Chapter 1125 — The New Earth Mother Yuanjun
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
The Earth Mother Yuanjun was beside herself with rage. This time her losses had been devastating: the Yuanmu's roots were the very foundation of her life, and now they had become Gongsun Yan's roots, and all her Hongmeng primal fluid had gone into the bargain. And this brat still had the nerve to say she had come out ahead!
Gongsun Yan woke, shook her head, and found that her body was still her own; alarm and joy rose in her together.
Then she caught sight of Tiangong and Tubei, and at once grew timid, not daring to speak. Shen Mu stepped forward, took her hand and led her over, and said with a smile, "Tubei, Tiangong, let me introduce you both.
This is the new Earth Mother, Gongsun Yan. " Tubei and Tiangong bowed in salute.
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Gongsun.
" Gongsun Yan was all at a loss, awkward and ill at ease.
Shen Mu laughed.
"Sister Yan, are you not going to return the greeting?
" She had no choice but to return it. Tiangong said with a smile, "The Yuan World and Xuandu are one family.
In the days to come, Fellow Daoist Gongsun, you must come often to Xuandu and move about there, and deepen the ties between our two worlds.
" Bewildered, Gongsun Yan could only murmur her assent.
She did not know the weight of Tiangong's words, but the Earth Mother Yuanjun did, and her fury knew no bounds. What Tiangong meant was that he acknowledged Gongsun Yan as the new Earth Mother Yuanjun of the Yuan World, that in the future she would rule the Yuan World and stand on equal footing with him; hence he called her Fellow Daoist, and hence the invitation to visit Xuandu. This was beyond question to cast the Earth Mother aside, and in all but name to strip her of her power as the Yuan World's legitimate sovereign.
Yet she knew, too, that circumstance is mightier than the man. Gongsun Yan had gained the Yuanmu's roots, and watered by so much Hongmeng primal fluid, her future attainments would be beyond all reckoning.
Nor was Gongsun Yan an Ancient God, and so she was not bound by the many constraints that bind the Ancient Gods; and with the Jingping reforms to rely on besides, her achievements might well prove no lesser than the Earth Mother Yuanjun's own. That was why Tiangong acknowledged her.
And the Earth Mother as she now stood had only a single Yuanmu core and one bottle of Hongmeng primal fluid, far from enough to contend with Gongsun Yan for sovereignty over the Yuan World. Her life's achievements, one might say, had all gone into making Gongsun Yan. Shen Mu had been ruthless indeed: his aim was not merely to rid himself of the Earth Mother Yuanjun, but equally to create a new Earth Mother Yuanjun!
Had Tiangong and Tubei not stepped forward, whether the Earth Mother lived on would no longer have mattered, for Jingping now had a new Earth Mother. Tiangong said with a smile, "Can Heavenly Venerable Mu remove the tampering upon the Earth Mother's Earth Soul?
" "How hard is that?
" Shen Mu said boldly. "Since you two brothers in the Dao plead for her, I must needs give you face.
" His divine consciousness stirred, and the Earth Mother Yuanjun felt as though countless tiny insects were writhing in her Earth Soul, as one after another of those exquisitely fine runes came flying out. Tubei watched the infinitesimal runes fly toward Shen Mu, perishing as they flew, returning as vital breath and consciousness into Shen Mu's body, and asked, "What divine ability did Heavenly Venerable Mu employ?
" "Simple enough," Shen Mu said modestly.
"I used only micro-carving.
Upon every grain of black soul-sand I carved my runes.
The altar I used to summon the Earth Mother's soul bore the brands of those runes. When the Earth Mother Yuanjun was summoned by me, in passing over the altar the runes were branded onto every grain of her black soul-sand.