Chapter 893 — An Old Acquaintance of the Star River
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Shen Mu studied them for a long while. These maps were all unfamiliar to him; he could not tell at all where Wei Suifeng had fallen, much less how to search for him.
"In the past I showed the maps to my teacher the woodcutter, and he seemed to recognize many of them. Perhaps I can go find him. To recover his own eldest disciple, he would surely be even more attentive."
Shen Mu put away the maps and took out Ling Tianzun's peach-wood hairpin, examining it.
Ling Tianzun's hairpin was the simplest, most ordinary peach-wood hairpin, with nothing distinctive about it, and no runes branded upon it. Shen Mu probed it and found no great dao divine art hidden within.
With a little force, the peach-wood hairpin bent slightly, as though it might snap at any moment.
"There is no divine art of Ling Tianzun in this hairpin either. How could a thing belonging to a Heavenly Venerable be so ordinary?"
Shen Mu tried to channel his mana; vital essence poured into the peach-wood hairpin, and still nothing changed. Yet he sensed that hidden within the hairpin was an extremely powerful and extremely peculiar force.
His mind stirred, and he employed the art of creation. The red hairpin returned to life, quickly sprouting branches and buds, growing in his hand, and before long it had become a peach tree.
The peach tree bloomed, bore fruit, and the peaches ripened.
Shen Mu picked one, brushed off the fuzz, and tasted it. It was very sweet.
"But I still have not drawn out that force. Perhaps a more profound creation art is needed..."
Suddenly the peach tree flashed with light, vanished, and became a hairpin again, falling at his feet.
"Immutable matter!"
Shen Mu's heart stirred. He picked up the hairpin. He had used his creation divine art to alter the hairpin's material structure and make it grow, yet a peculiar force within the hairpin had restored it to its original state.
This was precisely the hallmark of immutable matter!
Not only did the peach tree revert to a hairpin—Shen Mu also saw that the peach pit and the peach he had eaten had vanished as well, returning to their original substance.
"This hairpin has become immutable matter, eternal and unchanging, impossible to damage by any means!"
Shen Mu employed the creation divine art once more. Suddenly a vast flood of water surged out from the hairpin, mighty and boundless, forming a celestial river, incomparably heavy. Where the celestial river struck, even the World Within the Flower was shaken and set adrift!
Nearby, Long Qilin and Yan'er could not keep their footing. Struck by the celestial river, they were flung the next moment to the far edge of the World Within the Flower and slammed with a boom against the flower wall.
The pressure of the celestial river was too strong. Long Qilin could not hold out and was nearly crushed. Yan'er hastily spread her wings and sheltered him beneath her feathers.
Suddenly the celestial river snapped shut and vanished. All the river water disappeared without a trace, as though it had never existed, leaving only Shen Mu examining the peach-wood hairpin with curiosity, murmuring to himself.
Long Qilin and Yan'er dropped from the flower wall at the far edge, still startled and uncertain, when suddenly the celestial river appeared again and sent them slamming back against the flower wall!
Yan'er shielded Long Qilin again, feeling the pressure mounting, when suddenly the celestial river vanished once more and the two of them fell to the ground again.
Yan'er cried out, transformed with a shake into a dragon sparrow, enormous in body, plump and round, raising two great wings before her as a shield, warily guarding against everything around.
Suddenly the celestial river came again, nearly quenching the Vermilion Bird sacred fire upon her, and slammed them against the flower wall at the far edge once more.
"How strange. Where does this celestial river water come from?"