Chapter 1294 — A Pair of Invalids
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
After a moment, Celestial Venerable Hao knelt and bowed once more: "I beg you, Aunt, restore my other heavenly palaces!
" A faint smile surfaced on the Goddess of Taisu's face.
"However heaven-reaching your methods once were, you too must fall into my grasp, and you cannot escape. " This time, when the Land of No Sorrow attacked the Heavenly Court's main camp, it finally beat the gongs and withdrew the moment the Heavenly Court's reinforcements arrived.
The Land of No Sorrow and the Creators had not seized the chance to plunder territory; they had merely taken advantage of the chaos wrought by Shen Mu and Celestial Venerable Hao, and of the wavering hearts among the Heavenly Court's gods and devils, to launch a single assault and reap heads. Now that the Heavenly Court's reinforcements had come, they must naturally pull back. The Land of No Sorrow had won a great victory this time, and cheers rang out everywhere; yet the Woodcutter Sage at once ordered his forces to contract, preparing to fall back and hold the Void Bridge.
The experts among the Land of No Sorrow and the Creators had read the situation as well: falling back to the Void Bridge was a choice forced by circumstance, and an inevitable outcome besides.
The battle between Celestial Venerable Hao and the Great Emperor had wrecked the Collapsing Void, shrinking the distance between the Taixu entrance and the Taixu lands by countless times. Before, the Heavenly Court's reinforcements had needed at least a year to travel from the Taixu entrance to the Taixu lands; now, not even a single day was required.
Under such circumstances, there was simply no fight to be had between the Land of No Sorrow and the Heavenly Court! The Taixu lands could not possibly be held!
If they prepared now to fall back to the Void Bridge, much needless loss could be avoided in the future. Besides, the Taixu lands were now overrun everywhere with heart demons and corpse walkers, which would also slow the Heavenly Court's advance. Even if the Heavenly Court took the Taixu lands, it would make little use of them, and would have to guard against the assaults of heart demons.
And if they contracted their own forces, they would face far fewer heart demons.
In the Heavenly Court's main camp, the reinforcements arrived.
Celestial Venerable Huo and Celestial Venerable Xu, forcing their sick bodies onward, encouraged the three armies.
The Heavenly Court army that had come to their aid was the force originally garrisoning the Void Passage, and it brought with it the divine artifact of the Eastern Emperor and the divine artifact of the Southern Emperor. Celestial Venerable Hao too returned to the Heavenly Court's main camp, causing a great stir. Commanders from every quarter of the Heavenly Court came forward to pay their respects; Celestial Venerable Huo and Celestial Venerable Xu held a grand feast to welcome him back and wash the dust from his journey, and the generals offered blessings to cleanse him of his ill fortune.
Celestial Venerable Hao looked sickly and listless; his injuries were plainly grave and still unhealed.
Just then, a divine general suddenly came bearing word, bursting into the feast: "Celestial Venerable Mu has arrived! " A dead silence fell over the feast. Even Celestial Venerable Xu and Celestial Venerable Huo said not a word.
Every gaze in the hall turned in an instant to Celestial Venerable Hao. His breath came thin and unsteady, violent coughs shaking him from time to time, and he looked as though he might drop dead at any moment. Gasping twice for air, short of breath, he said, "Celestial Venerable Mu is one of the five founding elders of the Heavenly Alliance.
How can we leave him standing outside?
Invite him in at once.
.