Chapter 1017 — The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The goddesses tending the flesh of the Ancient God Heavenly Lord were at a loss, for never before had they seen the Ancient God Heavenly Lord in such panic, so utterly bereft of composure.
Now the Ancient God Heavenly Lord seemed to have lost all command of his body; the muscles of his face were contorted, and contorted in different directions besides, so that one face was divided into eight parts, each part a face unto itself, each with an expression of its own. The muscles of his body likewise seemed beyond control: his ten fingers twisted, his great sinews writhed, and muscle after muscle coiled and wrestled beneath his skin like who knew how many great dragons. So horrifying was the sight that the goddesses stood dumbstruck.
Shen Mu rose to his feet and said, "Withdraw. " The goddesses withdrew one after another and left Yangrong Hall.
Shen Mu bowed and said, "It would seem Your Majesty is unwell.
This subject begs leave to go first.
" He was about to depart when waves upon waves of fluctuation suddenly swept in; the eight Heavenly Venerables had ceased their fighting and, almost in the same instant, had left the Heavenly Lord's body, each recalling his own magic power and divine consciousness, no longer willing to entangle himself with the other seven.
Each had come to dread the others: to strike at a rival within the Heavenly Lord's body while also guarding against the attacks of the other seven left every one of them utterly spent, and there was even the chance that the rest might join forces, force his hand, and expose the true art he practiced.
Better, then, to simply withdraw; after all, to dwell together inside the Heavenly Lord's body was, for each of them, a thing of extreme peril. That the Great Emperor was hidden among them could be investigated step by step in time, but to lay bare one's greatest capital would be to lose far more than one gained.
In an instant, the Heavenly Lord's body was emptied. Without their control, the Ancient God Heavenly Lord slowly closed his eyes; the halo behind his head still turned, no longer so violent as before, and his chest rose and fell — he was still breathing. His breath had come back to steadiness, and the blood within him still flowed, like a vast river of heaven rushing through his veins.
In his heart lay the most surging power of all, as though it were the wellspring of a whole galaxy's energy — utterly terrifying!
Although this was merely a body forged with divination arts and the arts of creation, and not the Heavenly Lord's true body, it nonetheless possessed boundless power. Shen Mu was dazed for a moment: here in Yangrong Hall there now remained only himself and the Heavenly Lord's body!
He gazed at the Heavenly Lord's body, his eyes flickering.
Counterfeit though it was, this flesh could still be called the crystallization of the Heavenly Court's wisdom — the strongest divine artifact after the divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable itself! Yet what mattered was not the might of this divine artifact, this Heavenly Lord, but the authority and station it represented!
"If the Ten Heavenly Venerables may play at it, then as the Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, whose station is higher still than theirs, may I not play at it too.
.
. ?
" As if possessed, Shen Mu walked toward the body of the Ancient God Heavenly Lord, murmuring, "The Heavenly Court hides many secrets.
Shujun says this is also the place where the Ancient God Heavenly Lord was born, and that here too are the remnant soul of the Imperial Heavenly Venerable and the creation divine artifacts of Zaofu Palace. Those places I cannot approach.
But if I take up residence in the Heavenly Lord's body.
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