Chapter 1066 — The Five Luminaries' Omen of Doom Descends Upon the World
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
In the one thousand four hundred and first year of Longhan, the Yuan Realm was stricken by a Great Calamity: a baleful star appeared and moved across the heavens.
The Yuan Realm holds ten thousand races, dwelling either in the myriad heavens and worlds about the Yuan Tree, or amid the great mountains and rivers of the Yuan Realm itself; and on this day the races of those worlds beheld a five-colored radiance slash across the Yuan Realm's sky, as the Five Ancient Gods of Calamity led a thousand armies flying over the Yuan Realm. Wherever that radiance passed, rivers and seas ran dry, grass and trees withered, crops would not grow, fire fell from the heavens, wars broke out on every side, bandits ran rampant, and bones lay strewn across the land. When night fell, some saw a lamp burning out of the darkness; following that lamp, they came upon a youth in a paper boat, gathering up the wronged souls that drifted loose through the world.
For a time, many across the Yuan Realm saw this strange youth, as though he had thousands upon thousands of bodies; and rumor said he was an envoy of Youdu, come to harvest souls. The five-colored radiance flew toward the Heavenly River, farther and farther from the Yuan Realm's continent; yet the disasters loosed by the baleful star's descent could not be undone in a moment, and their poison lingered a hundred years and more before the storm subsided.
On the Heavenly River, a Heavenly Dragon carriage made its way neither fast nor slow, six heavenly dragons drawing that incomparably gorgeous carriage across the water. The Heavenly Court still hung above the Yuan Realm; on clear days even mortal eyes could see that high and exalted court, though only dimly, as if it hung inverted in the sky.
With the Sacred Pupil cultivated, one could even see the market streets of heaven, and the Southern Gate of Heaven guarded by the gods. In later ages, of course, such a sight was rarely seen.
But the Heavenly Court, near as it looked, was in truth far. It had once stood above the Yuan Tree; with enough endurance, even a common mortal could climb the Yuan Tree and slip secretly into the Heavenly Court. Later it was said that the Earth Mother Yuanjun loathed the court's pressing down upon the Yuan Tree, and so they were parted.
In time, the only road left to the Heavenly Court was the Heavenly River. The Heavenly River runs through the heavens; many boats ply its waters, but those who can sail it are usually demigod races.
Shen Mu's Heavenly Dragon carriage sped across the river, and even it had to steer clear of those boats, lest it smash them to splinters. More often, of course, it was the boats that turned aside the moment they glimpsed the Heavenly Dragon carriage from afar; after all, whoever owned such a carriage was usually a being of tremendous standing, and in this age, to be crushed to death by such a one was a matter no one took note of. In the carriage, Luo Xiao gazed out the window at the Heavenly River, his eyes dark and deep; Yan'er had grown rather cheerful, and brought out dried fruit to feed him.
Luo Xiao refused at first, then grew used to it, eating without much thought — but even a Creator can eat his fill.
So Yan'er went outside the carriage to feed the Dragon Qilin.
Shen Mu was glad to see the light return to her. Yan'er was a simple girl, and life in this cruel world was not easy for her; when she grieved, Shen Mu grieved with her. "Luo Xiao, what exactly do you mean to do in the Heavenly Court? " Shen Mu asked, regarding this young Creator.
Luo Xiao came back to himself.
"I came here by the clan chief's order, to see whether any of my people still live in this world. And the chief bade me seek the Ancestral Court, to ask certain things of the ancestors there.