Chapter 1178 — True and False Polarities
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu sent out ripples of divine consciousness, probing into the void above this black desert, and saw that layer upon layer of the void was filled with whirling black sand, howling as it swept past — even a void beast would not dare set foot here! He raised a barrier of divine consciousness to hold back the windblown sand, but it too was soon riddled like a sieve.
Hss, hss, hss — grain after grain of black sand passed clean through their bodies, punching them full of a thousand wounds!
Shen Mu, Yan'er, Long Qilin, and the void beast beneath their feet were all dripping with blood, yet the beast seemed to have gone mad with obsession, plunging headlong into the black-sand desert without a pause in its stride.
Shen Mu swiftly switched to a barrier of vital qi, but before long it too was peppered with countless tiny holes.
He drew the broken sword he had forged himself and poured his dharma power into it; the blade blazed with light as he hacked against the sandstorm, and an unbroken cascade of crisp clangs rang out while the microscopic runes he had branded into the sword were snuffed out one after another! Shen Mu's heart pounded with alarm.
This broken sword had been refined from strange treasures of the Ancestral Court, from materials of the very highest grade, and its craftsmanship had won endless praise even from the Silent Craftsman, who held that Shen Mu's art of casting had truly come into its own — enough to establish a Heavenly Palace of Casting.
Yet faced with the black sand of this desert, even the broken sword could scarcely endure! He promptly raised the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner and urged on the Twenty-Eight Heavens; the heavens of every layer revolved without cease to shield them and the void beast, yet even the Twenty-Eight Heavens were broken through by the black sand.
The raging sandstorm swept wildly through the Twenty-Eight Heavens, and even the treasures within them were battered until they flared with light, sparks scattering on every side. No one knew what the grains of sand were; they were terrifying beyond measure — nothing less than the hardest divine metal. Shen Mu leaned on the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner, straining with all his might to keep the Twenty-Eight Heavens unbroken and to guard them and the void beast.
The void beast walked on into the depths of the desert, straight into the black sand that filled the sky.
"This desert is a treasure land too — the black sand can be used to refine treasures. It is only that this place is too perilous, far too hard to enter.
" Long Qilin caught a falling grain of black sand and saw that it gleamed with a metallic luster yet bore no visible metallic grain; the sand was remarkably dense and heavy. The void beast pressed forward with difficulty.
There was no sun here and no moon; they walked for none knew how long before the sandstorm abruptly abated and a faint brightness slowly dawned in the sky.
Shen Mu let out a breath of relief.
Bracing himself on the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner, he looked ahead — and saw a white desert spread out before them!
Sandstorms swept through the white desert as well, dreadful beyond all telling!
And between the black desert and the white one there stood a long, narrow, winding mountain range, glowing with a plain and unadorned sheen. Along the edge of this range lay many ancient ruins — villages of the Creators.
Some Creators, by some unknown means, must have crossed the desert and reached this place, raising villages here in preparation to settle.
No sandstorm raged on either side of the range.
When the void beast reached the foot of the mountains it stopped, and Shen Mu leaped down.
Looking up, he saw cliffs steep as walls, yet here the hills were green and the waters clear, lush with all manner of plants and vegetation — utterly unlike the desolation of the lands elsewhere.
Suddenly Shen Mu saw the forest on the mountain sway, and a giant beast poked its head out.