Chapter 796 — The Mighty Array

"The Red Emperor Qi Xiayu again!"

Shen Mu's expression turned strange. Just how many people had the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu betrayed?

Her lover, the Emperor Shakra Heavenly King Buddha Li Youran, had been entangled with her in ways none could quite name; Bai Qú'er pursued her to demand an explanation; and now Feng Qiuyun of the Phoenix Clan, under the Earth Mother Venerable God's command, wanted to beat her to death as well.

The moment the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu appeared on the scene, cries of "beat her, kill her" rose on every side.

"But what is strange is this: Bai Qú'er pursues Qi Xiayu because she betrayed the Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court to which Bai Qú'er belongs. Feng Qiuyun says she betrayed the Phoenix Clan, and the Phoenix Clan is attached to the Earth Mother Venerable God, who also props up a Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court, one with fifteen reigns of Supreme Emperors."

Shen Mu fell into deep thought. "Are these two Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Courts one and the same? Bai Qú'er has a divine dragon bloodline, and the dragon clan also belongs to the demigods. Could she too be under the Earth Mother Venerable God's command? And yet... that does not quite fit."

Bai Qú'er had once told Shen Mu that the Supreme Emperor had a saying that shook the heart: human life is greater than heaven!

Shen Mu did not know much about the Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court that the Earth Mother propped up, but he knew that its backbone was mostly demigods, and judging by the bearing and words of these demigods, they did not much value human life. One could say they held the human race in unusual contempt, even hostility.

For instance, when the Water Qilin revived and saw Shen Mu, Yu Tianzun, and the Emperor Shakra Heavenly King Buddha, it clamored to eat them to fill its belly, and called them a lowly species.

One glimpse of the spot reveals the whole leopard: in the Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court that the Earth Mother propped up, the human race's standing was exceedingly low.

Yet in the Heavenly Court where Bai Qú'er belonged, there was a tradition that human life is greater than heaven. Human life—even the lives of the common folk—was of the utmost importance, so much so that gods were required to guard the common people with their own lives!

This was also what moved Shen Mu most. Before he left, he had left words carved on a cliff, and the words he left were precisely this saying.

"So that is to say, the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu came from the Phoenix Clan under the Earth Mother Venerable God, then betrayed the Phoenix Clan and threw in with the Heavenly Court where Bai Qú'er belongs; after beating the former Red Emperor to death she was captured, and then threw in with the Outland Heavenly Court."

Shen Mu blinked. "In the Kaihuang Era, she took up with Emperor Shakra Li Youran, and then betrayed Li Youran too. This Sister Qi Xiayu's way of handling things seems... somewhat problematic. But the crux of the matter is not her—it is that Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court where Bai Qú'er belongs!"

This Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court, with its creed that human life is greater than heaven, could be said to be the cornerstone of the Woodcutter Sage's reforms and legal changes during the Kaihuang Era!

Moreover, this creed had influenced the Jingping Era.

The way of the sages that the state of Jingping upheld lay in the daily use of the common people; it was compiled by the senior brother Wei Suifeng from the Woodcutter's transmitted teachings, passed by the young Patriarch to the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, and became the foundation of Jingping's nationhood.

The creeds of the three eras could be said to come down in one continuous line, and to develop unceasingly.

"Let us set out at once!"

Feng Qiuyun urged, "Lest that little wretch slip away!"

Shen Mu could not help saying, "Sister Qiuyun, Jade Capital City has gathered nearly all the demigods of the Yuan Realm, along with the one impersonating the Earth Mother, and other divine, demonic, and sundry clans besides—experts thick as clouds. If we barge in so rashly, before the Red Emperor even lifts a hand, we will be beaten to death by other experts."

Feng Qiuyun shook her head. "That Earth Mother is a counterfeit. So long as I expose her identity, the demigods will return to my side, and then, gathering the strength of many demigods, putting the traitor Qi Xiayu to death will be easy!"

Shen Mu laughed. "Sister, you think too simply. If you barge in, the counterfeit Earth Mother will surely bewitch the demigods into striking at you, making you the target of all. I fear you will be done away with before you even see Qi Xiayu."

Feng Qiuyun halted and turned her head. "What do you propose?"

Shen Mu said, "Sister, do you have a token of the Earth Mother's—something that can prove your identity, and prove the Earth Mother's identity?"

Feng Qiuyun sneered. "The Earth Mother is the Earth Mother. Does she need to prove her own identity? What sort of twisted reasoning is that?"

Shen Mu said mildly, "If you have no token to prove the Earth Mother is the Earth Mother, how will you argue that the other is a false Earth Mother? Those demigods were summoned by the other side; they surely have a token. You have none—how will you win those demigods' trust?"

Feng Qiuyun frowned, and after a moment said, "What should we do?"

Shen Mu smiled. "Since Sister has decided to go to Jade Capital City and have it out with that false Earth Mother, then naturally the greater the display the better. Does the Earth Mother have any carriage that symbolizes her station?"

Feng Qiuyun said, "There is. But it is too grand—it requires eight dragons and eight phoenixes to draw it, and summoning the carriage would most likely alert the Earth Mother, which would make things difficult. The Earth Mother would not agree to my going to kill that wretch Qi."

Shen Mu thought for a moment. "Does the Earth Mother have anything else—some branch or fork of a thing—that looks rather splendid?"

Feng Qiuyun's eyes lit up. "The Earth Mother once forged a wooden sword to suppress the gods and sages of the heavens. It is called the Venerable God's Kunyuan Sword. The sword is right here in the temple—I will go fetch it!"

She hurried eagerly into the main hall of the ruined temple. Shen Mu followed her in, and saw Feng Qiuyun bow reverently to the statue of the Earth Mother Venerable God, then go behind the statue, where a wooden sword hung upon the wall.

Shen Mu was dumbstruck. He ventured, "This wooden sword is the Venerable God's Kunyuan Sword that suppresses the heavens? Just hanging here?"

Feng Qiuyun nodded. "This is the sword. It usually hangs here."

Shen Mu's expression turned strange. He glanced at the other parts of the dilapidated temple, his gaze falling on the offering table, the shrine, the incense burner, the incense cauldron, the screen, and the rush cushion.

"Two great bronze bells hang under the eaves as well—are those good things too?"

He had just thought this when Feng Qiuyun began clamoring to go to Jade Capital City. Shen Mu smiled. "Sister, what is your station before the Earth Mother Venerable God?"

Feng Qiuyun hesitated, then said with shame, "My Phoenix Clan originally dwelt upon the Primeval Wood, under another's eaves, sheltered by the Earth Mother. So in ordinary days I draw the Earth Mother's treasure carriage. I am one of the eight phoenixes that draw the Earth Mother's carriage. Qi Xiayu was originally one of the eight phoenixes too, and later turned traitor."

Shen Mu mused, "You draw the carriage, and Sister Yan is a maidservant. There will surely be demigods who recognize you and doubt your identities. My younger brother's cultivation is low, and the Dragon Qilin and Water Qilin are too stupid to be of use. So I shall have to humble myself and play the disciple of the Earth Mother Venerable God."

Feng Qiuyun stared blankly, not grasping his meaning.