Chapter 684 — The Fall of Taihuang Heaven

The sound of keen blades leaving their sheaths rang out. Behind Shen Mu, tens of thousands of divine power practitioners and deities urged their primeval weapons and divine weapons to life, reeking of killing intent, watching Fu Riluo in alarm.

This city was one of the few cities in the Wilderness Ruins, a vital node linking the Wilderness Ruins with Jingping and the Western Lands. Yet now, who knew how many demon-race divine power practitioners had appeared in the city, along with no small number of demon gods.

At this moment these demon practitioners, seeing them, could not help but grow alarmed as well, and one and all stirred their primeval weapons and demon-god weapons, ready at any moment to give battle!

Shen Mu reached out and seized the little box.

The five fingers of his hand danced swiftly, and with a light clack-clack-clack the box came unsealed.

Fierce light flickered in Shen Mu's eyes as he sneered, "Fu Riluo, so you have led the demon race in flight to this place. But the Wilderness Ruins are my Wilderness Ruins. There is no room here for you to run wild!

" Killing intent from both sides scorched the heavens. A great battle was about to erupt. At that very moment, the Woodcutter Sage stepped out from behind Fu Riluo and said calmly, "Disciple, put down your weapon. Fu Riluo and the demon race, I rescued them from Taihuang Heaven.

I have already reached an agreement with him: Fu Riluo and his demon race shall be merged into Jingping and become a race under Jingping's rule. " "What? " The gathered gods, demon-gods, and divine power practitioners of Taihuang Heaven were filled with righteous fury, beside themselves with rage, their eyes glaring as if about to split. The Venerable God Sangye said fiercely, "The demon race invaded our Taihuang Heaven, and the sons and daughters of Taihuang Heaven fell wounded and dead in numbers beyond counting.

A blood feud as deep as the sea, irreconcilable under the same sky!

The divine power practitioners of Taihuang Heaven will never make peace with the demon race! " The Venerable God Pang Yu ground his teeth and said, "Celestial Master, though you are the Celestial Master, you did not save us, your own kindred, but went instead to save the demon race. Between you and me, all ties of grace are severed! " "The soldiers of Taihuang Heaven will never share one sky with the demon race!

" The Woodcutter Sage frowned slightly and said, "I was thinking of the future.

I knew you could escape. After all, both of my disciples are among you. So I chose to save the demon race. The Venerable King Fu Riluo has already turned from darkness to the light.

. .

" Shen Mu frowned as well.

He understood the Woodcutter Sage's thinking, and knew it was a good one, but the Woodcutter Sage had given no thought to the feelings of the people of Taihuang Heaven. The human race of Taihuang Heaven had battled the demon invaders in slaughter for nearly twenty thousand years. The hatred between them could no longer be dissolved.

Even if the Woodcutter Sage had done Taihuang Heaven a kindness, even if he was the Celestial Master of the Kaihuang era, he could not undo that hatred. To rescue the demon race was to betray Taihuang Heaven!

Boom! The sky of the Wilderness Ruins suddenly quaked violently, and a blaze of incomparable brightness came down from the heavens. Shen Mu looked up and saw the falling Taihuang Heaven.

The city fell into utter chaos, people in panic everywhere, wailing and crying without end.

The Woodcutter Sage called out loudly, "No one need be alarmed!

This is the Celestial Court of Kaihuang. The fall of Taihuang Heaven will do no harm here!

" Shen Mu, Li Zheng, and the others did their utmost to soothe the crowds fleeing in all directions. Taihuang Heaven grew larger and brighter, until at last that magnificent world of magma came down from the sky, falling toward the Wilderness Ruins. In the Wilderness Ruins, ancient divine statues one after another suddenly gave off radiance that soared into the sky, shooting straight upward, and from ancient ruins here and there spread a throbbing that made even gods and demons tremble.

Divine light, like mist at sunset, like rainbows, burst forth from every corner of the Wilderness Ruins. Those ruins brimmed with unimaginable might, unimaginable power. Nearest to them stood the Southern Heavenly Gate, and from within that gateway came, faintly and as if in a dream, the low chanting of countless gods and demons.

The sound was low, yet it seemed to hold a bewildering energy that surged outward in waves. The falling Taihuang Heaven met the many strange phenomena of the Wilderness Ruins and slowed more and more, until at last this world of magma settled gently to earth, lodging along the north-south run of the Wilderness Ruins near the Broken Cliff at the source of the Surging River. In the sky, another heaven appeared. That was Luofu Heaven, lodged in the center of Taihuang Heaven.

The two heavens together with the Wilderness Ruins formed an irregular figure like the character for earth. In the Wilderness Ruins the primordial magnetism fell into chaos, and many people and strange beasts were caught by the primordial magnetism of Taihuang Heaven and Luofu Heaven, flailing and dancing as they were drawn toward those two heavens. At that very moment, through the countless ruins of the Wilderness Ruins, swaths of radiance swept past, and the chaotic primordial magnetism at once returned to normal. Countless people and strange beasts drifted lightly down from the sky.

That dazzling radiance swept over the blazing hot Taihuang Heaven and Luofu Heaven, and the two heavens cooled at a speed visible to the naked eye. The unbearable scorching heat in the air of the Wilderness Ruins vanished in an instant. The Woodcutter Sage said to the crowd, "This is the Celestial Court.

The fall of Taihuang Heaven and Luofu Heaven will not harm us! I foresaw this long ago.

" The people of Taihuang Heaven paid him no heed. The Woodcutter Sage opened his mouth but said no more, and stood there in silence. The First Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, came to his side and said with a calm face, "Celestial Master, sometimes absolute reason is precisely what people cannot understand. " The Woodcutter Sage's face grew complicated, then quickly returned to its former calm.

He looked the other up and down and smiled. "Prince Shen Wu, you have finally grown up. I am glad to see that you have walked out of the shadow of a deserter.

" The First Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, still had something of a melancholy air and a sickly pallor, yet his spirit was full, wholly changed from his former dejection. He said, "And what of you, Celestial Master?

Being neither understood nor forgiven by your own people, will that leave a shadow on you?

" The Woodcutter Sage said calmly, "Though your cultivation method contains the Heart Sage, you will never reach the height of my state of mind.

No view held by anyone else can touch me. "