Chapter 1549 — Utterly Shameless
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
On the fourth long river of chaos, Qiang Tianfei lay sprawled on the little boat, too exhausted to breathe, and simply stopped resisting the eerie beings of the long river of chaos, as though she had resigned herself to her fate. Shen Mu drew his Kalpa Sword and swept it through the air, and a moment later a withered skeleton in the river was ground to dust by his blade.
All at once the rest of the crossing turned calm, and no more eerie events occurred.
Qiang Tianfei sat bolt upright, fixed her eyes on him, and suddenly laughed in fury: "You clearly have the means to suppress the eerie beings in the river, so why did you insist on making me fight and burn my mana?
" Shen Mu was still comprehending the Dao of Taiji, cultivating Taiji origin qi; he glanced up at her and said with perfect earnestness: "I supply the boat, you supply the strength — a fair trade. Besides, I did it for your own good.
The eerie beings in the river are Dao-attainers of primeval universes, and to cross blades with them is a blessing hard to come by for either of us. A Dao-attainer feeding you moves — where else would you find such an opportunity? Tai Di, you no longer have the heart of a powerhouse. " Qiang Tianfei could not out-argue him: the eerie beings in the river were Dao-attainers who could never transcend, forever mired in the kalpa of destruction, eager to drag others down with them. If one could truly trade blows with such Dao-attainers, it would indeed be a rare encounter — but an encounter bought with mortal peril.
And these Dao-attainers could not be killed no matter how one tried; at most one could beat them back into the kalpa of destruction. She was not like Shen Mu, who had mastered the Kalpa-Breaking Sword and could even damage their dao bones, threatening the very root of their being.
Facing such peril again and again, sooner or later she would capsize in a ditch. Another month and more passed before the little boat crossed the long river of chaos.
Shen Mu's World Tree drew another portion of chaos qi from this river, and after that absorbed no more.
Shen Mu felt that having passed through this river, his cultivation had advanced once again, and he thought to himself: "Why does the World Tree grow when we cross a long river of chaos? Could it be that the World Tree feeds on the kalpa of destruction, that only by drawing the energy of the kalpa of destruction can it grow?
" He grew all the more curious: if he crossed all sixteen long rivers of chaos, to what level would his cultivation rise? Could he catch up to the Tianzuns?
"Perhaps not. " He thought it over carefully. The ten Tianzuns of today had all begun cultivating treasure halls, using those halls to deepen their cultivation and consolidate the Heavenly Court realm, and their progress was very swift.
He himself could probably only keep pace with them, not fall too far behind.
"But if I entered the kalpa of destruction myself, the World Tree would surely draw even more nourishment, wouldn't it?
" A wild idea suddenly rose in his mind — so wild that it startled even him: "If I could pass through the sixteen rivers rather than walk upon their surface, would my World Tree grow into a great tree?
And to what level would my cultivation rise? " Bold as the idea was, he did not dare put it into practice.
As he was now, he simply lacked the strength to enter the long river of chaos, to enter the kalpa of destruction: neither his fleshly body, nor his primordial spirit, nor his great Dao could hold out for long.
On the fifth long river of chaos, Qiang Tianfei watched Shen Mu in silence.
After a long while, she suddenly asked: "Mu Tianzun, why have you not aged? " Shen Mu's heart gave a start; he woke from his comprehension and asked in surprise: "Why does Her Highness Tianfei ask such a question? " "Why have you not aged?
" Qiang Tianfei stared fixedly at him, her voice a little hoarse: "These past days I have been watching you.