Chapter 1007 — They Are Not You
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Outside, the sunlight stung the eyes. Shen Mu raised a hand to shade them, then looked back. The Shen family ancestral hall was solemn and austere, enshrining the ancestors generation after generation — but he would never be able to enter here again.
He went to meet the Zhen Princess Consort, bowed to her, and left the Zhen Prince's Estate with Shujun.
The Zhen Princess Consort watched his back. She opened her mouth, but no call came out. Qin Hanzhen came to her side and stood with her. Powerlessly, she leaned on his shoulder.
"He probably will not come back again," she said softly.
Shen Mu looked at the Shen family children cultivating so bitterly outside, and passed by them.
"Cousin—" the little girl called Shen Siying waved to him.
Shen Mu waved back from afar. There was the warmth of home here, yet he could not linger.
He left with Shujun, passing once more those ancestral graves. Shen Mu pinched up a handful of soil and solemnly put it away in the Shen-Character Continent.
Shujun was rather puzzled. Shen Mu smiled. "If I die in the future, I cannot be buried here — but there must be soil of my homeland on my grave."
They came to the thirty-third heaven, which was also where Kaihuang's Heavenly Court stood.
Many of Kaihuang's civil and military officials had arrived here ahead of him, waiting quietly for this battle between Heavenly Venerables. One after another, the gods stood with vast bodies throughout the heavenly palace, watching quietly as Shen Mu walked in through the Southern Heavenly Gate, into the towering, solemn divine palaces and halls, through the Heavenly Street, past the Jade Terrace and Jade Pool, toward the Jade Capital City.
Kaihuang's Heavenly Court was also laid out like the Longhan Heavenly Court, only simpler, its territory less vast — but in luxury, it surpassed it.
After all, this was the Worry-Free Land, part of the Other Shore World. Here, visualizing creations was easier than elsewhere by who knew how many times.
Shen Mu used no divine ability at all, walking step by step. Kaihuang's Heavenly Court was not vast, yet walking it step by step took an extremely long time.
But he was like a devout seeker of the dao, measuring step by step — measuring not Kaihuang's Heavenly Court, but the rights and wrongs, the straight and crooked, within his own heart.
Apart from Shujun, there were no other Creators here, for this was a matter between two Heavenly Venerables. The Creators would not interfere in matters that did not concern them, nor was there any need for them to witness the outcome between two Heavenly Venerables.
Here there were only Kaihuang's old ministers: Su Maiqing, the Dao Master of the Kaihuang Dao Sect; Yan Rinuan, the Sun Warden; the four Auxiliary Ministers Fang Youji, Gao Baixun, Zhou Jingmeng, and Zhou Xunfang; and the old gods of the Three Excellencies, Six Ministries, and Nine Ministers — all watching Shen Mu walk toward the Jade Capital City.
They showed looks of expectation, rubbing their hands and flexing their fists. Yan Rinuan was still grinding his sword, the rust gradually flaking away.
Besides them there were the new gods, within the Jade Capital City. The Jade Capital City was the most magnificent of all; they too watched Shen Mu approach — some gloating, some eager for action, and some whistling.
Shen Mu saw nothing, heard nothing.
Qin Hanzhen and the Zhen Princess Consort also brought the few Shen family children to the Jade Capital, watching with complex expressions as Shen Mu passed through the streets of the Jade Capital City, from the Vermilion Bird Gate to the Chengtian Gate.
The Chengtian Gate towered high; beyond it lay the Lingxiao Hall of Miluo Palace, the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, symbol of the Heavenly Emperor's unmatched authority.
Beneath the Chengtian Gate, Shen Mu stopped, turned, and bowed to Shujun. "Divine King, please stop here."