Chapter 922 — The Calamity of the Third Eye
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
. " This colossus was almost identical to the Lord of Heaven with his white brows, white beard, and white eyes, save that the patterns on the surface of his skin differed from the Lord of Heaven's, and the true Lord of Heaven had no such intricate halos behind his head. The more than six thousand deities aboard roared together, rousing their power to the utmost, yet when that "Lord of Heaven" brought his palm down, every one of them felt their blood and breath churn, and they spat out mouthfuls of blood.
At that moment a vast and mighty power erupted from within the ship, as though a powerhouse of the Emperor Throne had arrived in person. Shen Mu looked back and saw the figure of a nine-headed phoenix appear above the Phoenix Ship. The nine phoenixes soared, swift as light and lightning.
The Phoenix Ship moved at a terrifying speed, evading the "Lord of Heaven's" second strike, and in the next instant it pierced through the forehead of that "Lord of Heaven" and burst out from the back of his head! The "Lord of Heaven" collapsed with a thunderous crash, and streams of light cascaded down like water. The people aboard, their souls still unsettled, scrambled to their feet one after another.
Shen Mu's eyes twitched. The Phoenix Ship's outburst just now had not been driven by the more than six thousand deities aboard; rather, it was the dharma power of the Red Emperor, Qi Xiayu, that raised the ship's might to its peak and shattered that "Lord of Heaven"! Qi Xiayu was not aboard the ship but in the Yuan World, no one knew how far from here.
The reason her dharma power could rouse the Phoenix Ship's might was that she sensed the peril the ship faced, and so she empowered it from the Yuan World.
This was the true terror of the Red Emperor.
Shen Mu had met Qi Xiayu several times. Back then, when Qi Xiayu pursued and tried to kill him and Emperor Shitian, the Deva King Buddha, she was in the Buddha Realm, yet a single melody of her zither chased them across layer upon layer of time and space—a feat of dazzling brilliance. In the Yuan World, Shen Mu had also seen Qi Xiayu duel on the zither with the scholar Zi Xi.
When two Earth Mother Sovereigns came to blows, Qi Xiayu took no part, but simply withdrew. Later they met several more times. During the catastrophe in the Yuan World, Qi Xiayu had faced Shen Mu and Shen Fengqing in person, driving them back again and again. The woman did not give the impression of being all that strong; it seemed the way of music was her true mastery.
But only after Shen Mu entered the peach grove did he learn that Qi Xiayu was a disciple of the Moon Heavenly Venerable, whose attainments in the art of space were terrifying beyond measure.
Her peach grove, ten thousand li across, folded countless spaces and linked countless heavens! Qi Xiayu had learned the art of space from her, and that was how she could transmit her dharma power across such a distance to rouse the Phoenix Ship and help them through the crisis. "If Emperor Shitian wants to catch up with her, it will be next to impossible," Shen Mu thought.
The Phoenix Ship steadied, and the phantom nine-headed phoenix above it slowly faded away. Qi Jiuyi's face was pale. Suddenly he barked, "Turn back!
Get out of here! " Shen Mu said hurriedly, "Wait!
" Qi Jiuyi glared at him viciously and shouted, "Turn back!
" Shen Mu reached out, seized Long Qilin, and leaped out of the Phoenix Ship. Qi Jiuyi said in alarm, "Wait! Cult Master Shen, this place is so deadly, and you still insist on forcing your way in?
The Lord of Heaven just struck at us—clearly he does not want us to explore this place! If my master had not roused the Phoenix Ship, we would all have died with no place for our bones!
" Shen Mu set Long Qilin down and laughed.
"That was not the Lord of Heaven.
It was some strange spirit body in these ruins, one rather like a spirit fetus.
The Red Emperor has just shattered it, and by my reckoning it will not recover for some time.