Chapter 884 — Conquering Myriad Realms
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
"Just like the Patriarch in the Western Lands, back then. " The Dragon Qilin laid its great head on the ground, stretched out a claw and drew on the floor — two little stick figures holding hands — and thought, "The Patriarch went just as soft in the head for a spell; the driest words turned sweet as honey.
. .
" In truth, whether for Shen Mu or for Bai Qu'er, the fate that bound them was strange enough already; but their own hearts were stranger still.
In Bai Qu'er's heart, Shen Mu was the elder brother who, on the night the catastrophe fell, had shielded her and given her hope; even after forty thousand years of his absence she could not forget the solid strength of his arms, could not forget the ringing force of his voice, could not forget his every word and gesture. And in Shen Mu's heart, Bai Qu'er was the Supreme Emperor's Sword Goddess, matchless in grace — not only the sword-washing woman who had saved him at the source of the Yong River, but the one who had carried the creed that human life outweighs Heaven into the age of Kaihuang.
She was strong enough, and gifted with a wisdom beyond others.
The feeling that stirred between them had each taking the other for the one they could lean upon.
If forty thousand years of history could be seen as a single picture, then surely it was a picture of two people leaning on each other — only one stood forty thousand years before, and the other forty thousand years after. The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping arrived with the scholars of Jingping, meaning to take the Heaven Diagram in hand; many demigod leaders who dwelt in Jingping also flew up into the sky, and powers of various heavens flew here as well to seek the source of the anomaly, among them Daoists from the Azure Cloud Heaven. The Imperial Preceptor's face was dark.
This Imperial Preceptor held the arts of divination to exacting standards, and the sun and moon above had always been crooked and askew, so that he itched to shoot the sun out of the sky.
But the countless affairs of Jingping left him no room for any designs upon the Heaven Diagram. Now even day and night had fallen into disorder, and he could bear it no longer. The Heaven Diagram had been made by the Daoists of the Azure Cloud Heaven in the first place; with the skies in disorder, these Daoists too flew up into the heavens, meaning to repair it.
More and more people came into the Heaven Diagram. Yuchenzi was the first to run to the Moon Palace; Shen Mu and Bai Qu'er hurried to their feet.
Bai Qu'er still bore the name of the Supreme Emperor's Sword Goddess, standing for the Southern Supreme Emperor — even Kaihuang, the Woodcutter, Di Yiyue and the rest were her juniors. Too abashed to be seen, she quickly left Shen Mu and went inside the Moon Palace. Yuchenzi had not seen her clearly, only that she was a woman, so he craned his head and peered into the palace. Shen Mu stopped him and said with a smile, "Yuchenzi, how are they treating you over on the Imperial Preceptor's side?
Did you give him my letter of recommendation? " Before Yuchenzi could answer, the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping walked up. "What letter of recommendation?
" Shen Mu turned and said with a smile, "I judged Yuchenzi a man of surpassing wit and rare talent, so I wrote a letter in my own hand and had him bring it to you, recommending him to serve in Jingping and make something of himself.
" The Imperial Preceptor was astonished.
"Daoist friend Yuchenzi, if you had a letter from my senior brother, why did you not produce it? " Yuchenzi smiled.
"If I could win the Imperial Preceptor's esteem and be given weight on that account, what need had I of Sect Master Shen's letter? " The Imperial Preceptor said to Shen Mu, "He sought me out and debated the Way with me for several days. I judge him a man of great talent, and so I have put him in charge of Jingping's external affairs, to treat with the various powers within Jingping's borders.