荒墟牧神 - 第745章 波濤劍影似虯 - 雲海書庫

The Jade Pool was like a sea. To the ancient gods, whose bodies were vast beyond measure, it was no more than a pond; but to humankind it was as boundless as the ocean. In truth the Jade Pool had another name, and that name was the Jade Sea. In its waters divine turtles bore sacred mountains and holy peaks upon their backs, swimming at their ease, and great lotuses bloomed, their petals like mountain ridges, a riot of color, brilliant purples and vivid reds. Upon entering the Jade Pool, one of the divine-powered did not feel that the pool was too vast; rather, he felt that he himself had shrunk countless times over. Ahead, Heavenly Lord Hao had already halted. This place lay far from the Jade Pool Cottage and the Jade Pool Treasure Isle, and all around, demigods came walking, while others flew through the sky, hiding within the clouds. Still others hid beneath the sea; Shen Mu walked upon the water's surface and saw the bodies of colossal beasts swimming lightly and briskly below him, their scales the very same color as the blue-green waves. "Heavenly Lord Yu, is it truly you?" Heavenly Lord Hao watched him come near, then suddenly sighed, his manner bleak: "Strange as it is to say, I actually wish you were truly him. But I also know you cannot be him. You are dead; you cannot come back to life. Under those circumstances, how could you possibly have survived? And yet here you stand before me, alive and whole, and that perplexes me beyond all measure." A look of bewilderment crossed his face: "I killed you with my own hands. I scattered your soul and shattered your spirit, and yet you came back to life. How did you do it?" In the sky, an ancient god with great ears was eavesdropping on every stir and sound of the Jade Pool. Hearing Heavenly Lord Hao's words, he suddenly shuddered and turned to go. At the same moment, beneath the Jade Pool, another ancient god, with a single eye in the center of his brow, paled greatly, burrowed up out of the earth, and rose into the air. The two ancient gods met; they exchanged a glance, their faces strange. They were none other than the two generals Celestial Hearing and Terrestrial Sight, sent down by the Heavenly Emperor to investigate this case. "Should this be reported to His Majesty?" Celestial Hearing asked. Terrestrial Sight shook his head and said in a muffled voice, "Are you not afraid to die? If we tell His Majesty, we both die." Celestial Hearing frowned, his two great ears curling up, and said in a low voice: "His Majesty commanded us to investigate this case, and the assassination of Heavenly Lord Yu is no small matter. He is a Heavenly Lord after all, the first of the Heavenly Lords, and the one for whom all the ancient gods offered prayers and blessings. His death, I fear, will stir up great chaos in time to come." Terrestrial Sight had but one eye in his brow; now he closed it and shook his head: "And even if we told His Majesty, what then? His Majesty would let it drop. Heavenly Lord Hao is bound up with too many; his mother's divine power is vast as well. If His Majesty moved against Heavenly Lord Hao, the chaos would only be greater. And then His Majesty would simply seal our mouths, silencing us forever." Celestial Hearing was at a loss. "Then what are we to do?" "See nothing; hear nothing." The ancient god Terrestrial Sight said, "I am a blind old man, you are a deaf old man. That will preserve our lives." The ancient god Celestial Hearing nodded. "It can be no other way. Only, Heavenly Lord Yu will have died for nothing. And Heavenly Lord Mu, who transformed into Heavenly Lord Yu, who passed on the dharma in his stead and avenged him in his stead, I fear he too will die for nothing. A pity, a pity — two Heavenly Lords on the road to their ends..." The ancient god Terrestrial Sight sighed. "When he took out Heavenly Lord Yu's bones, I was startled. When he changed into Heavenly Lord Yu's likeness, I was startled again. I do not know what he means to do, but when I heard hi