Chapter 835 — At the Prince's Grave

Six hundred and eighty thousand years ago.

"Lin Xiao, hurry!"

A host of gods escorted a coffin to the banks of the Heavenly River. One of them urged, "Lin Xiao, why are you still standing at the shore? Hurry! What the Empress has commanded must be done well!"

Lin Xiao steadied himself and watched the ghost ship emerge from the radiance. He hesitated, then followed the others, murmuring, "I feel as though I have been here before—like a nightmare. I saw the Four Emperors board the ship, and I saw the Lord of the Yulin Army..."

"You are dreaming! Get on the ship, now!"

Lin Xiao stood at the gangplank, wavering.

"Do this well, and the Empress will guarantee your sons and grandsons prosperity for generations to come!"

One of the gods spoke viciously: "If you hesitate any longer, to protect this secret, we shall have no choice but to dispose of you here and now!"

Lin Xiao steeled himself and walked toward the ship, thinking, "A dream. It is absolutely a dream!"

Seven hundred thousand years ago.

The Heavenly River.

A burst of light exploded from the river, and the forms of the Vermilion Bird, Southern Emperor; the Azure Dragon, Eastern Emperor; the White Tiger, Western Emperor; and the Black Tortoise, Northern Emperor appeared, standing on either bank. As the light dispersed, a ghost ship reassembled itself in the river.

Aboard the ship, Longbo roared in fury, struggling to break free of the vessel's bonds and tear himself away from it.

That divine dragon was immensely powerful, yet the Yulin Army had run chains through his body and pinned him to the ship. Thus, when Shen Mu borrowed the power of the Four Emperors to break Ling Tianzun's divine ability, Longbo too had been unable to shake off his suppression. Now, as the ghost ship reassembled and Ling Tianzun's power returned, his struggles fused him with the hull—his body merging with the tower before the deck, leaving only his dragon head exposed.

Terror surfaced in the eyes of the Dragon King Longbo. He cried out, "Save me! Four Emperors, save me!"

The Four Ancient God Emperors stood on either bank, gazing at the ship once more shrouded in black qi, uncertain and alarmed.

"Mu Tianzun is on that ship!"

The Black Tortoise, Northern Emperor, suddenly turned to the Vermilion Bird, Southern Emperor, and said in a low voice, "Mu Tianzun even calls you sister. Should the Southern Emperor not give us an explanation?"

"Why look at me?"

The Vermilion Bird, Southern Emperor, giggled. Her crimson robes swirled, and she transformed into a streak of firelight, fleeing far away. Her laughter drifted back from the distance: "I am just like all of you—I know nothing at all!"

The other three Emperors frowned.

"Besides us escaping, I also saw streaks of light fade away—like figures, one after another."

The Azure Dragon, Eastern Emperor, said softly, "Also, those Yulin Army generals I seized just now have vanished from my grasp. When the light burst forth, they... they too disappeared from the ship!"

He looked around but saw no trace of those Yulin Army commanders. He murmured, "This ship is too strange..."

Seven hundred and twenty thousand years ago, the mist descended.

"General, there is a woman in the mist performing a ritual!"

A massive tower ship sailed slowly into the mist. Wei Suifeng watched the mist that had suddenly appeared over the Heavenly River, and something stirred in his heart. He removed his armor, took down the lantern hanging from the mast, and wrote furiously on the wall of the tower.

He wrote his final passage: "I came from the Guixu, and meeting this woman, I returned to the ancient era. I sought the mysteries of antiquity and searched for the riddles of history. Now I have met this woman again, and I think it is time I extinguished my lamp and returned."

He hung the lantern on its stand, opened it, and blew out the divine lamp. Darkness fell within the tower.

The mist gradually turned black, enveloping the entire ship.

Just then, light exploded in the Heavenly River. Three Yulin Army soldiers suddenly appeared on the river's surface, looking forward in confusion. They saw the black qi devour their tower ship, which vanished from the world.

"You broke my divine ability?" On the river, a woman in a leopard-skin skirt tilted her head to look at them, curiosity in her expression.

The three Yulin Army soldiers were still somewhat dazed: "You are... Ling Tianzun!"

The woman laughed. "It seems my divine ability is not yet perfect—there must be some flaw... Since you have escaped, do not go wandering about and delay matters of importance. Come with me. You can tell me how you broke my divine ability."

Her sleeve swept, and she departed with the three.

On the Yong River, the village chief and Lord Dragon Keeper were baffled. They had only just caught up with Shen Mu, intending to follow him to explore the ghost ship. They had been there all along, yet Shen Mu spoke as though they had not met in a very long time.

Moreover, this Shen Mu seemed somewhat odd. In the past, when the village chief punched him on the head, he would clutch his head and feign pain. Now he merely rubbed it.

Lord Dragon Keeper suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Sword God, look at his beard! His beard has grown so much longer than before!"

The village chief looked at Shen Mu. The beard on his chin and upper lip had grown several inches, rough and unkempt—yet moments ago, Shen Mu's chin had been completely bare.

Shen Mu stroked his beard and said with an air of great wisdom, "The ones descending along the silver rope from the heavens are Prince Qiuming of the Heavenly Court and his two attendants. Their strength is exceedingly high."

The village chief and Lord Dragon Keeper looked up. Sure enough, on the chrysanthemum-like moon, three tiny figures were descending along a silver rope. The rope grew longer and longer, heading straight for the ghost ship beneath the river's surface.

"The ones boarding from beneath the water are the Ancestral Dragon King and his demigods."

The village chief and Lord Dragon Keeper had just looked toward the water and had not yet made out the Ancestral Dragon King and his companions when Shen Mu already pointed west, saying, "Luo Wushuang, the one-armed blade god of the Heavenly Court's Lingxiu Army, is about to activate a moon-shaped treasure to break through the black mist outside the ship. In the distance, Feng Qiuyun comes bearing the Earth Mother Kunyuan Sword, carrying a stone coffin on her back, transformed into a ball of flame. In the sky, an alien star approaches—the Divine Son of Chiming descends as a streak of light from the heavens."

The village chief and Lord Dragon Keeper were stunned. Sure enough, they saw Luo Wushuang, seated at the bow of a small boat, activating a moon-shaped treasure that shone toward the ghost ship beneath the river. The moon-like radiance formed a pillar of light, piercing the black qi.

On the other side, flames blazed. On the river's surface, it was as though a great sun skimmed along the water, incredibly fast. Faintly visible within the firelight was a seven-colored fire phoenix, clutching a wooden sword in its talons, a stone coffin on its back!

And in the sky, the alien star of the Chiming remnant clan had at some point arrived at the zenith, aligned vertically with the ghost ship beneath the river. A red beam descended from the heavens!

The village chief and Lord Dragon Keeper were in complete confusion.

"When did our lord change professions to become a mystic?" Lord Dragon Keeper murmured.

Shen Mu suddenly said, "Village chief, the Divine Son of Chiming is on the ship helping us. I promised him I would save him from the ghost ship. You must stop him—do not let him land on the ghost ship."

The village chief, dazed and confused, as if possessed, drew his sword and sent it flying. Instantly, mountains and rivers surged through the air above the ghost ship, blocking the Divine Son of Chiming's path.