Chapter 986 — The Divine King Appears
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The chieftains of the Creator clans—Zili, Zhuqiu, Yanlong, Xiatai, and the rest—pressed forward one after another, all but lying prone across the Grand Emperor's Seal as they studied it, and the Grand Emperor's Altar they likewise examined with the most meticulous care. Only after a long while did these chieftains straighten their backs, exchange glances, and fall into animated, head-bent discussion.
"Can it be that the third prophecy of the ancestors has truly been fulfilled?
" "But looking at this fellow, he hardly seems to be a Creator—why, he even has an Adam's apple, like a grown man among the malefactors.
" "His brow and eyes look like Shen the Traitor's as well! " "Now that you mention it, the Holy Infant does resemble Shen the Traitor somewhat, and the more you look, the more alike they seem.
.
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" "Yet he has the Seal of Authority, and the Altar, and the Origin Stone set in his brow. Shen the Traitor cannot be crafty to such a degree, surely? Even if his cunning went that far, he would have nowhere to lay his hands on a Seal of Authority or an Altar; and as for obtaining an Origin Stone—that would be even less possible. " "Shen the Traitor is sly; we must be on our guard.
Back then, who among you could have imagined that the Land of One Sword would be so vast?
" .
. . Within the Origin Stone, Shu Jun was in a frenzy of anxiety and could not resist reminding these Creator chieftains: "He was not born clutching a Seal of Authority, nor was he born upon an altar! The Grand Emperor's Seal and the Grand Emperor's Altar were both given to him by others!
As for the Primeval Origin Stone—he robbed it from me! Hey, use your heads, will you! " The chieftains deliberated among themselves for a while, and the white-haired chieftain of the Xiatai clan said: "The Holy Infant is a matter of the gravest weight; we must first verify his true identity, lest he be a spy sent by Shen the Traitor. If we acknowledge him as the Holy Infant in a muddle-headed fashion, would not Shen the Traitor be laughing his head off behind our backs?
" Xiu Chong nodded: "The descent of the Holy Infant must indeed be handled with the utmost caution. Since I myself dare not be certain that he is the Holy Infant, I invited you all here. What means do you have by which to judge whether he is the Holy Infant?
" "Anything else may be counterfeited—only the soul cannot be counterfeited!
" Can Nu, the female Creator of the Zili clan, said: "The treasure of my Zili clan is the Seven-Soul Grass, a sacred object which my people called into being through contemplation over the course of millions upon millions of years. Besides devouring souls, it can also discern them. Last time we brought it out against that big-headed monster infant of the Shen family, who gnawed away a good half of it; fortunately, some roots and stalks yet remain. " She carefully produced a plant—purple roots, purple stems, with the roots and stems several times larger than the leaves, like a cluster of purple yams sprouting from the roots. But the roots and stems bore the marks of gnawing, and had been bitten most miserably.
This plant was a sacred object which the Creators of the Zili clan had brought into being through countless ages of contemplation. It was supremely formidable, skilled at devouring souls—it had simply suffered a great loss when it faced Shen Fengqing. At that time, Shen Fengqing had been running rampant, slaughtering his way out of the Carefree Land and butchering the Creators.
Can Nu and her clansfolk had raised this treasure aloft, intending to ambush him with the Seven-Soul Grass, but in the end he seized it and took a bite. Can Nu and her people hastily called it back, but Shen Fengqing had already devoured more than half—and this was, indeed, partly because the Seven-Soul Grass was not at all tasty.