Chapter 889 — A Beauty Among the Flowers, Fair as Jade

The dark celestial river's falling torrents struck downward, ever faster, and those two great flowers were sinking slowly as well; the dread gravitational pull issuing from the great abyss grew stronger and stronger! Under the doubled weight of the dark celestial river and that gravity, Shen Mu and Dragon Qilin's bodies turned in an instant unimaginably heavy; they could no longer keep their balance and, powerless over themselves, plunged down into the abyss.

"Dragon Sparrow Holds the Heavens! " The azure sparrow on Shen Mu's shoulder gave a sudden shriek, and her primal spirit surfaced, transforming behind her into a dragon-sparrow whose head and tail were joined as one: half Vermilion Bird, half Azure Dragon, with the body and tail plumes of a Vermilion Bird, yet out of those tail plumes there extended the tail of an Azure Dragon.

The dragon-sparrow spread its wings as though in flight, lifted its head and shrieked, and from its mouth came the call of a sparrow and the roar of a dragon together, spewing forth blazing sacred fire.

Her dragon tail was unbelievably long, almost joined to her head, forming a ring that gathered them all inside it. The Vermilion Bird's sacred fire that poured from her mouth ignited her Azure Dragon tail with a hiss, and in no time the holy flame had run through her whole body, forming a ring of fire that held back Guixu's dreadful power.

The dragon-sparrow held the heavens, its mouth holding its tail, its body a ring, and at its center lay an independent world, a small heaven, safe and steady.

This was the first time Shen Mu had seen Yan'er unleash her own crowning art, and it proved so mighty that it blocked the backflow of the dark celestial river and the gravity of Guixu.

This girl ordinarily caught gods and devils of the Primal World to flesh out her meals, yet Shen Mu had on the whole never seen her make a move; in daily life she was especially fond of waiting on others, and besides feeding him she liked to help Shen Mu set his clothes to rights and smooth out their creases. But now that Yan'er's strength had erupted, Shen Mu understood how mighty and terrifying she was, stronger even than the Founding Patriarch, the Human Sovereign, and fiercer still!

Bear in mind that the Founding Patriarch, the Human Sovereign, was already an existence at the Jade Capital realm!

"I wonder how Sister Yan'er's strength compares with that of the Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha?

" Shen Mu quickened his pace at once and ran toward those two great flowers. What he was more curious about was the identity of Yan'er, whom the South Emperor Vermilion Bird had given to the Moon Heavenly Venerable as a maidservant. He thought to himself, "She carries both Vermilion Bird bloodline and Azure Dragon bloodline, so what relationship does Sister Yan'er bear to the South Emperor Vermilion Bird and the East Emperor Azure Dragon?

" He blinked.

This girl who loved to wait upon others could not possibly be the daughter of the South Emperor Vermilion Bird and the East Emperor Azure Dragon, could she?

As the daughter of two emperors, honored as a princess, how had she ever come to develop such an odd habit of liking to serve others?

At last, before the two great flowers closed completely, they rushed in through the gap between the petals!

Behind them the petals sealed shut entirely, cutting off the dreadful gravity from the great abyss and the pressure of the dark celestial river. Yet with gravity and pressure gone, Yan'er could not govern her posture for a moment, and she slammed hard into the earth.

The small heaven enclosed by her primal spirit shattered on the instant, and Shen Mu and Dragon Qilin were flung down as well, tumbling and rolling, crashing into a thick flower stamen, bouncing away, striking another stamen, and rebounding again.

The stamens were very soft.

Though Shen Mu and the others fell hard indeed, they took no injury; they were merely bounced to and fro, somewhat dizzy and muddled, but nothing worse.

Shen Mu rose to his feet and pulled Yan'er up; Dragon Qilin clambered up too, and feeling the ground soft beneath him he stamped on it a few times, discovering that even the ground here was soft, and could not help clicking his tongue in wonder. Shen Mu looked all around.

Compared with the outside, this place was startlingly still and startlingly vast; the two flowers formed two adjoining worlds, linked one to the other. These two worlds were not small at all, rivaling the heavens without; only there were no sun, moon, or stars in their sky.

And strangely, Guixu was a single sheet of darkness, yet here there was light: on one side a world of pink, on the other a world of dark black. They had fallen into the red world, where the veins of the petals interwove across the heavens, veins most peculiar, flickering ceaselessly with red light.

Where the two worlds met stood two palaces, likewise one red and one black, and the palaces ought to be connected. Dragon Qilin gazed this way and that, then said cautiously, "A star fell just now, and that was what brought on the dark current in the celestial river.

What if no star ever falls again?

Won't we be trapped here for good?

" Yan'er looked at him very gravely. Dragon Qilin lowered his head and said no more. He had just witnessed what Yan'er was capable of, and so he resolved to follow his heart and keep absolute respect for this elder sister who was forever tossing him food.

Yan'er was again tidying Shen Mu's clothes, smoothing out the hem of his robe.

Shen Mu was long accustomed to it. He walked to the edge of the sky and gently stroked the flower wall of this world within a flower.

The wall felt very soft, like a young girl's skin, even more delicate and singular to the touch than a young girl's skin.

"We are inside the flower chambers of these two flowers.

These two flowers truly are living flowers, not divine weapons or the like.

" Shen Mu's face turned strange, and he said in amazement, "What flower could withstand such dreadful gravity and destructive force as Guixu's? " The veins upon the flower wall were actually flowing gently, and then a young girl's face emerged, rising up out of the flower wall; with eyes closed she rubbed her cheek softly against his palm, seeming to enjoy it greatly.

Shen Mu jumped in fright and hastily drew back his hand.

"Her Highness the Empress!

" He had no doubt that had he been a cat, every hair on his body would have bristled! The face that surfaced from the flower wall was the face of Her Highness the Empress!

He had seen the corpse of Her Highness the Empress in the coffin aboard the ghost ship; that face he could never mistake!

The face on the flower wall grew out a little further, chasing after his palm, rubbing of its own accord against his palm, most flirtatious.

"Young brother!

" The face of Her Highness the Empress gave a pleasing laugh.

Shen Mu's body went taut, and he did not move.

The girl growing out of the flower wall had a very long neck and no body, like a beautiful serpent.

"Young brother, no one has come here for so very long.

" The beautiful serpent circled slowly around him, and upon her neck there even grew many reverse scales, which scraped across Shen Mu's neck; at once cut after cut appeared on his neck, and blood seeped out.

His fleshly body had long since been tempered to be as mighty as gods and devils, yet before the reverse scales of this beautiful serpent his body was as frail as bean curd.

"The ancient gods in Guixu are not only the Empress and her sister! " His mind shook violently.

"Other ancient gods have been born here as well! " The sparrow on Shen Mu's shoulder hastily took flight and landed on Dragon Qilin's head, cocking her head curiously to study this beautiful serpent stretching out from the flower wall.

"Your handmaid was charged by my sister to guard this place, and has been lonely for many tens of thousands of years.