Chapter 393 — The Spring of the Blazing Sun
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"This world was manufactured!"
Shen Mu and the others quickly realized that so small a world could not have been born naturally, for they soon arrived at its apex.
— Shen Mu meant to have the flood dragons escort them flying over the Star River, but partway up, the dragons crashed into an invisible black curtain of a barrier.
The black curtain could not be seen, yet it was undeniably there: the rampart of this world, like a wall dividing it from all others.
The reason they called it a manufactured world was this: at the very instant they struck the black curtain, countless honeycomb-shaped seals surfaced upon it, giving off a rapid thrumming, swiftly lighting up a vast expanse of the sky — as though they had entered an enormous honeycomb.
These were honeycomb seals. Shen Mu had seen such seals before in the Nether Valley, and they were not unfamiliar to him.
In ancient times the gods had used honeycomb seals to plug the rift between the Netherworld and the world of reality; here, the honeycomb seals served as the rampart of a god-made world.
"There's no way around it. We'll have to cross through the Star River."
Shen Mu surveyed the darkness all around. With this world's rampart blocking the way, they could not skirt it from above; the only path was to wade through the Star River and force their way to the Dawnspring.
"This space is strange. It doesn't look large, and the Dawnspring and the Soulspring aren't far apart — three or five li at most."
Shen Mu said, "But on the geographical charts, the Soulspring and the Dawnspring lie tens of thousands of li apart. How is that possible?"
Si Yunxiang pondered. "A teleportation divine ability... no! It should be folded space... no, that's not right either! This is a complete space, not folded at all. What divine ability is this?"
The two wells in the Desolate Ruins lay tens of thousands of li apart, yet here in the Star Sea only three or five li. And in the Kingdom of Jingping, when one gazed up at the starry sky, the stars seemed close to one another though in truth they were far apart. Here, reality was reversed — a marvel to make one click one's tongue in wonder.
Si Yunxiang was muddled too, unable to say what divine ability had produced such a wonder.
Shen Mu laughed. "The gods of the ancient Desolate Ruins had vast powers, and many divine abilities we know nothing of. Perhaps they made this place only to forge a passage, a convenience for moving about the Ruins. Let's go to the Dawnspring first and talk later."
The nine flood dragons enclosed them in their midst and flew toward the Star River. One after another the dragons grew frantic: the Star River was full of boulders the size of mountains, hurtling and colliding in utter chaos. Whenever a star the size of a mountain came crashing at them, a flood dragon would use its divine ability to shove the star aside.
These stars too were man-made, none of them very large — though among them were certain peculiar stars, like fine jade, translucent and crystalline, that streaked past not far from them, trailing light.
"So beautiful... oh no!"
Shen Mu's expression changed drastically. His flute rang out loud and clear, commanding the dozen or more flood dragons; the dragons' bodies shrank rapidly and swarmed onto him. With one hand Shen Mu seized Snow Fox and flung her onto his shoulder, with the other he caught hold of Si Yunxiang, and shouted, "Fat Dragon, jump into the Dragon Nest, quick!"
He leaped into the Dragon Nest with Snow Fox and Si Yunxiang; the Dragon Qilin scrambled in after them. At that very moment the jade-like star blazed with incomparable brilliance, and in an instant five-colored sword light filled the sky, blotting out everything, sweeping across the stars in every direction!
Star after star the size of a mountain was pierced through by the sword light, riddled with a thousand holes!