Chapter 652 — The Celestial Palace of Xuandu
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Ling Yuxiu was startled, yet felt no pain. The Woodcutter struck more than ten times in a row, every blow landing upon Ling Yuxiu's brow, then put away the great axe and said, "Child of the Ling family, remember today's words. Now go."
Ling Yuxiu was thoroughly bewildered, and followed Shen Mu back to the tower ship.
Chixi looked at the Woodcutter's retreating back and sneered, "Fellow Daoist, when the chance comes, we shall have another contest!"
The Woodcutter, his back still turned to them, waved a hand. The tower ship roared off beyond the heavens and soon vanished from sight.
The starry sky stretched vast and boundless. A tower ship, three pairs of wings quivering, traced band after band of flowing light across the dark sea of stars. It sped on, faster and faster, meeting almost no resistance in that void, until its speed climbed to an unimaginable pitch, racing like a flash of lightning.
Soon they passed through a belt of shattered rock-stars. Boulder after boulder of star-stuff crashed against the tower ship—bang, bang, bang—but the ship's runes rippled and turned, and those mountain-sized stars were instantly ground to powder.
Chixi took out his astrolabe to fix their bearings. A magnificent star chart shone above it. "In half a year we shall reach the Crimson Bright Suspended Realm. During these six months you may move about as you please, but you must not leave this ship."
Shen Mu studied the projected star chart. The stellar orbits within it were exceedingly strange: river after river of stars revolved around one and the same place, and yet that place held nothing at all—only a dazzling radiance.
"Senior Chixi, what place is this?" he asked, pointing at the black-hole-like spot.
Chixi glanced at it and raised an eyebrow. "Country lad. You have never even walked out of your ancestral land; naturally you do not know the wonders of the cosmos."
The Primordial Human Emperor looked, and said, "That is the place set opposite Youdu. It is where the Lord of Heaven resides—utterly mysterious."
Ling Yuxiu had never heard of the Lord of Heaven either. Listening along with Shen Mu, she asked, "The Lord of Heaven stands opposed to Youdu? Tubo of Youdu harvests souls—then what does the Lord of Heaven do?"
Before the Primordial Human Emperor could answer, Chixi cut in: "The Lord of Heaven is the ancestor of all gods. He governs the motions of the heavens, just and impartial. Behind every star and constellation you see in the sky, it is the Lord of Heaven who drives them. The stars of every world and every heaven are under his control. This god is in no way inferior to Tubo. His star-images project millions of incarnations—truly formidable!"
The Primordial Human Emperor said, "The Lord of Heaven may enter any world at will. But Jingping's sky is false; Jingping has no true celestial phenomena, and so the Lord of Heaven cannot enter there."
Ban Gongcuo had never heard of this either, and found himself listening spellbound. Suddenly he said, "Does that not mean the sun, moon, and stars we see are all false?"
"Not all of them are false."
The Primordial Human Emperor said, "In the Desolate Ruins, the sun you see in the daytime is real. Sometimes in daylight you can also see the moon, the star Venus, and a scattering of other stars—those too are real."
Ban Gongcuo was dumbstruck. He murmured, "What we see within the Desolate Ruins is real, and everything outside is false... then the seal upon the Desolate Ruins—whom is it sealing in?"
Shen Mu glanced at him. "The people outside the Desolate Ruins, of course. Has the Great Venerable never wondered why those outside the Desolate Ruins have only the Four-Spirit Body, while the spirit bodies within the Ruins are strange beyond counting?"
Ban Gongcuo was beside himself. "Sealing us in... heh heh, sealing us in... What did we do wrong, that we should be sealed in?"
The people outside the Desolate Ruins had always looked down upon its inhabitants, calling them the Forsaken.