Chapter 1048 — The Crown Prince Escapes the Siege
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
For now he had only confirmed the Ancestral Court's approximate location; of its seals he still knew nothing. There remained also the precise spatial and geographic data of the Four Pole Heavens, Xuandu, and the Guixu Abyss, as well as the detailed dimensional coordinates of the Longhan Heavenly Court before its sundering—all of which he must likewise ascertain. Only then could he pinpoint the Ancestral Court's position with accuracy. The spatial geography of the Four Pole Heavens, Xuandu, and the Abyss could be obtained from the spirit-energy translocation bridge's data.
The translocation bridge had been designed by Shen Mu and the Black Tiger God together; since it required different spatial-geographic data to connect different worlds, acquiring such data posed no difficulty whatsoever for Shen Mu.
Only the Guixu Abyss, he feared, had never yet been linked by a spirit-energy translocation bridge—and even if one existed, it would be in the hands of the Empress Dowager and Yuanmu.
Still, Shen Mu had once been to the Guixu Abyss; he need only go again to fix its spatial dimensions. The sole difficulty lay in determining the original altitude of the Longhan Heavenly Court. On this point he had no precise data.
Once the Ancestral Court's exact position was established, he could—leaving all else aside—construct a grand spatial teleportation array and transmit himself directly into the Ancestral Court. "No wonder Youming, the Grand Crown Prince of the Northern Emperor Xuanwu, said he had seen me in the Longhan era.
I must have gone to measure the Heavenly Court's altitude. " Shen Mu's expression turned peculiar.
He thought: "Then when did I go to the Longhan Heavenly Court?
Who were the man and woman who stole the Azure Heaven Banner from the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace?
. .
. But the reverse side of the Heavenly Court is also part of the Ancestral Court's seal—why has the Heavenly Court moved upward?
If the Heavenly Court has shifted, does that not mean the seal has a flaw? " He was about to study in detail the consequences of the Heavenly Court's upward displacement when the Heavenly Dragon's voice came again from outside the carriage: "Heavenly Worthy, the Martial Emperor leads the host to welcome you! " "No time now. Once I leave the Northern Pole Heaven, I shall calculate the consequences of the Heavenly Court's ascent! " Shen Mu wasted no further thought, dispersed the Vast Cosmic Star Map, and said with a smile: "Dragon Fatty, Yan'er, come with me to meet the Martial Emperor!
" The jeweled carriage halted. He stepped out and saw before him the other half of the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, where the Martial Emperor had already led a great company of goddess officials to wait.
The Martial Emperor bore none of the seductress's airs that Emperor Xuan had spoken of; on the contrary, she seemed far more upright and far more majestic than Emperor Xuan.
This woman wore an imperial robe of interwoven red and black, embroidered with a pattern of peonies wafting fragrance, among whose blossoms a soaring serpent coiled in a pose of rearing flight. Her brows were like spread goose-feather plumes, a dot of cinnabar at the center of her brow, her thin lips lightly powdered—and she did not, as Emperor Xuan had claimed, come forward to give Shen Mu a show of authority.
Instead she greeted him with measured grace, wholly at ease, and said: "Heavenly Worthy Mu. " Shen Mu hurriedly stepped from the carriage and returned the salute: "Elder Sister Martial Emperor.
" The Martial Emperor could not suppress a smile. "They say Heavenly Worthy Mu calls every woman he meets 'elder sister. ' Seeing you today, it is indeed so. " Shen Mu said gravely: "It is not always so.
" The Martial Emperor gave an "oh? " Shen Mu continued: "When I meet a beautiful woman, I cannot help but call her elder sister. Just now, seeing the Martial Emperor, I involuntarily fell into the habit and blurted it out without thinking.