Chapter 1080 — Tidings of That Expert's Death
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Again and again Shen Mu tried to sense the altar outside the Ancestral Court, and again and again he failed; there was always a force in the void interfering with his divine consciousness. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead despite himself — that interference came from within the ore vein; plainly, Dahong was sabotaging his reverse summoning.
Suddenly he felt the interference vanish, and at once his spirits soared: his divine consciousness had at last made contact with the altar outside the Ancestral Court! Overjoyed, Shen Mu immediately stirred the divine ability of reverse summoning; vital essence and divine consciousness mingled as he worked the altar beyond the Ancestral Court from afar.
Just then he seemed to hear a song — exquisite and lilting, yet bleak, desolate, plaintive — like a woman forsaken singing by the river, singing as she walked into the water, little by little vanishing into the cold river.
He turned to look, and saw a queen in full ceremonial dress walking toward him, Dahong in her grip.
Shen Mu's vision swam; the Ancestral Court before his eyes vanished, and he heard the sound of flowing water. The scene before him shifted, and a river appeared, its surface veiled in faint mist, while a woman in anguish walked toward the middle of the stream, her body slowly swallowed by the water. She hummed a mournful ballad, but he could not understand the words.
"An illusion!
" Shen Mu abruptly roused his divine consciousness and shouted in fury: "A divine-consciousness illusion!
You dare swing a blade before me — I am the grandmaster of divine-consciousness illusions! " He heard a woman's voice whisper at his ear: "I am the ancestor of divine-consciousness illusions.
" Shen Mu gritted his teeth and stirred the Profound Body Three Elixirs Art, marshaling the Supreme Divine Consciousness of Daluo, the Scripture of Immeasurable Kalpas, deploying every divine-consciousness ability he knew, striving to shatter this sudden illusion.
Yet he felt his body and primal spirit moving beyond his control, carrying on the reverse summoning, the link with the altar outside the Ancestral Court growing ever tighter.
Cold sweat sprang from Shen Mu's brow: Divine King Gongyun's divine-consciousness illusion had already invaded his very flesh, making him carry her and Dahong away from this place. He tried to break it, but clearly Divine King Gongyun's consciousness was above his own, pressing him steadily down.
The reverse summoning opened; the void shook, and another altar surfaced from the depths of the void.
Radiance blazed! Shen Mu clenched his jaw, fighting desperately against Divine King Gongyun's divine-consciousness illusion.
The river and the woman within it vanished and appeared by turns, clarity turning hazy again and again, haze turning clear again and again. That desolate song receded and drew near, and again and again it battered down Shen Mu's divine consciousness.
Suddenly the woman's voice came to his ear: "Are you Mu Qing? The divine-consciousness abilities of later ages are truly no small thing.
Perhaps we shall meet again in the future — if you do not die.
.
.
" The voice drifted further and further away; all the illusions before Shen Mu vanished, and all around him blazed with lamplight. The Heavenly Dragon Treasure Chariot had appeared upon the altar outside the Ancestral Court. That lamplight came from the tower ships and great warships of the Heavenly River Navy!
Countless tower ships and great warships had sealed this place in layer upon layer, banners streaming and fluttering from their decks, and numberless heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals of the Heavenly Court stood upon the altar; besides the Heavenly River Navy, there were also the armies of the Nanluo Sect.