Chapter 848 — The Blazing Heavenly Venerable
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
He turned around, and his face had already become Mu Qing's face.
"It's you!
" The Fire Heavenly Venerable's expression changed drastically. Shen Mu seized the moment, put his strength into his toes, and leaped backward into the Heaven-Bearing Gate behind him, his body arcing back, about to fall into the darkness.
The Fire Heavenly Venerable's dharma power erupted, his five fingers splayed wide, and just as Shen Mu was about to plunge into Youdu he felt a vast, profound dharma power pin him in place! He looked outward: beyond the Heaven-Bearing Gate, the Fire Heavenly Venerable was like a god whose head held up the sky and whose feet stood upon the earth, exalted on high, the flames around him burning the very space about him into distortion.
"Mu Heavenly Venerable, it has indeed been a long time since we last met. " His voice seemed to come from another world; that vast dharma power was beyond imagining — even across a whole world, his dharma power could still lightly hold Shen Mu's life and death in its grasp.
"Do you still remember the grand gathering at the Jade Pool in those years?
" The Fire Heavenly Venerable said slowly, "A million years, is it not? What makes me curious is that after a million years you have made no progress at all — as weak as ever. " The distance between Shen Mu and him was closing rapidly; he was about to be returned to the Heavenly Court once more.
Yet at that very moment, a paper boat appeared in the Fire Heavenly Venerable's sight, an old man standing at its prow, holding up a storm lantern.
The Fire Heavenly Venerable suddenly felt his dharma power severed; he stopped at once and gazed across the distance at the old underworld courier on the paper boat. One of them stood at the topmost floor of the Heavenly Court's Pavilion of Stored Archives, where all was light; the other stood within Youdu, where all was darkness.
"You Heavenly Venerable.
" The Fire Heavenly Venerable's eye twitched; he spoke softly. The old man in the darkness said mildly, "Fire Heavenly Venerable.
" The Fire Heavenly Venerable's gaze was complicated; he said in a low voice, "In those years we were both of the Seven Heavenly Venerables, the closest of friends — why has it come to this confrontation today? You Heavenly Venerable, ever since the Yu Heavenly Venerable died you have sunk into ruin.
You should never have gone to Youdu. Once you went to Youdu, your temper grew ever more perverse and withdrawn, and at last you took the crooked path.
I still remember: when the Yu Heavenly Venerable died, you wore a ghost-faced mask and wept bitterly for him, convulsing with grief.
In those days you were all feeling and all holiness; I found your character tiresome, but I did not dislike you.
" "When the Yu Heavenly Venerable died, you wept too. " The underworld courier on the paper boat seemed to show no ripple of emotion at all; he said calmly, "And yet afterward you sank into ruin, and at last you took the crooked path. The upright Fire Heavenly Venerable of those years died along with the Yu Heavenly Venerable. Standing in the darkness and looking at you, I no longer recognize you. " The Fire Heavenly Venerable's pupils shrank sharply. At that moment, from behind him came that aged voice, rushing at flying speed toward the topmost floor of the Pavilion of Stored Archives: "Has an enemy invaded the Pavilion of Stored Archives? Impossible — this is a sealed space, and it lies in the very heart of the Heavenly Court, a forbidden zone within a forbidden zone.
.
. " In the darkness, the old underworld courier's paper boat carried Shen Mu away into the distance. The Fire Heavenly Venerable's expression returned to normal; he waved his hand lightly, as though seeing them off. As his palm lifted, Shen Mu's Heaven-Bearing Gate was completely erased by him, leaving no trace behind.