Chapter 550 — Smiling On, Unchanged
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Taihuang Heaven had never had a road of retreat. If the gods and the divine-ability practitioners were defeated, the common folk could only be carved up like fish and meat. Now Shen Mu had built the Bridge of Spiritual Power Exchange, giving everyone in Taihuang Heaven a road of retreat—a retreat that could preserve their race and their lineage. What a monumental achievement that was!
With such a merit to his name, when Shen Mu went on to claim further credit, even if these divine-ability practitioners and gods of Taihuang Heaven flew into a shame-fueled rage, they would not beat them to death.
After a moment, Pang Yu, being a true god after all, was the first to recover. He nodded slowly and said, "Young friend Shen and Brother Black Tiger have forged the Bridge of Spiritual Power Exchange, giving the people of our Taihuang Heaven a road of retreat and survival. Truly a merit beyond measure!"
The Venerable God Sang Ye and the other gods nodded one after another. The merit Shen Mu and the Black Tiger God had won was too great.
In connecting the two worlds, there was not only a road of retreat; the divine-ability practitioners of Jingping could also come to Taihuang Heaven's aid, letting Taihuang Heaven hold out longer.
One divine-ability practitioner stammered, "But the sun in the sky..."
Shen Mu's face glowed with glory. He laughed heartily: "That is the other piece of good news I mean to tell you—a great and joyous matter!"
His voice rang loud enough to wake the deaf: "My friends, the sun in the sky is too battered, too old. We can replace it with two new suns! Round suns, perfect suns!"
Silence fell all around.
Suddenly, Sang Hua grew excited and raised both hands high: "Yay—"
The cheer was rather jarring. Sang Hua's cheer grew smaller and smaller, until at last the long-braided girl settled down obediently, coughed twice to cover it up, and dared not speak.
"Do not speak."
The True God Pang Yu wore a stiff smile and said in a low voice to the many gods beside him, "Keep smiling. Keep calm. Do not show any killing intent. They are disciples of the Heavenly Master; we must show magnanimity."
One of the gods, smiling, said in a low voice, "Will they really help us refine the sun anew?"
"I do not know."
The True God Pang Yu, smiling, said, "If they do not refine it, we cannot let them leave Taihuang Heaven. But judging by their confident looks, they should be able to."
Shen Mu looked at the many divine-ability practitioners below and the dark-faced gods of Taihuang Heaven, and the cold sweat on his brow felt like a great flood with its gates about to burst.
The Black Tiger God said quietly, "Junior Brother, they seem a little unhappy. Have they discovered that we do not know how to refine the divine fire that lights the sun?"
"Shut up, Senior Brother."
Shen Mu, wearing a stiff smile, said through clenched teeth in a low voice, "Keep smiling. Just pretend that we can refine the sun."
The Black Tiger God kept smiling, his voice coming through the gaps of his tiger teeth: "This is our first time activating the Bridge of Spiritual Power Exchange. We do not know whether it can connect to that altar in the Barren Ruins. If the connection fails, will they settle both scores at once and beat us to death?"
"Shut up, Senior Brother!"
Shen Mu's smile was beginning to slip. "The Bridge of Spiritual Power Exchange should be open by now. Can we enter the Barren Ruins from here?"
The Black Tiger God said quietly, "If something goes wrong, and we cross the bridge, we might be ground to pieces. What comes out the other end would be a puddle of mangled flesh."
A cold wind blew past. All around was dead silence.
In the Barren Ruins, night was falling.
Stone giants walked among the mountain forests, raising huge stone hammers to pound the ground, tamping it firm and flat. Along the way, many towering trees were uprooted and, astonishingly, walked like men, yielding the road, then took root on either side, standing in rows.