Chapter 786 — He Whom the Martial Dao Crowns Emperor

" The old farmer looked at him and said in a heavy voice: "Of the lands and people Jingping can command, not one in ten will remain. The demigods too will move against Jingping. Set no more of your mind on Jingping. Think of the people of the ruins. I will inform the King of Hell and have the stone statues revive, and ask them to bring the people of the ruins here; with this place as the center, build a nation. You are of the Kaihuang blood; you shall be the emperor of this new nation.

Jingping is beyond saving.

" Shen Mu steadied himself.

The Heavenly Master of Martial Combat indeed saw far, and saw true. Now that the primordial world is unsealed, Jingping will face its greatest crisis, greater even than the snow disaster crisis.

The reforms of Jingping will be cut short, will even be rolled back, until the land is carved up among rival states and a forest of sects! By now Emperor Yanfeng, the Imperial Teacher of Jingping, and even the Woodcutter Sage must be frantic, at their wits' end.

"Martial uncle, I have not the boldness of Emperor Yanfeng, nor the drive and the power of execution of the Imperial Teacher of Jingping. Were I to be emperor of the ruins, I would be bound up in trifles, my head in a whirl, unable to think through any reform.

Compared with Emperor Yanfeng, I could not do better. " Shen Mu said with a smile: "Men with the boldness of Emperor Yanfeng are few; men with the power of execution of the Imperial Teacher of Jingping are few as well. I even think that Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Teacher of Jingping have done better than Kaihuang and the Woodcutter Sage.

And this time is a trial for Emperor Yanfeng as well, to see whether Jingping can hold out. So long as she holds out, anything is possible. " The old farmer glared at him and sneered: "What does Jingping have to contend with the demigods? What does she have to contend with those heavens? Jingping will collapse and crumble within a few months!

" Shen Mu smiled: "There will always be a way to solve it. Martial uncle, this time the primordial world suddenly crumbled, and when the demigods heard the call of the Earth Mother, the Primal Sovereign, they went to pay their respects.

What do you make of that? " The old farmer said coldly: "What do I make of it?

I lie on my belly and watch, I lie on my back and watch! I watch you all go to your deaths one by one!

" Shen Mu chuckled: "Martial uncle, you are in a temper again, and I am speaking of serious matters.

" The old farmer glared at him viciously and said nothing.

The smile never left Shen Mu's face: "I have thought of a way to settle once and for all the problem that the people of the Douniu Realm have neither divine bridge nor divine treasury. I mean, once I have cultivated to the realm of life and death and opened the divine treasury of life and death, to destroy my divine bridge and divine treasury in one stroke and open them anew. When I have mastered the way of opening the divine bridge and the divine treasury, then not only the Douniu Realm, but every soul in the ruins and in Jingping whose divine bridge is severed, may hope to open the divine bridge and divine treasury again and cultivate into godhood! Martial uncle, I beg you, lend me your strength and come with me to Jingping, to help Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Teacher of Jingping through this trial! " The old farmer's eyes were fierce; he sneered: "You know that those people of the Douniu Realm are the descendants of the soldiers who died in battle for my Douniu Palace, and so you use this condition to tempt me. But what if you cannot open the divine bridge and the divine treasury? " Shen Mu smiled faintly: "I have the Overlord Body, one in ten thousand ages. " The old farmer wheezed, his breath rough and hoarse.

Shen Mu's condition had indeed moved him. Those people of the Douniu Realm were the fetter of his whole life. In the war that ended the age of Kaihuang, the soldiers of the Douniu Realm who fell in battle were buried in foreign lands, and he, their leader and commander, bore a guilt toward those heroic spirits; and so for twenty thousand years, day after day without change, he had guarded their descendants.

He had watched the descendants of those soldiers grow old and die, and new lives be born, and then grow old and die, and he had no way to mend it.

No one but him could, lacking a divine bridge and a divine treasury, ascend straight to the Heavenly Palace by the martial dao alone.

Even Shen Mu and Hu Bugui, who entered the dao through the martial, could scarcely reach such a step.

He alone was the one grand master of the martial dao through all the ages, the Great Emperor of the Martial Dao! If Shen Mu could truly solve this problem, then he must come out of his mountain retreat no matter what, to help Shen Mu, to help Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Teacher of Jingping! Shen Mu watched him with eager eyes, quietly awaiting his reply. The old farmer calmed himself; his face, like parched earth, broke into a smile, and he drove his fist into the spot one tenth of an inch above Shen Mu's brow.

Shen Mu gave a muffled grunt, vomited a mouthful of blood, and was filled with shock and doubt. The force of that punch was exceedingly overbearing and exceedingly strange: though it struck his brow, it did not act upon his flesh.

The power of that punch was vast and sweeping, crushing and withering, and when it struck into his body, he felt only that something within him had shattered! "I have already destroyed the divine bridge and divine treasury that you had not yet opened.

" The old farmer withdrew his thick fist and arm and said with a smile: "Your other divine treasuries are all perfectly intact, rest easy.

But the divine bridge and divine treasury have been shattered by my fist, not a scrap of them left!

Your wounds will heal soon enough and leave no hidden ill. However, even if you open the divine treasury of life and death, you will have but six hundred years of lifespan left.

You had best pray you can find a road to opening the divine bridge and divine treasury.

Otherwise, wait for death! " Shen Mu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said in a deep voice: "Martial uncle, I will succeed in a single stroke!

" The old farmer came to the center of the village and cried out in a loud voice: "Soldiers, hear my command!

I go to Jingping; you remain to guard the Douniu Realm! Bring me my armor!

" The villagers were astonished and delighted, and hurried to bring the armor. The old farmer put it on and stood majestic, and shot a glance at the Dragon Qilin, at which the Dragon Qilin shuddered.

The old farmer shook his head: "My frame is too heavy; you could never bear me.

We will wait until Sanduo is found. " The Dragon Qilin felt as if a great weight had lifted from it. One and all bowed low, their spirit like a rainbow, and said with one voice: "Farewell, Heavenly Master of Martial Combat! " Shen Mu bowed and said: "Farewell, Great Emperor of the Martial Dao! " "Great Emperor of the Martial Dao? " The old farmer was slightly startled, then laughed aloud; amid the laughter his whole body shone with ten thousand rays, and he leapt up, trod the void, and vanished without a trace.

Shen Mu straightened, walked to the edge of the stinking ditch, and said with a smile: "King Buddha, you may come out now.

" Deva King Buddha rolled his eyes at him: "Has the plowman really gone? You are not deceiving me again, are you?

" Shen Mu went into the stinking ditch, helped him up, and said gravely: "To save you, King Buddha, I took a punch from the Heavenly Master of Martial Combat, and he shattered my divine bridge and divine treasury. " "I almost believed you.

" Deva King Buddha sneered: "Are you trying to fool me again?

Eh, it really is shattered!

You.

.

.

why did you put yourself through this? "