Chapter 864 — The Supreme Falls
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu looked at the characters on the stone stele, and his head grew heavy and dim.
The Tomb of Heavenly Venerable Ling.
Heavenly Venerable Ling was dead?
His gaze was dazed, bewildered. To his mind, though Heavenly Emperors might die one after another, Heavenly Venerable Ling would never die—and yet here stood the Tomb of Heavenly Venerable Ling.
He hurried to the stele, and was about to examine it when he suddenly froze.
Behind the stele lay a plain stone coffin, set there flat and even. Yet behind this simple grave stood another stele, and behind that stele, another stone coffin.
His gaze traveled slowly farther out, and he saw more steles and more stone coffins—vast in number, densely packed, blanketing the Jade Capital City of this ancient Heavenly Court!
Shen Mu looked out across it all: the Jade Capital City filled to its very edges, countless stone coffins and grave steles, and no other buildings at all!
Every stele bore the same words: "The Tomb of Heavenly Venerable Ling!"
Behind him, Yan Qiling, Mu Qiubai, the Heavenly Dragon King, and the Heavenly Court's "Heavenly Venerable Yu" came striding up, staring blankly at the sight.
There were far too many tombs of Heavenly Venerable Ling here—so many it was appalling. With so many coffins, could every one of them hold a Heavenly Venerable Ling?
"Most of these coffins must be fakes. The real Heavenly Venerable Ling ought to be buried in Lingxiao Hall!"
Mu Qiubai said abruptly. "As one of the Nine Heavenly Venerables, she has every right to be buried within Lingxiao Hall!"
The Heavenly Dragon King took the lead, heading straight for that place, and Yan Qiling and Mu Qiubai hurried after him, while Xing An and that "Heavenly Venerable Yu" darted off as well.
Only Shen Mu remained, with Long Qilin at his side and, on his shoulder, the blue sparrow that Yan'er had become.
Shen Mu steadied himself, took out a stick of incense and lit it, then silently planted it before the grave stele.
After a moment he walked around behind the stele, seized the lid of the stone coffin with both hands, and opened it.
There was no corpse inside—only a shallow layer of clear water. Shen Mu was stunned for a moment, then closed the coffin.
He came to another stone coffin, opened it, and looked inside: this coffin too held a pool of clear water.
Coffin after coffin was opened, and all he saw was clear water—no Heavenly Venerable Ling.
Stubbornly, Shen Mu opened one coffin after another, and always it was clear water.
A violent tremor came from Lingxiao Palace, and the Heavenly Dragon King's voice rang out, loud and fierce: "No one lays a hand on Heavenly Venerable Ling's treasure! That treasure belongs to the Earth Mother Primordial Lady!"
Long Qilin gazed into the distance. The Heavenly Dragon King had transformed into an old dragon, his vast body coiling around Lingxiao Palace and enclosing it whole, while the demigods under his command stood upon his body and fought with the maidservants at Yan Qiling's side.
The cultivation of those maidservants was astonishingly formidable—they held the Heavenly Dragon King at bay.
And within the hall, several figures could be glimpsed darting to and fro like lightning: "Heavenly Venerable Yu," Yan Qiling, Xing An, and Mu Qiubai, locked in savage combat over Heavenly Venerable Ling's treasure.
"Sect Master."
Long Qilin said in a low voice, "Aren't we going over? They seem to have found something."
Shen Mu slid aside yet another stone slab. The coffin still held a pool of clear water—very shallow, very clear.
He stared blankly, his mind wandering. In the Jade Capital City there were still countless stone coffins of Heavenly Venerable Ling, far too many of them; to check them one by one, who knew how many years it would take.