Chapter 1022 — The Illusory Dream of Dutian
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
The Old Demon of Dutian claimed he was going to Taixu to earn merit, but in truth he was only seeking death. He would entrust the demon race of the Dutian World to Shen Mu and die himself in Taixu, and Shen Mu would then have no choice but to take up the burden of caring for his people in his stead; to his mind, that would count as the settling of a long-cherished wish. In his heart he was certain that the lofty Venerable Mu must have means to settle his people.
Once he was dead, Shen Mu, remembering their old friendship, might not tend his clansmen down to the smallest detail, but at least he would give them a place to rest, so that they need no longer drift through the cosmos with their lives uncertain from dawn to dusk.
These rootless years were more than the heavenly demon host could bear any longer. After the Dutian World was destroyed, he had led his people in their wandering; not one of the many heavens had welcomed them, and from time to time some powerful heaven would plunder these demons, hunt them down, seize them and make slaves of them. If things went on so, the demon race of the Dutian World was bound to be extinguished.
The Old Demon of Dutian had truly come to the end of his road.
He was a clever man: when he invaded Jingping in those years, he had supposed it a small heaven, but the moment he saw the stone statue in the Desolate Ruins he knew he had kicked against a hard stone, and he gave up all thought of invading Jingping. Shen Mu had achieved much in the demon tongue and in the divination arts, and the Old Demon of Dutian deserved no small share of the credit—above all in the divination arts, wherein the Old Demon of Dutian's attainments were exceedingly high.
He knew that to go to Taixu was to walk a road of certain death, yet he had no choice but to do it.
Shen Mu understood perfectly well, of course, and knew what he intended; he raised his head and looked upon the Old Demon of Dutian's face—wind and frost had cut it like a knife, and hardship is the weapon that hastens a man's aging. For gods and demons the years could not make them old, yet the Old Demon of Dutian seemed aged, and his ambition was not what it had once been. His great resolve had been ground away along the road of exile and the struggle to survive.
"How many of the demon race remain in the Dutian World? " Shen Mu asked.
Joy came into the Old Demon of Dutian's face, though he dared not show too much of it.
"Only a million heavenly demons remain," he said hurriedly. "Truly, not many. If only they can have some place to rest, with rich waters and grass, no matter how small, they will be able to live on.
.
.
" "A million heavenly demons is indeed not many. Only, though I bear the title of Venerable, I hold no faction at all in the Heavenly Court; it will not be easy to settle them. " Shen Mu said, "Where are they now?
" "Just outside the Heavenly Court, on the Heavenly River; they have no right to enter the Heavenly Court. " The Old Demon of Dutian put on a fawning smile.
"I keep them outside, standing along the bank, lest passing boats run them down.
Venerable.
. .
" Shen Mu cut him off.
"Very well. Sister Yan'er, Fatty Long, come here. " Yan'er was standing on the Dragon Qilin's head, and the Dragon Qilin came trotting over at speed.
Shen Mu took out a tiny bottle and said, "Take this treasure, you two, and go with the Old Demon of Dutian beyond the Heavenly Court; gather the million demons under his command into the bottle. " The bottle was called the Gourd-Heaven Bottle, a treasure of the Cangshan Clan among the Creators. When Shen Mu and Luo Wushuang encountered the heroic spirit of the Cangshan Clan's patriarch in Taixu, they promised to establish Youdu for Taixu, and the Cangshan Clan gave him this treasure.
Within the Gourd-Heaven Bottle the space was vast, holding an entire great heaven, immeasurably wide.