Chapter 1528 — Take Your Head

, your cultivation has grown ever more profound. You can even withstand a formation like that. How far short of a Heavenly Venerable are you now?" "The gap is not that great." Shen Mu answered modestly, then secretly transmitted to Granny Zhu, "Granny, make yourself a little uglier. Emperor Yanfeng has never stopped thinking about you." Granny Zhu rolled her eyes at him, her smile carrying a hint of mockery. "He is not an emperor anymore. Could he really abduct a common woman by force? A dethroned emperor is beneath even a chicken. There is no need to fear him." Emperor Yanfeng came before them. He moved his gaze away from Granny Zhu's face and sighed in admiration. "I have already abdicated. Otherwise, if I met Youyou again, would my harem not descend into chaos? What brings the two of you here?" Granny Zhu smiled brightly. "We have come in search of Moon Heavenly Venerable and Divine King Langwan." Emperor Yanfeng was once again drawn unconsciously toward her voice. The moment his gaze fell upon her face, he could not pull it away. Shen Mu coughed. Emperor Yanfeng laughed awkwardly. "I... I am no longer an emperor, so I cannot become a foolish one. Youyou is still as breathtaking as ever..." "Say one more word, Your Majesty, and I will take your head," Shen Mu said evenly. Emperor Yanfeng shuddered and snapped, "You have grown bold, Aiqing Shen. In my little notebook, the tally marks after your name fill more than a dozen pages! I am broad-minded and never held it against you, never settled accounts with you. Yet now you are keeping score with me. Enough of this. I will take you to see Moon Heavenly Venerable!" Shen Mu smiled faintly and followed him. Emperor Yanfeng turned to Granny Zhu and said, "I... I have seen Divine King Langwan countless times over the years. She is so astonishingly beautiful that one can only marvel. But heaven is too distant, too remote to approach, whereas Youyou's beauty is the beauty of the human world. Now that I have abdicated, I have cast all the beauties of my harem behind me. You are a widow as well, so perhaps we could make do with each other..." Shen Mu coughed. "Your Majesty, I am adding another mark to the ledger." Emperor Yanfeng threw back his head and laughed, turning away. Shen Mu asked, "Is my junior brother also in Carefree Village?" "Your junior brother? You mean Bai Gui? The new generation replaces the old." Emperor Yanfeng sighed deeply. "You used to call him Imperial Preceptor Jingping. Now that you have become Imperial Preceptor Jingping, you call him your junior brother. He is in the divine city over there." He led the two of them onward and said, "Though Bai Gui was greatly valued by Kaihuang, things have not gone well for him these years." Shen Mu was puzzled. "My junior brother is a genius gifted by heaven, peerless in brilliance. Why would things not go well for him?" "His cultivation realm has become trapped." Emperor Yanfeng fell silent for a moment before saying, "After I came to Carefree Village, I experienced all kinds of battles. My cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, and I found my own path as well. Bai Gui, however, has taken part in no fewer battles than I have, yet his realm has never risen." Shen Mu asked suspiciously, "What realm is he in now?" Emperor Yanfeng hesitated. "The Jade Terrace realm. He has struggled for years, unable to break through the Jade Terrace realm. His cultivation has even shown signs of retreat rather than advance. I fear that he..." He shook his head and did not continue. Emperor Yanfeng and the former Imperial Preceptor Jingping, Jiang Baigui, had been a pair of perfectly matched ruler and subject, a union made by heaven. It was through the efforts of those two that Jingping had become what it was today. Jiang Baigui was hailed as a Saint. In aptitude, talent, wisdom, comprehension, literary gifts, and cultivation of the Dao-heart, he was a flawless figure, without a single weakness to be found. His cultivation and battle power had always surpassed Emperor Yanfeng's, so Shen Mu found it astonishing that he could be trapped by his realm. "He should be in secluded cultivation now. I have gone to see him several times, and each time I found that his cultivation had regressed a little further." Once Emperor Yanfeng began speaking of Jiang Baigui, he forgot all about Granny Zhu and grew anxious. "Kaihuang and Moon Heavenly Venerable have gone to see him as well. They said that he has encountered the same bottleneck as Saint Wen Tiange. If he cannot break through it, then his cultivation in this life may end up no higher than Saint Wen's..." Shen Mu frowned. The Woodcutter Saint had also been trapped in the Jade Pool realm, unable to enter the God Slaying Platform. Could Jiang Baigui be in the same situation? They arrived at the place where Jiang Baigui was cultivating in seclusion. Shen Mu looked up and saw seventy-two treasure halls floating above the estate, arranged in perfect order. Thirty-six Heavenly Palaces then emerged, together forming a vast Heavenly Court. The structure of this Heavenly Court was so perfect that it inspired wonder. Shen Mu could not help praising it inwardly, filled with admiration for Jiang Baigui's talent. Imperial Preceptor Jingping was indeed Imperial Preceptor Jingping... Just then, the perfect Heavenly Court formed by the thirty-six Heavenly Palaces and seventy-two treasure halls suddenly collapsed, destroyed in its entirety. Shen Mu immediately sensed that Jiang Baigui, who was cultivating in seclusion, had suffered a grievous injury, his aura sinking rapidly. The reason his cultivation had regressed instead of advancing was that his Heavenly Court could not be stabilized. Its repeated destruction had shattered his Dao-heart. The three of them hurried into the estate and saw an old man with hair white as snow sitting there, his skin wizened and his hair sparse as a crane's, indescribably ancient and feeble. Emperor Yanfeng hurried forward and said gently, "Baigui, your senior brother Shen has come to see you." Jiang Baigui raised his head in confusion. His gaze settled on Shen Mu, and then he trembled as he tried to rise and pay his respects. Shen Mu stepped forward and pressed down on his shoulder, saying slowly, "A Saint of your generation. Is your Dao-heart still firm?" Jiang Baigui's lips moved. After a moment, he answered hoarsely, "Senior brother, do not jest..." "Thirty-six Heavenly Palaces, seventy-two treasure halls, thirty-six innate divine arts, and seventy-two acquired Great Daos, supporting one another and advancing side by side. There was nothing wrong with that in itself." Shen Mu offered his guidance. "The fault lies neither with you nor with Teacher Woodcutter. The fault lies in the incompleteness of your realm. Your cultivation is missing the Four Heavenly Gates realm. Once the Four Heavenly Gates are opened, the vast Heavenly Court will become stable and flawless!" He spread open his palm. Resting within it was a fragment of the Ancestral Court, and as it turned from front to back, the Four Heavenly Gates appeared within. Jiang Baigui's murky eyes gradually brightened. He stared fixedly at the Ancestral Court in Shen Mu's palm.