Chapter 529 — The Dark Otherworld
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"The Woodcutter Sage's stone statue has awakened?"
Shen Mu was shaken to the core, and quickly asked, "Where is he?"
"He has already left. Had you come a few days earlier, you might still have seen him. That Woodcutter Sage walked off with his axe in hand. When he woke, I nearly jumped out of my skin, thinking to myself, how is it that these two beings should wake one after the other?"
The Qingyou Hermit said, "As to where he has gone, that I do not know."
Shen Mu steadied himself. The First Ancestor of the Human Sovereign Hall and the Woodcutter Sage of the Heavenly Sage Sect waking in succession — there was indeed something uncanny in it. Why, of all times, had they woken now? And where would the Woodcutter Sage go?
The Heavenly Sage Sect was not founded by him; he was its founding patriarch, and the Woodcutter had only wished to leave behind his own lineage. So he might not go to the Heavenly Sage Sect at all.
Apart from the Heavenly Sage Sect, where else could he go?
Wang Muran and the others were not at Little Jade Capital but had gone to Crimson Dragon City, and only a few old immortals remained on the mountain. The Qingyou Hermit studied Shen Mu and said, "Human Sovereign Shen, your condition is somewhat off. Are you certain you wish to enter the Hall of Five Qi? You seem rather out of sorts just now."
Shen Mu shook his head. "May I ask, Immortal Qingyou, whether Little Jade Capital can now open the Hall of Five Qi, the Hall of Six Harmonies, and the Hall of Seven Stars? I wish to go in and take a look."
The Qingyou Hermit hesitated, uneasy about his present state. "If the Human Sovereign insists on forcing his way in, Little Jade Capital will of course do its utmost to satisfy him. But your state is not right just now, and if you force the trial, I fear it will go badly for you. You have only one chance. Should you pass the Five Qi breakthrough, the Six Harmonies breakthrough, and the Seven Stars breakthrough, your foundations would surely deepen enormously. Do not waste this chance. Better that you come again once you have settled your state."
Shen Mu smiled. "I wish to go in and take a look, not to take the challenge."
The Qingyou Hermit was helpless. "Then follow me."
He led Shen Mu to the Hall of Three Primes and said, "Last time you passed the Three Primes breakthrough. This time, upon entering the hall, you will pass of yourself into the Hall of Five Qi. If you clear the Hall of Five Qi, you will enter the Hall of Six Harmonies; and once the Hall of Six Harmonies is passed, comes the Hall of Seven Stars. Your state is not right. To keep anything from going amiss, I will preside over it myself."
Shen Mu thanked him and walked into the Hall of Three Primes. Before he had even found his footing, the scene before his eyes changed abruptly: five great stars hung in the sky, gleaming in the five colors of gold, azure, blue, crimson, and yellow, and upon the five stars stood five palaces.
Shen Mu gazed intently. Beyond those five stars he could also see the sun and the moon in the sky, yet they were immeasurably far from him, as though a whole world lay between.
The five stars in the sky were absurdly vast, some near, some far. Within the five divine halls, figure after figure of gods rose to their feet — one with an ox's head and a man's body, one with a man's head and a serpent's body, one with a tiger's head and a man's body, one with a man's head and a bird's body, one with red hair and a serpent's body — each corresponding to one of the Star Lords of the Five Luminaries.
Suddenly the Qingyou Hermit's voice came from afar: "Senior Sister Yinghe, let me take your place in this round."
The red-haired, serpent-bodied god rose and streaked away as a beam of flowing light.