Chapter 1008: A Word of Farewell (Second Update!)
People fled in panic, dragging their families along, while those human cultivators with divine abilities used their powers to carry those who could not walk to safety.
The Heavenly River came crashing down. One by one, the human gods used their own bodies to hold up the river. Some could not endure and were crushed to dust, but immediately new divine beings rushed in, using their shoulders to support the Heavenly River, giving the people below a chance to escape.
At the same time, all the divine beings in the Xiaohan Heavenly Court flew out, heading upstream and downstream. Cloud Heavenly Venerable, Moon Heavenly Venerable, and Ling Heavenly Venerable led the gods in doing everything they could to hold up the Heavenly River, delaying the arrival of this great flood that swept heaven and earth.
Their cultivation was powerful, but they could only temporarily delay the river's fall—they could not return it to the sky.
Gods continued to be crushed to death. Even when Heavenly Venerables acted, they could hardly withstand the immense weight of the Heavenly River. Cloud Heavenly Venerable and the others could only do their utmost to give people more time to flee to higher ground.
"Someone needs to dig a channel!"
Cloud Heavenly Venerable shouted: "Moon, you are skilled in spatial techniques—you dig the channel! Once it is opened, we can guide the Heavenly River into it section by section, and the flood will no longer be a threat!"
Moon Heavenly Venerable lowered the section of the Heavenly River from her shoulders. As its weight pressed down, everyone's shoulders suddenly sank under the added burden.
Fortunately, Moon Heavenly Venerable had already cast her divine technique, splitting the earth and beginning to carve out a channel hundreds of li wide from the east.
The gods there immediately guided the Heavenly River into the channel. The water suddenly became docile, flowing along the channel toward the Eastern Sea.
Those who had released their section of the river immediately flew upward to help other gods hold up the rest.
Moon Heavenly Venerable worked tirelessly. The mountains blocking the river were split apart by her, and a massive waterway was carved into the earth. The channel grew longer and longer. Even though she was a Heavenly Venerable at the Imperial Throne realm, she was utterly exhausted and had to stop to rest.
Her disciples immediately took over, continuously digging the channel. One after another, people collapsed from fatigue.
After more than ten days, they had dug nearly half the channel. Sections of the Heavenly River were successively guided into it, rushing along its course.
"What about upstream?"
Moon Heavenly Venerable asked during her rest: "Which Heavenly Venerable is holding the river upstream?"
Cloud Heavenly Venerable looked at Ling Heavenly Venerable, somewhat puzzled. Ling was also holding up the river, so clearly the one supporting it upstream was not her.
"I'll go upstream and take a look," he said.
These past days, he had been extremely tired, and his speed had slowed considerably. But as he flew, he saw too many human gods whose bodies were nearly pressed into the ground, yet still raising their hands high, holding up the Heavenly River to prevent the flood from descending.
Some gods had already died from exhaustion, yet still stood there—even after death, their obsession continued to support their bodies.
"Who is upstream?" Cloud Heavenly Venerable asked the fleeing people.
"We don't know. It's a divine being with three heads and six arms, but we don't know his name," they told him.
Cloud Heavenly Venerable continued rushing upstream. Then, from afar, he saw a towering figure holding up the Heavenly River with six arms. That divine being was bent over, his three heads each tilted to one side, his skin almost completely burst open, divine blood flowing from his body like a river—yet he still held on with all his might.
Cloud Heavenly Venerable hurried over, deeply moved by what he saw.
Then he noticed mist gradually rising from the Heavenly River. Beneath the water's surface, a massive towered ship was sailing, its long shadow heading toward the figure supporting the river.
It was the Ghost Ship.
Cloud Heavenly Venerable was stunned for a moment.
Qin Mu was in a daze, but he also saw the Ghost Ship. Wei Suifeng must have been worried about his safety and had come to find him.
Dragon Qilin and Yan'er had obtained the Glazed Azure Sky Banner and had likely returned to the Ghost Ship before him, which had prompted Wei Suifeng's concern.
It made sense—they were fellow disciples after all. Wei Suifeng was worried that he might die in the past.
The Ghost Ship rose higher and higher, its mast breaking through the water's surface.
"Go away! Senior Brother, go away!"
Qin Mu's three heads shouted together: "Don't take me back! I must hold up this river!"
