Chapter 508 — Passing the Torch
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" The First Ancestor nodded: "I heard it once, but never saw an Overlord Body. I took that one hearing for a tall tale and did not believe it—yet who would have thought it would turn out to be true.
" His expression turned strange: "To think such a fresh and refined Overlord Body exists in this world. " The Village Chief fell silent, suddenly feeling the world around him had become absurd, bizarre and grotesque. Could the Overlord Body he had fabricated truly have existed?
And this Overlord Body was exactly the same as the lie he had used to deceive Shen Mu!
Was this not too incredible?
Back then in the village, to soothe the villagers, he had spoken the first lie—that Shen Mu was an Overlord Body. In the years that followed, he had been forced to tell more lies to cover it up, until at last he fabricated a complete system of the Overlord Body.
The stele's description of the Overlord Body was almost identical to his own system.
He had used the same words to deceive others, and they had believed; now, reading the words on the stele, he too was beginning to believe. The stele stood before him; he could not but believe. "If an Overlord Body truly existed, why did the age of the Supreme Emperor still perish?
" The Village Chief still struggled inwardly. Thinking of the crux, he hurriedly asked. "It does not say.
" The First Ancestor's face showed desolation, his spirit bleak: "Yet before the surging tide of destiny, an individual's power is truly too insignificant.
Heh heh, even an Overlord Body—what of it? Could he cleanse the cosmos and restore clarity to heaven and earth?
This Overlord Body may have been erased before he could grow; or perhaps the False Overlord Body seized his fortune; or perhaps, grieving the fall of the Supreme Emperor's age and his own powerlessness to turn the tide, he gave himself up to despair, wallowed in self-pity, and hid away, a turtle pulling in its head, like me.
The possibilities of history are simply too many. A single person in the vast sweep of history is truly too small. . . " He seemed to be speaking of the Overlord Body of forty thousand years ago, and also of his own circumstances. At last he sighed in disappointment and said no more. The Village Chief examined the stele over and over, then suddenly grew excited. He fetched paper and inkstone and made a rubbing of the inscription with ink. The First Ancestor raised an eyebrow.
The Village Chief laughed: "I will take a rubbing of these words back to show the past Human Sovereigns. A true Overlord Body—there really is a true Overlord Body!
I have taken a true Overlord Body as my disciple, my successor as Human Sovereign. .
. When they see this rubbing, they will surely be happy for me! " The First Ancestor gave him a surprised look, then continued walking forward: "Judging by the inscription, the destruction of the Supreme Emperor's Divine Domain came long after the end of the Supreme Emperor's age. I cannot help but worry about the Land of No Sorrow.
" The Village Chief hurried after him: "Then what does the First Ancestor mean. . .
" "I worry about the Land of No Sorrow.
" The First Ancestor said in a low voice: "I have not had news from the Land of No Sorrow for a long time.
Though there have been several messages from it, carrying the Kaihuang's orders, I suspect he is no longer the same enterprising Kaihuang as before. No Sorrow, No Sorrow—heh heh, one who does not plan for the future will surely have sorrows near at hand! They have stayed in the Land of No Sorrow too long! Back then I opposed building any Land of No Sorrow and advocated fighting to the end! " The Village Chief pondered: "Then does the First Ancestor intend, on this journey, to find people of the Supreme Emperor's age? That age is too distant from the present; it is impossible that any remnants still survive.