Chapter 317 — The Return of the Soul

Thousands of paper boats came drifting in; plainly the number of dead heavenly demons was immense. Shen Mu frowned: under ordinary circumstances it was impossible for so many heavenly demons to die; even a war on a grand scale could not kill so many at once. "O soul, come home—" From the dark reaches of time and space came a faint tremor: a demon god crying out in shrill grief beyond the barrier of a world, chanting in the demon tongue.

Shen Mu looked toward the source of that voice, and dimly made out a demon god with eight arms and four heads standing weeping in the dark starry void, indistinct through the veil of a world, its sound indistinct. "That seems to be the weeping of the Dutian Demon King.

.

.

" He was briefly startled. The figure standing in another world in its death throes looked like the Dutian Demon King; such was his power that even the shattered Dutian World could not fetter his form or his voice.

Across the Dutian World he called to the souls of his own people, striving to summon back the souls of the dead. "O soul, return! Go not down to this Youdu.

Tubo has nine coils, and his horns are dread. His shoulders are thick, his thumbs are blood; he drives men before him in frantic haste. Three eyes and a tiger's head, his body like a bull's.

Such things all delight in men.

Come back! Lest you bring ruin on yourself. O soul, return! Pass in through the gate.

The priests and invocators call you back, walking backward before you.

. . " As the ship sailed on, the demon tongue of the Dutian Demon King grew fainter and fainter, until what he lamented could no longer be heard clearly.

The treasure ship had already gone far from that dying Dutian World; and it was precisely because the Dutian World was perishing that so many Dutian heavenly demons kept dying.

Shen Mu looked back at the countless paper boats drifting from the Dutian World into Youdu, and his heart ached with pity.

Perhaps this would be the future of the world they belonged to.

A long while passed.

They came to another landmass in the darkness: specks of divine radiance lit the gloom, hazy and blurred, and there were still living creatures of Youdu stirring in the dark.

The treasure ship gradually slowed, and at last those aboard could see what those divine lights were: they were the glow given off by the statues of village after village, and others the divine light bursting forth from ancient ruins.

They had come to the Wasteland Ruins in the darkness.

Shen Mu stirred inwardly: when night came to the Wasteland Ruins, once darkness fell, it actually bordered upon Youdu!

Part of the Wasteland Ruins overlapped with Youdu.

For the creatures of the Wasteland Ruins, it must be that two worlds were laid one upon the other; by night the creatures of Youdu came out to move about, and then the world of Youdu held the upper hand, pressing the real world down, while by day the real world covered over the world of Youdu. And in the darkness, wherever light shone was the real world; every point of light was a gateway into reality. That is to say, if they entered a ruin or a village protected by a god's statue, they could leave Youdu and return to reality!

The treasure ship had come this far for no other purpose, surely, than to carry them back to the real world. The ship slowed more and more, until at last its destination could be made out: ahead lay an ancient ruin giving off a fearsome radiance that drove the darkness back, and there were towering palaces there too, though already dilapidated, with only the mighty statues still pouring out light to illumine the dark.

The treasure ship slowly halted, floating above the ruins. Below, many strange beasts crouched quietly among the ruins, and there were passing travelers as well, living at peace with the beasts, all sheltering here together from the onslaught of the darkness.

One and all they raised their heads, gazing up in curiosity at the ship that had suddenly appeared. Shen Mu summoned the two white bats and the dragon qilin, and leapt down from the ship; Ban Gongcuo too leapt down with his many attendants.

"Great Lord.

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. " A Witch King looked at Shen Mu, eyes flickering, his expression inquiring. Ban Gongcuo shook his head: "We are in the Wasteland Ruins; follow the rules of the Wasteland Ruins. Do not stir up trouble.

" Shen Mu raised his head and looked at the ship, his expression complicated.

The treasure ship slowly turned, changed direction, and at last sailed out of the ruins and into the darkness. The man in the tree must be steering the treasure ship back to Youdu, to seek out Shen Mu's family.