Chapter 1249 — Blood Stains That Lonely City

Hu Mengdie and the rest stood in a ring, treading ever onward, one eye on each other and one on whatever foe might come, and so they made their way toward the end of this uncanny world. That was the place where the rainbow light erupted, the very source of the rainbow light, and from it Shen Mu after Shen Mu came flying, flinging down their corpses into this world.

Powerful as their arts were, the sight of it numbed their scalps; they could not guess what had happened here, nor what this Mu Heavenly Master was about.

And those Shen Mus who hauled the corpses seemed to look straight through them, letting them pass freely through that world.

Hu Mengdie tried cutting down a few of the Shen Mus, and saw them wither to dry bones the moment they died.

"That is not his true body.

" At last they came to the end of the world, and found there a gateway, through which Shen Mu after Shen Mu passed in and out without cease, hauling corpses through from beyond the door.

The group exchanged glances, and stepped into the gateway.

Hu Mengdie's heart lurched: they had arrived at the entrance to another world, and as far as the eye could see there were towers and pavilions, walled towns and great cities, and hundreds of millions of people living there, jostling and clamorous.

They came before one of the cities, and saw with horror that every soul dwelling within it was Shen Mu. All at once every Shen Mu turned its head to look at them, its gaze strange and wrong.

Their scalps crawling, they steeled themselves and walked on beneath the eyes of countless Shen Mus.

Just then a divine being's face turned ghastly, its features contorting as though two faces shuddered violently against each other, and in a moment it had become the face of Shen Mu.

Without a word Hu Mengdie struck the divine general dead and cried sharply, "Go, quickly!

" The other divine beings scrambled after her, leaping up and flying toward the distant end of that world, while below them countless Shen Mus rose into the air and came at them.

Hu Mengdie and the others fended them off at furious speed and broke through the encirclement; overhead, streaks of rainbow light flashed past with a droning hum.

Then another divine being's features shifted and became Shen Mu, and dealt them a murderous blow.

Hu Mengdie and her companions were wounded by this powerhouse of the Lingxiao realm, but at last they killed him and fled that mad world.

They came into a third world, hearts still pounding, only to see that from the sky above, figures were tumbling down without cease, dancing and flailing as they fell.

Hu Mengdie looked up, and beyond the heavens she saw a black whirlwind, and those dropping out of the sky were corpse-wraiths, one after another.

Those corpse-wraiths were the black sand of souls left when a spirit shatters, born of gathered malice and resentment.

Yet by some strangeness these corpse-wraiths tumbled into this world for no reason anyone could name, and as they fell their features writhed violently, countless faces struggling beneath the skin. Crack.

Crack. Crack.

One after another the corpse-wraiths smashed down hard upon the ground before them, and struggled up, only to swiftly grow blood and flesh and take on living bodies.

They raised their heads, and their faces had already become the face of Shen Mu, staring at them with strange eyes.

The black sand of souls within them too underwent a strange change, becoming whole sets of three souls and seven spirits, gaining primordial spirits, though every soul and spirit wore the likeness of Shen Mu.

That world was as terrible as a nightmare; Hu Mengdie and the others cried out and flew madly forward, trying to escape it. More divine beings were assimilated by that bizarre world and turned their hands on them.

By the time Hu Mengdie broke free of that world, there was no one left at her side; every powerhouse she had brought had inexplicably become Shen Mu and died along the way, and only she remained unassimilated.

She passed through one world after another, her terror fading and her killing intent growing sharper: "My cultivation is strong; Mu Heavenly Master cannot assimilate me!

He is at his wit's end! " She no longer knew how many worlds she had crossed, until at last, bursting out of the final world, she abruptly found herself outside.

Hu Mengdie looked ahead, and there sat Shen Mu before her, his back to her. Behind Shen Mu, world upon world of dream lay nested together, great circles enclosing small, who knew how many layers deep, and haloes of light fell without cease from the crowns of those worlds down to the bottoms of the dream-worlds, cycling on and on, endless and inexhaustible.

A moment before, she had been flitting from one of Shen Mu's dream-worlds to the next.

Hu Mengdie's killing intent surged, but she dared not strike from behind, lest she fall once more into his dream-worlds.

She shifted her feet stealthily, trying to slip around to his front. Just then Shen Mu suddenly woke, opened his eyes, and looked at her with a smile.

"Mu Heavenly Master.

" Hu Mengdie ground her teeth; behind her the heavenly palace leapt forth, and her primordial spirit stood before the Lingxiao Hall, for her primordial spirit had already come before the Hall of Lingxiao.

Gods who cultivate to the Lingxiao realm must climb the steps before the Lingxiao Hall one by one, bearing matchless imperial might with every stride, and those who can mount the steps of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall to stand before its doors are all beings of the very highest aptitude.

She was such a being.

Shen Mu rose to his feet and said with a smile, "So we meet again.

Do you still remember who you are?

" Hu Mengdie was taken aback for a moment, then opened her mouth: "Of course I am—" Her mind went suddenly blank. She could not remember who she was, or why she had come here at all.

Hu Mengdie shook her head, and a vast dread rose in her heart: "Who am I, truly?

" Shen Mu said with a smile, "Do you still remember who I am?

" "You are Mu Heavenly Master!

" Hu Mengdie's eyes went wide, and even as the words left her mouth the memory of Mu Heavenly Master began to fade.

Panic seized her; of a sudden she bit down hard on the tip of her tongue, reached out and drew forth an enormously thick wooden stake, and slammed it booming into the earth, crying, "Wuwang City!

" The instant the stake pierced the ground, a clangorous ringing sounded from within the wood, and ring after ring of growth unfurled outward, wider and wider; the rings parted one from another, and layer upon layer of buildings emerged.

Hu Mengdie stirred her mana, rousing the might of her divine weapon, and in a moment the stake became a divine city of incomparable splendor, spanning thousands of li in every direction.

Its wooden houses were arrayed in circles, laid out in tier upon tier of patterns, three hundred and sixty-five inner circuits in all, and upon the houses were stamped intricate runes, and now every rune blazed alight.

Wuwang City had been refined by her from one of the thicker branches of the Yuan Wood. In the year the Earth Mother Yuanjun was slain, Xiao Heavenly Master snatched away the Yuan Wood, and the Yin Son of Heaven went to Xiao Heavenly Master to beg a portion of its branches and trunk.

Because Hu Mengdie's aptitude and talent were both exceedingly high and she was deeply favored, the Yin Son of Heaven cut off a length of trunk and bestowed it on her, and from that trunk she refined her weapon and forged the great artifact that was Wuwang City. The houses of Wuwang City were carved by her own hand out of the rings of growth, each stamped with the Dao patterns of Mingdu, and their power was tremendous.

To this day Hu Mengdie had found no treasure finer than the Yuan Wood, and so she meant to make Wuwang City the divine weapon with which she would one day become an emperor and attain the Dao.