Chapter 498 — The Late Emperor's Remnant

After the two words meaning "to be buried," it was not the "here" he had guessed, but rather a new column of very fine regular script.

Shen Mu read it carefully: "You think this is a trap. You think my blade art was meant to kill you?

Wrong. Standing here, you will come to no harm at all. I have been waiting for you, Sect Master of Tiansheng.

I lived through twenty thousand years, through the whole Kaihuang era, and never found the slightest trace of the Tiansheng Sect.

Not until the Kaihuang era ended.

It was the remnant of Kaihuang who founded the Tiansheng Sect, and only at that moment did I understand that the one I awaited was not in the past, but in the future! The Tiansheng Sect has 'holy' in its name alone; in truth it walks the demonic path.

The Sect Master of Tiansheng, Shen Mu, is in truth the Sect Master of Youmo! You have triggered my trap.

My divine ability will tell me that you have come! At last, I have waited you here.

. .

" Shen Mu's face was grave. He let out a foul breath, swung up onto Long Qilin's back, and shouted, "Go!

We cannot stay here long!

" Long Qilin bolted in a panic, and behind him Chest stretched its legs and ran for dear life.

Shen Mu's face was dark. That was no trap.

Impressive as the spectacle had been, that trap existed only so that Luo Wushuang could sense that his divine ability had been triggered, and know that Shen Mu, Sect Master of Tiansheng, had come—nothing more!

That was an old monster who had lived thirty or forty thousand years, nursing his grudge over the arm Shen Mu had cut off—to Shen Mu a thing of last night, to him a thing of thirty or forty thousand years ago!

To hold a grudge for thirty or forty thousand years, and even then to leave a trap not to kill Shen Mu but to summon his true self—Luo Wushuang's obsession was terrifying indeed!

He would rather let his own trap go to waste than let Shen Mu die, because he meant to come and take that life himself! Shen Mu fled far away with Chest.

It was past noon now, the sun slanting west. The sun over this vast desert of yellow sand seemed not to be the same sun as Jingping's, and this world seemed not to be the same world as Jingping either. He rode Long Qilin and carried Chest, racing through the desert.

This world seemed to have no end; no horizon could be seen, no destination reached. He could not even find the crack he had glimpsed when he first arrived.

Cold sweat broke out on Shen Mu's brow.

If he could not get out, then even if Luo Wushuang never came to kill him, sooner or later he would die in this uncanny place! Of thirst, or of hunger, or of loneliness driven to madness, or of solitude unto old age. "Do not panic, do not panic.

Think carefully. .

.

" He steadied his mind and carefully recalled the route by which he had come. In the vast desert, the way back was no longer to be seen; and even if he could find it, he must never take that road.

"Xing An did not overtake us.

He will surely be waiting at the crack of the entrance, sitting by the stump for the rabbit to dash itself against it, waiting for me to deliver myself to his door.

" Shen Mu's gaze flickered. He looked up at the sky and said silently to himself, "Once, at the source of the Yong River, at the cliff that cuts the Wasteland from east to west, I saw that the sky had five layers—five worlds' skies layered one upon another! Five skies overlapping means this world has other exits.

I can return to the Wasteland through another of them! " Layer upon layer of formation-patterns revolved in his pupils.

Giving Long Qilin its head, he let it run east and west as it pleased, and watched only the sky. When night came, Long Qilin dared not go on and jumped up onto Chest, while Shen Mu lay on Chest with his legs crossed, watching the black, heavy night sky as Chest went over the dunes and ran on into the distance. Day came again. He had grown much more haggard, his eyes bloodshot, and still he kept them wide open, not daring to slacken in the least. At last, Shen Mu saw a cloud.

This world was desert everywhere, without a trace of moisture, and yet this cloud appeared abruptly out of nowhere—first a small patch, then growing larger and larger! Shen Mu's spirits surged.

He sprang up and laughed aloud. "Heaven never seals off every road to a man; more often it is men who seal off their own roads by abandoning hope!

If I do not give up, then I can live and get out! " He set Chest on Long Qilin's back, and Long Qilin soared up, hurtling toward that cloud.

Even as they passed through this world, divine light shifted within the cliff, and within that divine light was another world, dazzling in color: towering plants and great blossoms of every hue.

The divine light flowed out of the cliff like a waterfall, joining the two worlds together. The phantom of a young girl came walking out of the other world, treading upon flowers.

She gazed at the line of characters on the cliff and said softly, "Two hundred years short of forty thousand. You should have been born by now, shouldn't you? I am still waiting for you.

" Her face held a trace of quiet resentment.

She said softly, "I survived, but in forty thousand years I have never once forgotten you. .

.

I dare not grow old, for fear you would not recognize me. . .

" Suddenly the stele beside her began to rise, ringing and clanging, blocks of stone splitting outward, and in an instant they assembled into a stone archway. "Shen Mu, Sect Master of Youmo—at last I have waited for you! " A one-armed figure appeared on the other side of the gateway, a long blade slung across his back, his laughter like weeping and like lament.

The girl in the divine light and the one-armed figure in the gateway met each other's eyes, and both were shaken to the heart. "Remnant of the Supreme Emperor!

" "Evil demon from beyond the realm! "