Chapter 750 — Storm Clouds over the Immortal Pool

He was about to raise the second matter when Yin Tianzi suddenly cried out, "Hao Tianzun!

" The other youth heard Yin Tianzi's call, turned his head, saw the company, broke into a smile, and saluted. "Yu Tianzun, these friends of yours have remarkable skill indeed! Have you already won them over?

" Yu Tianzun laughed heartily. "Not won over. Brother Shen and Brother Mu are both men of great worth, and this grand assembly at the Jade Pool could hardly do without them. I mean to memorialize His Majesty and ask that two titles of Tianzun be conferred, so that they may stand with us and be numbered among the Nine Tianzuns.

Hao Tianzun, what say you? " Shen Mu sized up this Hao Tianzun.

Hao Tianzun was the opener of the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury, and he wore a dark robe patterned with birds, beasts and fish, most magnificent. Behind his head there hung a halo too, and within the halo were five stars, the five luminaries surely.

Huo Tianzun's halo was oval in shape, while his was a perfect circle. His temper was unlike that of the other Tianzuns Shen Mu had met. Ling Tianzun was absorbed in her studies and careless of her person; You Tianzun had a strange, childlike temper; Huo Tianzun was open-hearted and simple; Yu Tianzun was smooth and accommodating in every direction, so that hardly anyone who dealt with him could feel dislike for him, and none could become his enemy. Hao Tianzun, by contrast, gave Shen Mu the sense of a man of fierce and unyielding heart: once he fixed upon a goal he pressed forward with courage and vigor, reckless of consequence, determined to attain it by any means. Compared with Yu Tianzun, he was still wanting in the art of dealing with the world; yet because his drive was so abundant, he was not to be taken lightly either.

Yu Tianzun's character had been polished to the point of perfection, but being too perfect, he hesitated, weighed and wavered, and was apt to let the moment slip. "Even so, judging by the several Tianzuns I have met so far, every one of them is a talent that overshadows the age; not one may be slighted.

" Shen Mu thought to himself, "This era is simply too vast and magnificent; that is why it can give birth to so many outstanding geniuses. " Hao Tianzun's gaze fell on Shen Mu's face.

Shen Mu nodded with a smile in greeting, but Hao Tianzun's eyes shifted away at once, glanced over Kai Huang and Old Niu, and he said, "The title of Tianzun is something you two senior brothers certainly deserve. I saw your battle as well; it was truly a dazzling display, and I admire it beyond words.

Whether the Heavenly Emperor will approve Yu Tianzun's memorial, though, is another matter. I have business to attend to.

" With that, he turned and left. Yu Tianzun watched him go and laughed.

"That is simply Hao Tianzun's way; do not take it to heart. " Yin Tianzi said, "Hao Tianzun is in fact a demigod. . . " Yu Tianzun shot him a glance, and Yin Tianzi hurriedly shut his mouth. Kai Huang asked, curious, "Why is Hao Tianzun a demigod?

And why is he able to open the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury and become a Tianzun? " Shen Mu said, "Why are you so curious?

" Kai Huang looked at him.

"And you are not?

" Shen Mu gave a snort, then turned a face full of curiosity and asked, "Indeed, Yu Tianzun, why is Hao Tianzun a demigod, and why is he able to open the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury? " Kai Huang suppressed the urge to draw his sword and cut him down, and looked at Yu Tianzun as well.

Yu Tianzun hesitated a moment, then explained, "There is another reason behind this.

Hao Tianzun's opening of the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury was an experiment by the ancient gods.

He is the son of an ancient god and a human. " The two of them were both slightly taken aback.

Yu Tianzun led them into the Empress's detached palace, which was already thronged with people.

He pushed his way through the crowd and said, "Hao Tianzun is half human and half god, possessing a human body and divine blood. That it was an experiment is chiefly this: in those years, after I opened the Primal Embryo Divine Treasury, the Great Dao of heaven and earth was changed, and the people of the world became able to cultivate. Even then I had sensed that other divine treasuries existed.

Some of the ancient gods believed that demigods could not cultivate, and that in time the demigods would be crushed beneath us who wield divine powers.

So they set about seeking a way to solve the demigods' inability to cultivate, and thus came Hao Tianzun. " Shen Mu and Kai Huang followed him, and hearing these words their hearts were shaken. The appearance of Hao Tianzun might well have been a contest between the living beings born of heaven and the demigods. Shen Mu asked, "If a demigod transforms into a human, can he not cultivate then? " "You know of this too, Brother Mu? " Yu Tianzun was greatly startled. He looked at Shen Mu with a look of astonishment and uncertainty, and after a moment said, "If a demigod transforms into a human, he gains a human's divine treasury and can indeed cultivate. But demigods are a higher race; they disdain to change into human form. And in those years they had not discovered this path, nor was there any art that could make a demigod transform into a human.

It was not until recently that Hao Tianzun solved this problem.

He created a cultivation art that allows demigods to cultivate a human body.

This matter has not yet been announced to the world, and you, Brother Mu, know of it.

Truly your powers are vast!

" Shen Mu's heart went cold, and he inwardly cursed himself for having let his tongue slip again. In later ages, arts that let alien races cultivate into human form were common enough, and that was why he had voiced the doubt, forgetting that in this age no such method yet existed. Yu Tianzun did not press him, and went on: "The ancient gods saw far. The demigods grow, and when they grow to adulthood their strength is scarcely inferior to the ancient gods; but their lifespan is not long, and they cannot escape birth, age, sickness and death. At that time I did not bend my mind to opening other divine treasuries, but to how the wielders of divine powers might live as long and deathless as the gods. To be long-lived alone is not the way of immortality; the long life I have was granted me by Tubo, and I felt I must seek out a road to immortality for all living beings. Some decades passed, and Hao Tianzun opened the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury. Only then did I wake; but before I could study the Five Luminaries treasury to the bottom, Ling Tianzun had opened the Six Directions Divine Treasury. " He looked at Ling Tianzun and smiled.

"Ling Tianzun studied the Five Luminaries treasury at the same time as I, yet she opened the Six Directions treasury before me; her intelligence and talent, then, stand above mine.

" Ling Tianzun urged them, "Hurry and find us a place to settle. There are far too many people here, and I still want to study divine arts with Brother Mu and Brother Shen!