荒墟牧神 - 第1347章 幽冥盼死 - 墨香閣

Tu Bo turned and looked at him, seeming not to understand his meaning. The twin horns on his head were like rivers of magma, gleaming with fire.

Facing the gaze of that towering being, Shen Mu felt not the slightest fluster. He smiled and said, "Since we are allies, there are certain things one ought not to keep hidden from an ally, surely? Heavenly Venerable Mu has his means of breaking free of his shackles. As lord of Youdu, a being who stands shoulder to shoulder with Heavenly Venerable Mu, Tu Bo cannot be without means of his own?"

Tu Bo's primordial spirit was silent a moment, then said, "You think I ought to have means of protecting myself?"

Shen Mu laughed. "It is not what I think, but what you ought to have. If you did not, that is what would astonish me."

Tu Bo fell silent again, then said, "I do."

Shen Mu's spirits lifted. His eyes blazed as he watched Tu Bo, waiting for him to go on.

But Tu Bo fell silent once more, and did not go on.

His curiosity roused, Shen Mu ventured, "And what is Tu Bo's means?"

Only then did Tu Bo continue. "Like Heavenly Venerable Mu, I use the means of escaping the bonds of the great Dao of Youdu."

Shen Mu waited a while, but Tu Bo did not go on, and he burst out in fury, "You... this god — why do you talk like a gourd with its mouth sawed shut, tipping out one seed at a time? Tu Bo, have you spent so long with Heavenly Venerable You that you have gone mute as well?"

Tu Bo glanced at him and said slowly, "You are truly impatient. I get along very well with the Benevolent Saint King; we often sit together drinking tea and chatting."

Shen Mu could not picture it.

Two saw-mouthed gourds chatting together, each spitting out one word at a time — how could such a conversation ever keep going?

"Come with me."

Tu Bo's primordial spirit walked into that palace complex. His curiosity stirred again, and Shen Mu hurried after him. Within the palace, the Alchemist was still tending to Heavenly Venerable You. Heavenly Venerable Yue saw them and hastily followed, saying in a low voice, "Heavenly Venerable You's injuries are most troublesome... Where are you going?"

Shen Mu explained in a whisper, and Heavenly Venerable Yue's curiosity was roused as well. "Tu Bo's divine powers are vast," she said. "His means must be terrifying beyond measure."

The two followed Tu Bo to the edge of a magma pool within the palace. Tu Bo's primordial spirit stepped into the pool, and the two followed him in.

The magma was not hot. It did not seem like magma at all, but rather some strange liquid.

Doubt stirred in Shen Mu's heart. A divinity like Tu Bo was exceedingly strange: he had no body in the traditional sense. His frame was composed of countless dead worlds, without a trace of vitality.

To those who possessed fleshly bodies, such a life form was hard to comprehend — and yet Tu Bo did exist.

In truth, it was the same with Heavenly Venerable Mu.

Heavenly Venerable Mu's body was made of countless suns and rays of light, and he too had no body in the traditional sense.

Of the ancient gods born of the Dao, these two were the strangest. The other ancient gods born of the Dao, such as Lady Tianyin and the Empress and her sisters, all possessed fleshly bodies; and Shen Mu had studied the bodies of Lady Tianyin and the Empress and her sisters deeply and thoroughly.

They crossed the endless magma and came into Tu Bo's interior. The space suddenly opened out. Though it was still endless darkness within, points of light could be seen here and there — only there were far too many of them.

Shen Mu opened the vertical eye at his brow and looked. What he saw struck him as bizarre.

Those lights were living beings beyond count, beings wrapped in karmic fire, so numerous that they exceeded the stars in the heavens by who knew how many times over.