Chapter 350 — All Three Dantians Break Through Together
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
The searing heat remained; the sun poured out raging fire, and had Shen Mu not in time circulated the Vermilion Bird vital qi, his very flesh could hardly have borne it. At that moment a coolness came from behind him; Shen Mu hurriedly turned, and saw a vast bright moon blotting out the sky at his back, the moon too receding at flying speed.
"The Heaven Prime is the sun, the Water Prime the moon—then where is the Earth Prime? " Shen Mu looked down at his feet.
Boundless earth-yellow currents surged and rolled beneath him, churning without cease, and out of the endlessly roiling yellow qi mountain after mountain rose from the ground, peaks ranged in disorder. Where the Three Primes met and mingled, at once the mountains were green and the waters clear, all things grew and flourished, and heaven and earth were at peace.
"Human Sovereign, do you choose to break through with the Heaven Prime, or the Earth Prime, or the Water Prime?
" a rumbling voice came, deafening to the ear. Shen Mu looked toward the sound.
In the sun stood a god-man brilliant with golden light, and behind him a golden crow with three legs wheeled and soared; the god-man too had three legs, a third eye at his brow, and in his hand a great bell.
Shen Mu turned and looked back: in the moon there was a figure as well, a woman gleaming silver, her hair like silver threads, and behind her floated a huge toad with dim, drowsy eyes. The goddess held an osmanthus tree, her silver-white garments fluttering.
Shen Mu looked below and saw the third god-man, of majestic build, tall and upright, a yellow dragon coiled about his body, yellow qi sinking and floating, surging without cease, at his feet. Shen Mu breathed the air of this place, and at once felt several different powers come rushing toward him, so that his spirit fetus began, all unawares, to grow. He could not help but marvel: for one who had cultivated to his stage, the mysteries of the primal fetus divine treasury had nearly all been developed, and no further improvement should be possible.
Yet here the primal fetus divine treasury seemed able to improve still further! "What place is this? " Shen Mu asked in a loud voice, "Where are the three elders who were here before?
" "This is the primal fetus divine treasury of a deity. " The voice of the god-man brilliant with golden light in the sun came, like thunder: "This deity is dead; only the husk remains.
I am the Heaven Prime True Man; by secret art I became this deity's Heaven Prime. " "I am the Water Prime True Man.
" From the bright moon behind Shen Mu came the voice of the woman in silver: "By secret art I became this deity's Water Prime. " "And I am the Earth Prime.
" Beneath Shen Mu's feet the earth rose in a swirling upheaval; the giant stood in place unmoving, his body rising as it too revolved, and a twisted mountain bore him up before Shen Mu.
The giant looked down upon Shen Mu from his height.
"Earth Prime True Man, greetings to the Human Sovereign!
" Shen Mu's mind boomed; all at once he understood, and cried out, "You are far older than Grandpa Li Zheng, and the reason you have not died to this day is not that the Earth Lord forgot you—it is that you have lived on by borrowing this deity's primal fetus divine treasury! " The Earth Prime True Man showed none of the doddering frailty he had worn outside the hall; his voice was weighty beyond measure: "Your guess is right!
Human Sovereigns are indeed clever men.
The three of us have lived more than two thousand years; another man would have died three or four times over.
Even a strong one nearing godhood finds it hard to escape the end of life and death, sickness and age.