From beneath the surface of the Heavenly River came a muffled, murky sound—it should have been Wei Suifeng speaking, but the Ghost Ship was still in another time and space, and his voice could not reach here.
The mist on the river grew thicker and thicker, drawing closer and closer to Qin Mu. His consciousness was already fading. He called out: "Senior Brother, give me some time! I will return on my own!"
The murky sound rang out again, crackling like static. The voice from another time and space sounded strange, but the Ghost Ship's mast rose higher and higher, and the fog grew heavier.
The ship was crossing through time and space, arriving in this era.
"I can't leave yet..."
Qin Mu's vision grew increasingly blurry, his mind less and less clear. He murmured: "I can't leave yet. If I go, the flood will surge and countless people will die..."
At that moment, through his hazy vision, he saw a figure take over the burden of the Heavenly River from him. A voice—unfamiliar yet familiar—reached his ears: "Mu Heavenly Venerable, let me hold it. You can go now."
Qin Mu looked up and saw Cloud Heavenly Venerable taking the river onto his own shoulders, bearing the weight.
His body felt lighter, and he fell backward. At that moment, the Ghost Ship burst out of the water with a tremendous crash, and the mist swallowed the falling Qin Mu.
Qin Mu's body vanished, and the next moment he appeared on the Ghost Ship.
On the ship, Yan'er reached out with both hands to catch the collapsing Qin Mu, letting him lie down on the deck.
Dragon Qilin quickly began healing him.
Cloud Heavenly Venerable held up the Heavenly River and gazed into the distance at the great ship shrouded in mist, unable to contain his excitement.
"Mu Heavenly Venerable—!" he shouted loudly toward the ship.
His voice reached the Ghost Ship, turning into crackling static, but Qin Mu struggled to his feet. With Yan'er's support, he made his way to the bow. The two Heavenly Venerables looked at each other across the fog.
"Cloud Heavenly Venerable!"
Qin Mu swayed unsteadily, gesturing for Yan'er not to support him. He straightened his robes and, across the mist, saluted the man holding up the river: "Daoist friend!"
Cloud Heavenly Venerable could not hear what he was saying, but he could see the salute and read his lips. He laughed heartily: "Forgive me for not being able to return the salute! Daoist friend, will we meet again in the future?"
Qin Mu watched his lips, hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
"Then what a pity!"
Cloud Heavenly Venerable was taken aback, then laughed loudly: "I would have loved to meet you and have a long heart-to-heart talk!"
"Me too!"
Qin Mu clenched his fist, raised his thumb and pointed it at his own heart, shouting: "I would also love to talk with you!"
"You said we won't meet again—is it because I die?" Cloud Heavenly Venerable asked loudly.
Qin Mu opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Cloud Heavenly Venerable understood. He looked up at the sky, then at the Ghost Ship growing increasingly indistinct, and laughed heartily: "That's fine too! Daoist Mu, I will rule over the past, and you will rule over the future!"
Qin Mu read his words and felt tears wet his cheeks. He shouted: "Senior Brother, do you have any wine?"
Wei Suifeng grumbled: "You're wounded this badly, and you want to drink? What nonsense!"
Even so, he still fetched a jar of fine wine stored aboard the Ghost Ship and handed it to Qin Mu, saying: "Drink it. This is fine wine gifted to me by the Heavenly Emperor—I've never been willing to open it. But on this Ghost Ship, the wine has also transformed into immutable matter, so after you drink it, it will return to you."
Qin Mu slapped open the jar's seal with one palm, and the fragrance of wine burst forth.
He raised the jar, heroic spirit surging in his chest: "Cloud Daoist friend, I toast you!" With that, he tilted his head back and drank deeply.
"Excellent!"
Cloud Heavenly Venerable laughed: "I have no wine here, so I'll use the water of the Heavenly River in its place!"
He opened his mouth and drank deeply from the river.
Qin Mu finished his drink and smashed the jar to the ground, already tipsy.
Cloud Heavenly Venerable seemed somewhat drunk as well, laughing brightly: "Daoist Mu, go back! I will hold things here!"
Qin Mu clasped his hands and bowed deeply: "Then I entrust this to you, Daoist friend! Take care!"
"Take care!"
Cloud Heavenly Venerable bowed slightly in return: "The future is also entrusted to you, Daoist friend!"
He straightened his back, but saw that the mist had receded—the Ghost Ship had already vanished without a trace.