Chapter 1500 — An Uninvited Guest from Afar

Wei Suifeng and Shu Jun nodded gravely.

Yan'er looked over with pleading eyes, and Shen Mu hesitated before saying, "We must cross layer upon layer of seals at extreme speed and enter the Pixiang Hall without rousing them. If we take you along. .

. " The Lame Elder shook his head.

"It is already hard enough for me and Little Fatty to carry Shen'er. If we take you as well, we will not be able to bear it.

" Shen Mu's face flushed red, and he mumbled, "I am fast too, and I have cultivated the Moon Heavenly Venerable's Ultimate Void Scripture. Crossing space is easy for me. .

.

" Lan Yutian kindly reminded him, "Brother, a spatial divine art cannot pass through the seals without rousing them.

Only speed at its absolute limit can carry you through without touching a hair of them.

" "I know that well enough," Shen Mu said sullenly. "I am, after all, the second-greatest shadow thief under heaven.

.

. " "Third, not second.

" The Lame Elder kept backing away, threw him that reminder, then bellowed, "Are you ready? If you are ready, then. .

. " "Go! " At his roar, three figures shot out in an instant, their speed climbing madly — yet they did not head straight for the Pixiang Hall, but raced toward the heart of the Hundred Thousand Black Mountains.

In the blink of an eye, boom, boom, boom, sonic booms rang out; the three had pushed their speed to the limit their bodies could bear, and then they stepped out, becoming three streaks of light and shadow. Within that radiance the three seemed to ignore space itself, their forms like flowing light!

Even so, their speed was still rising.

Shen Mu's mana was the most powerful and his strength the greatest, but when it came to sheer speed he was still a notch slower than the Lame Elder and Lan Yutian. By the time the three reached the heart of the Hundred Thousand Black Mountains, their speed had reached its absolute limit!

The three streaks of light flickered through the Hundred Thousand Black Mountains in almost leaping fashion, drawing closer and closer to the crowd!

Once their speed reached its limit, a strange sight unfolded before the eyes of the crowd. Their bodies seemed to be made of no substance at all; even when they touched the mountain peaks, it was as if they met nothing, and they passed straight through the mountains!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The three streaks of light hurtled toward the Pixiang Hall and vanished one after another, passing through seal after seal, while the seals did not stir in the slightest, letting them through — leaving the crowd outside staring, dumbstruck! What the crowd saw differed from what Shen Mu and the others saw.

The crowd saw only that they passed through; but in the vision of Shen Mu and his companions, they were passing through seals of immense size. Those seals were dazzling beyond measure, each with a different structure: giants whose heads held up the sky and whose feet stood on the earth; strange beasts of every hue; ancient gods in every form; and constructions of arcane calculation runes, extraordinary and strange, like machines of exquisite precision. Beyond these there was a vast starry sky wrought of divine sense; the Great Emperor of the Myriad Ways, formed of primordial qi, enthroned within it; the Heavenly Duke's great hand of the heavenly dao inverted and pressing down; and Tubo, with matchless power, shaking the Nether River into a long whip that sealed off the hall!

And the Guixu Abyss, spinning madly, devouring all things! They also encountered the seals of the Ten Heavenly Venerables — the great divine arts of Hao, Huo, Gong, Lang, Zu, Hong, Qiang, Yan, and the rest, coiled and gathered together, perilous beyond words! To the crowd outside the hall, the three passing through those seals was the work of an instant; but for the three themselves, time stretched endlessly.

Running at full strength, they crossed distances beyond knowing in a flash, yet after more than ten days of running, the seals of the Pixiang Hall still had no end!

Shen Mu was slower, and gradually fell behind; but after some ten-odd days he began to catch up with the Lame Elder and Lan Yutian. The Lame Elder and Lan Yutian were indeed faster than he, but neither was of very high cultivation; after running so long, their mana could no longer sustain them.

Shen Mu at once unfolded his Divine Treasury Domain, covering the two of them, and poured his own mana into them without cease. The Lame Elder and Lan Yutian were greatly heartened; one on each side, they took hold of Shen Mu and ran with all their might. They ran at full strength for several tens of days more, watching the various seals fly past their eyes like a riot of blossoms. The Lame Elder and Lan Yutian were astonished and awed, for the mana surging from Shen Mu was still inexhaustible, like a boundless ocean, as though it could supply them with abundant vitality forever.

"Shen'er's speed may not be great, but this mana of his is truly mighty! " the Lame Elder could not help marveling inwardly.

Suddenly a gateway appeared ahead: a bronze gate, ancient and magnificent, rose before their eyes. The three were greatly heartened.

With a thunderous boom they burst through the last seal, and could not check their momentum; tumbling and rolling, the three plunged through the gateway.

On either side, massive bronze pillars flashed past their eyes, and in that hurried moment they glimpsed lamp after lamp of green flame.

They were still sliding when Shen Mu suddenly shot into the air, flung his arms wide, and spread out his vast mana, halting the three in place and finally bringing their momentum to a stop. Lan Yutian scrambled up in haste and helped the Lame Elder to his feet. Shen Mu descended slowly, standing guard before the two, and reached up to take down the divine bow he had obtained from the previous universe era, gripping it in his hand. The Lame Elder likewise hastily brought out the Lapis Azure Heaven Banner and gave the mighty treasure a shake; the Twenty-Eight Heavens revolved and bloomed, shielding them.

Then they heard the sound of reading from within the hall, clear and pleasing to the ear: ".

. . What Heaven has conferred is called the nature; an accordance with this nature is called the Way; the cultivation of the Way is called instruction. The Way may not be left for an instant!

If it could be left, it would not be the Way. .

. " Astonished, Shen Mu followed the sound and crept forward.

The three passed down a long corridor; the interior of the Pixiang Hall was a labyrinth of a thousand turns, exceedingly intricate. They walked on for an unknowable distance, and at last came to the place from which the reading came.

It looked like a village schoolroom, with many students seated there. Lan Yutian peered in through the window and could not help but stare: he saw another Lan Yutian sitting on the ground, swaying his head as he chanted the scriptures!

Shen Mu's gaze, meanwhile, fell upon a woman in a great red robe. She too was chanting the scriptures — and she was none other than the Southern Emperor, Vermilion Bird! Besides the Southern Emperor and the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, there were other strange and curious figures in this schoolroom: a burly Creator, ancient gods of peculiar appearance — and one who made the Lame Elder's whole body shudder.

He breathed, "Emperor Ming's soul. .

. " Shen Mu's heart skipped.

He said quickly, "Which one is Emperor Ming's soul? " The Lame Elder pointed a finger and lowered his voice.

"That one, the one who looks so gentle and refined. At the place where Emperor Ming fell in battle I saw his head.

He was dismembered, torn into countless pieces. All over the battlefield of Emperor Ming there were his severed limbs and his head. .

.