Chapter 1179 — One Leaf, One Universe
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
This mountain range was terrifying in its length, its slopes sheer and steep, and no sooner had Shen Mu entered it than he sensed something uncanny: the mountain gave a man the feeling that all was not right. Here his vital qi slowed and turned sluggish, flowing as though grit had been mixed into it.
Shen Mu at once roused the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner, and the Twenty-Eight Heavens began to turn; yet the more he strove to marshal the Twenty-Eight Heavens, the more clogged and labored the working became.
Nor was that all — he could feel his very flesh and his primordial spirit going rigid, and the divine blood within him seemed bent on turning solid.
Shen Mu raised his eyes: the twenty-eight layers of heaven of the Azure-Sky Banner had gone a murky gray, and he could not tell what had brought this about.
Long Qilin turned to look at its own tail and cried out in alarm, "Sect Master, I am about to seize up!
" "The power here is exceedingly strange.
Withdraw, all of you, and let me scout the way. " Shen Mu made Yan'er and Long Qilin pull back while he climbed on alone, murmuring low, "By rights, the Taiji ore vein should be yin qi and yang qi, the two polarities of chaos on the verge of dividing yet not yet divided.
This place is somewhat odd. " Before long, leaning on the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner, he came to a mountain path — surely a road cut by the Creators who had entered this place. Plainly those Creators had meant to come here and mine the divine stones, and they must already have found where the ore vein lay.
"If I but follow this path, I can find where the Taiji ore vein lies.
" Shen Mu climbed on and on, and following the path around several hills, he suddenly saw a stone statue of immense height standing in the road.
Approaching cautiously, he saw that the statue faced toward the mining district, one foot lifted as if about to walk, and that on its back were slung the tools of excavation, forged of divine metal. He circled round to the statue's front and looked up: the figure carved there should be a Creator, only for some reason it had been set up here.
"The primordial age had many strange customs and folkways.
This must be the custom of some Creator race that lived by mining.
" He walked on, and suddenly saw another stone statue beside the road, equally tall — an adult Creator, surely.
Looking ahead, he saw that along this road, at set intervals, stood the statue of one or several Creators.
Shen Mu's expression turned grave; one or two statues might still be a Creator custom, but these several dozen could not be custom!
He rose into the air and alighted before one of the statues, studying its brow.
In the vertical eye at the statue's brow was inlaid a primordial divine stone.
"These statues are all Creators!
" Shen Mu looked all around and thought, "The Creators' miners came here, but they met the uncanny power within the Taiji ore vein and were turned to stone! Is this the Way of Creation?
" He grew wary in spite of himself and drew a long breath — and in that breath there was much impurity, until even his own vital qi ran turbid!
Shen Mu was deeply shaken.
He took out the broken sword and lightly drew it across his palm; blood welled from the cut.
He was already in the True God realm, and all the blood in his body had long since become divine blood, possessed of inconceivable power. Were his blood to fall to the ground, even a single drop would become a lake of blood, and the power stored in it could make grass and trees run wild, could bring dead wood back to spring, could turn a thousand leagues of land into dense forest!
Even more, his divine blood could give grass and trees spirit essence, turning them into sprites.
Watered-down Heavenly Venerable though he might be, the divine blood in him held a vast and dreadful vitality!