Chapter 1130 — The Treasure of Creation

The Pot-Heaven World was exceedingly complete, a treasure of the Creator race, the Zangshan clan, and among the great heavens it ranked as a high-order heaven. Not only that: the Pot-Heaven Bottle was itself a divine weapon forged by a Creator, and should war come, it could be wielded to slay enemies. That, of course, demanded a formidable attainment in spirit-consciousness. And now Shen Mu had passed on the Creator race's methods of cultivating spirit-consciousness to Jingping; the divine-power wielders and gods of Jingping had fused such arts as the Three Enclosures Higher Consciousness with the present systems of cultivation, and from that union had grown a great many new spirit-consciousness arts. Demon King Dutian need only learn the methods of spirit-consciousness from Jingping, then lead his clansmen in refining the Pot-Heaven Bottle day and night; before long he would be able to refine it wholly, and it would become the mighty treasure that guarded them all! Demon King Dutian was stirred beyond measure, and straightaway entered the Pot-Heaven heavens to tell his clansmen the good news. How many years had it been? The Dutian World had been destroyed, countless clansmen slain; they had wandered homeless, crying to heaven and getting no answer, begging the earth and finding no help, blocked at every turn, cut down, captured, made into slaves — and now at last they had a place to settle! His heart was ablaze, scalding hot; yet he knew too that the merit he had won in conquering the Tianyu World was not enough to earn him a heaven like the Pot-Heaven World. The Pot-Heaven World was even vaster than the Tianyu World; it was out of regard for their friendship that Shen Mu had given him the Pot-Heaven Bottle. Shen Mu questioned Yu Zhaoqing in detail, and Yu Zhaoqing recounted how Demon King Dutian had led the Tianyu clansmen to attack the Tianyu World: the Tianyu World had been occupied by the demon race, and the demon race's arts happened to counter those of the Tianyu clan. More than that, the demon race's demon gods possessed a divine power that could control the Tianyu clan; even Yu Zhaoqing could be enslaved by it. Demon King Dutian had not attacked at once. Instead, relying on his own identity as a demon, he had slipped into the Tianyu World and learned the demon race's arts; after two years he had grasped their abilities thoroughly, comprehended the way to counter them, and taught it to Yu Zhaoqing and the others. Yu Zhaoqing spread it among the clan, and they prepared for another two years before they attacked. Then, within a single year, they took the Tianyu World — truly a long hoarding of strength, a thunderbolt strike, sweeping away the demon race there as easily as rotting wood! Shen Mu listened spellbound, and praised: "Know yourself and know your enemy, and a hundred battles bring a hundred victories. Demon King Dutian has the bearing of a great general." Yu Zhaoqing laughed: "Only at the very beginning, Dutian did not get along with those three dragon clan brothers, and was hung up and beaten. Later, when their relations improved, they even saved one another's lives." Shen Mu laughed heartily, and summoned those three heavenly dragons and six others, saying: "Will you stay in Jingping, or come with me to the Heavenly Court? If you return to the Heavenly Court, I will wash away these past years of memory and implant new ones. If you stay in Jingping, then you must change your faces and identities, and share Jingping's fate, for weal or woe." The nine heavenly dragons took human form, put their heads together in discussion, and said: "We followed the Heavenly Venerable and know many secrets. If we return to the Heavenly Court, I fear our days would be numbered. Even if the Heavenly Venerable washes away our memories, we would die of it. So we choose to stay in Jingping, and in the future make a place for ourselves." Shen Mu took out the Book of Life and Death, saying: "Since that is so, I will help you this once, and strike your names from the Book of Life and Death, so that the Heavenly Court cannot trace where you have gone." He shone the Book of Life and Death upon the nine, and worked the Youdu divine art, erasing the nine names from between heaven and earth. The nine suddenly felt a lightness come over them, and bowed low in thanks. "Since I am to return to the Heavenly Court, I ought also to give the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Banner back to Crown Prince Youming." At this thought, Shen Mu sent his spirit-consciousness into the Shen-Character Continent, and was just about to take out the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Banner when he suddenly heard a strange sound, and his heart stirred. He saw then that within the Shen-Character Continent, the ancient god egg upon the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Banner was giving off a strange Dao-voice, and not far off, the bizarre runes on the surface of the Egg of the Great Beginning shifted without cease, also giving off a wondrous Dao-voice, as though the two ancient god eggs were conversing with each other! Shen Mu's hair stood on end, but he betrayed nothing; he lifted up a treasure from the Shen-Character Continent and left it. When he came to fetch the treasure, the sounds from those two enormous ancient god eggs vanished at once, and all was still again. But once Shen Mu had taken the treasure, the strange Dao-voices of the two ancient god eggs rang out once more! Shen Mu's scalp went numb, his heart pounding wildly: "The Egg of the Great Beginning and that other ancient god egg have both already birthed a spirit-intelligence; the beings inside can converse with each other! What are they discussing?" A chill of dread ran through him. "I cannot give the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Banner to Crown Prince Youming yet!" Shen Mu steadied himself. Two ancient gods not yet born, conversing within their eggs — he could not help but draw an ominous association. Of egg-born ancient gods there was at present only one: the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor. If the ancient gods born from these two eggs came into the world, would they not be two more Ancient God Heavenly Emperors? One Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was already terrifying in the extreme — dead yet not fallen, and in history guilty of countless evils. If these two ancient gods joined hands, the harm they could do would surely be greater and wider still! "I cannot alarm them yet." Shen Mu's gaze flickered; he summoned Dragon Qilin and Yan'er, saying: "The heavenly dragons must stay in the Yuan Realm, so I must trouble you two to pull the carriage." Dragon Qilin willingly harnessed itself to the traces, and Yan'er ran over and harnessed herself too, saying: "Young Master, when do we set out?" Shen Mu had scarce climbed into the jeweled carriage when an envoy of the Heavenly Court arrived, reading out the Heavenly Emperor's decree, summoning Gongsun Yan to the Heavenly Court. These days Gongsun Yan had been cultivating under Granny Zhu, consolidating her cultivation, and learning the Heavenly Court's rites from Ling Yuxiu; she was proper in every advance and retreat. Yet now that she was to ascend to the Heavenly Court and have audience with the Heavenly Emperor, she was anxious beyond measure. Shen Mu had her climb into the jeweled carriage, and carried her and the divine official who had read the decree to the Heavenly Court, laughing: "You are not flustered before me; there is even less need to be flustered before the Ten Heavenly Venerables. By rank and seniority, my standing in the Heavenly Court is above the Ten Heavenly Venerables." Gongsun Yan's palms were all cold sweat; Shen Mu held her hand, and only then did the girl gradually grow calm. Shen Mu said gravely: "We set out now! Not by the spirit-energy translocation bridge at Yuanmu, but straight to the one outside the capital!" Yan'er assented, and together with Dragon Qilin pulled the jeweled carriage toward that spirit-energy translocation bridge. Sitting in the carriage, Shen Mu thought of t