Chapter 825 — An Old Hand of the Jianghu
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"This broken ship is far too eerie!
" Shen Mu, the Dragon-Rearing Lord and the Village Head felt every hair on their bodies stand on end. Such a thing they had never heard of — that a living, breathing soul could grow together with a great hall — it was appalling beyond words, and yet it had appeared before their very eyes! That different species might grow together into a single whole was possible enough, but those were living things grown together with living things; here it was a living thing grown together with a dead one.
Most terrifying of all, even the corpse of the Supreme Emperor, a being of such might, had not escaped, and had become part of this hall! The Village Head was first to step back into that hall, and said in a low voice: "Let us go and look. Be careful.
If there is danger, Shen'er, you rouse your teleportation art at once — pay us no mind, just flee! " Shen Mu shook his head: "My teleportation art is swift enough to carry you all out with me.
" The Village Head shook his head, knowing he could not dissuade him. They returned to the hall. Within, all was neat and orderly, just as before — save for those people grown together with the hall.
"Feng Qiuyun has fled.
" Shen Mu looked all around and did not find Feng Qiuyun.
The Village Head stared at the murals in the hall and shook his head: "She did not escape either. Look here.
" Shen Mu looked at the mural.
It showed the Feather Forest Army putting down a rebellion, gods and demons slaughtering one another, a scene of dreadful carnage; every man of the Feather Forest Army was valiant and skilled in war, of extraordinary strength.
In terms of brushwork, in the age of the Longhan Heavenly Court the Dao of Painting had only just awakened, and the craft was not exquisite, not to be compared with the Dao of Painting of Kaihuang and Jingping.
The Feather Forest Army in the painting seemed flat, whereas the Deaf Elder could achieve a world within the painting and a world without. The Dao of Painting, too, was a Great Dao created by the living beings born after.
The Heavenly Sage Cult had three hundred and sixty trades and three hundred and sixty halls; after Shen Mu became its leader he added a Hall of Learning. In truth, many of the trades of the Heavenly Sage Cult could serve as such acquired Great Daos — not among the innate, but Great Daos opened up by the living beings born after.
Yet in this painting, which seemed to Shen Mu so crude, there was a phoenix flying on beating wings, so vivid and so lifelike that it stood utterly at odds with the flat Feather Forest soldiers in the picture.
That was Feng Qiuyun.
She too had fallen victim as she fled; no doubt when she flew to the edge of the hall, time and space reset, and left her in the painting. "Where is the Earth Mother Kunyuan Sword? " Shen Mu blinked and cast his gaze about.
Feng Qiuyun had revealed her true form and become a phoenix, and that sword was clutched in her phoenix claws. This sword, after all, had been forged by the Earth Mother Yuanjun; its power was exceedingly strong, and the blade gave off a golden radiance that spun without cease, actually holding back the reset of time and space — it might leap out of the mural at any moment! Shen Mu tried whether he could pull the sword out, but could not grasp it, and could only sigh inwardly with regret.
Feng Qiuyun's eyeballs could still move, and she glared at him in a huff. Shen Mu turned a blind eye, and came to the imperial coffin.
In the coffin lay the corpse of a Heavenly Emperor of Beishanghuang, already rigid, struggling to roar, striving to break free of the assimilation — but it could not leap out.
"Shen'er, this imperial corpse still carries imperial might. Do not go near.