Chapter 1434 — The Age of Great Strife Approaches
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Such was the strangeness of the Taiji star domain.
"These two ancient gods have vast powers, and the Tai Emperor and Lady Yuanmu are old hands of the Ancestral Court as well. But if they want to find the Taiji mining ground, I fear they too will have a great deal of trouble. And with Jue Wuchen leading them to another false mining ground made by the Taiji ancient gods, I doubt they will ever see that it is false."
Shen Mu shook his head. Just then, he saw Her Majesty the Empress.
As he had expected, the Empress was now driving her own true body, striding through the black-sand desert. The flying black sand was countless stars; the wind blew with savage force, and the black sand danced in the air, dense beyond measure, denser than a rainstorm.
These grains of dust were stars. When the gale rolled up the black sand and hurled it, it struck a person with the weight of countless stars falling upon them. To withstand it by one's own strength alone made the crossing of this desert all but impossible.
Shen Mu's form turned insubstantial, becoming the Taishi state — possessed of shape but not of substance — and let the black sand come at him, crash against him, pass through his body without injuring him in the least.
Strangely enough, perilous as the black-sand desert was, the road the Empress walked was utterly calm. On either side the black wind howled and the black sand whirled, but before her lay open ground.
"Truly, the Taiji ancient gods are guiding her," Shen Mu thought.
He examined his surroundings carefully. The Taiji ancient gods had probably not discovered him; the black sand that passed through his body was no denser than elsewhere, and was not aimed at him.
Had they discovered him, the two ancient gods ought to have been able to work further changes in the Taiji star domain to target him. They could not have killed him, but they could have kept him from finding the mining ground.
At last the Empress came to the center of the Taiji star domain, where a mountain range like a dragon's veins ran through the whole domain, dividing it in two.
— To Shen Mu, this was a star domain; to her, it was only a stretch of desert.
What her eyes saw was desert.
The Empress climbed the mountain range, and saw peak after peak move of themselves ahead of her. Some peaks abruptly turned from lifeless stone into colossal beasts of flesh and blood, rising of their own accord to make way for her; some valleys heaved upward of themselves into level roads.
"Those two ancient gods still play favorites. When I came here last, they obstructed and blocked me at every turn; but when the Empress comes, they fawn and grovel shamelessly."
Shen Mu could not help shaking his head, and followed the Empress into the mining ground.
The Empress walked on and entered the mining ground, looking all around. The matter of the mining ground shifted in ways beyond reckoning, and even she could not help marveling.
Though she too was an ancient god, she did not possess the Taiji ancient gods' kind of power. As one of the goddesses of Guixu, mother and Empress of all under heaven, she was nonetheless deeply envious of the Taiji ancient gods' abilities.
At last she came to the center of the Taiji mining ground, where a natural Eight Trigrams altar stood, seven Taiji primal stones guarding a single ancient god egg, giving off a tranquil radiance of the Dao, in harmony with the mining ground, exceedingly serene.
The Empress bowed once to the ancient god egg on the altar, then gracefully took a seat, saying, "Brother Dao, your place here is indeed quiet, free of disturbance. Might I ask why you summoned me?"
The Dao-sound in the egg rippled and became a voice, now male, now female, and it laughed: "I asked little sister to come so that we might scheme great matters together."