Chapter 419 — The Emperor's Seal Appears in the World

That was their promise — the undying promise their forebears had made in gratitude for the Human Emperor's grace! Let the Human Emperor's Seal appear — and none shall fail to follow!

The vow their ancestors had sworn twenty thousand years ago — even after twenty thousand years, they must still keep it!

After a while, the Village Head and Imperial Preceptor Jingping each withdrew their power, and Shen Mu dispersed his vital essence, his heart and spirit still surging.

This was the Human Emperor's Seal, the treasure that every clan and sect had together presented to the Human Emperor: a thing with no power of its own whatever, yet possessed of a summoning force beyond measure!

"We wait here a few days," the Village Head said calmly. "Those who ought to come will come.

" "May I ask how many experts will come? " said the Imperial Preceptor.

"Ordinary Divine Bridge realm champions are of little use; however many come, they will only be throwing their lives away.

" "Those who dare to come, and can come," said the Village Head with a smile, "will of course be experts. " The Imperial Preceptor was not reassured.

The experts of this world were usually gathered in a few holy lands, and those who could stand alongside them were only the Old Tathagata, the Old Dao Lord, and the experts of Little Jade Capital; Little Jade Capital meddled in nothing, and the Old Tathagata and the Old Dao Lord had abdicated, so those who could come were truly few.

Something stirred in Shen Mu's heart. "Among those phantom shapes I saw just now, there seemed to be more than the human race — other races as well. " "I too saw many strange races," said the Imperial Preceptor.

"The races the Human Emperor rescued in those years were never the human race alone," said the Village Head. "Some races yielded up the continent of Jingping and went far away, seeking other lands.

" Astonishment showed on the Imperial Preceptor's face.

"Did they go beyond the seas? " In the Eastern Sea, a vast island moved slowly across the ocean, and on that island lived a strange race: the men had horns growing from their heads and lived by fishing; the women had no horns.

These men would leap into the sea, and with a shake of their bodies turn into great whales, spiral horns on their heads likewise, darting through the water like arrows; even the sea monsters of the deep were usually no match for them.

Whenever they made a catch, the whales would spring up onto the island, and on landing turn back into men, who would carry the catch in both hands to their village. Suddenly, almost everyone on the island sensed an inexplicable call in their blood, and one after another they raised their heads to look toward the distant mainland.

"The call of the Human Emperor's Seal! " In the temple at the island's heart, the white-robed elders trembled in heart and spirit and cried in haste, "Wake the Old Ancestor, quickly!

" "Ooooh —" A long, resonant whale song came up from the depths of the sea; the island shook. The whole island was the back of a monstrous whale, and as that giant whale woke, it spouted a column of water hundreds of zhang high.

In the distance, several more islands drifted near — each of them a giant whale.

The people and palaces on one of those islands rose into the air, left that whale, and settled on other islands.

The giant whale slowly sank beneath the water, and after a moment a burly, bare-chested man with long hair, his chest exposed, walked up out of the sea and onto the island.

In the Sea King Hall, the white-robed elders, who had waited a long while, bowed one and all at the sight of the burly man.

"Kun King! " "The vow sworn by the ancestors of the Kun race twenty thousand years ago runs in our blood.

A promise of twenty thousand years ago is still binding today!

" The Kun King swept his gaze around. "The Human Emperor's Seal is calling me. I will go myself.

Bring the sacred relic! " The white-robed elders ranged themselves to either side, and there in the center of the altar of the Sea King Hall stood a gleaming golden spear — a spiral horn.

The Kun King made his obeisance, then drew out the horn; at once great waves rose sky-high around the island, and the white-robed elders bowed him on his way. Golden spear in hand, the Kun King ran, sprang into the sea, and became a giant whale with a long horn, racing and sporting between sea and sky, speeding toward Jingping.

The Kun King leaped up out of the waves, and just then a great bird flew overhead, its wings spanning tens of mu.

Seeing him, the bird suddenly spun sharply, shot down like an arrow, and in a flurry of countless feathers landed before the Kun King, becoming a woman whose legs were bird's claws and who wore on her head a crest of plumes like a hoopoe's. "Wing King, you have come too?

" said the Kun King with a laugh.

"The Human Emperor's Seal has called again, demanding that we honor the promise our distant ancestors made," said the woman. "How could I not come? " Suddenly the sea heaved, and a dark turtle-shell warship burst up from the depths, leaped clear of the water, and came crashing down on the surface again, rocking several times before it steadied. "Raise the flag! " came a voice from the ship. With a splash and a flap, a dripping great banner rose, bearing the image of a turtle and a serpent.

In Little Jade Capital, the Old Tathagata frowned slightly and sighed.

"I thought I had found peace at last; I never looked for this — I must come out of seclusion after all.

" The Old Dao Lord laughed. "If we do not come out, our successors will come out in our stead — and would they not be going to their deaths?

Let us go.

" The Old Tathagata nodded, sighed, and rose to leave Little Jade Capital with him.