Chapter 1222 — The Two Painted Scrolls
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
In this battle the Lunar Venerable had learned from the last: no longer would they fight each on their own; they would do their utmost to coordinate with the Ling Venerable, the Fire Venerable, and Xiao Weisu. She had founded her Way upon space, and her mastery of the Way of Space was so formidable that none could surpass her; whether wielded in battle or in the aiding of others, the arts of space could play the most crucial of roles.
In the previous battle the four of them had not cooperated; in this one, with the Lunar Venerable marshaling them all, their threat to the Earth Mother instantly swelled. The Earth Mother was gravely wounded, and when the others moved to reap her life, her injuries abruptly healed; she drew up her roots and fought them to the death. In the end, Ling, Fire, and Xiao all fell in that battle, and only the Lunar Venerable herself escaped, not a hair of her harmed.
"You scoundrel! " The Lunar Venerable returned to Shen Mu's side and cried in angry vexation, "This is nothing but foul play!
Where is the sense in a wound healing itself in the middle of a fight? " "The Earth Mother can do it," Shen Mu said.
"The Earth Mother is rooted in the earth, and her roots run through the whole of the Origin Realm; there is scarcely a place without them.
In a single instant she can draw sustenance from every corner of the realm.
And she also possesses the Grand Primordial Essence; to swallow it restores her to her peak in the blink of an eye. " The Lunar Venerable held back her anger and said, "Ridding ourselves of the Earth Mother is truly no easy thing.
Let me think.
" She pondered a long while, then said with resolve, "One more time! " This time the Lunar Venerable severed the earth of the Origin Realm from the Primordial Tree, so that the Earth Mother's roots could not join with it; and aiding and coordinating the others' attacks, she altered space itself, letting them strike at the Earth Mother from every direction, appearing and vanishing like ghosts and gods. In that battle they finally cut the Earth Mother down. All four breathed a sigh of relief, and just then the Ling Venerable's head abruptly burst apart; a sudden chill struck the Lunar Venerable's heart, and she hurriedly roused her arts of space and fled far away.
She looked back: it was the Fire Venerable whose fist had blasted apart the Ling Venerable's skull, while Xiao Weisu held a divine sword, and it was he who had tried to run her through.
The dream shattered.
"Venerable Mu! " The Lunar Venerable returned to Shen Mu's side and, beside herself with rage, went to settle accounts with him, saying hotly, "That the Earth Mother could be gravely wounded and recover in an instant just now, fine, she has that power. But why would the Fire Venerable and Xiao Weisu kill us?
Today you must give me a reason!
" Shen Mu's face was mild and his gaze tender. Looking into her eyes, he said softly, "Yue, this is your dream.
I have only let it cycle; I have not meddled in it. What is in your heart is reflected in the dream.
That the Fire Venerable and Xiao Weisu would kill you, is that not a notion of your own?
" Under his gaze the Lunar Venerable's heart fluttered in confusion, and she nodded again and again, her voice turning much gentler: "I forgot.
Even you are the you of my imagining: handsome, dashing, tender, far better looking than the real you. " Shen Mu looked at her with a smile. "But the true me is not so handsome, nor so tall and imposing. " Her heart pounded wildly and she felt shy; she gave him a sidelong glare and tittered, "At first the you in my heart and the real you were quite alike, but you vanished for so many years that my memory of you grew hazier and hazier, and it stopped being so alike.