Chapter 1144 — Such an Ally, I Refuse

The Cheng Earth Ancient God had the face of a man, the feet of a tiger, and the body of a hound; in his mouth fangs stood like a forest, and behind him trailed a great azure tail, nine tails in all. He sat upon the sacrificial altar taking his pleasure, feasting his eyes on song and dance. Around him stood ranks upon ranks of heavenly soldiers and generals, a stern and heavy guard, while below, heavenly maidens plucked strings and blew on bamboo, struck drums and made music, their songs sweet and far-carrying, their dancing exquisite. Those heavenly maidens were slender and graceful, their garments so scant they scarce covered their shame, and there in the full gaze of the crowd they danced, their every movement lewd in the extreme. The Cheng Earth Ancient God and the assembled divine generals laughed in high delight; stirred by the spectacle, the Ancient God raised his cup, a bronze tripod vessel taller than a man, in which the wine was already nearly gone. He reached out and seized a heavenly maiden who was singing and dancing, gripped her hard, and squeezed; the divine blood of that maiden he wrung into the cup and drained it at a single draft! The maiden, her breath already gone, he tossed aside. Outside the Cheng Earth ancestral ground Shen Mu saw this scene; he drew out the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, stepped back several paces, then of a sudden gathered speed and went hurtling forward, and as he ran he flicked his wrist and hurled the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner into the ancestral ground! Boom, the banner, swifter than sound and soon a hundred, a thousand times the speed of sound, drove its jade shaft through the Cheng Earth ancestral ground trailing fire, and as it flew it slowly unfurled its canopy. And behind the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, Shen Mu ran no slower by a hair, head down, palm pressed upon the hilt of the broken sword. Whoosh, man and treasure alike passed like lightning through the baleful qi beyond the ancestral ground; even the gods and demons of Xuan Province in the north who kept watch within that baleful aura had no time to catch sight of them before they were gone in a flash. The Glazed Azure Heaven Banner pierced through hall after hall of the divine palaces and came in an instant to the altar, leveling straight at the heart of the Cheng Earth Ancient God! The Cheng Earth Ancient God's reaction was swift beyond measure: he reached out and seized the jade shaft of the banner, crying aloud, "Who dares such insolence?" The banner's twenty-eight heavens opened and swelled outward. To his horror the Ancient God saw his own body lifted high and borne up to the first heaven, far from the altar. In that very instant of the twenty-eight heavens bursting into bloom, a blade of sword-light came flying; in the Ancient God's vast pupils that sword-light was mirrored, and he saw it grow greater and greater within his eyes, until the sword-light quivered and became the Thirty-Three Heavens. Sword-light entered his flesh, and the Thirty-Three Heavens swelled outward; though his body was incomparably strong and he strove with all his strength to summon its power and press the sword-light down, the might of the Thirty-Three Heavens Sword Dao was the imprint of a sword technique upon thirty-three voids. By the measure of the Cheng Earth Ancient God's own cultivation of the Dao, he had never comprehended his Dao to the depth of thirty-three voids. However powerful his cultivation, however profound his magic power, however unmatched his insight into his own Dao, once that Dao was broken and his depth of comprehension fell short of his opponent's, his flesh could not contend against the Thirty-Three Heavens Sword Dao. His body was split into thirty-four portions; thirty-three portions of flesh, from the lowest upward, evolved into heaven upon heaven, vast in mountain and river. His head flew up, and flying up with his head was the figure of Shen Mu, whose left hand pressed a palm upon his brow. The Heavenly River Surveys the Four Poles: about the head of the Cheng Earth Ancient God a heavenly river surged forth, a river threading the Four Poles Heaven, and upon the Four Poles Heaven there appeared the Dao-forms of the Ancient Gods Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise; they struck as one and crashed into his brain. The Cheng Earth Ancient God's three souls shattered, and his life was out. Yu Chudu and Long Qilin and the rest waited outside in great anxiety; Shen Mu had suddenly cast them off to plunge alone into the ancestral ground of the Cheng Earth Ancient God, which could not but leave them worried. Just then a huge head flew out of the baleful qi and struck the ground, rolling several times around. "Let us go. On to the next Ancient God's ancestral ground," said Shen Mu, stepping out from the baleful qi, his voice light. Long Qilin quickened his steps to fall in beside him, hesitated, and said, "Sect Master, you have already killed two Ancient Gods. If you keep on killing, do you not fear offending Lord Heaven and Lord Earth? Lord Heaven and Lord Earth are Ancient Gods themselves; creatures grieve for their own kind, and seeing you slaughter every Ancient God in this place, they will surely harbor some resentment." Shen Mu halted his steps. "Can Lord Heaven and Lord Earth hold these Ancient Gods in check? They cannot, and they never have. These Ancient Gods are two-faced: they cling to the Heavenly Court, enjoy power and rank, and feed upon the multitudes, and all the while they dream that I might render them eternal and indestructible, that they might overturn the Heavenly Court and strive to return to the savage ages of old! In my camp there is no place for such as these!" Long Qilin said, "Even so, that is true, yet..." "Such an ally, I do not want!" Shen Mu said coldly. "The reason the Long Han Revolution failed was that half-gods took the place of the Ancient Gods, and nothing changed at all! If Jingping joins hands with these Ancient Gods, then in the future, even if the Heavenly Court is overthrown, nothing will change!" Long Qilin hesitated. "And what if Lord Heaven and Lord Earth do not understand?" "They must understand. They are gods born of the Dao, not the same as these sacrificial Ancient Gods." Shen Mu strode forward. "Ancient Gods born of the Dao are after all not the same as Ancient Gods born of sacrifice; the Ancient Gods born of sacrifice came into being bearing the evil thoughts of the primeval Creator, and they can never change. Lord Heaven and Lord Earth will understand my decision." Long Qilin said no more. After the death of the White Earth Ancient God, the gods and demons of the White Earth ancestral ground panicked for a time, but they quickly grew calm and sped with all haste to the other ancestral grounds, carrying word to the other eight Ancient Gods. At the same time, three gods and demons flew to the Three Pillars Heaven to report to the Ancient Gods there. White Earth of Ji Province was the center of the Nine Provinces, and the roads to the other eight provinces were the shortest and swiftest; even so, three to five days would be needed to reach each province's ancestral ground. One demon god raced like wind and lightning toward Ang Province due south, burst into the ancestral ground of the Deep Earth Ancient God of Ang Province, and wailed, "God Ancestor Deep Earth, give us justice! God Ancestor White Earth has been murdered in secret!" Hearing this, the Deep Earth Ancient God was shaken with fury; he smote the table and shouted, "Who is so bold as to dare kill my sworn brother?" That demon god said, "We saw nothing, we heard no sound, and then God Ancestor White Earth's life was simply gone..." "Useless wretch!" The Deep Earth Ancient God, raging beyond restraint, straightway gave his orders: "Muster the whole army and follow me to the White Earth Divine Province, and let us see what man is so bold!" Half a day later the army of gods and demons set out, the Deep Earth Ancient God