Chapter 797 — The Enigma of Truth and Falsehood
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
Luo Wushuang too was exceedingly excited. He looked outside the hall and laughed softly. "Forty thousand years. I have waited bitterly for you for forty thousand years. Your voice—I have never forgotten it. When I swing the divine blade, what appears in my mind is your shadow, what sounds in my ears is your voice..."
At the entrance of the Lingxiao Hall, a demigod with a qilin's head and human body pulled on a gleaming rope, leading a colossal creature into the hall.
The colossal creature was half dragon, half qilin, majestic and extraordinary, magnificent in appearance.
And atop the dragon-qilin's great head, a woman held a wooden sword, rosy light steaming around her, the radiance like a colored phoenix flowing with fire.
Another woman's halo flickered behind her head, within it a small sapling; she cradled a horsetail whisk in her arms, her bearing otherworldly, leaning against a youth's shoulder.
Behind the youth was a servant, layered flame behind his head, a great cauldron rising and falling within it, floating and sinking without cease.
And the youth himself seemed somewhat languid, looking with a half-smile toward the girl before the imperial throne in the Lingxiao Hall, not rising from the dragon-qilin's head. He smiled. "By rights, I should call you senior sister. A pity my master did not take you as a disciple. Who exactly are you?"
Within the Lingxiao Hall, an uproar. Voices of discussion rose on every side.
The Water Qilin, seeing so many divinities, trembled, its legs shaking. It summoned its courage and led the dragon-qilin toward the imperial throne, muttering inwardly, "The Heavenly Court—this is the Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court. Ahead is the imperial throne, where the Heavenly Emperor sits! What fortune have I cultivated in this life to come so close to the imperial throne..."
The dragon-qilin yawned, looking this way and that, extending its crimson tongue to lick its lips, appearing fierce and malevolent. It thought, "A thousand hundred powerhouses, each could easily kill me. But if the sky falls, the Cult Leader will hold it up..."
Before the imperial throne, the girl was astonished, for a moment unable to react.
The dragon-qilin came before the imperial throne and stopped.
Shen Mu rose, looking down at the girl from above, and said with a half-smile, "Senior sister, can you give me an explanation?"
The astonishment on the girl's face gradually faded, and she giggled. "The Heavenly Sage Cult Leader of Jingping Kingdom, Shen Mu, Shen Fengqing—since when did you become the Earth Mother's disciple? You are truly naughty."
The scholar clenched her fist, took a small bundle from the donkey's back, and thought, "It seems only I can step in to save this brat. This brat—audacious beyond measure, daring to impersonate anyone—and now his cover is blown in an instant! You could at least have changed your appearance..."
"I am a fake?" Shen Mu laughed heartily.
"You are a fake."
Behind him, Luo Wushuang's voice came, word by word. "An old acquaintance of the Supreme Emperor's era—do you remember that night, the youth whose arm you severed with a single sword strike?"
Shen Mu turned. His gaze fell upon Luo Wushuang, then searched among the Lingxiu Army youths beside him—the youths of the Lingxiu Army were all men and women with severed arms.
Yet he still saw Zhe Huali, and his heart sank. "Furira, you betrayed us after all..."
He shifted his gaze away and paid Luo Wushuang no heed.
Then he saw another girl, who seemed very lonely in the crowd.
Their eyes met. Everything around Shen Mu seemed to vanish, as though he had returned to that night, when he and this girl had leaned together waiting for the dawn's morning sun.