Chapter 1059 — Completing the Divine Power, the Ghost Ship Crosses the Realms

On the Yong River, six heavenly dragons pulled the Heavenly Dragon Chariot, racing along the river's surface, while Shen Mu sat within the carriage. He took out Celestial Venerable Ling's hairpin and stirred its power; at once the river surged and churned, as though a colossal beast were thrashing beneath the water. Suddenly the sky darkened, growing blacker and blacker, and at the river's heart there seemed to be a monster that could devour all things.

The six heavenly dragons pulling the chariot were stricken with terror, racing over the dark river surface.

Just then, ahead of them, a tall mast bearing a sail suddenly burst through the river's surface; the mast split the water, carving out two great waves! The six heavenly dragons raced behind the mast, and the qilin-dragon lashed his whip into the air, forcing them to run faster and faster.

Beneath the river's surface, the ship was moving at tremendous speed; more and more of the mast rose above the water, and several more masts came bursting out of the river, spaced far apart. The ship racing through the waters beneath the river's surface was immense beyond measure!

Suddenly, with a thunderous roar, that ancient warship leapt from the riverbed trailing a mass of water; streams cascaded from its deck like waterfalls, crashing onto the river's surface. Countless beams of black light and black mist, like chains, interwove and crisscrossed with the great ship at their center; from within the ship came wave after wave of roars that seized the soul!

Crack— The qilin-dragon snapped his whip; the heavenly dragons, startled, plunged into the black light and mist surrounding the great ship.

The instant the Heavenly Dragon Chariot entered the ghost ship's shrouded domain, the ghost ship sank once more to the bottom, dazzling light burst forth, and the ship vanished from the Yong River. The six heavenly dragons pulling the chariot hurried to halt, yet they slid along the broad deck for several dozen li before finally coming to a stop.

Shen Mu rose to his feet and drew back the pearl curtain. Outside all was darkness, save for huge black coffins standing silently around the Heavenly Dragon Chariot.

There were a great many of these coffins; only because the heavenly dragons had pulled the chariot in a series of evasions had they avoided colliding with the black coffins.

"Junior Brother, you have come late!

" A voice came, though no one could be seen: "I have already become one with this ship, transformed into an invisible state. If you cannot break Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power, you will not be able to free us.

" The six heavenly dragons, Yan'er, and the qilin-dragon hurriedly looked toward the voice, but saw no one, as though an invisible person were hidden there.

Yet when they closed their eyes, they sensed that all around them were people, tens of thousands of them! Shen Mu stepped down from the chariot, gripped the hairpin, and slashed with force; the surrounding darkness was parted, revealing light, and there stood majestic figures upon the ghost ship's deck, vast in number!

The cultivation of those gods and demons was exceedingly powerful; they were none other than the Feathered Forest Army of ancient times!

They clustered around a middle-aged man, and that man was Wei Suifeng—once the commander of the Feathered Forest Army, wielder of the military tally, and now the Yunluo Emperor of the Yunluo Celestial Palace!

The soldiers of the Feathered Forest Army found that they could see one another, and could see themselves as well; one after another they raised cheers. Wei Suifeng looked at his own hands, then at the soldiers around him, and was both astonished and overjoyed: "Junior Brother, can you undo Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power?

" Shen Mu shook his head: "I have only temporarily helped you out of your invisible state, but I still cannot break Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power and free you from your symbiotic state with the ghost ship. " Suddenly a phoenix cry rang out, and a fire phoenix rose on beating wings from behind the ghost ship, bearing a huge stone coffin on its back.

It flew to the deck and, landing, transformed into a woman who set down the stone coffin.

It was Feng Qiuyun, handmaiden of the Earth Mother, chieftain of the Phoenix Clan of the Primal Realm. She had come to the ghost ship on the Earth Mother's orders, bearing the corpse of Shanghuang within the stone coffin, and afterward had been trapped here; neither she, a great expert of the Lingxiao realm, nor the Shanghuang corpse-demon within the coffin, had escaped assimilation by the ghost ship.

"Celestial Venerable Mu!

" Feng Qiuyun looked at Shen Mu, then at the Heavenly Dragon Chariot, and asked hurriedly: "How many years have passed outside? Where is the Earth Mother?

" "The Earth Mother is dead.

" Shen Mu said: "The Primal Realm has fallen into the hands of Celestial Venerable Xiao. " Feng Qiuyun was as one bereaved of her parents, her spirit utterly crushed.

Wei Suifeng sighed: "Have you visited all those maps I left you? Since you cannot now undo Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power—among the maps I left you, one is the former dwelling of Celestial Venerable Ling, where some of her notes on her research into the Unchanging Divine Power are hidden.

I stole them from the Heavenly Court. If you can find that place, perhaps with her notes you can break her Unchanging Divine Power. " Shen Mu's heart stirred slightly; he took out several charts and said: "Which map is it?

" Wei Suifeng stepped forward, picked out one of the charts, and said: "This one. But there is no use speaking of it now—you too will be trapped here, unable to leave the ghost ship. You will be assimilated by the ghost ship…

" Shen Mu smiled: "Though I cannot break Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power, I have comprehended a portion of the Unchanging Divine Power, and I can also command a portion of unchanging matter.

" Wei Suifeng frowned: "What do you mean?

" Shen Mu put away the map and said: "I want to join hands with you, to stir this ship together, to summon Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power, and by means of this ship return to ancient times!

" Wei Suifeng's frown deepened: "Though I too understand a portion of the Unchanging Divine Power, what I command are only fragments; what I have comprehended is no more than yours.

" "Are we not still left with this ghost ship?

" Shen Mu's gaze was bright as snow: "The ghost ship is also Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power, though it is not a complete Unchanging Divine Power—only the prototype of her divine power. If you and I can make good the flaw in this divine power, we can turn this ship into unchanging matter, able to travel through every era, no longer confined to reincarnation. " Wei Suifeng's eyes lit up, and he paced back and forth: "Such a possibility does indeed exist. This ship travels through thirty-six rounds of reincarnation, thirty-six eras in all, and each great reincarnation is a reset of matter. If we make good the missing portion of Celestial Venerable Ling's divine power, it is indeed possible to make it a complete divine power.

" He raised his head, his gaze flickering: "Then, Junior Brother, what exactly is the purpose of your coming this time?

" Shen Mu said: "I want to return to the past. " Wei Suifeng laughed: "How simple it is for you to return to the past! Celestial Venerable Ling has already turned into unchanging matter at the source of the Yong River; she will become mist and send you back.

If you return to the source of the Yong River, so long as the mist appears, perhaps you can go back to the past. " He could not help but sigh with feeling: "Celestial Venerable Ling is the mist upon the river.

When the mist comes, it is Celestial Venerable Ling arriving at your side—only you cannot see her.