Chapter 792 — The Nine Ancient Emperors
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
" Gongsun Yan nodded.
"Bad tempers are one thing, but the tomb-guarding beasts have bad tempers too. Every time I pass here they look at me as though I were a thief.
" Shen Mu had no choice but to keep creeping forward.
At last they passed nine black coffins; the imperial tombs of several Supreme Emperors had all been placed here, the coffins entwined with roots, some custom of the Supreme Emperors' age, though he did not know what it meant.
"Are gods not immortal?
Why did these Supreme Emperors fall and die? " Shen Mu asked.
"They were beaten to death.
" Gongsun Yan whispered, "Lower your voice, or they will hear you.
If they hear you, they will jump out and beat you! The Earth Mother snatched their souls back from Youdu, and they are all shut up in their coffins.
" Shen Mu was horrified. Lowering his voice, he asked, "What manner of being could beat the Supreme Emperors of the ages to death? " "The Earth Mother herself was beaten to death, so how much more so the Supreme Emperors?
" Gongsun Yan said, "The age of the Supreme Emperors was utter chaos.
.
. The Earth Mother's palace is here! " Ahead the light was dazzling.
A palace was held aloft in the air by roots running in every direction, and it was the palace itself that gave off the radiance.
Only when they came before it did they see how towering and magnificent it was.
Stone dragons and bird-headed divine statues were carved on its ornamental pillars and columns; on the roof ridge stood stone statues of divine beasts of every grotesque shape; above the doorway were sculptures of water dragons, and the window lattices bore phoenix reliefs.
Shen Mu followed Gongsun Yan to the front of the hall, and suddenly saw that those stone dragons were slowly turning and writhing; then the stone surface became flesh and blood, and all at once a huge dragon head lowered before them. It was an old dragon, its eyes dim with age, its whiskers streaming, and it said in a muffled, booming voice, "I smell strangers.
" "They are the Earth Mother's honored guests. " Gongsun Yan said hastily, "Please make way, Dragon King. " Suddenly there came a flapping from the window lattice, and a phoenix flew out from it, landing before Shen Mu and the others. Flowing fire wreathed its body; it stood several zhang tall, folded its wings, and stared gravely at Shen Mu and his companions.
"The Primordial Sovereign's honored guests? Could they be spies of that old fellow the Heavenly Emperor? " Just then a murky fluctuation of divine consciousness came from within the palace: "He is a guest I invited.
. .
Eh?
Yu Tianzun!
" The fluctuation of divine consciousness was astonished beyond measure, as though it had seen a ghost. Yu Tianzun was bewildered.