Chapter 1224 — Fellow Cultivator, Wait a Moment
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
On this day, a great upheaval shook the Primal World. Ling Venerable, Moon Venerable, and Fire Venerable joined hands with Xiao Weisu, the first Supreme Emperor, to slay Earth Mother and fell the Primal Tree.
The fifteenth Southern Supreme Emperor led a great army against the Northern Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court, rooting out this cancer of the Primal World at a single stroke.
In that battle the Southern Supreme Emperor unified the Primal World, and within it were countless tales worthy of song and tears that cannot be told one by one.
On the day Earth Mother's head was taken, strange signs appeared in the heavens, and many inconceivable things came to pass. The fall of the Primal Tree was one matter; beyond it there were also the derangement of space and the descent of the divine. Some said it was Hao Venerable, a renowned elder of the Outland Heavenly Court, who led the Heavenly Court's mighty ones down to aid Moon Venerable, Fire Venerable, and the rest in slaying Earth Mother.
Others said that Moon Venerable's divine power had run out of control, that she had been gravely wounded by Earth Mother, turned into a cripple, her face ruined. Still others said that Xiao Weisu had won the favor of Moon Venerable and Ling Venerable, and that the felled Primal Tree had been given into his keeping.
And others said that Ling Venerable and Fire Venerable had decreed that Xiao Weisu should rule the Primal World. But from that time on, few ever saw Moon Venerable again.
Ling Venerable likewise entered seclusion once more, showing signs of one who retires once his work is done.
What actually happened that day has already become history, unknown to outsiders.
That day, Moon Venerable fled back to her palace.
Had she wished to leave, no one in all the world could have stopped her; yet to rescue Ling Venerable, she did just as she had done in the dream.
She gave up her own legs and her face in exchange for Ling Venerable's chance to escape.
She all but crawled back into her palace, and at once laid down all manner of space seals and prohibitions, so that Hao Venerable and the others could not find her. "Yan'er, bring a screen.
Do not let outsiders see me," she said in a trembling voice.
The screen concealed her, and Yan'er, with great thoughtfulness, lit a lantern for her behind it. Trembling, Moon Venerable picked up a mirror.
Gazing at the ugly face within it, she flung the mirror away with a shaking hand.
Just then a figure came without a sound, yet Yan'er and the other palace maids seemed not to see him at all.
Shen Mu walked toward the screen.
Moon Venerable covered her face and said in a hoarse voice, "Do not come over.
I do not want you to see me as I am now. " Shen Mu pushed at the screen; Moon Venerable screamed.
No matter from which direction Shen Mu moved toward what lay behind the screen, the screen always barred his way. "Moon.
" Shen Mu, standing before the screen, said softly, "I am going back.
" Moon Venerable said nothing.
Shen Mu went on, "As of now I still cannot save you.
I cannot break Xiao Weisu's Innate Primal Qi, nor can I break Fire Venerable's divine power. But in the future, when your peach trees have grown throughout the myriad heavens and worlds, when I return again with this painting, you will regain the face you once had. And then you will still be Moon Venerable. " He bowed and turned to go.
"Fellow Daoist, wait for me.
" Behind the screen there was silence.
After a long while, the woman behind the screen, seated in the shadows, inclined herself ever so slightly.
Time flowed on.
The fall of the Supreme Emperor Era was now settled.