Chapter 1681 — The Footsteps of That Heavenly Venerable
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" Lan Yutian commanded the Heavenly River's waters, yet still the altar's heat climbed, and it looked as though it must pass its limit — and then, of a sudden, the intensity of the translocation stopped rising. Lan Yutian was briefly startled, then understood. "My brother must have sensed that he was translocating too fast for the bridge to bear, so he's holding back his own speed, giving the Primordial Realm and the Star Source heavens time to balance their spirit energies. " Shen Mu was too strong.
Had he come to Jingping in one sustained surge, the bridge would surely have burst. So he deliberately slowed himself within the stream of spirit-energy light, to preserve the bridge.
That, however, meant it might be days yet before he reached Jingping. The lord of the Star Source Heaven came at the news as well.
Seeing that the Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge had not been destroyed, he let out a long breath, thanked Lan Yutian in the sky, then seized the god-devil who kept the bridge, hauled him up by the collar, and demanded in a fury, "What is the meaning of this? " The god-devil poured out his grievance. "I don't know either!
I only saw a cripple with no legs sitting on a plank door, and when he went into the bridge, this is what happened. By my lord's command, I charged him a single Da Feng coin for the crossing. .
. " The Star Source lord choked on his words.
He stammered, "One Da Feng coin for the crossing. .
. " "But he insisted on giving me two," the god-devil said hastily, "and said he would pay the rest later if it wasn't enough. . .
" "And will he ever pay it?
" The Star Source lord set him down and stared in dread at the altar still spinning, murmuring, "Jingping went to such pains to build this bridge, and we've made a little money from the trade with them.
If it collapses, all is finished.
. . " He paced round and round the Spirit Energy Translocation Bridge, then suddenly came to himself and hauled the god-devil up again. "Who was it that entered the bridge?
" "A cripple with no legs —" the god-devil struggled. "What did he look like? " The god-devil hastily sketched Shen Mu's features with his vital energy, and the Star Source lord stood dumbstruck.
A long while passed before he recovered himself.
He set the god-devil down and waved a hand.
"Forget this whole matter.
Don't go thinking about him paying the rest of the crossing fee. " The god-devil was baffled. The Star Source lord stroked the beard on his face and thought, "That man is the leader of the Heavenly Alliance, the Venerable Shepherd!
I saw him once, at the last meeting of the Alliance! How has he come to my little Star Source Heaven?
And what has befallen his legs.
.
. " He lifted his head to the spirit energy that still surged without cease, and a chill took him. "The Venerable Shepherd is truly mighty. Look how much spirit energy came flooding through with him.
How could a being of such strength have lost his legs?
" Six or seven days later, the Star Source lord was astonished all the more. The bridge had run at full power for so long, and still the translocation had not ended. Such a thing was all but impossible.
Even if he, a lord, were to enter the bridge, at such intensity the translocation would bring him to Jingping within a single hour. "Worthy indeed of the Venerable Shepherd! " Two or three days more, and the incoming spirit energy abruptly slackened.
Before long the bridge returned to its everyday appearance; the tiers of the altar slowed until, after a good while, they turned but once. The Star Source lord breathed out in relief and waved a hand, signaling that the merchant caravans might enter the bridge. For a dozen days and more, the merchant ships jammed about the altar had formed a long dragon, waiting to enter; but the translocation's spirit energy had been so violent that the god-devils guarding the place had held them all back.