Chapter 569 — A Dark Past
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
"But the Dark Capital has the Dark Capital's rules; to invade through the Life-and-Death Spirit Treasury and take your life is to break those rules. They will not lightly do such a thing. " The old ghost officer, past caring what came of it, simply spilled out more: "Yet though their true bodies cannot descend, they can send their disciples into Taihuang Heaven or Jingping, or find others to serve as their claws, and have them kill you. Or else, when Taihuang Heaven is taken by the demon race and made a blood sacrifice — the whole world offered up — the demon world will be joined and made to communicate with Jingping. Then the barrier between worlds will be no more, and they may enter Jingping directly. " Shen Mu's heart eased, and he laughed: "Killing me is not so easy either, and taking Taihuang Heaven is no easy matter. Taihuang Heaven has endured twenty thousand years, and now with Jingping at its back and reinforcements unending, it can hold out another twenty thousand with ease.
" The old ghost officer gave a cold laugh: "You underestimate the demon race. How long Taihuang Heaven can hold out is hard to say. .
. Taihuang Heaven has arrived.
Take off the yellow talisman and you may go back. " Shen Mu hurried to look.
It was still the battlefield of Taihuang Heaven, and it seemed indeed to be the very place from which he had been taken; so he jumped down from the boat.
"Give me back the yellow talisman!
" the old ghost officer shouted.
Shen Mu, the yellow talisman stuck to his face, took to his heels as though caught in thievery. "Insufferable! " The old ghost officer caught sight of him vanishing in a puff of dust and was furious; he was about to give chase when he stopped short, laughed despite himself, and said, "It is only a yellow talisman.
So long as he stirs up no trouble, let him have it. " The little boat retreated and vanished into the darkness. Shen Mu fled more than ten li before he turned to look back.
The old ghost officer and the boat had not followed. Only then did he breathe easy, peel the yellow talisman from his face, examine it, and tuck it carefully away.
"This yellow talisman is a good thing. Worn on the face, not even a god or a demon can recognize my true features. This trip to the Dark Capital did at least win me something good.
" He looked up and was slightly startled: in the sky were tower ships, one after another, sailing back toward Li City in triumph, only a few hundred li from him; the pill furnaces of the tower ships spewed thick light and flame, and by this they flew. "I was clearly away from Taihuang Heaven a long while — six hours at least. Why have these tower ships flown only a few hundred li?
At their speed they should have covered several thousand li. As it looks now, it was as though only a quarter of an hour had passed. . . " Shen Mu ran with all his speed and swiftly caught up.
First he overtook the marching troops on the ground, and before long he caught the tower-ship fleet and came to the flagship.
The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and the Black Tiger God stared blankly at him, and all around them the others too showed shock.
They had still been discussing how Shen Mu had been taken into the Dark Capital by the ghost officer and what might come of it — and then they saw Shen Mu come running up from behind them.
Shen Mu laughed: "I am back. How long was I gone this time? " "Not quite an hour. " Sang Hua was astonished beyond measure. Stammering, she said, "You were taken by the ghost officer, and then you came back from the Dark Capital?
" "The ghost officer is the Lord of the Dark Capital. He took me to other worlds as well, and there we found a Divine Bridge expert named Han Zhen; he said he would go and reap his soul in three days.
Then he took me to see Tubo, and we spoke of cause and effect.
Tubo said he would settle the account after I die, and so he drove me back.
We also ran into some gods and demons of the Dark Capital who wanted to take me.