Chapter 236 — The Land Without Sorrow
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Now the broken moon above the Soul Boat had likewise gone dark, giving no light at all.
Shen Mu commanded the Soul Boat and borrowed its power, and the price was his own life!
He had to act quickly — use the Soul Boat's power and speed to press deep into the darkness, find Worryfree Village, find the Headman and the others.
Otherwise he would sink deeper and deeper, and the price of extricating himself would grow beyond anything he could accept! "Senior Brother Lingjing, my thanks for your aid along the way.
" Looking down from his height at Daoist Lingjing, Shen Mu's voice rolled and shook like thunder: "And now I must go by night to seek the Headman and the others. Here we part!
" Daoist Lingjing suppressed the shock in his heart, sprang up from the Soul Boat, and floated in midair. The Daoist was now in the form of a skeleton, his Daoist robe in tatters.
He bowed deeply, hands folded: "Sect Master, go!
" Boom — The enormous Soul Boat took a step. Beneath its hull was the form of a three-legged toad wrought from towering mountains; a single stride carried it more than ten li.
In a few strides the Soul Boat passed through the gate of Fengdu, chains dragging that black broken moon through the air behind it, and headed out beyond the Realm of the Dead.
And within Fengdu, mighty beings came flying one after another, only to see the Soul Boat's receding shadow.
These powers of Fengdu gazed after it from afar but did not give chase.
When the Soul Boat had first entered Fengdu, King Yama of Fengdu had refused to receive the Moon Guardian aboard it, allowing the boat to remain only on the wasteland outside the city.
Now that the Soul Boat was leaving, King Yama of Fengdu plainly had no intention of concerning himself either.
A strange figure with a bird's head and a man's body flew over on beating wings and called to Daoist Lingjing: "Daoist Lingjing, King Yama requests your presence.
" Daoist Lingjing hurried after him into Fengdu, toward the Hall of Yama. Meanwhile Shen Mu blazed with light ten thousand zhang strong, like a god of heaven forged from the bright moon, steering the ship out of the Realm of the Dead.
The colossal Soul Boat crossed the sea of mist and entered the dark wastes.
He felt boundless power flooding his body; one after another the divine storehouses within him opened, and whether Spirit Fetus or Five Luminaries, Six Harmonies, Seven Stars, Heaven-Man, Life-Death, God Bridge — all were filled with terrible energy, while still vaster power poured in from the Soul Boat.
Within the Soul Boat were array formations of inconceivable complexity; when his palm touched the giant pillar, the formations activated, and boundless energy surged into his body, remaking his flesh, remaking his soul, remaking his Spirit Fetus, carrying his cultivation straight past the God Bridge to an inconceivable realm.
The realm of the gods of heaven. It was hard to imagine what heights this power would reach were the Soul Boat whole!
"Worryfree Village, Headman — I am coming! " The enormous Soul Boat pressed on through the darkness, gliding like a fleeting gleam; the mountains on either side flashed past. The jade pendant at Shen Mu's neck had also grown enormous, drifting in the night, pointing toward the far distance in the dark.
Suddenly the pendant came loose from his neck with a ringing note and flew off into the distance. Shen Mu drove the Soul Boat faster, keeping pace with the pendant as it sped through the dark. As the hull moved it crushed the space around it; thunder crashed on every side of the Soul Boat, ceaselessly tearing the darkness, earth-shaking.
And above the Soul Boat, boulders kept breaking loose from the collapsing moon, streaking through the air and falling in trails of fire into the dark wastes.
Wherever the Soul Boat went, fiery meteors fell, striking up rolling smoke and flame around it — a glaring sight.