Chapter 712 — The Statue Awakens
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The old underworld bailiff said: "Sober, you are timid; but once you have drunk, you would dare to hack at Lord Tu himself — what is there you would not dare? It is because you and I have some friendship that I warn you. Otherwise, if you let him out, the calamity you cause will be greater than hacking off Lord Tu's horn! The world of the living — we have arrived..."
Everyone on the boat rose to their feet and looked ahead, but ahead there was still only darkness.
Suddenly the old underworld bailiff reached out and pushed; Tian Shu tumbled off the boat.
The old underworld bailiff pushed Shen Mu and Qi Jiuyi off as well, then looked at Long Qilin. Long Qilin hastily leaped up and jumped off the boat of his own accord.
"This big fellow does have an eye for the situation."
The old underworld bailiff chuckled, turned the boat around, and began the return voyage.
On the way back, he saw paper boats in a bustling stream, sailing out from Jingping one after another, heading toward Lord Tu's fleshly body.
Every boat was packed with the souls of Jingping's common folk.
So many boats — surely several million people had suddenly dropped dead in the space of a moment!
The old underworld bailiff felt a chill in his heart: "The disciples of Mingdu have made their move..."
The little boats halted one by one, each with an identical old underworld bailiff at its prow. These old underworld bailiffs exchanged a look and said with one voice: "The Divine Son of Youdu has returned to the world of the living; he is certain to act. If we deliver these unjustly slain souls to Lord Tu now, he will likely seize them back by force. Better to wait a few days and see how things stand."
"Then how many days shall we wait?"
"Give him seven days. If he can survive this tribulation and use the Soul-Drawing Invocation to ferry these dead back to the world of the living, then let him. If he cannot, their fleshly bodies will have rotted away, and seizing them back will be of no use to him."
"If we give him seven days, will people not slander us, saying Youdu is afraid of the Divine Son of Youdu? We must find a name for it."
"Then let it be called the Seventh-Day Return to Yang. For the first seven days, yin souls may return to the world of the living — thus no one will have anything to say against us."
"Good!"
...
Beneath the God-Severing Mountains, Shen Mu suddenly opened his eyes and looked around. He saw Long Qilin and Qi Jiuyi waking one after another; everyone hastily drew far away from the Imperial Gate Divine Blade, lest their primordial spirits be sucked once more into the world within the blade.
"Boss Tian is not here." Long Qilin looked this way and that but did not see Tian Shu.
"He should be in the Nether Valley."
Shen Mu flew down and came to the palace beneath the blade, saying: "His fleshly body is at the bottom of the Nether Valley — half of it buried in the earth, gripped in Lord Tu's hand. This place is most likely a palace Kaihuang built for him; he will surely come back looking for us. Let us wait here a while."
Qi Jiuyi hesitated, then also landed outside the palace and said: "Brother Shen, you are going to war with the disciples of Mingdu, and I am caught in the middle. I fear I cannot remain in the lower realm. I want to return to South Heaven now and take no part in your quarrel."
Long Qilin said in alarm: "We swore an oath to Lord Tu that we would die in the same year, the same month, the same day. How can Third Brother leave? If I should die, Lord Tu will come to collect your life and Brother Tian's as well."
Qi Jiuyi broke out in a cold sweat and silently regretted having drunk so much. Now, even if he wanted to leave, he probably could not.
"Brother Qi may go back."
Shen Mu said: "Apart from the risk around the New Year and other festivals, Fat Long is in no danger at other times."
"New Year and festivals?" Long Qilin and Qi Jiuyi went pale.