Chapter 864 — The Supreme Falls
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Xing An, Yan Qiling and the others had chosen to go straight to Lingxiao Palace, and that was indeed the best choice. As a Heavenly Venerable, Heavenly Venerable Ling held an exceedingly lofty station; it was only natural that she should be buried there.
And most of the coffins in the Jade Capital City were surely decoy tombs.
"Perhaps we should go take a look at Lingxiao Hall as well. She may truly be buried there."
Shen Mu straightened up, and then he heard a clanging, chiseling sound.
Shen Mu was startled. The sound was no divine ability; it was like the noise of stone being split and carved.
In Lingxiao Hall the fighting still raged on, but Shen Mu followed the sound. After a moment he came to the outskirts of the Jade Capital City, and there he saw a white-haired old man tearing down the palaces of this Heavenly Court, taking down the stone, and hewing it with axe and chisel to make stone coffins one after another.
Shen Mu came up behind the old man and watched in silence. The old man worked swiftly; before long he had fashioned a stone coffin, and then he set to carving a stele, cutting into the stone the words "The Tomb of Heavenly Venerable Ling."
The old man seemed not to notice his arrival, silently going about his work. Already there were many coffins and steles around him.
After a long while, the old man stopped to rest, raised his head, and looked at him. "Is that you, Heavenly Venerable Mu?"
Shen Mu saw that his eyes were wholly white, without pupils. He was a blind old man.
"How did you know it was me, Elder?" Shen Mu asked.
"Heavenly Venerable Shen has been here before—some thirty thousand years ago, I think. It was too long ago; I cannot recall clearly."
The old man set down his axe and chisel. "Heavenly Venerable Shen came to pay his respects, and then he left. Heavenly Venerable Ling had me arrange this tomb. Only two people may enter, and they are Heavenly Venerable Shen and Heavenly Venerable Mu. Those two may enter this place by virtue of their Heavenly Venerable tokens. Heavenly Venerable Shen has already come, so you can only be Heavenly Venerable Mu. Though you have brought some uninvited guests."
Shen Mu steadied himself. "Elder, is Heavenly Venerable Ling truly dead?"
The blind old man said, "Dead—and yet still alive. She died while completing the divine art of the Immutability of Matter, but she also gained eternal life."
Shen Mu was dumbstruck.
The blind old man rose. "Heavenly Venerable Shen came here to bury her and to mourn her. Since Heavenly Venerable Mu has also come, then come along."
Dragging one stone coffin after another behind him on a chain, he walked on ahead. Shen Mu followed, and saw that the old man was heading toward the Heavenly River.
Before long they came to the bank of the Heavenly River.
The blind old man set down the coffin. "She will be here soon."
Shen Mu stood at the river's edge. The Heavenly River shimmered with shifting light, and after a while a woman came drifting down it.
Suddenly Shen Mu's heart clenched for no reason at all, and a great ache seized him.
The woman drifting over the water wore a leopard-skin skirt and straw sandals, a peach-wood hairpin thrust in her hair. It was Heavenly Venerable Ling—and she no longer breathed.
"Master, let your soul return—your disciple has come to bury you!"
The blind old man waded into the water and stopped the body of Heavenly Venerable Ling, and Shen Mu leapt into the Heavenly River as well, and together they brought her body reverently ashore.
They laid Heavenly Venerable Ling's body in a stone coffin, and after a moment she turned into a pool of clear water.
Shen Mu was stunned.
The blind old man seemed unable to see any of it. He closed the coffin and sat back down by the Heavenly River to wait.
Who knew how long after, another Heavenly Venerable Ling came drifting down the river, in leopard-skin skirt and straw sandals.