Chapter 991 — Red Bellyband Supreme (Second Update!)
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The "Bellyband Creator" stopped, turned around, and said with a smile, "Is the illustrious Mu Tianzun not also wearing a child's garment? Isn't what you wear underneath a red bellyband?
" He was none other than the "Shen Kai" Shen Mu had encountered in the early years of Longhan—the later Emperor Kai, Shen Ye, the great emperor who inaugurated the Kai Era, the Shen Tianzun of the Heaven Alliance! In those days, Shen Tianzun had been a young man, tall and stalwart, handsome and bright, with an air of one who remains unchanging through all the transformations of heaven and earth.
Now he had become a middle-aged man, yet that singular air remained unchanged. When Shen Mu had seen the "Bellyband Creator" just now, he had recognized him at a glance—because of his air, not his appearance.
Of course, the sight of a middle-aged man wearing a red bellyband, his beard shaved clean yet still shadowed with bluish stubble, was also what drew Shen Mu's gaze.
The other Creators were all enormous in build, making it hard to notice the features of the small "infant," but for Shen Mu it was easy to observe what was amiss. Shen Mu's chest grew hot, and he could not resist wanting to step forward, but Emperor Kai was dressed so revealingly that he dared not approach for an embrace.
"Though this garment of mine is a child's robe, at least it covers my backside. " Shen Mu laughed heartily and said, "What I wear underneath is the real bellyband!
Emperor Kai, your bellyband cannot even cover your backside. " The two drew near.
Emperor Kai pulled off the bellyband from his body, revealing that he was not wearing nothing underneath; the reason he had seemed to be exposing his backside was that his garment's color matched his skin. His garment began to change color, shifting hues like a chameleon, and soon transformed into a purple-blue robe.
"Clothing of the Sky Feather Clan?
" Shen Mu said in surprise. Emperor Kai said, "You know of the Sky Feather Clan too?
After I became Emperor Kai, they made several sets of clothes for me.
" Beneath Shen Mu's bellyband was also clothing made by the Sky Feather Clan, personally tailored by Yu Zhaoqing, and very fitting. At present, the Sky Feather World was occupied by a demon clan under the Heavenly Court's command, and the Sky Feather Clan had thrown in their lot with Jingping.
Yu Zhaoqing had always wanted to reclaim the Sky Feather World, but Jingping's strength was insufficient, making it very difficult to seize it back. Shen Mu came to Emperor Kai's side, opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.
For so long he had dreamed of meeting this ancestor, with countless questions he wanted answered, and a thousand words he wanted to speak to him.
Shen Mu held complex feelings toward this ancestor—from the admiration and reverence when he learned he was a descendant of Emperor Kai, to the heartache and disdain when he learned that he had abandoned the multitudes to hide in the Carefree Land, to the anger at his lack of striving and the desire to perform well before him in hopes of gaining his approval when they met in the early years of Longhan.
And later, when the Jingping Calamity erupted and Emperor Kai ordered the Four Great Celestial Masters and Four Great Heavenly Kings to gather their forces and retreat, Shen Mu felt a deep disappointment in him.
After arriving at the Heavenly Court, Shen Mu began to understand Emperor Kai's decision. Now, seeing Emperor Kai again, all sorts of emotions surged up at once, so that the various words that had reached his lips all seemed unimportant. Whether reproach or admiration, reverence or disappointment, heartache and disdain or understanding and sympathy—none of it mattered anymore.
Shen Mu's gaze was warm and gentle, his expression calm, as he asked with a smile, "A million years since we parted—have you been well?