Chapter 1545 — Beyond the Cure of Medicine, Beyond the Power to Save
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The Ancestor Divine King gave a cold snort: "Come, then, if you have the nerve!
" Yet for all that, the sight of Fire Heavenly Venerable's wretched state left a lingering dread in his heart; he hurried to Hao Heavenly Venerable's side and did not dare act alone.
On the Dao tree, Fire Heavenly Venerable's face was utterly destroyed, most of the bones of his skull shattered.
Between the broken bones, threads and wisps of chaos qi still dripped from the wounds; the Ancestor Divine King could even see the man's bulging eyeballs, the inner structure of his nasal cavity, even his brain. More horrifying still, Fire Heavenly Venerable's teeth had been dissolved away, leaving only three or four; his tongue, however, had been preserved, and his mouth could no longer contain it — half of it lolled outside.
In former days Fire Heavenly Venerable had been handsome and uncommon, dignified in bearing, and possessed of a stern uprightness that filled all who beheld him with awe and reverence. Now he had become a hideous thing no one dared look at directly, a misery beyond words.
One of his arms was gone; the other had turned to white bone, and the bone was covered in sword marks, and within those marks sword light still flickered from time to time.
Hao Heavenly Venerable examined his wounds closely, then suddenly raised a hand and struck, shearing the bone arm off clean at the shoulder, and said in a low voice: "Can your Creation Mystic Art restore your arms?
" Fire Heavenly Venerable said nothing. Hao Heavenly Venerable smiled faintly and said, with an easy air: "The Jingping Reforms — you too hid a reincarnated body in Jingping and secretly stole the fruits of the reform.
Do not tell me you never studied Jingping's Creation Mystic Art. " Fire Heavenly Venerable's voice was hoarse: "Nothing escapes you, Brother Hao.
" He stirred his Creation Mystic Art; at the stumps of both arms flesh and blood swelled and broken bone sprouted, and soon two slender arms grew out, like the arms of an infant, hands and arms alike stunted and short.
The arts that circulated out of Jingping were all built upon the foundation of the Reforms; without the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, Jingping's techniques were exceedingly hard to master. Fire Heavenly Venerable had never opened the Heavenly River Divine Treasury — to open the Heavenly River was too great a risk for him — and so his reincarnated body cultivated Jingping's arts, while his true body still walked the traditional path of the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury.
His Creation Mystic Art he could only re-derive from his own understanding; but plainly the art he had derived could not yet make flesh and primordial spirit grow forth in perfection, and was nothing like Shen Mu's, so nimble and swift.
He must wait for his two short arms and short hands to go on growing before he could be restored as before — and that would take several days. Hao Heavenly Venerable laughed: "Mu Tianzun boasts that no one can heal a wound made by his divine arts.
From the look of it, that was nothing but a boast.
" Fire Heavenly Venerable's voice grew hoarser still: "The wounds on my face — the Creation Mystic Art cannot heal them! " Hao Heavenly Venerable was briefly startled, and he studied the man's face closely — and saw that Fire Heavenly Venerable's face was exactly as before, not a shred of flesh or blood had grown.
The Creation Mystic Art was utterly useless. Hao Heavenly Venerable mused for a moment, then stepped back two paces: "Divine King, cut the wounds from his face entirely.
" The Ancestor Divine King came forward and stood before Fire Heavenly Venerable, smiling: "Brother Fire, the wounds on your face hold remnants of that thief Mu's divine arts.
His arts are not easily broken, so we must cut away your flesh and blood together with the remnants.
But the wounds run deep — I fear I may slice off your eyes and tongue along with them, and perhaps half your brain into the bargain.