Chapter 1755 — Half Righteous, Half Wicked: A True Wild Scholar
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
"They were still fighting a moment ago, but when they saw me rescue you from the coffin and saw you wake, Taichu and the Empress departed."
Xu Shenghua said, "That Lord Shang is now within my shadow."
Shen Mu laughed heartily, which abruptly jarred his wounds and left him coughing again and again. He said, "My might still stands — I frightened Taichu and the Empress away."
Xu Shenghua tilted his head and thought, then said, "It was more likely seeing me arrive that made them withdraw. You have hardly any fighting strength left now."
Shen Mu gave a snort.
Taichu was full of alarm and doubt. Xu Shenghua had opened the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin outright just now, and it had truly overawed him, forcing him to retreat.
To begin with, his duel with Lord Shang in the Ultimate Void had already left a shadow on his mind.
Lord Shang was an exceedingly terrifying man; in their last battle it was by Lord Shang's hand that he had been wounded, and had Lord Shang not been ignorant of the Dao of Taichu, he would have been doomed.
And this time Lord Shang had again chosen to meet him and Her Majesty the Empress, two great dao-attainers, in the Ultimate Void, and the fight had left his heart pounding with fright.
One must remember that the Second Young Master's incarnation had died in a battle in the Ultimate Void, slain by Lord Yun, and even the Haotian Emperor had been gravely wounded on account of it.
Her Majesty the Empress, like the Second Young Master, had also taken the path of attaining the dao through Guixu. In the Ultimate Void she was hamstrung and trod with care; ceaselessly the Wind of Cold Silence blew, contending against her Guixu wind of heat-death and sapping her strength.
For the two of them to fight Lord Shang, that battle had been truly grueling.
What was more, Xu Shenghua had dismantled the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin far too deftly, so that Taichu misjudged his strength, feared he would come charging up into the Ultimate Void, and so retreated without a fight.
"Just who is that man? How could he break the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin taught by the Third Young Master Lingxiao so easily?" Taichu frowned deeply.
Her Majesty the Empress said, "That is Young Master Xu, Xu Shenghua of Shangcang. In my day I even wished to summon him as an intimate guest and keep him as a kept man. But his talent and bearing are unmatched in this age, and before I knew it he had won me over, so I took him as a friend in the dao."
Taichu raised an eyebrow and sneered, "In your day you were infatuated with pretty-faced fellows like Lord Yutian, and now you dote on Xu Shenghua. So it turns out, Zitong, that you like this sort of man."
Her Majesty the Empress said mildly, "Between Lord Yutian and me there is not a trace of impurity, and between Young Master Xu and me it is as clean as jade. I need hide nothing from you. Ever since you began your affair with that wretch, I have kept kept men beyond counting; to take revenge on you, there is no need to hide it. Those two are modest gentlemen, and in my heart there is only respect and admiration for them."
Taichu's face darkened, and he laughed aloud, "Have you forgotten how Lan Yutian plotted against you?"
"Lan Yutian is Lan Yutian, not Lord Yutian."
Her Majesty the Empress sneered, "Taichu, in my heart you can never compare to Lord Yutian, bright and open as clear wind and calm moon, nor to Young Master Xu, modest as jade!"
Taichu was furious, and vanished in a flash: "Harlot!"
Her Majesty the Empress watched him go, and laughed, "With Young Master Xu's strength, he could never have broken the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin — there must be something fishy about that coffin! Most likely Venerable Star An tampered with it!"
Taichu departed in wrath, his form vanishing from sight.
Her Majesty the Empress slowed her pace, and before long she saw Xu Shenghua coming, bearing Shen Mu's coffin.
Xu Shenghua halted and saluted the Empress, saying, "Your Majesty, it has been a long while."