Chapter 1522 — The Intruder Descends

One after another the others took their leave. Wei Suifeng hesitated a moment, then pulled Shu Jun along and followed after them. His fighting strength was in no way inferior to Shen Mu's, yet this time, hurrying back from the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, he had spent far too much of his mana, and still had not fully recovered.

If he stayed here, he would only serve to distract Shen Mu.

"Junior Brother, do not raise your realm to the Jade Capital realm!"

Wei Suifeng turned his head. "The Jade Capital is a trap! To cultivate to the Jade Capital realm is to swell the strength of the master of the Miluo Palace, and hasten his descent!"

Prince Youming did not leave with the rest. His mana was exceedingly deep and mighty; on mana alone, he stood even above Yin Tianzi.

Shen Mu glanced at him and shook his head. "Your Highness, your divine arts are far from mine. Even if your mana could match my own, a single move would be enough for me to defeat you."

With a faint stir of thought he unleashed the divine art of the twenty-third heaven of the Dao Realm, Taiji's Evolution, the March of Yin and Yang, and said, "Do you see it?"

Prince Youming studied it closely, a look of shame on his face; he cupped his hands in salute and turned to go.

Shen Mu dispersed the divine art and said to the Vermilion Bird, the Southern Emperor, who had not yet left: "Sister, your mortal body has not recovered, and you have little fighting strength left. There is no need for you to remain here. Yan'er, take your mother to the Tianyin Realm, and ask the Lady Tianyin to make her a new body."

The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird hesitated, then said, "Take care of yourself."

Shen Mu's gaze came to rest on Emperor Ming. He raised a hand and brought out another body forged from the branches of the World Tree. "Emperor Ming Jingping, go to Emperor Yanxiu. Emperor Yanxiu will have someone take you to see Emperor Chi. Only his mind remains to him; he can take up residence in this body. After you have seen Emperor Chi, the two of you should also go to the Tianyin Realm. The Lady Tianyin will grant this body life for him."

Emperor Ming frowned. "In those years I was the Heavenly Emperor of the Chiming Era. In this battle, I ought to stand shoulder to shoulder with you..."

Shen Mu shook his head. "I am Lord Mutian. I tell you to go. Will you not go?"

Emperor Ming hesitated, then turned and left.

The Silent Craftsman came over, planted the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Banner before him, and turned to leave.

The Blind Elder looked at the Silent Craftsman, then at Shen Mu, and wavered. Shen Mu smiled. "Rest easy, Blind Grandpa. I will drive your formation to its utmost, and let that prehistoric being understand your power!"

The Blind Elder said in a low voice, "Be careful. If you cannot overcome him, then, then..."

His voice dropped lower still. "Then run! The Lame Old Man taught you that long ago; if you cannot win, run. There is no shame in it. Even if you run, no one has the right to blame you for not laying down your life to protect them. When the sky falls, you cannot always be the one to bear it alone; and if the sky falls, it was not you who made it fall. So long as you live, there is hope..."

He had many more words he wanted to give Shen Mu, but Granny Zhu's voice came drifting from afar, calling him, and the Blind Elder could only hasten after them.

Shen Mu relaxed and watched the setting sun sink.

He planted Tai Yi's staff in the ground, took out a willow leaf, and pressed it to the center of his brow. It was a leaf from Tai Yi's Dao Tree.

He sat down on the ground, his face calm, and faced the riven mountain before him.

The afterglow of the setting sun crept from his chest to his chin, then slowly climbed higher; little by little darkness wrapped his face and drowned his eyes.

The afterglow spilled across the World Tree at the heart of the Hundred Thousand Holy Mountains. Xu Shenghua stood bathed in that light, and then Lan Yutian arrived and came to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.

"In the past, when Tai Yi guarded this place, no matter how violently the Great Black Mountains raged, people's hearts were at peace."

Xu Shenghua said calmly, "Now Tai Yi is gone. Hearts are in disorder, faith is lost; only now do we know that Tai Yi was the pillar in midstream."

Lan Yutian said, "There are some people who, while they are here, you cannot feel, whose worth you cannot perceive, until the day they are gone and you understand that you have lost your backbone. And my brother is now becoming that backbone."

Xu Shenghua said softly, "He left me behind because he knows my dao-heart is strong enough, without weakness, the most reliable of all. I will not be tempted by the dao-dew. Lan Yutian, why have you also stayed?"

Lan Yutian smiled and looked toward Shen Mu, where darkness had already fallen. "If my brother cannot win this battle, I will inherit his responsibility and become the backbone of this era!"

His voice gradually sank low, yet it was firm. "I will abandon my own path and force myself to become... Lord Yutian!"

The afterglow passed over them, and darkness swallowed them.

Above their heads, star after star emerged, the host of stars blazing with light.

Layer upon layer of the void slowly hung lower, and Tai Yi's Dao Tree appeared once more, dao-dew dripping down from its leaves.

At the same moment, among the hundred thousand Black Mountains, one riven Great Black Mountain lit up. Divine light surged, and between the two halves of the cloven mountain it took the form of an enormous eye.

Within that eye, a tall, gaunt figure walked closer step by step, growing taller and taller, like the upright pupil of the eye itself.

Before him, Shen Mu drew a long breath and roused the Mystic Body Three-Core Art he had comprehended over these days. Heavenly palace after heavenly palace rang out with a clang and emerged from behind his head; layer upon layer, the palaces together built a great Heavenly Court.

Within the great Heavenly Court raised from twenty-three heavenly palaces, each of Shen Mu's primal spirits stepped forward.

Shen Mu reached out and grasped; the divine bow fell into his hand.

Around him the domain of the Primal Embryo Divine Treasury unfolded; behind him a World Tree rose slowly, higher and higher, until it canopied the heavens.

And his chief primal spirit stood beneath the tree, body upright.

Shen Mu drew the bow; then the chief primal spirit behind him reached out a hand and drew the divine bow open along with him, while in the other heavenly palaces, primal spirit after primal spirit seized the bowstring at the same time.

Whoosh.

In an instant the divine bow was drawn to its limit. All his raging mana poured into it; at the same time the Great Dao of heaven and earth roared, and spirit power and spirit energy came howling in, turning into a flood that swept across the Hundred Thousand Holy Mountains.

Above his head appeared an enormous vortex a thousand li across; a vortex formed of the spirit power and spirit energy of the Ancestral Court.

At the vortex's heart, spirit power and spirit energy gathered madly into a pillar of light that came crashing down upon the divine bow. The bow's power grew greater and greater, and the fluctuations it gave off grew more and more terrifying.

Ahead, the riven Great Black Mountain split wider still. Within the upright pupil, the gaunt stranger grew taller and taller, the single eye in his forehead looking down at Shen Mu below. He seemed able to see Shen Mu, and mockery came into his face.

He was still walking through a universe of destruction, toward the future age; though the Great Calamity of Destruction strangled and slew all about him, his steps remained steady.

Shen Mu's expression did not change; the hands that held the drawn bow did not stir a hair.