Chapter 1166 — Splitting the Spoils Evenly
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
A sense of the absurd, of the uncanny, rose in Shen Mu's heart beyond all measure. He looked around at the several Heavenly Venerables in the carriage, and those familiar faces turned strange to him once more.
"Xiao is the Heavenly Emperor, Qiang is the Grand Emperor—no wonder they keep such close company with Gong Heavenly Venerable. Gong Heavenly Venerable must be Gong Yun.
These three are the ones whose true identities are settled.
"
"But what of Hong Heavenly Venerable and Consort Yan?
"
His head swelled like a bushel. Was Consort Yan the Empress, or Lady Yuanmu?
She ought to be one of the Empress's sisters—noble and coldly aloof—most likely the Empress herself. Then who was Hong Heavenly Venerable? "Back then, the Grand Emperor was trapped and slain in Taixu by Yun Heavenly Venerable.
Dahong flew to the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, meaning to destroy it in revenge. I blocked Dahong, and with the supreme consciousness domain that Yun Heavenly Venerable and Ling Heavenly Venerable had devised, I held him at bay. "
Shen Mu stilled himself, eyes on his nose, nose on his heart, and thought: "That time I very nearly perished, body and Dao both dissolved, but I forced Dahong to take wounds and withdraw. Later I went back to the era six hundred thousand years ago, when the Longhan Heavenly Court split apart—the very era when Yun Heavenly Venerable plotted against the ancient god Heavenly Emperor, and the Heavenly Emperor met his death. I went to seek healing from Gong Heavenly Venerable, and Gong Heavenly Venerable said that Dahong was dead—that someone had taken advantage of Dahong's wounds to kill him and erase his consciousness.
"
"It must have been then that someone walked the world in Dahong's corpse. He replaced the Grand Emperor and became Dahong, and in later ages became Hong Heavenly Venerable.
"
"And the Grand Emperor must have used his consciousness, the Daluo Heaven, to send down another thread of consciousness into the world, which became Consort Qiang, a member of the Heavenly Emperor's inner palace. "
Shen Mu opened his eyes: "Then who exactly is Dahong?
Why does he want an IOU from me? And where has Lady Yuanmu gone? What has she become?
She must be in the Heavenly Court—if she is not among the Ten Heavenly Venerables, then where is she hiding?
"
"This time, with the Ancestral Court showing its traces, as one of the most ancient of the ancient gods, Lady Yuanmu ought to go as well, ought she not?
"
Suddenly the jeweled carriage halted.
"Heavenly Venerable, that great rift has come! " The Heavenly Dragon's voice came from outside.
Everyone rose and stepped out of the jeweled carriage one after another, and saw that Hao Heavenly Venerable's carriage had arrived as well.
It drew to a stop, and Hao Heavenly Venerable, the Langxuan Divine Emperor, and the Ancestral God King gazed toward the great rift. The rift was nearly as wide as the Heavenly Court itself, dyed crimson with gore—a sight indescribably shocking to the eye!
Looking from here into the Ancestral Court, one could see many enormous strange beasts crouched upon the rift like spiders, striving to tear it wider and break the seal.
Those were void beasts, and their numbers were vast, dense as a swarm. At the same time, huge beast eggs kept dropping from the void; the oval eggs struck the ground and at once became smaller void beasts.
Though these void beasts had just broken from their shells, they ran swift as the wind the moment they were born, growing as they met the wind, and soon climbed the high mountains. Then they leaped, spreading their six limbs, the membranes between their legs unfurling with a swish, and beating their fleshy wings, they flew toward the rift. A single adult void beast could slaughter an army of several hundred gods and demons as easily as turning over a palm.