Chapter 1522 — The Intruder Descends
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The afterglow spilled across the World Tree at the heart of the Hundred Thousand Holy Mountains. Xu Shenghua stood bathed in that light, and then Lan Yutian arrived and came to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
"In the past, when Tai Yi guarded this place, no matter how violently the Great Black Mountains raged, people's hearts were at peace."
Xu Shenghua said calmly, "Now Tai Yi is gone. Hearts are in disorder, faith is lost; only now do we know that Tai Yi was the pillar in midstream."
Lan Yutian said, "There are some people who, while they are here, you cannot feel, whose worth you cannot perceive, until the day they are gone and you understand that you have lost your backbone. And my brother is now becoming that backbone."
Xu Shenghua said softly, "He left me behind because he knows my dao-heart is strong enough, without weakness, the most reliable of all. I will not be tempted by the dao-dew. Lan Yutian, why have you also stayed?"
Lan Yutian smiled and looked toward Shen Mu, where darkness had already fallen. "If my brother cannot win this battle, I will inherit his responsibility and become the backbone of this era!"
His voice gradually sank low, yet it was firm. "I will abandon my own path and force myself to become... Lord Yutian!"
The afterglow passed over them, and darkness swallowed them.
Above their heads, star after star emerged, the host of stars blazing with light.
Layer upon layer of the void slowly hung lower, and Tai Yi's Dao Tree appeared once more, dao-dew dripping down from its leaves.
At the same moment, among the hundred thousand Black Mountains, one riven Great Black Mountain lit up. Divine light surged, and between the two halves of the cloven mountain it took the form of an enormous eye.
Within that eye, a tall, gaunt figure walked closer step by step, growing taller and taller, like the upright pupil of the eye itself.
Before him, Shen Mu drew a long breath and roused the Mystic Body Three-Core Art he had comprehended over these days. Heavenly palace after heavenly palace rang out with a clang and emerged from behind his head; layer upon layer, the palaces together built a great Heavenly Court.
Within the great Heavenly Court raised from twenty-three heavenly palaces, each of Shen Mu's primal spirits stepped forward.
Shen Mu reached out and grasped; the divine bow fell into his hand.
Around him the domain of the Primal Embryo Divine Treasury unfolded; behind him a World Tree rose slowly, higher and higher, until it canopied the heavens.
And his chief primal spirit stood beneath the tree, body upright.
Shen Mu drew the bow; then the chief primal spirit behind him reached out a hand and drew the divine bow open along with him, while in the other heavenly palaces, primal spirit after primal spirit seized the bowstring at the same time.
Whoosh.
In an instant the divine bow was drawn to its limit. All his raging mana poured into it; at the same time the Great Dao of heaven and earth roared, and spirit power and spirit energy came howling in, turning into a flood that swept across the Hundred Thousand Holy Mountains.
Above his head appeared an enormous vortex a thousand li across; a vortex formed of the spirit power and spirit energy of the Ancestral Court.
At the vortex's heart, spirit power and spirit energy gathered madly into a pillar of light that came crashing down upon the divine bow. The bow's power grew greater and greater, and the fluctuations it gave off grew more and more terrifying.
Ahead, the riven Great Black Mountain split wider still. Within the upright pupil, the gaunt stranger grew taller and taller, the single eye in his forehead looking down at Shen Mu below. He seemed able to see Shen Mu, and mockery came into his face.
He was still walking through a universe of destruction, toward the future age; though the Great Calamity of Destruction strangled and slew all about him, his steps remained steady.