Chapter 975 — Power That Reaches Heaven
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Yue Tingge's eyes rolled. "I have been trapped here for more than fifteen thousand years. I know this place like the palm of my own hand. I have been to the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain, and to other perilous places as well. I found the last gathering place of the Great Void's Creators, and they have migrated. Set me free, and I will tell you what I know."
Luo Wushuang shook his head. "I cannot untie this golden rope."
Shen Mu pondered a moment, then bowed to the golden rope. "Fire Heavenly Venerable, will you grant me this courtesy?"
The golden rope slipped loose of itself and became a golden dragon; it opened its great mouth, sucked in the distant rootless fire, then flew off shaking its head and wagging its tail into the clouds, where it hung its head down and did not leave.
Luo Wushuang was struck dumb.
Yue Tingge dropped to the ground, scrambled up, patted the dirt from his clothes, glanced at the golden dragon and still felt a chill of fear. "I found the last assembly of the Creators, and there I saw their arrangements. They opened up a void within the Great Void, evolved heaven and earth, and at the last departed through the void. By my reckoning, since the Great Void was collapsing and no longer fit to dwell in, they must have left in the middle and late years of the Longhan Era, and there must have been a great man of Longhan to guide them."
Shen Mu said thoughtfully, "Could that great man be the Cloud Heavenly Venerable? Otherwise, why would the Cloud Heavenly Venerable have left Kaihuang a map of the Great Void?"
"That, I do not know."
Yue Tingge said, "They went to another void, and the road they took was the Void Bridge. I too have been to the Void Bridge, but it is truly perilous; a man cannot set foot on it, and so I am trapped here. There is one more thing..."
He hesitated, unsure whether he ought to speak.
A look of doubt came over Shen Mu's face.
Yue Tingge gritted his teeth. "At the far end of the Void Bridge, I once saw a ship sailing in from the very end. It was about thirty years ago. On that ship were a husband and wife, and they were not Creators. The ship flashed past; I had no time to give chase before it had already sailed out of the land of the Great Void."
Shen Mu's heart jolted. "More than thirty years ago?"
Yue Tingge nodded. "About thirty-five years ago. Judging by the bearing of those aboard, they should be heirs of Kaihuang's line. Perhaps for this very reason the Heavenly Court has kept exploring the Great Void; in the last thirty years or so, more and more people have entered it. But very few live to come this far. For most of the last ten thousand years I have been alone here, though I did once see Mahabrahma; that white-browed monk came here as if sleepwalking. I am a Daoist, and I do not care for monks..."
Shen Mu glanced at the golden dragon and went on, "Then let Celestial Master Yue lead the way, to the Void Bridge."
Yue Tingge shook his head. "I will not go there. I fear truly meeting Kaihuang. It was by my hand that Kaihuang's Heavenly Court was destroyed. I can draw you the route; you may go on your own."
Shen Mu took out paper and brush. Yue Tingge bent his head and drew a map of the geography of the Great Void. Luo Wushuang could not help asking curiously, "Does Celestial Master Yue not intend to leave the Great Void and return to the Heavenly Court? If we can cross the Void Bridge, perhaps we may find a way back to the Heavenly Court."
"Leave the Great Void and return to the Heavenly Court?"
Yue Tingge did not raise his head, and sneered. "Go back to the Heavenly Court and die? The moment I leave the Great Void, I will die. There are those who will not let me leave this place..."
He finished the map, then suddenly raised his head and looked warily at Shen Mu and Luo Wushuang. "Who are you?"
He had gone mad again.