Chapter 1577 — The Moment the Heavenly Venerable Was Attacked

Above the Yong River, the mist grew heavier and heavier, and within the fog the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness drove the body of the Vermilion Bird onward in headlong flight; through the haze he could dimly make out figures looming one after another on the river's surface, while the scenery along both banks shifted at dizzying speed. Mountains rose and fell; seas turned to mulberry fields.

He pressed forward after them and saw that they were figures of Shen Mu, one after another, each in a different attitude.

But when he flew up close, he discovered that these Shen Mus were all phantoms — phantoms branded upon the long river of time, as if time itself were flowing backward, returning to the past.

He looked behind and saw his own chain of phantoms, laid out from the far distance to where he stood, and with the flight of the Vermilion Bird's body the chain continued to grow. Swift as the Vermilion Bird's flight was, the scenery on the banks seemed to the Grand Emperor to stay forever in place; no matter how he flew, he was merely crossing into the past, journeying back into history.

In truth, he had never moved at all — he had remained in the same spot from beginning to end; it was only history that was moving backward. This divine art was beyond even the present Grand Emperor's comprehension, and the many Heavenly Venerables of today, including Heavenly Venerable Hao and Heavenly Venerable Xiao, would likely fail to grasp the Immutable Art as well.

"If he were to rescue Heavenly Venerable Ling, what would be left to stop him? " He journeyed through that fog knowing neither day nor night, and from start to finish he never caught up with Shen Mu.

He could only see blurred shadows ahead, catching the faintest glimpse of Shen Mu's figure, but every time he gave chase, he found it was merely another phantom that Shen Mu had left behind in history.

He flew straight through one phantom after another, as though passing through mist.

Then, abruptly, the fog ahead began to thin, and the water of the Heavenly River below was no longer flowing in reverse — ever since entering the mist, the river beneath their feet had been running backward.

At last the Heavenly River's current changed from an east-to-west flow to a west-to-east flow, and the surrounding mist scattered.

Looking into the distance, the Grand Emperor saw a heavenly court wreathed in divine light appear before him. He froze for a moment, gazing in disbelief at that court from which beams of divine light soared toward the sky. The Shanghuang Heavenly Court!

Or rather, the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court!

This court, which had vanished for so very long, had actually appeared before his eyes like this! "Could it be that we have returned to the Shanghuang era?

" he thought, shaken beyond measure. Drawing his gaze closer, he saw Shen Mu, who was walking on the river's surface, heading toward the Shanghuang Heavenly Court.

At the same time, the Grand Emperor saw Heavenly Venerable Ling standing before the Southern Heavenly Gate of the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court — a sight that felt to him both familiar and strange.

The Vermilion Bird shook its head and steadied its senses.

Through the eyes of the Vermilion Bird's body, the Grand Emperor saw the Heavenly Emperor of the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court — a Heavenly Emperor of the human race, the last human Heavenly Emperor of the Shanghuang era — standing beneath the Southern Heavenly Gate, behind Heavenly Venerable Ling.

With him stood the many divine generals and divine officials of the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court, among them Ling's disciple, Yi Shisheng.

"This scene.

.

. it is the very moment when Heavenly Venerable Ling's Immutable Art reached full mastery and was first unleashed in its entirety!

The first time Heavenly Venerable Ling used the Immutable Art — which is to say.

. .

" The Grand Emperor suddenly understood; he hastily looked up and saw the sky split open!

He saw the Heavenly Emperor Taichu! Or rather — it was the Grand Emperor's own primordial spirit, the Heavenly Venerable Ming Fangyu, driving the body of the Heavenly Emperor as he came slaughtering down from the Heavenly Court beyond the realm, aimed straight at Heavenly Venerable Ling!

At that time, the Grand Emperor had borne two identities: one was Ming Fangyu, the other Qiang Tianfei.

Ming Fangyu was the reincarnated body of his primordial spirit, while Qiang Tianfei was the vessel his divine consciousness had borrowed for a second life.

The Grand Emperor stopped in his tracks and looked up.

The Heavenly Emperor Taichu's form, incomparably majestic and mighty, descended from the sky, a long spear in hand, while before the Southern Heavenly Gate of the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court, Heavenly Venerable Ling was in the very act of unleashing the Immutable Art! At that moment, Shen Mu ahead of him halted as well — and everything became still.

Utterly still. Whether it was the body of the Heavenly Emperor driven by the Grand Emperor Ming Fangyu, or Heavenly Venerable Ling in the midst of casting the Immutable Art, or the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Emperor, Yi Shisheng, and the others — all were frozen motionless.

The wind that had howled across the river, the divine light that had gushed from the Shanghuang Heavenly Court, the waters of the Heavenly River that had been flowing through the channel — all were stilled at once!

The Grand Emperor wanted to hurl himself at Shen Mu, but discovered to his horror that he could not move!

Not only was the Vermilion Bird's body immobile, but even the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness could not stir in the slightest, and terror filled his heart: "What dreadful power is this? Has Taiyi, the Dao-Achiever, made his move?

" "It is not Taiyi or any other Dao-Achiever.

" Shen Mu, as if sensing his thoughts, spoke from ahead of him, unhurried: "Rather, it was I who, using Heavenly Venerable Ling's hairpin, summoned forth her Immutable Art.

You and I are both within this Art at this very moment, and you, Grand Emperor, have already become the immutable matter within it, while I, as an outsider, observe the changes of that immutable matter. " Shen Mu turned his head and gave him a faint smile, but to the Grand Emperor that smile seemed the smile of the most evil demon!

"Immutable matter may be regarded as the process of material flow.

Time does not exist, but it can serve as a unit of measurement. For each step I take — if I walk forward, time flows in reverse, going back; if I walk backward, time flows onward, going forward. " Shen Mu explained to him: "If I stand still in place, all the immutable matter within this Art will come to a halt. The only thing that will not be halted is me.

Now that I have said this, Grand Emperor, you should understand?

" The Grand Emperor did understand, and said in a hoarse voice: "You mean to say that I have become immutable matter? But then why did I not sense it even myself? " Shen Mu turned around.

As his body turned, the matter within the whole Immutable Art likewise underwent subtle shifts — time flowing now forward, now backward. It was as if the entire world were an illusion, an illusion stitched together from countless scenes, and Shen Mu's existence caused this false world to stutter.

Only when Shen Mu stood firm did the disturbance fade. "Within the Immutable Art, the reversal, advance, or suspension of time are all consequences of changes in the immutable matter.

" Shen Mu stepped toward him, but to the Grand Emperor's horror, though Shen Mu was moving now, he himself still could not stir in the least! What was strange was that as Shen Mu walked, the scenery around them kept changing: Ming Fangyu, controlling the body of the Heavenly Emperor, drove his spear through the back of Heavenly Venerable Ling's heart, piercing the woman's body through, lifting it up, and hurling it into the Heavenly River!