Chapter 1222 — The Two Painted Scrolls

In this battle the Lunar Venerable had learned from the last: no longer would they fight each on their own; they would do their utmost to coordinate with the Ling Venerable, the Fire Venerable, and Xiao Weisu. She had founded her Way upon space, and her mastery of the Way of Space was so formidable that none could surpass her; whether wielded in battle or in the aiding of others, the arts of space could play the most crucial of roles.

In the previous battle the four of them had not cooperated; in this one, with the Lunar Venerable marshaling them all, their threat to the Earth Mother instantly swelled. The Earth Mother was gravely wounded, and when the others moved to reap her life, her injuries abruptly healed; she drew up her roots and fought them to the death. In the end, Ling, Fire, and Xiao all fell in that battle, and only the Lunar Venerable herself escaped, not a hair of her harmed.

"You scoundrel! " The Lunar Venerable returned to Shen Mu's side and cried in angry vexation, "This is nothing but foul play!

Where is the sense in a wound healing itself in the middle of a fight? " "The Earth Mother can do it," Shen Mu said.

"The Earth Mother is rooted in the earth, and her roots run through the whole of the Origin Realm; there is scarcely a place without them.

In a single instant she can draw sustenance from every corner of the realm.

And she also possesses the Grand Primordial Essence; to swallow it restores her to her peak in the blink of an eye. " The Lunar Venerable held back her anger and said, "Ridding ourselves of the Earth Mother is truly no easy thing.

Let me think.

" She pondered a long while, then said with resolve, "One more time! " This time the Lunar Venerable severed the earth of the Origin Realm from the Primordial Tree, so that the Earth Mother's roots could not join with it; and aiding and coordinating the others' attacks, she altered space itself, letting them strike at the Earth Mother from every direction, appearing and vanishing like ghosts and gods. In that battle they finally cut the Earth Mother down. All four breathed a sigh of relief, and just then the Ling Venerable's head abruptly burst apart; a sudden chill struck the Lunar Venerable's heart, and she hurriedly roused her arts of space and fled far away.

She looked back: it was the Fire Venerable whose fist had blasted apart the Ling Venerable's skull, while Xiao Weisu held a divine sword, and it was he who had tried to run her through.

The dream shattered.

"Venerable Mu! " The Lunar Venerable returned to Shen Mu's side and, beside herself with rage, went to settle accounts with him, saying hotly, "That the Earth Mother could be gravely wounded and recover in an instant just now, fine, she has that power. But why would the Fire Venerable and Xiao Weisu kill us?

Today you must give me a reason!

" Shen Mu's face was mild and his gaze tender. Looking into her eyes, he said softly, "Yue, this is your dream.

I have only let it cycle; I have not meddled in it. What is in your heart is reflected in the dream.

That the Fire Venerable and Xiao Weisu would kill you, is that not a notion of your own?

" Under his gaze the Lunar Venerable's heart fluttered in confusion, and she nodded again and again, her voice turning much gentler: "I forgot.

Even you are the you of my imagining: handsome, dashing, tender, far better looking than the real you. " Shen Mu looked at her with a smile. "But the true me is not so handsome, nor so tall and imposing. " Her heart pounded wildly and she felt shy; she gave him a sidelong glare and tittered, "At first the you in my heart and the real you were quite alike, but you vanished for so many years that my memory of you grew hazier and hazier, and it stopped being so alike.

Are you not a painter? When you are well again, paint a portrait of yourself for me, so that I will not remember you as so handsome. " She gathered her spirits, and once more the dream came over her. At the end of that battle the Lunar Venerable blocked Xiao Weisu's sneak attack; but on the other side, the Fire Venerable slew the Ling Venerable.

"Can I tell the Ling Venerable that the Fire Venerable and the others are plotting treachery? " the Lunar Venerable asked when she had returned to Shen Mu's side. Shen Mu nodded.

"You can.

" Again the dream. The Lunar Venerable evaded Xiao Weisu's sword and the Ling Venerable evaded the Fire Venerable's fist; the two women had barely steadied themselves when the Hao Venerable, the Divine Emperor Langxuan, the Ancestor God King, and others suddenly appeared. The Lunar Venerable watched in despair; in the end she still escaped, and the Ling Venerable still fell beneath the butchers' blades of the Hao Venerable, the Fire Venerable, and the rest. The Lunar Venerable returned to Shen Mu's side. This time she did not demand to know why the Hao Venerable and the others had appeared so conveniently; she sank into silent thought instead.

Shen Mu did not disturb her, but let her ponder.

How long passed, she could not say, before the Lunar Venerable laughed once more. "Let us try again!

" This time the Ling Venerable still died, and still only she escaped back.

She was the Venerable who commanded the Way of Space; to kill her was truly too difficult.

"Again!

" The Lunar Venerable's voice trembled slightly; she forced herself to be calm. But the result was the same.

She could never change the outcome of the Ling Venerable's death; no matter how many times she tried, after the Earth Mother was killed, the Ling Venerable would always die under the siege of them all. Again and again she tried, and again and again she failed; never once could she save the Ling Venerable.

"Let me try once more," she said to Shen Mu, her voice a little hoarse. .

.

.

This time she did not save herself, but exerted all her power to send the Ling Venerable away from that place.

Her spatial powers were miraculous beyond measure; let the Hao Venerable, Langxuan, the Ancestor God King, and the others obstruct and attack as they might, they could not keep the Ling Venerable there.

Yet though the Ling Venerable was sent away, the Lunar Venerable herself was plunged into peril: as she fled, Xiao Weisu's sword slashed across her waist, the Fire Venerable's fist crashed into her cheek, and the Hao Venerable's seal stamped her between the shoulder blades.

Langxuan's divine sense blasted her until her consciousness blurred, and the Ancestor God King's blow shattered the crown of her head. "This outcome is already very good.

" The Lunar Venerable woke from the dream.

Time after time she had tried, and after sending the Ling Venerable away she could never escape death.

But later on, though she could not avoid being gravely wounded, she could keep her life, only that no matter how hard she strove, her legs would always be crippled by Xiao Weisu.

And her face, too, could never escape being ruined by the Fire Venerable.

"This is only my dream. None of it need come to pass.

" She smiled at Shen Mu. "So be it. One way or another, the Earth Mother must die!

Mu, is this really a dream?

" Shen Mu nodded.

The Lunar Venerable suddenly rose on tiptoe, leaned in and kissed him on the face, then fled in a fit of shyness, giggling, "It is a dream anyway. Kissing a lover in a dream is nothing! " She stopped again, turned back, and said, "Venerable Mu is a great painter whose brush brings forth flowers.

Could you paint my face as it is now?

I want to sear my present looks into my mind, so that if I turn ugly in the future I will not forget them.

" Shen Mu picked up his brush. In the moonlight, the girl looked a little shy from having just stolen a kiss from her sweetheart.

Shen Mu painted that scene.