Chapter 643 — Twenty Thousand Years of Bloodline Legacy
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The First Ancestor Human Emperor led them onward. "Yuming Palace was not a place of high office or great authority, but it was an exceedingly sacred place in the Kaihuang Heavenly Court. This was a place of teaching and nurturing, where four Heavenly Masters held office. When the calamity broke out, I was studying here."
The Second Ancestor mused, "Was one of the four Heavenly Masters dressed as a woodcutter? The founding patriarch of the Heavenly Sage Cult regarded him as a sage."
The First Ancestor Human Emperor nodded. "He was one of them. When the calamity began, he left Yuming Palace for the front lines, offering strategies and counsel. Later, when upheaval struck Yuming Palace, he thought I was dead. Then he discovered that I had not joined the war but had fled, and he never paid me any heed again."
"Upheaval in Yuming Palace?"
The Human Emperors were perplexed. The Third Ancestor Human Emperor asked, "First Ancestor, what happened to Yuming Palace?"
The First Ancestor Human Emperor did not answer. He led them onward, and suddenly the mist dispersed. Before them appeared a magnificent complex of heavenly palaces. Pavilions stood every five paces, towers every ten, row upon row, all bathed in fragrant spring light.
The buildings were as bright and lovely as maidens in their prime; the palace halls and winding corridors curved gracefully. The scent of books drifted from the doorways, and faintly, one could almost hear the clear sound of recitation.
The Human Emperors were astonished and uncertain. This place seemed to have escaped all flames of war—not even the slightest damage from divine abilities.
The palaces, towers, pavilions, terraces, and pagodas all appeared immaculate, as if newly built, without a trace of the erosion of time.
This was almost impossible.
The Kaihuang Heavenly Court had already been destroyed. Outside Yuming Palace, one could still see the scars of war—scorched earth and the countless graves of gods and demons who had fallen in battle. How could this place have escaped the flames of war entirely?
The First Ancestor Human Emperor said nothing and led them onward. They passed a great hall. Within, prayer mats were scattered like blossoms, and young boys and girls sat in the hall, heads raised toward the front, as if listening to a lecture.
The Human Emperors were deeply shaken. These youths looked so vivid and lifelike, yet they could tell that these boys and girls had been dead for countless years!
At the head of the hall stood a god-demon with the air of a scholar, one hand raised, a smile on his face, as if explaining the mysteries of divine abilities to the youths below.
This god-demon was also a corpse, utterly devoid of life.
"How is it that their bodies have not decayed?" asked Human Emperor Qikang in a hoarse whisper.
No one answered him.
The First Ancestor Human Emperor continued on, and they hurried after him.
Along the way they saw stranger things still. At a corner they saw a little girl with two horn-like braids, frozen mid-run as she chased a black divine hound. The hound was mischievous, leading the girl in pursuit; its eyes sparkled with playfulness, and the girl wore a smile, as if clapping her hands and saying something.
Yet the little girl and the divine hound were both frozen in place. They had died in an instant, still holding the poses of their final moment.
The Human Emperors looked around, their hearts growing more alarmed by the moment.
Not far away stood a deity with the look of a scholar. Before him stood a young girl, several scrolls cradled in her arms, gazing up as if asking her teacher about some difficult question.
In the courtyard were several youths cultivating divine abilities. Two of them were sparring, their movements agile, hands forming seals as if executing a seal-art technique. Several youths standing nearby smiled and whispered to one another, as if debating who was the more skilled.