Chapter 1202 — The Peculiar Ore Lode
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu's seal was so subtle that no one could make it out without looking very carefully.
Shen Mu laughed, "My strength is no match for the Eight Celestial Venerables, but in divine arts I need not be their inferior. This seal looks small, yet in truth it holds a world within.
" He urged the swift boat toward the seal, and everyone aboard grew anxious. The seals of the Eight Celestial Venerables were dreadful things; if they so much as brushed one by mischance and its power erupted, they would likely find no grave to bury their bodies in.
Yet when the swift boat came before the seal over the Rift in the Heavens, they saw the seals of the Eight Celestial Venerables slowly shrinking, while the seal Shen Mu had left behind grew ever larger. This shifting of size bewildered them all.
The swift boat passed into Shen Mu's seal, and a passage appeared leading straight into the heart of the Ancestral Court; looking out from that passage, one could see the seals of the Eight Celestial Venerables clear and distinct.
Beyond the passage lay the layered radiance of the Great Paths, the phenomenon formed by the seals of the Eight Celestial Venerables; standing within the passage and gazing out, one could admire the beauty of the divine arts of all eight Celestial Venerables. Small though the boat was, everyone aboard was an elite of Jingping, and they all brought out paper and brushes and divine calculators, devoting themselves to working out the mysteries hidden in the divine arts of the eight Celestial Venerables.
Some of the young ones sought instruction from the Blind Old Man, and he was patient, giving them careful guidance. Seeing this, Shen Mu slowed the boat to give them time enough to study the Celestial Venerables' divine arts.
By the time the swift boat emerged from the Rift in the Heavens, more than ten days had passed, and the warships of the Heavenly Court had still not arrived. Shen Mu steered the swift boat toward the Great Black Wood, his face grave, and exhorted them earnestly, "The Ancestral Court is a place of deadly peril, void beasts everywhere.
These void beasts can turn their bodies into void, and from void into substance; they come and go like ghosts, able to emerge from anywhere at all.
You must be doubly cautious!
If you go out, you must go with Shujun.
" Shujun laughed, "The divine ability users and gods and demons of Jingping have all cultivated the Creator's method of divine consciousness, so there is no need to panic even when you meet a void beast. Your divine consciousness is not strong, but if several of you join hands, you can frighten a void beast away. " Everyone answered in agreement. Though the swift boat was not slow, against the vast and boundless territory of the Ancestral Court it was far too slow.
The ship traveled through the air for more than ten days and still had not reached the Great Black Wood. Shen Mu deliberately held the pace back as well, so that they would have time to observe the geography of the Ancestral Court.
To Shen Mu, whether the Great Black Wood could be held was of little consequence; these people were the most precious treasure of all.
Should the Great Black Wood fall, at least, knowing the geography well, they might escape with their lives. "My Great Black Wood is foremost among all blessed lands.
When the Eight Celestial Venerables looked on my domain, each of their gazes turned somewhat strange; most likely they were moved by greed.
" Shen Mu thought, "Those two ancient gods in the Taiji Ore Lode have truly been good to me! " When the swift boat had covered half the journey, the ten tower ships of the Heavenly Court finally arrived, late and unhurried.