Chapter 904 — The Dark Night Approaches
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
What is A'Chou?
A'Chou is simply a man who has lost everything.
A'Chou, whom Earth Count made of himself: his father, mother, wife and children lay buried in the Heavenly Court's conspiracy against him, and at that time even Earth Count's power bound him fast and kept him from vengeance. A'Chou and Earth Count were two consciousnesses within one life.
Earth Count was governed by the rules; A'Chou wanted to break them; and in the end he was left wretched and alone, struck back down into Youdu by the Heavenly Emperor and suppressed by Earth Count at Jade Lock Pass in Youdu. Shen Mu was now A'Chou as well. Like A'Chou, he was merely an appendage of the original body. A'Chou was Earth Count's reincarnated body; he was the second consciousness, born in an infant's flesh after Shen Fengqing was sealed.
A'Chou had no soul of his own. Neither did he. A'Chou was a guardian, an avenger, who burned with wrath and wanted only to protect his own kin, yet could protect them no matter what he did, and in the end fell into the clutch of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.
Shen Mu likewise wanted to protect Jingping, and to avenge those who had perished in this catastrophe.
A'Chou was powerless to turn the tide; in the end he was suppressed at Jade Lock Pass, enduring the endless scorching of karmic fire. In the end A'Chou became a sinner against the rules of Youdu. He ought to have been Earth Count: just, impartial, possessed of divinity alone.
Yet humanity was born in him.
Shen Fengqing was the Young Earth Count; and Shen Mu, the other consciousness born from his shell, ought likewise to have possessed divinity alone, yet Shen Mu was the humanity of the Young Earth Count.
The same predicament, the same fortunes; therefore he was A'Chou, a man who wished to protect and wished to avenge, yet had no strength to resist.
Shen Mu laughed, heh heh, clutching Heavenly Venerable Ling's peach-wood hairpin in his hand and pointing it at his own brow. Where his third eye should have been, in the center of his brow, only a deep sunken socket remained.
"Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, you have waited all this while and never struck. Was it to wait until I was utterly in despair, until in the end I had no choice but to cling to you?
" Blood still ran from the socket of his third eye, streaming down either side of the bridge of his nose. Even so, his hand was steady.
The peach-wood hairpin sank deep into that hollow socket, and he laughed softly: "Jingping is gone, and so I have nothing left. Nothing matters now. If I but stir Heavenly Venerable Ling's hairpin, the Heavenly River will come bursting out of it, destroy this body, shatter this consciousness.
You will never have another chance at resurrection! " A vast and surging tide of thought came rushing down from the sky and became a sound like rolling thunder in his mind.
The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor's voice held a cold indifference: "You should not have dug out your own eyes. Having dug them out, you do not even have a soul left. You are ruined. What power do you still have to break Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine art? You cannot bring me my physical body. Why should I still aid you? " His voice grew colder still: "You thought you could hold everything in your grasp.
You thought you could fling Our imperial edict at the Black Pig Demon. You thought you could treat with Us, make Us your arm, your chess piece. But you have been one move short all along. Do you still remember Wei Suifeng? " Shen Mu was stunned for a moment. "Wei Suifeng, right general of Our Feather Forest Guard, once commanded the Feather Forest's Right Guard for Us.