Chapter 1306 — Mistakenly Aboard the Owl's Boat
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu strode quickly forward and studied the shattered length of root; there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. "Whom did I ever wrong?
I come back and walk straight into this sort of thing. Shot at with all those arrows, and now someone wants to take my life.
.
. " He could not help shaking his head.
Hard times, and the hearts of men are not what they were. The Egg of Taishi rolled back and forth around that length of root, examining it, and said, "That man truly has vanished. Strange. Truly strange! " Shen Mu slung the divine bow over his back and was just about to leave when something stirred in his heart; he saw a little girl with two horn-like braids come skipping over.
She came to the tree root that the divine bow had shot through and looked it over, then shook her head with the air of a doting elder, her two plaits swinging like a rattle drum.
"You. You.
.
. " The girl with the horn braids shook her head and sighed.
"Barely back, and you stir up this sort of trouble.
What is to be done now? " Shen Mu studied the girl suspiciously and ventured, "Taiyi? " The Egg of Taishi recognized her as well, and laughed. "Old Daoist brother, why have you taken such a form?
" "It is merely convenient for meeting people. " The girl Taiyi said, "Celestial Worthy Mu, you have shot through the root, angered that man, and opened a passage for him besides. Tonight he will be able to crawl out of the tree root, and once he is out he will take back his divine weapon and shoot you dead! " She could not help shaking her head and sighing.
"Since the cosmos was opened he has meant to crawl out. Billions of years of crawling, and he has managed only one arm. And you, you no sooner arrive than you clear the passage for him.
Tonight he will be able to come up!
" Shen Mu felt a touch of guilt and ventured, "So this fellow is a being of the previous cosmos?
He sent his bow over first, and now he means to squeeze himself from the past into the present? " The braided girl nodded gravely.
"How does he squeeze his way out of the tree?
" Shen Mu asked, puzzled, seeking instruction. "Mass-energy conversion I understand, but why must he squeeze into this cosmos through the roots of the Great Black Wood? " "Because when the previous cosmos was destroyed, only this tree did not die. " The girl Taiyi sighed. "The substance of this tree is unchanging, whether in this cosmos, or the last cosmos, or the one before that.
And so a passage was left behind, by which creatures of a past cosmos can climb here through this tree.
" Shen Mu understood a little. The situation was much like Celestial Worthy Ling's divine ability of immutable matter; both made use of the unchanging nature of matter to cross over.
"Then why is this tree dead? " Shen Mu caught sight of the First Ancestor and the others flying toward them, and pressed on.
"I cut it down.
" The girl said it carelessly.
"And after I felled it, I set a fire.
" Shen Mu and Taishi within the egg shuddered with dread. The girl Taiyi said, "Daoist friend Taishi, in those days you were still muddled, without consciousness born in you, and the Creator had not yet come into being. I realized that so long as this World Tree stood, calamity would flow from it without cease, so I felled the World Tree and burned it. I only never expected that even so the World Tree would not perish utterly. " Shen Mu glanced at the Egg of Taishi; no doubt at that moment the Egg of Taishi was looking back at him. "This time Celestial Worthy Mu's single arrow has made the root of calamity show itself ahead of time.
" The girl Taiyi stroked her braid and mused, "Tonight, that expert of a bygone age will climb up, seize back the divine bow, and shoot Celestial Worthy Mu dead.
" Shen Mu went pale, then suddenly burst out laughing.
"Does not Daoist brother Taiyi have that miraculous water? Could you draw a bucket and patch the root up? " "Do you think that water comes from nowhere?