Chapter 764 — The Burden of Heavenly Venerable Yu
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Shen Mu's spirits sank. After a moment, he said hoarsely, "If he hadn't joined the Heavenly Alliance, perhaps he might not have died. Because of one word of mine, his life was lost. I..." "It had nothing to do with you," the old envoy said. "Heavenly Venerable Yun was simply made that way. Though they honored him as a Heavenly Venerable, he spoke little on ordinary days, yet he had a warm and chivalrous heart. Heavenly Venerable Yue once said that even before Heavenly Venerable Ling proposed the founding of the Heavenly Alliance, Yun was already planning to gather the benevolent and the brave, to think of the future of the later-born races. Yun..." He fell silent for a moment, then dropped his head. "He once impersonated Heavenly Venerable Yu, and he also impersonated you and Heavenly Venerable Shen, acting in your names, so that humanity and the other races might keep one thread of hope in their bitterest moments. In the Dragon Han era, too many people died; in those days the human race and the other races could barely keep living. It was all he could do..."
Shen Mu stared blankly, lost in thought.
"The Lord of Earth should know who won among the courts, shouldn't he?" Shen Mu put down what was in his heart and asked.
"The Lord of Earth will not say." The old envoy shook his head. "I asked him once, and he wouldn't say. Only after that dark stretch of years passed did the Lord of Earth grow deeply dispirited; he now does only what duty requires and seldom asks after the outside world. I, too, once wanted to know who the final winner was—whether it was Heavenly Venerable Hao or the Ancient-God Heavenly Emperor—but I have never seen the true face of the one on the throne."
Shen Mu was taken aback. "Never seen his true face?"
The old envoy nodded. The boat was drawing near the Lord of Earth. At the bow, Heavenly Venerable Yu gaped in astonishment, staring blankly at the Lord of Earth's immeasurably huge and towering body, unable to get out a single syllable.
"Never." The old envoy's face was calm, still as a well without ripples, and he spoke unhurriedly: "The world says the Dragon Han era ended four hundred and fifty thousand years ago, and the Chiming era came after. Heh heh, but they little know that the Dragon Han era never ended. The Dragon Han era has always been here!"
Shen Mu's heart quivered.
The Dragon Han era had always been here! The Dragon Han Heavenly Court, which even the Lord of Earth was too discreet to mention, had always been here, like an enormous shadow hanging over every age—over Chiming, Shanghuang, Kaihuang, and even today's Jingping!
"That court holds many things beyond comprehension," the old envoy said. "The ancient gods of the ancient-gods' heavenly court are in that court, and the deities among the later-born beings and the half-gods are in that court too. I cannot puzzle out who was the ultimate victor... Let us go to see the Lord of Earth."
The paper boat sailed into the third eye on the Lord of Earth's brow. The old envoy moored the boat, and they went into the holy hall inside the eye. In the hall, the Lord of Earth—now countless times reduced in stature—lowered his head and studied Heavenly Venerable Yu, who was holding half a chicken. Yu felt uneasy beneath that gaze; after a while he mustered his courage and raised the half-chicken over his head. "Do you want something to eat? I think you're hungry too..."
The Lord of Earth flickered his gaze, shook his head, and sighed. "Poor thing. The Heavenly Venerable Yu of former days has actually become like this. Have you brought him to find that missing wisp of his soul?"
Shen Mu nodded and bowed. "Please work your magic, Lord of Earth, and find the whereabouts of that wisp!"