Chapter 1082 — The Deadlock of a Hundred Thousand Years
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 5 of 5
The Xiaohan Heavenly Court was rich and bustling, yet the humans of the Origin Realm still lived in want—though better off than in the early years of the Longhan era, barely able to keep body and soul together. Demigods could still be seen haunting the borders. As they descended, the sky abruptly darkened; Shen Mu looked up to see an enormous bird spreading wings of azure and gold sweeping in from the distance, blotting out the setting sun. Even as it flew, the bird cried out mournfully: "Great Hong!
Great Hong—" "A flood is coming!
" The townsfolk shrieked in panic and fled in all directions. The great bird landed not far beyond the town and crouched there, a mountain that had suddenly sprung from the earth.
Upon its back stood a palace of the deities, and bound to a pillar before the palace was a man with his chest bared and a great spear lodged in it, at the very point of death. Yue Tianzun was about to step forward and ask, but Shen Mu raised a hand to stop her, shaking his head: "I know the one in the palace, and the man bound to the pillar is no good sort either—let them be. " A woman came out of the palace, a long whip in her hand, and set upon the man bound to the pillar with crack after crack of savage lashing until his body was a mass of wounds.
Even after all that, her anger was not spent; she produced a bull-ear dagger, carved flesh from the man's chest, then pried open his jaws and forced him to eat his own meat.
"I have heard of them!
" Yue Tianzun exclaimed in astonishment: "I always knew there was a pair of oddities in the Origin Realm—the woman comes out day after day to beat the man, tormenting him in every way imaginable. At last I have lived to see them. " Just then the deity sent to scout returned, and saluting Yue Tianzun and Ling Tianzun, reported: "This disciple has learned that the demigods are searching for a man named A Chou.
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