Chapter 1388 — The Soul Cage
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Long Xiao raised his nine heads and searched for any trace of Shen Mu, yet he could find no sign of Shen Mu's divine consciousness, only a final lingering remnant. Long Xiao seized that remnant, and it at once swelled into a vast voice, "Long Xiao, I have no wish to break with you utterly, and I ask you in turn not to act without mercy and to leave yourself a way out.
Release my people, and I will surely repay you in days to come! " Long Xiao gave a cold snort and ground that wisp of Shen Mu's consciousness to nothing. "A mere mount dares to bargain with me and bid me release my spoils.
" He drew back his own consciousness, and one of his heads opened its towering eye.
Within its gaze, Shu Jun, Lan Yutian, Xu Shenghua, the First Ancestor, and the others were trapped inside a huge cage of divine consciousness.
The company looked worn and weary, some seated and some standing, glancing about. On every side stood primeval colossal beasts of terrifying power, motionless as stone statues, guarding Long Xiao in a ring.
They had followed Shu Jun to the back of the Ancestral Court intending to subdue Long Xiao, or if not Long Xiao himself, then at least some rare giant beasts. Every one of them had set out brimming with confidence, for they were the foremost figures of Jingping, and among them was the First Ancestor Human Emperor, a great master already cultivated to the Lingxiao realm, as well as Shu Jun, a native guide, and the successive Human Emperors, all old veterans of the world.
With learned and versatile talents like Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua besides, they believed they could ride unchecked across the back of the Ancestral Court and carry all before them. Ever since Shen Mu had carried the Creator's method of cultivating divine consciousness to Jingping, such cultivation had become a required lesson for every Jingping adept and god.
With Jingping's many arts fusing divine consciousness into its own system of cultivation, their attainments had advanced by leaps and bounds, and subduing giant beasts seemed well within their grasp. Yet only days after reaching the back of the Ancestral Court, they were beset by a horde of giant beasts and reduced to a sorry rout. They tried to subdue those beasts, only to discover in horror that the beasts possessed mighty consciousness, able not only to withstand their own but even to give a powerful being like Shu Jun a formidable foe.
Only then did they know things had gone wrong.
Fortunately the successive Human Emperors were all shrewd old hands, men who had once ridden the world at will, unmatched in craft and means. Leading the company in roaming warfare across the back of the Ancestral Court, dodging one encirclement after another, and aided by Shu Jun the native and by the strongest consciousness among them, they had somehow survived in that perilous land.
But not long ago, their whole party was wiped out at a stroke, for Long Xiao himself had moved against them. Strong though Shu Jun's consciousness was, set against Long Xiao's it was as heaven against earth, and it collapsed at a touch.
Mighty though the First Ancestor Human Emperor was, when Long Xiao's vast consciousness rolled over him, he could bring none of his strength to bear and fell flat to the ground.
All the worldly wisdom of those old Human Emperors was useless. With one sweep of Long Xiao's consciousness, the company dropped senseless one by one.
Only Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian, by virtue of their strange arts, held out for a moment before they too lost all power to resist. And precisely because they had withstood his consciousness for that moment, Long Xiao looked upon them with favor, judging that though their cultivation was not high, their gifts were extraordinary and worth nurturing.