Chapter 1298 — The Emperor Venerable's Severed Head
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
Shen Mu acted at once, driving Heavenly Venerable Moon's lantern. The power within the lantern erupted and became a string of light dozens of li in length.
He had never cultivated Heavenly Venerable Moon's Way of Space, nor received any teaching from her or from Bai Yuqiong; he had only groped his own way, and so the string of light, in length and in might alike, came nowhere near the spectacle of Bai Yuqiong's activation.
Once the lantern was roused, the space between Shen Mu's brows flashed, and with two thuds the coffins of Her Highness the Empress and Lady Yuanmu flew out; with two bangs, both coffins opened. His divine consciousness burst forth, and two ancient-goddess women who looked almost identical stepped out from their coffins in unison, sleeves and hems fluttering, divine light streaming around them.
At the same time he controlled the two Guixu Goddesses with his divine consciousness, staring warily in every direction. Though the two Guixu Goddesses' battle strength could not reach the level of the Celestial Emperor Taichu, and was no match for Heavenly Lord Tubo and the Earth Mother, their power still stood above that of the Four Emperors of the Ancient Gods.
After Shen Mu roused and took control of the bodies of the Empress and her sister with his divine consciousness, the vertical eye at the center of his brows opened, and the egg of Taishi flew out from it.
He raised his right hand and held the giant egg up in one palm.
From the moment he came to his senses to the completion of all this, only an instant had passed—clean and crisp, truly.
"Great Emperor, come out and negotiate!
" Shen Mu swept his divine consciousness in all directions and said in a low voice.
The void was utterly silent.
This place was far from the Heavenly Court and far from the Great Void, touching neither sky above nor earth below.
It was roughly equidistant from the Heavenly Court and from the Great Void.
And this distance was precisely the distance of the midpoint the Great Emperor had chosen when he waylaid and slew Heavenly Venerable Hao.
The Great Emperor had made it so that Heavenly Venerable Hao could not flee the Great Void, nor escape the land of the Great Void.
And now the distance Shen Mu stood at was precisely one that left him unable to flee back to the Great Void, and unable to flee back to the Heavenly Court. Shen Mu's voice rang out, and for a long while no human word answered.
Shen Mu laughed coldly.
Just as he was about to set off for the Heavenly Court under the escort of Her Highness the Empress and her sister, he suddenly heard, from the dark void, a wailing that turned the blood to ice, and with it funeral music. "Great Emperor, simply come out and meet me—why play at ghosts and gods? " Shen Mu sneered, and saw a sliver of light come drifting through the dark void, drawing closer and closer; it was a band of bizarre men and women in gaudy, parti-colored clothes, striding through the sky as they carried a coffin.
Those men and women had powder on their faces, their cheeks painted snow-white, but onto each cheek a black round blot had been smeared; their eyes were the eyes of dead fish, no pupils at all, only white. Others among them, in green robes, blew trumpets and suonas, piping a music so bleak, so wretched, so mournful that all who heard it could not help but weep.
It was a funeral procession. Only—in this vast emptiness, where not a single star shone, for such a funeral procession to burst forth all at once, arrayed so strangely, could not but make a person's hair stand on end.
"Heavenly Venerable Mu, look—your name and title are written on that coffin.
" Taishi's voice came from the egg. Shen Mu laughed coldly and said in a ringing voice, "Great Emperor, when you cannot touch me, you resort to these hollow tricks—truly, it is a thing to be laughed at!
If you want a coffin, I have two here, both of the finest, choicest wood!