Chapter 1655 — The Fall of That Heavenly Venerable
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
He hurriedly touched his own face — his face had been restored as well! Shocked and overjoyed, he was just then struck on the shoulder by a cleaver.
His Heavenly Venerable fleshly body was, in that moment, cut open by an utterly ordinary cleaver; an unimaginable agony came flooding through him, and tears streamed from Huotian Zun's eyes.
Suddenly he realized that his mana was gone as well; within his body there was no vital essence at all, no divine treasury whatsoever! He was as weak and small as these ignorant villagers!
"Kill him!
" The villagers' faces showed a fevered frenzy; face after face swayed before Huotian Zun, monstrously twisted.
Pff — The three tines of a manure rake drove into Huotian Zun's forehead, into his brain; Huotian Zun opened his mouth, wanting to speak, and someone drove a hunting spear into his chest. His strength left him and he fell to the ground; around him the villagers were in a frenzy, staves whirling, cleavers rising and falling, raining down on his body. "Wait!
" He heard someone shout, "Don't ruin his face!
We still have to cut off his head and claim the reward! " Darkness filled Huotian Zun's vision; all he could feel was a rough hand seizing his hair, a blade laid against his neck, and cut after cut, someone meaning to saw off his head.
His consciousness sank utterly into the dark. Then he heard the sound of a finger snap.
Beneath the World Tree, Shen Mu snapped his fingers, and Huotian Zun's fleshly body was restored; his soul flew back into it, and his consciousness grew clear once more.
"The Unchanging Divine Ability?
" Startled and delighted, Huotian Zun laughed: "Mutian Zun, you cannot bear to kill me, is that it? You are only punishing me — I know I was wrong!
" Shen Mu walked out from beneath the World Tree, and the World Tree moved along with him; Huotian Zun too was caught up by a force and carried along.
Before long, following Shen Mu, he arrived at a second village. Another crowd of villagers poured out; they seemed not to see Shen Mu at all, seeing only Huotian Zun, and they howled in their frenzy, charging with all kinds of crude weapons. Once more Huotian Zun fell in a pool of blood, and once more he felt someone seize his hair and saw at his neck with a blade.
The snap of fingers came, and all was restored. Huotian Zun followed Shen Mu against his will and cried, "Mutian Zun, I truly know I was wrong.
With my help, the world can be settled!
I know.
. . " Beside another village he was killed again.
The snap came, Huotian Zun revived, and again he followed Shen Mu toward the next village.
"Mutian Zun, surely your anger has cooled by now?
" Huotian Zun forced down his dread and laughed: "You and I together, and none in the world could stand against us! The situation is excellent now; I can help you get rid of Taichu, get rid of Emperor Haotian.
.
. " Again he was hacked to death by a crowd of rejoicing villagers.
In time, as the repetitions mounted, a deep dread grew in Huotian Zun's heart: Shen Mu was doing the same thing over and over, using the Way of Reincarnation to strip away every last scrap of his cultivation, letting him be hacked to death by the ignorant folk of the Southern Heaven, and then bringing him back to life! And through all of it, Shen Mu had not even glanced at him once, had not spoken a single word to him!
The dread in Huotian Zun's heart grew and grew: "He wants to kill me.
He truly wants me dead! He is only toying with me.
. .
" At last Shen Mu stopped walking and said, his face calm, "I am tired.
I had thought that watching you die over and over would give me pleasure, would give me the joy of avenging the human race of the Southern Heaven. And yet I have found that the ignorant folk of the Southern Heaven are still ignorant folk after they kill you; your dying again and again does not give me much pleasure at all.
" A thread of hope rose in Huotian Zun's heart, and he forced a smile: "Mutian Zun, I truly know I was wrong.