Chapter 1626 — Crowned as King
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu gave a muffled grunt, but said nothing in argument.
He and Shen Fengqing had once been one and the same person; only, Shen Fengqing had been born first, the consciousness begotten of Youdu's demonic nature, evil from birth, the most infamous Demon King in all of Youdu, a name that struck terror into the hearts of countless Youdu demon gods. He, by contrast, was the second consciousness, born in that same body after Shen Fengqing had been sealed away by the Earth Lord.
For as long as anyone could remember, everyone knew that Shen Fengqing was the very incarnation of Youdu's demonic qi, demonic dao, and demonic nature, gathering within himself all the negative emotions of every being who had died since life first came to be; savage and ferocious by nature, capable of any evil.
The Heaven Lord had once thought so, and the Earth Lord too. Shen Mu had thought so as well. The Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord had even meant to help Shen Mu refine Shen Fengqing away, to make of him the true divine son of Youdu.
It was only later that the Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord discovered that Shen Fengqing's wickedness and savagery were mere instinct; at the bottom of his heart he was still as pure as an infant, unstained by any impurity.
They, by contrast, the second personality they had favored — Shen Mu — proved to be the truly dangerous one: evil, cunning, treacherous, vicious, and with almost no self-restraint at all!
Once Shen Mu gained mastery over the demonic qi, the demonic dao, and the demonic nature within that body, he was nothing like Shen Fengqing, who could still keep his innocence; instead he grew more dangerous, more ungovernable, a peril many times greater than Shen Fengqing. And at that time there were many contenders for Shen Fengqing's rank as Youdu's divine son — whether the Four Marquises of Youdu, or the Yin Son of Heaven, or the gods and demons of the Heavenly Court — and in the face of Youdu's demonic nature, every one of them proved more abject than Shen Mu.
The struggle over the Youdu divine son had in truth ended long ago; from the moment the Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord saw through it all, they no longer thought of helping Shen Mu refine Shen Fengqing, but began, now deliberately, now by seeming chance, to steer Shen Mu toward discovering the goodness in Shen Fengqing. The Earth Lord and Shen Mu, too, tried by imperceptible degrees to guide Shen Fengqing toward order, to make him understand rules.
"Brother, you didn't sense the power of the Book of Life and Death? " Shen Mu asked. "What did you see in the Book of Life and Death?
" "This is the Book of Life and Death? " Shen Fengqing turned it over and over several times and said, "All I see is that it is linked to the countless living beings of the world, to their lifespans; I feel the joy and anger, sorrow and delight that rise from their souls, and the changes in their bodies. And these delicious gods and demon gods.
. . " Shen Mu coaxed him along: "Don't you want to control them, to eat them?
" The You Heavenly Venerable was chilled to the bone.
Shen Fengqing scratched his head.
"Why would I do that?
They need only sign the Little Earth Lord's Pact with me, and then, once they do wrong themselves, I can eat them.
Eating too many at once is no good. . . " Seeing that he would not take the bait, Shen Mu pressed on with temptation: "With the Book of Life and Death in your grasp, you would hold the life and death of all these beings.
Whoever you want to die, dies; whenever you want them to die, they die; however you want them to die, they die; and as many as you want to die, die.
.
. " The You Heavenly Venerable hastily jabbed him in the ribs and whispered, "Mu Heavenly Venerable, are you guiding him to master the Book of Life and Death, or luring him to fall as you have?