Chapter 1800 — No Echo Remains in the Ruins
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Xu Shenghua had from the first been a favored son of the Heavens, a ruler high above; later, though Shen Mu had moved him and he became a pillar of the Jingping Reforms, he still had little contact with mortals.
He could not bring himself to hate Her Highness the Empress.
After a moment, Xu Shenghua said, "You and I may leave Her Highness the Empress a thread of life. But whether she can seize it depends on her.
" Lan Yutian nodded.
Her Highness the Empress stood on the deck of the Golden Ship of Salvation, motionless.
She had fallen into Xu Shenghua's Six Paths of Samsara; when she woke again and looked around, all was darkness, and she was astonished to find herself within a soft flower chamber. Beside her was another young body, its breath linked with hers, yet utterly opposite.
That was another her, filled with the power to destroy all things.
And she herself seemed to hold the power that nurtures all things.
Thus in the darkness they grew in silence, sensing the strange tides that came from beyond. Then one day the darkness suddenly split apart; the Twin Lotuses of Guixu rose slowly from the Great Abyss upon the tide, petals turning gently, and the twin lotuses bloomed.
For the first time the Empress and that other self saw the world outside. Many Creators came there and bowed to the two goddesses within the flowers; they called her Yuanxi, and called the other Yuanmu; they revered her as the goddess who governs birth, and Yuanmu as the goddess who governs destruction.
In that moment she felt that she had a self and an other.
The Creators sacrificed to them, worshipped them, made offerings to them; and though on the surface there was little difference between the Empress and Yuanmu, their natures gradually changed amid those rites.
Their natures grew ever more opposed.
Later Taichu, the adopted son of the Great Emperor, came, and that tall, handsome man drew her at once.
Taichu possessed great talent and grand strategy, a terrifying ambition; when he looked at her, the fire in his eyes left her unable to master her own feelings. But when Taichu looked at her sister Yuanmu, a flame too was hidden beneath his calm gaze.
She was dizzy with love and gave the matter no thought.
Fallen into this Six Paths of Samsara divine art, the Empress seemed to be watching her own life.
Time flowed on.
Soon she saw a scene different from her memory: after Taichu defeated the Creators, he was raised up as Heavenly Emperor and married the two sisters.
"From first to last, you and Yuanmu are one body, both goddesses of Guixu.
" Taichu said to her, "When I look at her, it is as though I look at you.
" The Empress accepted this in silence. Afterward she had a child, named Qi, whom the Ancient Gods called Crown Prince Qi.
Crown Prince Qi was lovely as snow and ice, greatly beloved of the Heavenly Emperor Taichu, and she loved her son dearly too.
Yuanmu's child was born as well, named Hao, called by the Ancient Gods the Second Crown Prince Hao. She knew that she and Yuanmu were in truth one person, and that Yuanmu's child was her child as well; whether Qi or Hao, both were her sons.
Her life was very full and happy.
The Empress held Crown Prince Qi in one arm and Second Crown Prince Hao in the other, teasing the two children, a smile on her face, and the children giggled without cease.
"But all of it is false.
" The Empress's face suddenly went cold; she roused her divine art, and the two children in her arms screamed once and turned to flying ash.
The Empress rose to her feet; darkness shrouded the sky and devoured all things, and she strode toward the Lingxiao Treasure Hall of the Heavenly Court.
Wherever she passed, Guixu destroyed all; countless gods became powder within Guixu's divine art, shattered into chaos.
"Zitong, have you gone mad?
" The Heavenly Emperor Taichu, disbelief on his face, charged at her. "False!