Chapter 1094 — The Azure Bird Swoops, the Canopy Blots Out the Sky
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Cloud Venerable and his party had arrived outside the Great Void; when they turned back once more, they saw that the Great Void, which had lain hidden in the emptiness, had now been torn open by the Great Emperor, streaks of rosy light streaming through the rents.
In the Empyrean Heavenly Court, in Venerable Ling's residence, Shen Mu set down all the blueprints and closed his eyes.
In his mind the Battle of the Great Void had already unfolded; every step of Cloud Venerable's plan was reflected with perfect clarity, becoming one image after another. From the Great Emperor crushing the land of the Great Void, which was spun from divine sense, and using the collapsing divine sense to blast thousands upon thousands of Creators to death, to the leader of the Creators luring the enemy deep and drawing the Great Emperor into a trap; then to Venerable Ling deconstructing the Great Emperor's Seal and the Great Emperor's Altar, Cloud Venerable designing the trap's inner structure, and Venerable Ling laying out a Supreme Divine-Sense Domain—though he had not witnessed these things with his own eyes, from the blueprints in Venerable Ling's residence he could deduce the details of that killing stroke.
After a while, Shen Mu opened his eyes, their light shifting, and said in a low voice, "Yan'er, Long Pi, let us go wait upon the Celestial River outside the Empyrean Heavenly Court.
" Yan'er asked curiously, "Wait for whom?
For Cloud Venerable and the others?
" "No.
" Shen Mu's eyes blazed with sharp light.
"We wait for Great Hong!
If the Great Emperor dies, Great Hong is sure to come bearing his grievance to destroy the Empyrean Heavenly Court!
" Shen Mu went on, his voice low, "In the Western Extremity Heaven of the Western Emperor White Tiger, I held Hong back and kept him from harming the Western Emperor.
When there was no longer any reason for him to strike at the Western Emperor, he still exacted an IOU from me, saying that I owed him a favor. His temperament is to repay the merest grudge; Cloud Venerable destroyed his physical body and trapped his divine sense, so he is bound to come seeking revenge! " Yan'er and the Dragon Qilin were startled, and hurried after him to a spot outside the Empyrean Heavenly Court, where the Dragon Qilin tethered the carriage.
Shen Mu sat behind the pearl curtain of the treasure palanquin, steadied his spirit, and took out the Sword Elixir; with a gentle flick it flowed and turned into a divine sword lying across his knees.
Six celestial dragons drew the palanquin to a stop on the Celestial River before the Empyrean Heavenly Court, and Shen Mu, sword across his lap, closed his eyes to husband his spirit and waited in silence.
Cloud Venerable's scheme for killing the Great Emperor in the Great Void, Shen Mu understood in full; yet the Empyrean Heavenly Court was not the Great Void, and therefore that scheme he could not reproduce.
All he could rely on was Venerable Ling's method for breaking the Great Emperor's Seal and the Great Emperor's Altar.
Still, Great Hong was tremendously powerful; in the Ancestral Court, his battle with the reincarnated body of the Heavenly Emperor had already revealed the full horror of his fighting power.
Shen Mu knew well that his own strength was a world apart from Hong's, and whether he could use Venerable Ling's approach to break Hong's Great Luo Supreme Divine Sense and Supreme Divine-Sense Domain, he had no confidence whatsoever.
The waters of the Celestial River ran from west to east, a vast and mighty current across the heavens, surging ceaselessly by day and by night.
The celestial-dragon palanquin rested outside the Empyrean Heavenly Court; the river might race on below, yet the palanquin did not stir by a hair.
The Great Sun sank in the west, and the jeweled lanterns hanging before the palanquin brightened; the Great Moon descended, and the Great Sun rose again from the Eastern Sea.