Chapter 997 — The Rampaging Ancient Spirits
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
One by one the forebear spirits faded into the red light deep within the Spirit Realm, their thought-consciousness still rippling faintly, now present, now not: "The Holy Infant is fine in every way—only a little slow. Just the Eighth Heaven..."
"Hush! Did you not hear the Divine King clear her throat? The Divine King means for us to stop battering him. He is already miserable enough."
"Heh heh—the knowledge and wisdom of our whole Creator race, traded for nothing but the Eighth Heaven..."
"Say no more!"
...
Shen Mu's expression turned very ugly again. Divine King Langwan pressed her lips together, holding back a laugh, and said in a low voice, "You need not listen to their nonsense. The Eighth Heaven of divine ability is truly remarkable; they say such things only because entering the Dao came so easily to you. The truth is that our Creator race was never skilled at entering the Dao—they themselves never reached such a level in those years. You should know that even Shen Ye, chief of the bandits, entered the Dao only at the Thirty-Third Heaven."
Shen Mu said sullenly, "I knew they were jealous of me. I was not wounded by them at all. I have an Overlord Physique—I can take on ten Kaihuang..."
Yet even as he spoke, it was plain he was not quite so confident as he claimed.
Divine King Langwan carried him flying out of the Spirit Realm. A thought suddenly struck Shen Mu, and he said in alarm, "That forebear spirit who brought back the three prophecies—is he not in the Spirit Realm? Why have I not seen him this time?"
Langwan hesitated, then told him the reason: "That forebear spirit died after he brought back the three prophecies. His divine consciousness was collected by us and preserved in the Spirit Realm, but it is in utter chaos, without coherent thought. That is why the twenty-seven forebear spirits govern the Spirit Realm."
Shen Mu asked, "Then may I see him?"
Langwan wavered a moment, then said, "His thoughts are disordered. Even if you saw him, it would be of no use. Still, he brought the three prophecies, and you, as the Holy Infant of the third prophecy, do indeed deserve to see him."
She brought Shen Mu to another place in the Spirit Realm. In the Spirit Realm there was no division of east, south, west, or north, nor of above and below; it was vast and boundless, and Shen Mu had no idea how she fixed her bearings there.
The forebear spirit who had brought the three prophecies was indeed as she had said: his thought-consciousness was utterly disordered. The thought-consciousness of other Creators could assemble into luminous fluids shaped like brains, but his darted wildly in every direction, some of it knotted and clumped into balls—like countless skeins of yarn tangled together, exceedingly strange.
Shen Mu stood before this forebear spirit. The light of the spirit's thoughts was in great confusion, flickering with all manner of colors, signifying the jumble of his mind.
Within the light of his thoughts, Shen Mu saw scene after scene flashing past, gone in an instant; but the forebear spirit's thoughts were too disordered, and the images were warped, their meaning unclear.
"Can someone truly foresee the future?" Shen Mu wondered, dazed.
Divine King Langwan said, "This is he."
She said softly, "Elder, the Holy Infant of your prophecy has come to visit you."
The moment the words left her lips, the light of the forebear spirit's thoughts vanished abruptly, becoming incomparably still.
Shen Mu's spirits surged, and he said, "Elder, I am the Holy Infant of your prophecy. Can you still hear my words? I wish to know how you made your accurate prophecies. Could you tell me?"
Divine King Langwan gave him a strange look. So the fellow's aim was not to visit the elder at all—he meant to find out how the prophecies had come to be!