Chapter 1681 — The Footsteps of That Heavenly Venerable

Shen Mu smiled a smile that was not quite a smile, and pressed the Da Feng coin back into the god-devil's hand. "No need for that. I have money enough.

Keep these two Da Feng coins for now; if they don't cover it, I'll make up the difference the next time I come. " The god-devil gaped, staring blankly as Shen Mu "stood" upon the plank door and drifted into the stream of light on the Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge.

No sooner had Shen Mu and the plank door entered that stream than it abruptly howled and swelled, thickening several times over, until the whole of the Star Source heavens quaked and shuddered, the earth shook, and the stars swayed. The altar of the Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge was immense, a mountain a thousand fathoms tall, cast whole from divine gold and divided into many tiers; when it turned, each tier revolved in its own direction, the runes upon them leaping without cease, bearing up the pressure of the translocation. The old bridge had been built by Shen Mu and the Black Tiger God.

It had one main altar, and the other was a common altar; but their attainments in the arts of calculation were not great in those days, and the bridge they made was crude. After a century and more of growth in Jingping, however, the bridge's efficiency had soared. Both ends were now main altars, and each could share the burden of the translocation's pressure. Yet the instant Shen Mu entered the bridge, the stream of light swelled so swiftly that the runes of the main altar of the Star Source heavens were driven to their utmost in the space of a single breath.

The god-devil's eyes went round. The tiers were spinning like tops, so fast that the runes shifted faster still, until the whole altar seemed to have been set in the sun to be forged, burned red-hot. "Quick, fetch the water gods! " the god-devil cried in a fluster.

"Cool the altar! " Every Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge was furnished with water gods and river gods; such was the rule, a safeguard against the day some mighty being crossed over and overloaded the altar, wrecking the bridge and killing all upon it.

When the Heavenly Court had migrated from the Primordial Realm to the Ancestral Court, it had ordered Jingping to build many enormous translocation bridges, and these had carried the whole of the Heavenly Court across in one movement. The spirit-energy surges then had been so violent that the Heavenly Court's armies of gods and devils had been forced to use the waters of the Heavenly River to cool the altars.

Several water gods flew up and did all in their power to summon the neighboring rivers, striving to cool the altar, but common river water was of no use whatever. The tiers spun faster and faster, scorching the altar red, and at once someone nearby shouted, "Draw down the waters of the Heavenly River to cool it! " The others looked at one another.

The Heavenly River ran through the Northern Pole Heaven, through the domain of the Northern Emperor Xuanwu.

The Star Source heavens too were founded near the Heavenly River, but far indeed from the translocation bridge.

Who among them had the power to draw down its waters? Just then a youth suddenly flew up into the air and worked his arts upon the void, and the waters of the Heavenly River came pouring down from the heavens in a mighty flood, like a long water dragon coiling round and round the Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge. The crowd roared its praise as one, and then someone recognized the youth and cried out in delight, "It's the Venerable Shepherd's younger brother, the one called Lan Yutian!

" Lan Yutian commanded the Heavenly River's waters, yet still the altar's heat climbed, and it looked as though it must pass its limit — and then, of a sudden, the intensity of the translocation stopped rising. Lan Yutian was briefly startled, then understood. "My brother must have sensed that he was translocating too fast for the bridge to bear, so he's holding back his own speed, giving the Primordial Realm and the Star Source heavens time to balance their spirit energies. " Shen Mu was too strong.

Had he come to Jingping in one sustained surge, the bridge would surely have burst. So he deliberately slowed himself within the stream of spirit-energy light, to preserve the bridge.

That, however, meant it might be days yet before he reached Jingping. The lord of the Star Source Heaven came at the news as well.

Seeing that the Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge had not been destroyed, he let out a long breath, thanked Lan Yutian in the sky, then seized the god-devil who kept the bridge, hauled him up by the collar, and demanded in a fury, "What is the meaning of this? " The god-devil poured out his grievance. "I don't know either!

I only saw a cripple with no legs sitting on a plank door, and when he went into the bridge, this is what happened. By my lord's command, I charged him a single Da Feng coin for the crossing. .

. " The Star Source lord choked on his words.

He stammered, "One Da Feng coin for the crossing. .

. " "But he insisted on giving me two," the god-devil said hastily, "and said he would pay the rest later if it wasn't enough. . .

" "And will he ever pay it?

" The Star Source lord set him down and stared in dread at the altar still spinning, murmuring, "Jingping went to such pains to build this bridge, and we've made a little money from the trade with them.

If it collapses, all is finished.

. . " He paced round and round the Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge, then suddenly came to himself and hauled the god-devil up again. "Who was it that entered the bridge?

" "A cripple with no legs —" the god-devil struggled. "What did he look like? " The god-devil hastily sketched Shen Mu's features with his vital energy, and the Star Source lord stood dumbstruck.

A long while passed before he recovered himself.

He set the god-devil down and waved a hand.

"Forget this whole matter.

Don't go thinking about him paying the rest of the crossing fee. " The god-devil was baffled. The Star Source lord stroked the beard on his face and thought, "That man is the leader of the Heavenly Alliance, the Venerable Shepherd!

I saw him once, at the last meeting of the Alliance! How has he come to my little Star Source Heaven?

And what has befallen his legs.

.

. " He lifted his head to the spirit energy that still surged without cease, and a chill took him. "The Venerable Shepherd is truly mighty. Look how much spirit energy came flooding through with him.

How could a being of such strength have lost his legs?

" Six or seven days later, the Star Source lord was astonished all the more. The bridge had run at full power for so long, and still the translocation had not ended. Such a thing was all but impossible.

Even if he, a lord, were to enter the bridge, at such intensity the translocation would bring him to Jingping within a single hour. "Worthy indeed of the Venerable Shepherd! " Two or three days more, and the incoming spirit energy abruptly slackened.

Before long the bridge returned to its everyday appearance; the tiers of the altar slowed until, after a good while, they turned but once. The Star Source lord breathed out in relief and waved a hand, signaling that the merchant caravans might enter the bridge. For a dozen days and more, the merchant ships jammed about the altar had formed a long dragon, waiting to enter; but the translocation's spirit energy had been so violent that the god-devils guarding the place had held them all back.

Seeing Lan Yutian descend from the sky, the Star Source lord hurried to meet him, studied him closely, and bowed, awed. "Are you the Venerable Yu?

" Lan Yutian waved a hand and smiled.

"I am called Lan Yutian. Venerable Yu is a title I once held. " The Star Source lord bowed low in reverence.

"You created the Primordial Fetus Spirit Treasury and the art of becoming a god.