Chapter 1766 — Who Tempers Your Advance in Your Stead
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
That was the battle of Ancient God Taishi and Ancient God Taiji, long continued. Their combat made strange and gorgeous visions bloom beyond the sky, born of their divine powers; by day they showed little, but by night they blazed resplendent.
Divine powers spread like paintings across the night sky of the Yuan Realm, flaring forth and fading away.
In the west, sun after sun had vanished, turned to sunset glow sinking behind the mountains, staining the western sky scarlet. The night was faintly cool.
Ling Yuxiu heard a long howl borne through the dark night, carrying a singular mood, now lingering and winding, now like a long sword piercing the vault, now like water beneath a small bridge, now like armored horses and clashing spears, slaughter on the field, conjuring a vast and magnificent vision.
Ling Yuxiu gazed afar and saw where the howl came from a vast Da Luotian tilting down, emerging from the thirty-sixfold void, its firmament split and tottering as it sank toward the Yuan Realm. With a hum, the Dao light of that Da Luotian blazed suddenly thick, scattering the night of the Yuan Realm till it shone bright as day; that was the Dao light of the Innate One Qi!
The howl still came, grown stirring and ringing, like a song of a saber cleaving heaven and earth as it galloped across the battlefield, venting its rage against oppression!
"Can it be Lord Shang and Taichu?
Taichu did not retreat with Heavenly Emperor Haotian, but was held back by Lord Shang?
" Ling Yuxiu's heart stirred; in Lord Shang's howl she heard battle will and killing intent, and a longing to guard all living beings, yet it seemed he could never raise that will and intent to the utmost. Suddenly Shen Mu's voice came from the room behind her.
"My lady, pray summon Heaven-Venerable Yue and Grandpa Tu. " Joy seized Ling Yuxiu's heart, and she hastened back into the room; with a glance she saw Shen Mu had waked she knew not when and was struggling to sit up.
Ling Yuxiu at once stirred the Three Primes divine sense to inform Heaven-Venerable Yue and Zaifu, while she stepped forward to help Shen Mu up and seat him firm.
"Gently, it hurts.
.
.
" Shen Mu drew a hissing breath. "These nails must be Xu Shenghua's work; every one sinks into flesh and marrow.
" Sweat beaded his brow, and at last seated he panted heavily.
Heaven-Venerable Yue's wounds were unhealed, and Zaifu too bore Dao wounds all over and had been kept for treatment; hearing the summons they hurried over, only to find Shen Mu seated there asleep, layer upon layer of dream worlds unfolding.
The two entered the room and stepped straight into his dream, yet Shen Mu's dream seemed no dream, but a true world.
When they entered Shen Mu's dream, they beheld the eve of a universe's ruin; in that dream universe the Ultimate Void was crushed ever smaller by Dao-achievers, and gusts of cold and silent wind blew from the Ultimate Void, and wherever they passed, through the domains of Dao-achievers and heavens upon heavens, the people suffered calamity upon calamity, sunk in fire and water.
Even gods and demons often fell into the fivefold decline, and oft in meditation a cold wind would pierce their orifices and melt bone, flesh, and primordial spirit all away, dying without knowing why.
That universe was full of ruin, yet flourished to an extreme, mighty beyond all before, its strong ones beyond counting and its Dao-achievers many, in stark contrast to the decay!
To lighten the universe's burden and prolong its life, the Dao-achievers deliberately sowed strife, setting the beings of heaven after heaven to slaughter and assail one another, till the great heavens, even the Ancestral Court where stood the World Tree, reeked of smoke and miasma. Just then Heaven-Venerable Yue and Heavenly Blade Zaifu fixed their eyes upon a youth bearing a long saber on his back, who was rummaging through piles of corpses, drinking bloody water and eating rotted flesh from the dead.