Chapter 1714 — The Young Lord Descends
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
"I have attained the Dao!"
Lady Yuanmu was wild with joy. Then all at once her eyes darted about; she flicked her sleeve, and a great abyss opened, out of which Crown Prince Mingya and Xie Wuqi came tumbling.
Lady Yuanmu blinked and studied them with keen amusement.
Crown Prince Mingya's heart went cold. He could see that the Empress before him now was not quite the Empress of before.
Lady Yuanmu laughed softly. "A father and his son butchering each other, brothers killing brothers—what could be more amusing? Only, I must not let Taichu and Hao'er recognize the two of you..."
She roused her divine power of reincarnation, and at once the faces of Crown Prince Mingya and Xie Wuqi were altered: Mingya became a handsome young general, and Xie Wuqi a taciturn giant of a man, built like a dark tower.
Lady Yuanmu was beside herself with excitement, itching to drag the pair before Heavenly Emperor Hao that very moment and see whether he could recognize them.
Suddenly she froze where she stood, dazed, her mind a total blank.
Some while passed before Lady Yuanmu came back to herself. What had happened just now, she could not remember at all.
"Is that little slut of a sister of mine jumping out?"
A chill of fright ran through her—yet she had no inkling that she was not the true Yuanmu, but a consciousness Shen Mu had created by means of the Dao of Reincarnation.
That she had lost herself for a moment was in fact because, when Shen Mu roused the Dao of Reincarnation, the Empress had resisted, leaving that reincarnation divine power less than perfect.
"Will Hao'er cultivate the Mirror of the Abyss of Return?"
Lady Yuanmu cast the matter of her lapse from her mind. She was quivering with excitement, wishing nothing more than to see the whole world turned upside down: "Then will the Second Young Master come out? Once she is out, things will be far livelier..."
On the Great Luotian of divine consciousness, Shen Mu and Heavenly Venerable Yun sat facing each other.
After a moment Shen Mu said, "Though Heavenly Emperor Hao is suspicious by nature, he will not be able to keep himself from trying the Mirror of the Abyss of Return. He knows he is no match for me, and so, to hold on to his throne, he will try it no matter the cost! And the moment he tries it, the Second Young Master will seize his body."
Heavenly Venerable Yun had already heard the whole of it from him, and at these words he frowned. "How terrible is the Second Young Master?"
"I met the Empress just now. With my present strength I can no longer kill her. Her power can twist a heaven such as Taihuang Heaven; with nothing but the aura of her own Dao, she could tear Taihuang Heaven to shreds."
Shen Mu went on: "The power the Second Young Master can bring across is not much greater than the Empress's, but her comprehension of the Dao of the Abyss of Return runs deeper, and she is the harder to deal with."
Heavenly Venerable Yun's eyes flickered. "How strong the Empress is, I do not know. But how strong Heavenly Emperor Hao and Taichu are, I know perfectly well. Brother Mu, I want to know how strong you are now!"
Shen Mu sat there without stirring. "You mean to infer the Empress's ability from my own, and from that deduce the strength of the Second Young Master who will have possessed half of Heavenly Venerable Hao?"
Heavenly Venerable Yun nodded, rose to his feet, and reached out a hand. The Taichu Imperial Sword flew to him and settled in his grip.
Shen Mu remained seated, watching the sword in his hand.
This Imperial Sword was Taichu's innate companion treasure. Through the Great Emperor's doing it had fallen into Heavenly Venerable Yun's keeping; after his rebirth, that he might draw out the sword's full power, Yun had devoted himself to mastering the sword arts and sword dao of Jingping and Kaihuang, and by now he was a grand master of the sword.
With the sword in his hand, he bore the bearing and spirit of Kaihuang in his prime.