Chapter 1577 — The Moment the Heavenly Venerable Was Attacked
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Above the Yong River, the mist grew heavier and heavier, and within the fog the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness drove the body of the Vermilion Bird onward in headlong flight; through the haze he could dimly make out figures looming one after another on the river's surface, while the scenery along both banks shifted at dizzying speed. Mountains rose and fell; seas turned to mulberry fields.
He pressed forward after them and saw that they were figures of Shen Mu, one after another, each in a different attitude.
But when he flew up close, he discovered that these Shen Mus were all phantoms — phantoms branded upon the long river of time, as if time itself were flowing backward, returning to the past.
He looked behind and saw his own chain of phantoms, laid out from the far distance to where he stood, and with the flight of the Vermilion Bird's body the chain continued to grow. Swift as the Vermilion Bird's flight was, the scenery on the banks seemed to the Grand Emperor to stay forever in place; no matter how he flew, he was merely crossing into the past, journeying back into history.
In truth, he had never moved at all — he had remained in the same spot from beginning to end; it was only history that was moving backward. This divine art was beyond even the present Grand Emperor's comprehension, and the many Heavenly Venerables of today, including Heavenly Venerable Hao and Heavenly Venerable Xiao, would likely fail to grasp the Immutable Art as well.
"If he were to rescue Heavenly Venerable Ling, what would be left to stop him? " He journeyed through that fog knowing neither day nor night, and from start to finish he never caught up with Shen Mu.
He could only see blurred shadows ahead, catching the faintest glimpse of Shen Mu's figure, but every time he gave chase, he found it was merely another phantom that Shen Mu had left behind in history.
He flew straight through one phantom after another, as though passing through mist.
Then, abruptly, the fog ahead began to thin, and the water of the Heavenly River below was no longer flowing in reverse — ever since entering the mist, the river beneath their feet had been running backward.
At last the Heavenly River's current changed from an east-to-west flow to a west-to-east flow, and the surrounding mist scattered.
Looking into the distance, the Grand Emperor saw a heavenly court wreathed in divine light appear before him. He froze for a moment, gazing in disbelief at that court from which beams of divine light soared toward the sky. The Shanghuang Heavenly Court!
Or rather, the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court!
This court, which had vanished for so very long, had actually appeared before his eyes like this! "Could it be that we have returned to the Shanghuang era?
" he thought, shaken beyond measure. Drawing his gaze closer, he saw Shen Mu, who was walking on the river's surface, heading toward the Shanghuang Heavenly Court.
At the same time, the Grand Emperor saw Heavenly Venerable Ling standing before the Southern Heavenly Gate of the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court — a sight that felt to him both familiar and strange.
The Vermilion Bird shook its head and steadied its senses.
Through the eyes of the Vermilion Bird's body, the Grand Emperor saw the Heavenly Emperor of the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court — a Heavenly Emperor of the human race, the last human Heavenly Emperor of the Shanghuang era — standing beneath the Southern Heavenly Gate, behind Heavenly Venerable Ling.
With him stood the many divine generals and divine officials of the Southern Shanghuang Heavenly Court, among them Ling's disciple, Yi Shisheng.
"This scene.
.
. it is the very moment when Heavenly Venerable Ling's Immutable Art reached full mastery and was first unleashed in its entirety!
The first time Heavenly Venerable Ling used the Immutable Art — which is to say.
. .
" The Grand Emperor suddenly understood; he hastily looked up and saw the sky split open!