Chapter 1038 — The Hidden Other Side

"Just now my primordial spirit went deeper and deeper below, and saw that there are races down there as well, dwelling in hollows beneath the earth, living by the light of magma.

I kept going down, flying I know not how many tens of thousands of li, and I felt I was about to reach the far side of the Yuan World.

Yet when I broke through the soil, I found myself back where I started. This Yuan World. . . " His face grew stranger still.

"The Yuan World has no far side at all!

" Divine King Langwo was taken aback as well. She undid the willow leaf at her brow, and her divine consciousness burst forth, plunging into the depths.

After a moment it flew back out of the earth. Her divine consciousness too had felt itself on the verge of piercing the Yuan World's ground—and yet, bursting out of the surface, it found itself back on the Yuan World's near side!

If this were a spatial seal, then such a seal surpassed the understanding of them both.

For such a seal would require folding and sealing every space in the whole of the Yuan World, forming a world with only a near side and no far side! "Perhaps from beyond the heavens one can see the far side of the Yuan World.

.

. " The thought had scarcely come to Shen Mu when he hesitated.

He and Bai Qu'er had flown out of the Yuan World once, and wandered beyond it together, and they had never found a far side. When they had flown to the far side of the Yuan World, what they saw had in truth been its near side—only at the time the two of them had been so wrapped up in each other that neither noticed.

Thinking back on it now, it struck him as uncanny, enough to send a chill down a man's spine.

"Has the Holy Infant ever been to the far side of the Heavenly Court?

" Divine King Langwo asked suddenly.

Shen Mu was startled, and shook his head blankly.

Strange indeed—it seemed the Heavenly Court had no far side either! Not only that, but even Youdu—the continent where the Jade Lock Pass lies beneath Tubo's feet—seemed to have no one who knew what lay on its far side.

The Heavenly Court, Youdu, the Yuan World—none of them had a far side!

"Does the Ancestral Court have a far side?

" Shen Mu asked abruptly. Divine King Langwo shook her head. "I have no recollection of such a thing. Among the Creators I am rather young, born in Taixu—before what you call the Longhan era.

But Divine King Shujun is exceedingly ancient; perhaps he would know. " Shen Mu sighed and ordered the six heavenly dragons to draw the carriage to the nearest spirit-energy translocation bridge. "Let us go first to the Four Pole Heavens.

Perhaps we can find some trace of the Ancestral Court there.

" Divine King Langwo nodded. The Heavenly Dragon palanquin reached the nearest translocation bridge, and Shen Mu returned to the Heavenly Court by way of it; from the Heavenly Court he would take other bridges to the Eastern Pole Heaven of the Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon. Before that, however, he drove the carriage to the Southern Heavenly Gate and circled around beneath the Heavenly River, trying to find the Heavenly Court's far side. But what met his eyes was still the Southern Heavenly Gate.

The Heavenly Court had no far side at all!

"So it is. No doubt the Tianyin World has no far side either.

How strange—where has that vanished face of these worlds gone? " Shen Mu was deeply perplexed, and could only set the doubt aside.

He ordered the palanquin onto the translocation bridge bound for the Eastern Pole Heaven. Within the bridge's radiance the palanquin hurtled toward the Eastern Pole Heaven, and amid that light Shen Mu was still pondering the question. He had never thought of it before; the more he thought now, the stranger it seemed.

He knew not how long had passed when the palanquin gave a gentle jolt and at last arrived in the Eastern Pole Heaven, emerging from a sacrificial altar. The six heavenly dragons were greatly excited, and one after another they transformed into divinities with dragon heads and human bodies. Shen Mu hesitated a moment, then ordered Dragon Qilin and Yan'er to unhitch the harness, and invited the six dragon gods aboard.

"Yan'er, hitch Long Pang to the carriage and drive for the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace. " Dragon Qilin howled in protest, but Yan'er hitched him up all the same, and he had no choice but to pull the carriage onward.

Shen Mu looked out at the scenery.

This Eastern Pole Heaven was unlike any other: stars wrought of countless thunderbolts hung in the sky, dazzling bright. More than that, lightning a full ten thousand li long hung in the heavens—yet it gave no roll of thunder, and all was profoundly still.

The land of the Eastern Pole Heaven teemed with dragon-shaped creatures, as though it were a haunt of the dragon race—surely the descendants of the Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon. Here and there a giant dragon could be seen sprawled among the towering peaks and ridges, a thousand li long, sunk in slumber, snoring like thunder. Swarms of little dragons clambered over the giant's body, tumbling and tussling with squeals of glee; some spat fire, some spat water, and some rode thunderbolts down to strike at their fellows.

Many more little dragons climbed onto the giant's whiskers. When the giant breathed, its whiskers were swept up by wild currents of air, and the little dragons upon them shook violently in the gusts, thrilled to the bone.

Some were blown clean off and landed black and blue, whereupon they sat on the ground and wailed. Woken by the noise, the giant would open its huge eyes, yawn, and the little dragons would scramble down in a panic and hide every which way.

Yet the giant was gentle too: it would curl its whiskers around the bawling little ones, coax them a while, then sink back into deep sleep. With Dragon Qilin drawing the Heavenly Dragon palanquin, their pace slowed a good deal; fortunately the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace was vast, and its distance from here not too great—a few days would bring them there.

Even so, the palanquin was stopped by certain dragon gods, who demanded to know how the descendants of divine dragons could be made to serve as a man's coachman.

These dragon gods were much displeased, and Shen Mu had no choice but to halt Dragon Qilin. "Let me pull the carriage!

" Yan'er said eagerly. Shen Mu shook his head, thinking: "You are the daughter of the Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon.

If you pulled this carriage, I fear the Eastern Emperor would want my life. "