Chapter 1473 — He Is None Other Than That Legend
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
Only Jingping can take you in. Go to the Origin Realm and seek out Jingping's Sun Keeper, Yan Jingjing; she will shelter you.
" "Benefactor! " One of the Sun Keepers bowed and said: "We beg you, Benefactor, to remove your black veils and leave us your names, that we may remember the faces of our benefactors, and know by whose hands we were saved!
" Shen Mu shook his head.
"There is no need for you to know our names or our faces. Go, and quickly. .
.
" Suddenly an old man of Xuandu spoke up, trembling: "Our benefactors are of matchless honor, saving us without leaving a name; but we cannot be ignorant of the grace we owe. We beg you to reveal your true faces and leave your true names, that when we reach Jingping we may raise living shrines to you, cast golden images of you, and pray for your blessing day and night! " Then the countless people of Xuandu knelt and bowed, saying one after another: "To know a kindness and not repay it — how is that different from beasts? We beg our benefactors to grant us this!
" Shen Mu shook his head: "There is no need. I saved you for the peace of my own heart. It has nothing to do with you. .
.
" "The peace of your heart? " Zhe Huali flew into a sudden rage.
He tore the black cloth from his face and roared: "You truly have peace of heart?
You may have peace of heart — I don't! When I save people, I leave my name and I show my face! Take off your masks, all of you, take them off! Let these foolish creatures look at our faces!
" Zai Fu silently removed the black cloth from his face. Tian Shu and Luo Wushuang removed theirs as well.
Zhe Huali strode up to Shen Mu and reached for the black cloth over his face. Shen Mu raised a hand, struggling: "Don't.
.
. " "Do you mean to carry that infamy on your back for the rest of your life? " Zhe Huali struck his hand aside, wrenched the black cloth from his face, and laughed aloud, taunting: "Here is your benefactor! Do you see his face clearly?
This is your benefactor!
The benefactor you stick straw effigies of, the one you shoot arrows at and spit curses on every day — Shen Mu, Heavenly Venerable Mu! " His gaze was like a blade, sweeping across the faces of the Xuandu crowd, sweeping until these people had knelt not only in body but in soul.
"That's right!
He is Heavenly Venerable Mu — the Heavenly Venerable Mu of the Heaven Alliance! " Zhe Huali drove his demon blade hard into the ground and said through gritted teeth: "The Heavenly Venerable Mu you hate to the marrow of your bones! When the Ten Heavenly Venerables set out to kill the Lord of Heaven, he blocked them at every turn, risking his own life to contend with the Ten Heavenly Venerables! He racked his brains to find the Lord of Heaven a way to live!
When the Heavenly Court attacked Xuandu, knowing himself no match, he fought desperately to raise his own strength! " "And he invited us!
" "If not for his friendship with us, what the hell did we care whether that damned Lord of Heaven lived or died?
" Zhe Huali gripped the hilt, twisted the blade, and drove the demon blade inch by inch into the earth, chuckling: "We came here to die not for the sake of that damned Lord of Heaven, not for the sake of all you lives in Xuandu, but because we are his friends, friends who share life and death! He told us to come, so we came, even if it meant carrying our heads at our belts! And what are you? " He had borne too great a pressure, and at last it poured out of him in one unrestrained torrent. He laughed aloud: "Your lives are lives, and ours are lives too — by what right do we trade our lives for yours?
Only because Heavenly Venerable Mu asked us to come!
Heh heh, and what have you people of Xuandu done?
Raise a living shrine to Heavenly Venerable Mu? Cast him a golden image? Worship him, make offerings to him? Bah! You stuck straw effigies of him and shot arrows into his back every day, spat on him, cursed him!