Chapter 285 — The Temple of the Gods

Shen Mu returned to the hall and flew swiftly along its walls, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Cowherd, what is it?" Ling Yuxiu asked doubtfully.

"The hall is ninety paces long and fifty paces wide; inside, it is nine thousand paces long and five thousand paces wide."

Shen Mu looked up at the ceiling. The roof rose like the vault of heaven, and enormous gems were carved into brilliant stars; the constellations were utterly unlike those of the present day, and the stars hung some two or three thousand zhang above them.

Besides the stars there were a bright moon and a sun, treasures refined by some unknown art or divine power. The sun still burned, lighting the hall.

This was no hall at all; it was plainly a small world of its own!

"The space inside the hall is ten thousand times larger than it looks from outside!"

Shen Mu suppressed the pounding in his heart and said in a low voice, "The place where the sun and moon rest on the ceiling is the eye socket of a Taotie divine beast! This hall was built upon the divine bones of a Taotie, a Taotie that has perhaps already become a god! Far more formidable than my Taotie pouch; this is a true pure-blooded Taotie! Yuxiu, that oppression you feel is likely because of this."

Si Yunxiang's eyes shone, then dimmed. "What a pity this hall is far too large to carry away..."

Shen Mu felt the same. "What a pity..."

His gaze fell upon that sun, and suddenly something stirred in his heart. "This sun is also a man-made thing. I wonder whether it could light the sun on the Dawn Boat?"

His heart pounded. If he could kindle that sun, then the Sun Guardian Yan Jingjing would not have to be devoured by the Dawn Boat.

Shen Mu had once been a Moon Guardian, and he knew well how terrible it was to have one's life devoured by the Soul Boat. He had always been concerned for that Sun Guardian; he did not want her to die like that.

If he could light the sun on the Dawn Boat, he would surely do it.

He leaped into the air and sped toward the ceiling. The interior of the hall was exceedingly tall; Shen Mu rushed skyward with all his strength, intending to take down that sun. But the closer he came to it, the more scorching it grew, until he could not bear it.

Shen Mu shook his body and roused the Yinghuo Star Lord's Fire-Steward True Art, transforming into the form of the Yinghuo Star Lord, an ox head on a human body treading twin dragons, and continued to approach the sun.

The closer he came, the higher the temperature rose. The glare stabbed his eyes until tears streamed down his face, only to be evaporated at once.

He stared wide-eyed at the sun drawing nearer and nearer, and saw that this treasure was a huge pearl giving off raging fire, as though refined from the eye of some strange beast. The pupil was still visible, a perfect circle, and from that pupil poured the dreadful fire and the blinding light!

He was about to draw closer still when suddenly his skin stung as though countless needles were piercing him.

Shen Mu hurriedly dropped. The light shot from that pupil was like one burning needle after another; to approach rashly would mean being melted by the heat, or else shot dead by the sunlight.

Thud.

Shen Mu landed, swished his ox tail, and fell into thought.

Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu were astonished. They looked him up and down, and Si Yunxiang, plucking up her courage, reached out and stroked Shen Mu's plump, round, hippo-like ox rump. "It is a real rump!" she exclaimed. "Princess Xiu, come feel it too!"

"I will not."

Even as she said so, Ling Yuxiu reached out and gave Shen Mu's ox rump a squeeze.

"It really is a rump!"

The princess was shocked. "So plump!"

Smack.

Shen Mu flicked his tail and sent both girls' hands flying. He strode out of the hall; the two girls clutched their hands and cried out in pain, yet watching Cult Leader Shen in his divine ox form, his two plump buttocks wobbling as he walked, they still could not help wanting to touch them.

Shen Mu came outside the hall, then suddenly trod upon twin dragons and soared into the air, flying up to the roof, where he lifted away a glazed tile.

This hall was no ordinary thing: every brick and tile was stamped with rune marks, such that even an assault by divine powers or yuan weapons could scarcely damage them.

After a moment Shen Mu had pried off many glazed tiles, and light shone out from within. He laughed. "Just as I thought. There is no light behind the eye."

Si Yunxiang looked up and saw an ox head thrusting in from beyond the sky, appearing behind that sun, enormous beyond measure. Then a great hand reached over, grasped behind the sun in the air, and gave it a gentle shake, and the sun went out at once.