Chapter 1593 — Forged a Thousand Times Yet Undying
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
The ship always gave him a feeling of indescribable strangeness, and above all the figure aboard whose face could not be made out left him vaguely ill at ease.
Ling boarded the golden ship, bowed very slightly, and made to take her leave. Yun knew her temper; that she would salute him at all was already unprecedented. In the past, no matter whom Ling met, she was unkempt and slovenly, never saluted, and was nothing like a woman. Now she understood the proprieties; though she went through them only to be done with it, at least she dressed like a woman.
"Ling, how is your strength now?
" Yun asked hurriedly.
"You could slay the Grand Emperor, so your strength must be exceedingly high—how far are you from attaining the Dao? " "Attaining the Dao?
" Ling tilted her head and thought, then said, "I do not know what attaining the Dao is. " Yun was dumbstruck for a moment, then ventured, "Do you not feel that your realm is about to imprint itself upon the Ultimate Void and bring forth a Dao Tree? " Ling shook her head.
"I do not know what you are talking about.
Why must attaining the Dao require a Dao Tree?
To be like the Grand Emperor, like Emperor Kai, like you—is that not spinning a cocoon around oneself? In my eyes, the Dao Trees you cultivate are all a superfluous act. " Yun's eyes went wide, and once again she left him choking on pent-up anger.
But he was used to it; back in the Longhan era, in the days of the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, Ling had often left him choking with anger.
"Ling, what realm are you at now? " he asked patiently.
"By your strength, you slew the Grand Emperor in a single blow, yet when you faced Xiao Tianzun with the same single blow, Xiao dodged it.
Your strength seems to rise and fall.
" Ling was aware of this too. "I am not good at fighting.
Just now Yue met me and sent me behind the Grand Emperor. I saw that his posture was very good, so I called out to him; he turned his head, and I struck him. " Yun's eyes went wide.
After a moment he waved his hand, strengthless.
"Go. Do not let Emperor Kai and Mu Tianzun learn of this matter, and above all do not let Xiao Tianzun and Hao Tianzun know of it.
Keep up the image of cold arrogance and unfathomable depth as best you can.
Otherwise your life will be hard to keep. . .
" He was utterly helpless before Ling; nor did Ling much care to talk with him. She said a word to the golden ship, and the ship actually bore her away just like that. Yun watched her go into the distance, his face caught between laughter and tears.
"Ling, oh Ling, you are just as you were before, not changed in the least. The only change, perhaps, is your clothes. . .
" He moved the Daluo Heaven of Divine Consciousness, and the Daluo Heaven came to the Ancestral Court. Yun gazed from afar at the Heavenly Court above the Ancestral Court and thought, "I wonder how Mu Tianzun is faring.
. . Hao Tianzun must surely be tormenting him in a hundred ways.
" The Heavenly Court.
Hao Tianzun summoned the various Heavenly Venerables and the mighty ones of every faction; he saw that Huo, Zu, Lang, Gong and the rest of the Heavenly Venerables were each wounded, every wound a sword wound, and could not help frowning. "The Grand Emperor is dead, and Mu Tianzun, chief of the rebels, has been taken by me.
" Hao swept his gaze around the hall and said, unhurried, "The bandit Mu Tianzun deserves ten thousand deaths; his crimes admit no pardon.
Yet this fellow is like a malignant tumor, stubborn and unyielding. I fought the Grand Emperor head-on and bear wounds, and I cannot refine him to death; therefore I have summoned you all here to put this beast to death.
" At these words, Heavenly Venerables and great ministers of the Heavenly Court alike were both startled and delighted.