Chapter 569 — A Dark Past
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
" As Shen Mu told it all, he found it strange himself: so much done in so short a time.
In the world of the living it would have taken three or five days at least.
Yet in the Dark Capital the time spent had been very brief, while in the world of the living only a little under an hour had passed. "The Dark Capital is like a dream.
Your going there was the same as entering a dream.
" The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping's eyes flickered. "It is enough that you came back alive. Is Tubo very terrible?
" Shen Mu shook his head. "Tubo is easy to talk to.
So is the ghost officer.
" The faces of the crowd turned strange. Tubo and the ghost officer easy to talk to?
Only Shen Mu could say such a thing! Anyone — even gods and demons — paled at the mention of Tubo, and of the ghost officers of the Dark Capital they were more secretive still, not daring to speak of them at all.
"Maha—" The young black dragon on Shen Yu came swimming swiftly down, ran to Shen Mu, and clung to him, rubbing and nuzzling. Shen Yu was sullen, thinking, "I had not even warmed it, and it has been lured away again.
.
. " Shen Mu stroked the little dragon.
It hung itself on his ear, head dangling down, its dragon whiskers swaying. Shen Yu was jealous.
"Junior Brother Shen Yu, I will borrow this little dragon of yours for a while. I may even take him to the Desolate Ruins. When I bring him back to you, I promise you will be astonished!
" Shen Mu laughed. "I was captured by Vajra, fled for my life the whole way, and went to the Dark Capital besides.
I am truly tired. I will go and rest first.
" Shen Yu watched him leave with the little dragon and thought, "I wonder whether in a few days my little dragon will still be mine?
Even its soul has been lured away.
. . " The Dark Capital. The old ghost officer returned to the palace of the Heaven-Equal Benevolent Sage King, sat down, and opened a thick dossier — the very scroll he had given Molten Tubo to read. Shen Mu had wanted to read that thick volume too, but Molten Tubo was too tall and he too short, and at the time he had had to play the well-behaved child; he had not seen its contents.
The old ghost officer opened the first page. The first page bore a moving image: a dark continent, the scene of a woman giving birth, the boundless demonic qi of the Dark Capital and the resentment of its ruined souls flowing, rushing madly toward that small birthing room.
That small birthing room seemed to hold a fearsome demon king, swallowing whale-like the evil thoughts and demon nature and demonic qi of the Dark Capital.
And beyond that continent, countless demon gods were alarmed, hidden in the darkness, watching in anxious haste the first being in the history of the Dark Capital to be born of childbirth. "A god-child is born! " at the edge of the first page, a demon god spoke these words. Above the birthing room, crimson eyes opened: one, two, three.
The old ghost officer turned to the second page. The picture changed: a fat little boy leapt from the woman's bosom, revealed his three-eyed true form, and was wreaking havoc across a dark continent; two chubby hands crushed two demon gods who were about to stab him in the back; three eyes opened, and three beams of flame shot out, burning the continent, burning countless demon-monsters of the Dark Capital to death. On that continent great ghosts, small ghosts, and ghost kings fled in all directions, terror written on their hideous faces — a most vivid scene.
The infant put a demon god to his lips and gnawed off half its head, very bloodthirsty. The old ghost officer shook his head and turned on.