Chapter 1505: When Two Powers Meet
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
cred Mountains, where Youdu casts no shadow. You are a ghost; if you leave here, Lord Tu will drag you down to Youdu! You were locked up in Pixiang Hall, so you must have done plenty of wicked things while you were alive, weren't you? Lord Tu will whip your backside raw!" Emperor Ming did not know whether to laugh or cry. He halted and asked, "Who are you, and why do you bar my way?" "My name is Hua Xuanxiu, and this is Wenyuan, my senior brother." The girl pulled over a handsome youth and said with a laugh, "He is the young sect master of our Heavenly Sage Sect. After a few years of trials, he may inherit the seat of sect master. Of course, the old sect master is still alive, and by our sect's rules the young sect master had best do away with the old one, so that he may take the seat with a proper name. I fear Wenyuan will never get the chance—our old sect master is hale and hearty..." Patriarch Wenyuan said helplessly, "That was a vile custom handed down because the sect masters of past generations misunderstood Patriarch Wei's teachings. Now that Patriarch Wei has returned, that rule is gone. Emperor Ming, you have no body now and exist as a ghost; it would be best for you to stay here. When the sect master wakes, he will find the fragments of your former body and remold a body for you, bringing you back to life." Seeing how bright and charming the two of them were, Emperor Ming could not help feeling fond of them. "I am nothing now but a lone ghost and a wild spirit, with nothing to my name. Why don't I teach you two, brother and sister, my own secret arts as repayment..." Hua Xuanxiu and Wenyuan exchanged a glance, then together tipped back their heads and asked, "Is it the Flawless Creation Profound Art?" Emperor Ming was stunned for a moment, then nodded, full of misgiving. "Even children know of my Flawless Creation Profound Art? What era is this? Has my untaught secret become as common as cabbages?" "We have both practiced it already." Patriarch Wenyuan thought it over and said, "That's right—when the sect master spoke of you before, he said the reason you were killed was that your Flawless Creation Profound Art could never reach the primal spirit, so your primal spirit could not transform along with your body into three heads and six arms. Since you cannot leave now anyway, we will teach you the Red Emperor's Immortal Consciousness of the Three Primal Spirits." Emperor Ming's eyes went wide. His mind was a muddle, and as if possessed he nodded—then suddenly came to his senses and asked, "Little friends, what era is this?" "Yankang!" Hua Xuanxiu and Patriarch Wenyuan said in one voice. Lan Yutian, meanwhile, was gazing at another self: that was Heavenly Venerable Yu, and the Heavenly Venerable Yu of this moment was a mass of remnant soul bearing his memories from a million years ago. Whether to merge with his own remnant soul and become Heavenly Venerable Yu made him hesitate. Heavenly Venerable Yu was looking at him as well. The two youths looked almost exactly alike—though of course Lan Yutian was a little plumper; with Yan'er around, it was hard for him to stay thin. His face still held a boyish innocence, while Heavenly Venerable Yu seemed far more mature—save that his form was illusory, with no fleshly body, and his soul was gravely incomplete. Lan Yutian gazed at this former self, bewildered. Though their souls were the same, and he himself was the consciousness born of that body, he still felt that he was not Heavenly Venerable Yu. Heavenly Venerable Yu seemed to read his confusion. He smiled gently and said, "Will you tell me of your experiences these years?" Lan Yutian hesitated, then nodded. Man and remnant soul sat together at the edge of a cliff, and Lan Yutian slowly recounted all that had befallen him over the years. From his rebirth, stripped of every memory, to Heavenly Venerable You carrying him back to Youdu, then sending him out of Youdu and entrusting him to Shen Mu; then Shen Mu taking him traveli