Chapter 1757 — The Irreversible Decline
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Through Jingping's spirit-energy transit bridge he came to the other heavens, and looking about he could not help frowning, for in many heavens the people were fleeing, while the god and devil armies of the Heavenly Court seized the beings of the other heavens everywhere for food and plundered their wealth, fouling every heaven with smoke and disorder. Xing An passed through a dozen heavens and frowned again, for these heavens no longer suited his scholarship either. Some of the refugees fled to remoter heavens, some even fled to the Yuan Realm, and many gods and devils journeyed to Jingping, seeking alliance with Jingping against the Heavenly Court.
Even with little interest in the tides of the world, Xing An now discerned something of the pattern. "Jiang Baigui is indeed the cleverest man in five hundred years, for he has seen the rolling tide. Emperor Haotian's perverse rule has lost him every heart, and Jingping has become the place toward which hearts turn. As time passes, its troops shall only grow stronger.
The Heavenly Court's ruin is a matter of days.
" His eyes flashed as he turned toward the Ancestral Court, thinking silently, "Jiang Baigui may truly become a sage, but I shall be no worse than he.
The gods and devils of the Heavenly Court I have studied through and through, and brains of every kind I have collected complete.
There is no need to remain in the Heavenly Court. Now only one place holds great allure for me. " He walked among the stars, crossing paths with Xu Shenghua yet missing him, and thus had no chance to learn of the calamity within the Ancestral Court. Even had he known, he would likely not have shrunk back, but rejoiced all the more.
Xu Shenghua bore Shen Mu's coffin, traveling long and hard, and arrived at Jingping when the battle at Lanfeng Valley was at its bloodiest.
Lanfeng Valley had become a blood-dyed battlefield, bearing the main assault of the Heavenly Court's divine army and navy. Nearly all had taken the field, whether or not they had comprehended the Ancestral Court Dao-realm system, and Taishi, Lan Yutian, the First Ancestor, Lizheng, Di Yiyue, the Southern Emperor, the Northern Emperor, and the rest had all entered the fray to slaughter!
Though Jingping boasted many masters, its troops were grievously few, and to hold the line was desperately hard. Xu Shenghua carried the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin onto the field, opened one by one the Dao-Slaying Divine Nails upon it, and pried the lid ajar by a crack, from which divine light thick as mist streamed forth.
Heavy Dao might crushed down upon the age, and the might issuing from the coffin at once startled every soul, for any man could feel that terrible majesty of the Great Dao.
"Mu Tianzun's coffin!
" The two Taiji ancient gods at once sounded the retreat, held their formation fast, and stared in alarm at Xu Shenghua as he approached. Xu Shenghua heaved the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin forth, and the huge divine coffin howled past the front of the two armies and fell with a thud between them.
The two Taiji ancient gods at once drew together, and their sundered companion treasure, the Taiji Sand Table, boomed shut, the might of the Dao of Taiji spreading as yin and yang wheeled, raised by the two ancient gods to the uttermost, ready at any moment for calamity. Millions of gods and devils held their breath and stared in terror at that coffin. Xu Shenghua walked past the Heavenly Court's host of gods and devils toward broken, battered Lanfeng Valley.
He left Shen Mu cast down between the two armies, with no thought of bearing the coffin into Lanfeng Valley.
Both hosts were silent as the grave, countless eyes fixed upon the coffin, and only the primeval colossal beasts summoned from the Beast Realm gave uneasy low roars.
Peerless though Xu Shenghua's grace was, no one looked at him, for all eyes were seized by the coffin.