Chapter 513 — Boundless Terror

Even Yama himself could not help recoiling in astonishment. He whirled around to fix Shen Mu with a piercing stare, his black cloak undulating like waves, as if lifted by a wind born beneath its folds: "Youdu? You were not born in the Land of No Worries—you were born in Youdu?"

Shen Mu still could not make out the face beneath the black robe. He nodded. "My parents were traveling from the Land of No Worries toward the Waste when they fell into an ambush. The people aboard our ship were cut down in droves; those who survived fled to Youdu, and it was there that I was born."

He had uncovered the truth of his origins in the Nether Valley. From the images inscribed in the time-imprints of that treasure ship, he had learned that his mother had been carrying him at the time. The ship had been attacked by gods and demons, driven deep into the earth of the Nether Valley, and wedged between the seals of the two realms.

To escape the gods and demons from beyond the heavens, his mother had led the survivors to take refuge in Youdu. Shen Mu must have been born there; afterward, for reasons unknown, he had been carried away to the Waste after his birth and had drifted down the upper reaches of the Yong River to wash up at Yincan Village.

Granny Zhu, hearing the cry of an infant, had fetched him back to the village.

That he was born in Youdu—of this there could be no doubt.

"You were born in Youdu..."

There was a note of disappointment in Yama's voice. "I had thought it was the old swallow returning at last, come to lead us on in battle once more and finish the work left undone. Little did I expect the swallow who came to be a new one. A new swallow would still have been welcome—yet in the end I find it is no new swallow, but a fledgling barely out of the nest. Heh heh. Kaihuang, in your Land of No Worries you have truly known no worry at all. You have forgotten that in this world your subjects still await your return in arms!"

Anger crept into his tone. "The Land of No Worries is no nest of soft pleasures, no realm where one forgets the heart! It was to be the ground of your resurgence—not the pit of your decay! In this Waste, countless gods and demons lie in slumber, waiting for your return, waiting for you to raise the banner, waiting to fight for you!"

His cloak was still trembling—and it was only when his mind was violently shaken, or his battle-lust towered to the heavens, that his cloak shook so fiercely.

Then, in an instant, his fierce aura ebbed, and something defeated crept into his bearing. "I cannot believe that an emperor who once carved out an age would accept defeat so readily and sink so quietly into silence. And yet I have waited twenty thousand years. The stone statues of the Waste and the ghosts of Fengdu have waited twenty thousand years as well. Why have you not returned..."

Shen Mu watched him in stillness, not knowing what to say.

Yama must have been expecting a visitor from the Land of No Worries—expecting word of Kaihuang. For that, he had waited twenty thousand years.

But in the end, the one who came was only Shen Mu—a man who, though he carried the blood of Kaihuang of the Land of No Worries, had been born in Youdu.

Shen Mu was not the man he had been waiting for. Even if the visitor had been Qin Hanzhen, he could have rekindled that hope, could have brought tidings of the Land of No Worries.

But Shen Mu, born in Youdu, knew nothing whatsoever of the Land of No Worries.

The title of Kaihuang's heir could not console the hearts of loyal ministers and righteous warriors who had waited twenty thousand years.

After a long time, Yama's breath steadied. The eyes beneath the black robe regarded Shen Mu. "You were born in Youdu. Youdu and Fengdu are alike—both are worlds of the dead. I have never once heard of a human being born among the dead. I want to see whether there is anything wrong with you."

Shen Mu started slightly, puzzled by the meaning.

Suddenly Yama began to move, pacing slowly around him as he said in a low voice: "There are few living people in Youdu, yet demons may be born there—for those demons are aggregations of wronged souls and the demonic essence of Youdu. You have seen the demons beneath the Bridge of Helplessness; they came from Youdu. Your birth in Youdu was not like theirs. Those demons are born of the resentment of heaven and earth and of demonic nature, while you were born of the womb. But even so, there is a chance that you have been tainted by the demonic essence of Youdu."

"Tainted by the demonic essence of Youdu?"

Shen Mu probed, "What do you mean?"

Shock stirred in his heart. Once, a demon god had told him that they were alike—both of them demons. Could it be that the demon god had not been lying, and that he truly carried demonic nature within him?

And that he had been born with it?

Yama did not go on. Instead, he pushed back the hood of his black robe, revealing the face beneath.

Before Shen Mu could glimpse his features, he saw that Yama's eyes had become two spinning vortexes, drawing his mind and spirit helplessly into them.

"Do not be afraid. I am merely probing your soul, to see whether it differs from that of a man born in the world of the living."

Shen Mu felt heaven and earth wheel around him. In that moment, he seemed to be standing at the center of two enormous eyes, blood-red, impossibly vast, their pupils fixed upon him—one on his left, one on his right. He spun and fell, plummeting endlessly, as though he would never touch bottom.

It was as if he had plunged into measureless darkness once more, sinking deeper without end.

Yama's voice came to him, seeming immeasurably far away—beyond the ninth heaven: "No human has ever been born in Youdu, and I do not know what changes such a birth might bring. But I can guess that something utterly dreadful happened when you came into the world. The demonic essence and lingering souls adrift in Youdu would have tried to force their way into your body. Your mother could likely have held off the wandering ghosts of Youdu, but she may not have been able to hold off its demonic essence. I want to see what Youdu has done to you..."

Shen Mu strove to anchor his wandering mind. Then, abruptly, the jade pendant at his throat floated upward, its light exploding outward with a hum, as if defying Yama's blood-red eyes.

The two eyes swelled even larger; the pendant's light blazed ever brighter. In the end, Yama's blood-red eyes crushed that radiance down.

Shen Mu wanted to struggle, but not a shred of power in his body would answer his call. He could only let those blood-red nightmare eyes continue to probe him, continue to press down upon him.

He felt his physical body lose all its weight—as though his flesh had been peeled away from his soul.

Like a drowning man, his breath failed. His soul drifted, bit by bit, out of his body.

At that very moment, Shen Mu's spinning suddenly stopped. All around him came whispering, as if countless demon lords hid in the boundless dark, muttering in low voices.

The whispering drew closer, growing louder, growing more raucous, until it swelled into a thunderous clamor of countless voices, speaking different words in different tongues—a din that threatened to split his skull, scattering his thoughts and consciousness into chaos.

At last, all those voices folded into one another and became a single voice.

It was the demon tongue of Youdu!

"Silence!"

Shen Mu bellowed in fury—yet the sound that tore from his throat was not the speech of men. It was the demon tongue of Youdu!

Suddenly a power of unspeakable terror erupted from within him, and his body could move again. He still stood alone between the two blood-red eyes—and behind him, in the fathomless dark, a rift tore open in the blackness!

The rift split wide, and the rustling whispers started up again. The fissure yawned ever larger, and light spilled out from within. With a hum, an enormous eyeball appeared behind him, swiveling once—left, then right.