Chapter 1520 — When the Youth Was Down and Out
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
The gates of the Miluo Palace suddenly opened. The giant Tai Yi had his back to them, drenched in blood, holding the Chaos Axe, the great axe whirling up and down to fend off the attacks surging from within the palace. As the giant swung the axe, a single stroke seemed to bring a world into being on either side of the axe blade—heaven opening, earth splitting—a power to astonish the world!
Yet more and more wounds appeared upon his body.
Wei Suifeng and Shu Jun hastily fell back at flying speed, racing toward the Chaos River. Behind them, Tai Yi retreated step by step, and with every step he yielded, his blood filled the footprint, leaving behind lake after lake formed of dao-blood!
Wei Suifeng and Shu Jun ran at top speed, not daring to look back at all. They were about to reach the riverbank, and ahead there was no road, when suddenly Tai Yi kicked backward with a great foot and struck squarely the staff in Wei Suifeng's hand.
The staff howled and swelled, transforming into a long boat with an upturned prow, which bore Wei Suifeng and Shu Jun speeding across the surface of the river!
Tai Yi swung his last axe and leaped, landing upon the river's surface and chasing after the two.
The long boat and Tai Yi, one before, one behind, passed through one great Chaos River after another. When they came to the fourth Chaos River, a resonant dao-sound suddenly rang out, speaking a sentence of unknowable meaning.
The two aboard the boat hastily looked back, and saw a great hand strike Tai Yi down from the Chaos River, driving him bodily into the waters.
The giant Tai Yi struggled, trying to burst out of the river, when suddenly from the waters countless skeletal hands reached out, seizing hold of every part of his body.
The giant Tai Yi struggled once, lifted his head, and smiled at the two upon the long boat—then was dragged down into the Chaos River.
"Follow the map—save me—"
Upon the long boat, Wei Suifeng and Shu Jun heard Tai Yi's voice come up from within the Chaos River.
"Dao brother, what map?" Wei Suifeng asked, his voice ragged.
But the long boat was incredibly swift, passing through one Chaos River after another. The sixteen Chaos Rivers flashed by in an instant, and neither of them heard Tai Yi's answer again.
Whoosh—
The long boat the staff had become flashed through the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, breaking through the strange and sinister things of that place. The two upon the boat were dazed and muddled, and in passing caught sight of the figures of Heavenly Venerable Hao, the Ancestral Divine King, and others.
These people watched the long boat recede with looks of inexplicable astonishment.
Before long, they encountered Heavenly Venerable Xiao, Heavenly Consort Yan, and their company; the Ancient God Taiji too looked toward them with a face of surprise, plainly greatly shaken.
Thud!
The long boat pitched into the ground outside the city, and the two aboard were flung clear. By the time they steadied themselves, the long boat had once more become a wooden staff, planted beside the great cauldron Wei Suifeng had left outside the city.
"Is it the map inside the cauldron?" Shu Jun rushed to the cauldron in a fluster and asked anxiously.
"Absolutely not!"
Wei Suifeng shook his head, his face grim. He pulled up Tai Yi's staff, stowed the great cauldron, and said in a low voice, "We go back at once to the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains, to see my junior brother!"