Chapter 742 — Altering One's Appearance
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" On the Heavenly River there were many painted barges, weaving and crossing. Great beasts stirred up wind and waves in the river, towing barge after barge. Shen Mu searched everywhere, but for a time could not find the barge where Kaihuang was.
Suddenly a long, low cry came — low in pitch, yet exceedingly vast, so that it set one's chest humming and buzzing. A great kun over ten li in length quivered its enormous fins and leapt up from beneath the water, raising a huge swell.
Shen Mu dodged aside. The kun flung spray into the sky; its fins were like wings, beating as it flew, and a long cry issued from its mouth.
Though this era lacked Jingping's terrifying creativity, it had all manner of strange and wondrous giant beasts, and they made rather fine mounts.
"The barge has docked! " Shen Mu's eyes lit up. Through the spray he saw a painted barge moored at a jade terrace — but Kaihuang was not on the barge, nor were the several people who had been with him earlier.
Several other painted barges were moored beside the jade terrace as well. Some people dressed in garb full of ancient flavor were disembarking, and there were no other buildings by the terrace; instead, a huge blue-backed fish floated up from beneath the water. The people who had come off the barges stepped onto the fish's back, as though standing upon a small island.
"That's a dock — a place to change mounts!
" Old Ox said hurriedly: "They've switched to a kun!
" Shen Mu shot up into the sky and gave chase to the kun that had just broken the surface.
Behind him Old Ox trod upon the air, making the sky boom and thud with every step, and swiftly caught up; with a gentle nudge of his head, Shen Mu landed on the ox's back. Old Ox put forth his strength, and with a thunderous roar the space ahead all but exploded; a streak of azure light shot straight toward that kun. Carrying Shen Mu, Niu Sanduo drew closer and closer to the kun flying on beating fins.
That kun was no ordinary creature either, flying at great speed — though still considerably inferior to Old Ox. As they drew nearer and nearer, Shen Mu instead gradually calmed, and said in a low voice: "Senior Brother Sanduo, don't chase up to it just yet.
" Old Ox hastily slowed, and asked, puzzled: "Didn't you want to see Kaihuang? " "I certainly do want to see him, but we don't know what era this is. We don't know where we've come, or when.
I suspect. .
.
" His expression turned strange, and he said softly: "I suspect we've come to some point in the past. This era is not the Kaihuang Era.
" Old Ox nodded and said: "It certainly isn't the Kaihuang Era. The Kaihuang Era was magnificent too, but it didn't have this scale, and this place is far too backward.
I suspect it's the Shanghuang Era. . .
" Shen Mu went on analyzing: "It can't be the Shanghuang Era either. I don't know much about the Shanghuang Era, but I do know that its final years were extremely chaotic. Nor is this the Chiming Era — in the Chiming Era most beings had three heads and six arms, whereas the gods and demons here are of every bizarre shape imaginable. " Old Ox's ox-eyes went wide, and he blurted out: "Could we have gone back to the incomparably distant Longhan Era?
" Shen Mu's expression was strange as he said softly: "Senior Brother, calm yourself. The Yong River is exceedingly bizarre.
I once ran into a fog incident on the Yong River, and once, in a desert heaven at the source of the Yong River, I returned to the late Shanghuang Era forty thousand years ago. There's no need to make a fuss over a little thing like this. " Old Ox's ox-mouth hung wide open, and he stammered: "You've encountered the bizarre? " Shen Mu calculated: "I was carrying a chest and a dragon qilin, fleeing the pursuit of Xing'an together with the Great Venerable, when we blundered into forty thousand years ago and met Bai Qu'er and the others, and lived through the war that destroyed the Shanghuang.
But it was only for a single night.