Chapter 690 — The Primal Origin of Darkness
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
Shen Mu sighed in admiration. "Compared with the clan-guarding treasures of the Western Land's great houses, this is no less impressive.
" Suddenly a woman called out in a loud voice, "Formation Master, night is coming—let us first take shelter in the nearest village!
" Yan Jingjing said abruptly, "No need. With me here, you need not fear the encroaching darkness. " He Yiyi was taken aback and gave her a long, deep look. Before long the sun set.
Shen Mu immediately turned his eyes to the cliff wall, and saw darkness come surging out of the cracks in the rock like a flood of towering waves pouring down, engulfing their side in an instant! The darkness encroached.
When this darkness met Taihuang Heaven, it was as though Taihuang Heaven did not exist at all—it passed straight through and in moments swept over the whole of the Desolate Ruins. The crowd gathered around Yan Jingjing, and saw that the girl now seemed like a little sun, giving off a rich divine light that held the darkness back. Let the darkness wash against her as it would, she stood unshaken.
Yan Jingjing glanced at He Yiyi as if to flaunt her victory. He Yiyi smiled faintly, but inwardly she felt a prickle of unease. "This woman is a deity, and this protective of her food—I fear it will not be easy to grow close to him.
" Shen Mu stared fixedly at the cliff wall. The darkness within it poured fully out, and then suddenly there came shafts of bright light, shining upon the reverse side of Taihuang Heaven.
That light came precisely from the cracks in the cliff wall!
"Just as I guessed—the darkness comes from these hidden heavens! When it is night in the Desolate Ruins, it is day in those heavens; when it is day in the Desolate Ruins, it is night in the heavens within the cliff. It is like an hourglass.
" Shen Mu narrowed his eyes. On the cliff at the source of the Surging River, a great many cracks were giving off light—which meant the number of heavens hidden in this cliff was absolutely not small!
"That Lou Qianzhong, who died at my hands, said the darkness of the Desolate Ruins was arranged by his master, the Black Emperor of Mingdu. Though the darkness shifts and alternates here at the cliff, what exactly is the darkness? " He hesitated.
To this day he did not know what the darkness of the Desolate Ruins truly was. It was certainly not darkness in any ordinary sense; it must be some strange substance. Nor was that all.
When the darkness encroached, strange demons prowled within it, devouring every living thing that dared set foot in the dark. And when day came, the demons vanished along with the darkness.
So where did these demons come from?
Moreover, after the darkness descended, exceedingly dreadful demon gods roamed within it.
When Shen Mu had rescued Yu Zhaoqing and the others of the Tianyu Clan at the Dawn Spring, he had seen demons crawl out of another space and time—which proved that the Desolate Ruins held many such entrances! And the place with the most entrances was right here: the cliff at the source of the Surging River. "Among these lights, one must be the true birthplace of the darkness! This birthplace of darkness is by no means one of the heavens that shine from the cliff; it hides darkness within, so it certainly gives off no light.
And the simplest way to find this birthplace.
. . " Shen Mu swiftly took out paper, lifted his brush, and from memory sketched the outline of the cliff, marking the position of every point of light, thinking, "When day breaks, I will compare the points of light I have drawn with the cracks in the cliff. The crack that gave no light tonight—that is the source of the darkness!
"