Chapter 712 — The Statue Awakens

On the paper boat, Tian Shu kept studying Shen Mu. The youth seemed cheerful enough, yet between his brows lurked a trace of sorrow and a longing for his kin.

"Does he really have such a friendship with Lord Tu?"

Tian Shu asked the old underworld bailiff in a whisper, lowering his voice: "My Lord, you and I are old friends too. Why would Lord Tu grant him such a favor and let me out? I do not believe Lord Tu would spare me just because of that speech of his."

The old underworld bailiff glanced at Shen Mu and said quietly: "Of course Lord Tu would not release you over a few words of his. Otherwise anyone at all could come and hack off Lord Tu's horn — even the Nine-Bend Horn would be hacked bald. After you hacked out a Fengdu, several more worlds were destroyed before Lord Tu could grow the Nine-Bend Horn back; it cost him no small price. The real reason Lord Tu granted him this favor is that he does not want him returning to Youdu."

Tian Shu's small eyes went round: "He does not want him returning to Youdu? Why on earth?"

"He was born in Youdu — the first postnatal living being ever born in Youdu. That is why he is called the Divine Son of Youdu."

The old underworld bailiff sighed: "You did not see the prodigy at his birth. All of Youdu was shaken; I do not know how many magnates slipped into Youdu to witness the spectacle. In three or four months, he had punched clean through the Nine-Bend Horn..."

Tian Shu's face turned strange, and he stammered: "Punched through?"

The old underworld bailiff nodded. Recalling that scene from more than twenty years ago, he could not help but shiver: "Lord Tu's horn was punched through, which touched the interests of many magnates in Youdu, and so they all rose up to crusade against him — whereupon a great many of those magnates were eaten. Look: even now there are many places on Lord Tu's body where war never ceases, where the dead fight on without end. From that you may know how terrible the poison he left behind still is."

Tian Shu had once been a magnate of Youdu himself, with great power, and he understood what the old man meant.

The magnates of Youdu wielded great power there; they could carve out domains upon Lord Tu's body, seize vast territories, and rule over billions upon billions of the dead.

A great many of Youdu's magnates had been eaten by Shen Mu. With those dead left masterless, other magnates would seize the opening and fight over the territories.

Clearly, Shen Mu had eaten so many of Youdu's magnates that the wars had dragged on to this very day and still had not subsided.

Tian Shu was silent a moment, then said: "In the depths of Youdu, there are certain beings who in life were Emperor-Throne powerhouses. Did they not make a move?"

"They did."

The old underworld bailiff said: "First they challenged him one to one, but lacking a fleshly body, their strength fell short of what it had been in life, and they were no match for him. Then they ganged up on him, and that too availed them nothing. In the end they had to ask Lord Tu to intervene, and only then was he sealed and exiled."

Tian Shu shivered several times and sighed: "Trapped inside the Imperial Gate Divine Blade, I actually missed something so interesting..."

The old underworld bailiff gave a cold laugh: "Even if you had been there, you would have been helpless. Unsealed, he is a pure Demon King — whatever he catches, he eats. You would have been eaten too! After you go back, do not, on any account, entertain any notion about the seal between his brows, or you will die a most miserable death! These years he has broken that seal open more than once, and Lord Tu is plagued by it beyond measure."

Tian Shu gave two dry laughs: "I am not such a curious man. You know me — I am terribly timid." With that he glanced at Shen Mu, who was staring into space, and his gaze came to rest on the spot between his brows.

The old underworld bailiff said: "Sober, you are timid; but once you have drunk, you would dare to hack at Lord Tu himself — what is there you would not dare? It is because you and I have some friendship that I warn you. Otherwise, if you let him out, the calamity you cause will be greater than hacking off Lord Tu's horn! The world of the living — we have arrived..."

Everyone on the boat rose to their feet and looked ahead, but ahead there was still only darkness.

Suddenly the old underworld bailiff reached out and pushed; Tian Shu tumbled off the boat.

The old underworld bailiff pushed Shen Mu and Qi Jiuyi off as well, then looked at Long Qilin. Long Qilin hastily leaped up and jumped off the boat of his own accord.

"This big fellow does have an eye for the situation."

The old underworld bailiff chuckled, turned the boat around, and began the return voyage.

On the way back, he saw paper boats in a bustling stream, sailing out from Jingping one after another, heading toward Lord Tu's fleshly body.

Every boat was packed with the souls of Jingping's common folk.

So many boats — surely several million people had suddenly dropped dead in the space of a moment!

The old underworld bailiff felt a chill in his heart: "The disciples of Mingdu have made their move..."

The little boats halted one by one, each with an identical old underworld bailiff at its prow. These old underworld bailiffs exchanged a look and said with one voice: "The Divine Son of Youdu has returned to the world of the living; he is certain to act. If we deliver these unjustly slain souls to Lord Tu now, he will likely seize them back by force. Better to wait a few days and see how things stand."

"Then how many days shall we wait?"

"Give him seven days. If he can survive this tribulation and use the Soul-Drawing Invocation to ferry these dead back to the world of the living, then let him. If he cannot, their fleshly bodies will have rotted away, and seizing them back will be of no use to him."

"If we give him seven days, will people not slander us, saying Youdu is afraid of the Divine Son of Youdu? We must find a name for it."

"Then let it be called the Seventh-Day Return to Yang. For the first seven days, yin souls may return to the world of the living — thus no one will have anything to say against us."

"Good!"

...

Beneath the God-Severing Mountains, Shen Mu suddenly opened his eyes and looked around. He saw Long Qilin and Qi Jiuyi waking one after another; everyone hastily drew far away from the Imperial Gate Divine Blade, lest their primordial spirits be sucked once more into the world within the blade.

"Boss Tian is not here." Long Qilin looked this way and that but did not see Tian Shu.

"He should be in the Nether Valley."

Shen Mu flew down and came to the palace beneath the blade, saying: "His fleshly body is at the bottom of the Nether Valley — half of it buried in the earth, gripped in Lord Tu's hand. This place is most likely a palace Kaihuang built for him; he will surely come back looking for us. Let us wait here a while."

Qi Jiuyi hesitated, then also landed outside the palace and said: "Brother Shen, you are going to war with the disciples of Mingdu, and I am caught in the middle. I fear I cannot remain in the lower realm. I want to return to South Heaven now and take no part in your quarrel."

Long Qilin said in alarm: "We swore an oath to Lord Tu that we would die in the same year, the same month, the same day. How can Third Brother leave? If I should die, Lord Tu will come to collect your life and Brother Tian's as well."

Qi Jiuyi broke out in a cold sweat and silently regretted having drunk so much. Now, even if he wanted to leave, he probably could not.

"Brother Qi may go back."

Shen Mu said: "Apart from the risk around the New Year and other festivals, Fat Long is in no danger at other times."

"New Year and festivals?" Long Qilin and Qi Jiuyi went pale.

Qi Jiuyi hesitated, then decided not to leave after all. If Long Qilin fattened himself up and, come the New Year, Shen Mu sent him to the dinner table, would he not lose his own life as well?