Chapter 566 — The Exiled Infant

He took a sheet of yellow talisman paper and pressed it over Shen Mu's face, then stood and took down the storm lantern from the bow, shining it into the surrounding darkness. "Which fellow cultivator lurks nearby? " he said in a low voice. Shen Mu poked two holes in the yellow paper over his face, let his eyes show through, and looked around.

All was dim and murky; he could not make out what was in the darkness. Suddenly the lantern light fell upon a huge, sleek body.

It moved with great speed, its scales refracting all manner of light, and vanished quickly. The old courier pondered a moment, then sneered.

"He is the one Lord Tu wishes to see. Whatever ideas you may have, do not act rashly, or you will not be able to bear the blame. " Soft laughter came from all around the boat.

One after another, eerie demon eyes lit up around it, vast and enormous, completely surrounding the small boat. "Lord Tu wishes to see him.

We will not stand in the way. After all, we too live in Youdu and make our living under Lord Tu's name. But we have masters of our own, and we too have been ordered to find him.

" Voices came from every direction, their laughter uncanny, like worms crawling into your body, gnawing your bones as they spoke. "Lord Tianqi, you are the Celestial Talisman Capital Officer, a prefect of Youdu. We ought to show you some respect. But you have covered his face, not letting us see his features, so that we do not know his identity. How are we to report back? Remove the yellow talisman, and we will let you take him away. " The old courier gave a cold laugh.

Suddenly the eyes closed one by one and vanished. Then boat after boat came sailing up, each with an old man at the bow holding a storm lantern, beams of light sweeping in every direction. In the darkness, many sleek bodies fled swiftly under the light.

Shen Mu's eyes flickered.

He saw the boats sail toward them one after another and collide with their own, paper boat merging with paper boat, overlapping, becoming one. And the old couriers aboard actually overlapped and merged with the old courier as well. In the blink of an eye, sixty or seventy paper boats and old couriers had merged into one, becoming a single person. The old courier said, "Now we need not fear them. " Shen Mu asked hastily, "Who was it that blocked us just now?

" "Gods and demons of the Heavenly Court stationed in Youdu.

" The old courier shook his head.

"A pack of squatters who have seized the magpie's nest.

" Shen Mu fell into thought.

The boat sailed on, and at last Shen Mu saw Lord Tu again — not, of course, Lord Tu in his complete form, but Lord Tu's Nine-Coiled Horns. Layer upon layer of worlds made up Lord Tu's Nine-Coiled Horns. The closer they drew, the larger the horns appeared.

Upon the vast, immeasurable continents that formed them, countless volcanoes erupted, linking one landmass to the next. The paper boat threaded its way among the volcanoes of those continents. Shen Mu saw countless wandering souls struggling to walk through a world of magma.

The small boat drifted on. After an unknowable length of time, passing through countless cross-sections of Lord Tu's horns, they came to a continent.

Here there was none of that heart-stopping hellscape; there was only a majestic expanse of palaces. The boat descended and stopped before a palace. Upon it was written the Youdu script.

Shen Mu looked, and at once knew the meaning of the words: "The Palace of the Heavenly Equal Benevolent Sage King. " The old courier entered the hall and said, "This is my residence. Your body is too small; Lord Tu cannot see you directly.

Wait a moment, and Lord Tu's incarnation will come to question you. " Shen Mu waited a while, examining the murals in the Palace of the Heavenly Equal Benevolent Sage King. They depicted myths and legends.

Suddenly, in the great hall behind him, magma surged at the center; the floor became rolling lava. The lava swirled, and a pair of twisted, pointed horns rose spinning, transforming into a Lord Tu more than ten zhang tall, appearing before him. The old courier bowed, took out the register, and said, "Shen Fengqing is brought. His many misdeeds are all recorded here. Please examine them, Lord Tu.

" Shen Mu hurried forward and saw that the register was terrifyingly thick. He said hastily, "I did not do the things in this book!

I am only eighteen. How could I have done so many wicked deeds? " The molten Lord Tu took the register, opened it, and looked through it.

Divine light swirled in his two fiery eyes. "The deeds in here were of course not done by you in the world of the living, but by you in Youdu. Do you still have the jade pendant I refined for you? Lately I have felt that the seal on the pendant has loosened somewhat. "