome—yet in the end I find it is no new swallow, but a fledgling barely out of the nest. Heh heh. Kaihuang, in your Land of No Worries you have truly known no worry at all. You have forgotten that in this world your subjects still await your return in arms!"

Anger crept into his tone. "The Land of No Worries is no nest of soft pleasures, no realm where one forgets the heart! It was to be the ground of your resurgence—not the pit of your decay! In this Waste, countless gods and demons lie in slumber, waiting for your return, waiting for you to raise the banner, waiting to fight for you!"

His cloak was still trembling—and it was only when his mind was violently shaken, or his battle-lust towered to the heavens, that his cloak shook so fiercely.

Then, in an instant, his fierce aura ebbed, and something defeated crept into his bearing. "I cannot believe that an emperor who once carved out an age would accept defeat so readily and sink so quietly into silence. And yet I have waited twenty thousand years. The stone statues of the Waste and the ghosts of Fengdu have waited twenty thousand years as well. Why have you not returned..."

Shen Mu watched him in stillness, not knowing what to say.

Yama must have been expecting a visitor from the Land of No Worries—expecting word of Kaihuang. For that, he had waited twenty thousand years.

But in the end, the one who came was only Shen Mu—a man who, though he carried the blood of Kaihuang of the Land of No Worries, had been born in Youdu.

Shen Mu was not the man he had been waiting for. Even if the visitor had been Qin Hanzhen, he could have rekindled that hope, could have brought tidings of the Land of No Worries.

But Shen Mu, born in Youdu, knew nothing whatsoever of the Land of No Worries.

The title of Kaihuang's heir could not console the hearts of loyal ministers and righteous warriors who had waited twenty thousand years.

After a long time, Yama's breath steadied. The eyes beneath the black robe regarded Shen Mu. "You were born in Youdu. Youdu and Fengdu are alike—both are worlds of the dead. I have never once heard of a human being born among the dead. I want to see whether there is anything wrong with you."

Shen Mu started slightly, puzzled by the meaning.