Chapter 712 — The Statue Awakens
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
On the paper boat, Tian Shu kept studying Shen Mu. The youth seemed cheerful enough, yet between his brows lurked a trace of sorrow and a longing for his kin.
"Does he really have such a friendship with Lord Tu?"
Tian Shu asked the old underworld bailiff in a whisper, lowering his voice: "My Lord, you and I are old friends too. Why would Lord Tu grant him such a favor and let me out? I do not believe Lord Tu would spare me just because of that speech of his."
The old underworld bailiff glanced at Shen Mu and said quietly: "Of course Lord Tu would not release you over a few words of his. Otherwise anyone at all could come and hack off Lord Tu's horn — even the Nine-Bend Horn would be hacked bald. After you hacked out a Fengdu, several more worlds were destroyed before Lord Tu could grow the Nine-Bend Horn back; it cost him no small price. The real reason Lord Tu granted him this favor is that he does not want him returning to Youdu."
Tian Shu's small eyes went round: "He does not want him returning to Youdu? Why on earth?"
"He was born in Youdu — the first postnatal living being ever born in Youdu. That is why he is called the Divine Son of Youdu."
The old underworld bailiff sighed: "You did not see the prodigy at his birth. All of Youdu was shaken; I do not know how many magnates slipped into Youdu to witness the spectacle. In three or four months, he had punched clean through the Nine-Bend Horn..."
Tian Shu's face turned strange, and he stammered: "Punched through?"
The old underworld bailiff nodded. Recalling that scene from more than twenty years ago, he could not help but shiver: "Lord Tu's horn was punched through, which touched the interests of many magnates in Youdu, and so they all rose up to crusade against him — whereupon a great many of those magnates were eaten. Look: even now there are many places on Lord Tu's body where war never ceases, where the dead fight on without end. From that you may know how terrible the poison he left behind still is."
Tian Shu had once been a magnate of Youdu himself, with great power, and he understood what the old man meant.
The magnates of Youdu wielded great power there; they could carve out domains upon Lord Tu's body, seize vast territories, and rule over billions upon billions of the dead.
A great many of Youdu's magnates had been eaten by Shen Mu. With those dead left masterless, other magnates would seize the opening and fight over the territories.
Clearly, Shen Mu had eaten so many of Youdu's magnates that the wars had dragged on to this very day and still had not subsided.
Tian Shu was silent a moment, then said: "In the depths of Youdu, there are certain beings who in life were Emperor-Throne powerhouses. Did they not make a move?"
"They did."
The old underworld bailiff said: "First they challenged him one to one, but lacking a fleshly body, their strength fell short of what it had been in life, and they were no match for him. Then they ganged up on him, and that too availed them nothing. In the end they had to ask Lord Tu to intervene, and only then was he sealed and exiled."
Tian Shu shivered several times and sighed: "Trapped inside the Imperial Gate Divine Blade, I actually missed something so interesting..."
The old underworld bailiff gave a cold laugh: "Even if you had been there, you would have been helpless. Unsealed, he is a pure Demon King — whatever he catches, he eats. You would have been eaten too! After you go back, do not, on any account, entertain any notion about the seal between his brows, or you will die a most miserable death! These years he has broken that seal open more than once, and Lord Tu is plagued by it beyond measure."
Tian Shu gave two dry laughs: "I am not such a curious man. You know me — I am terribly timid." With that he glanced at Shen Mu, who was staring into space, and his gaze came to rest on the spot between his brows.