Chapter 799 — Immeasurable Cataclysm

" The Brahma Heaven King Buddha laughed: "If new souls can be born even in illusory dreams, how much more so in a corpse?

" The Lord of Heaven probed: "Yet you never passed this art on; the scriptures you passed on were all other scriptures that you comprehended in your dreams. " The Brahma Heaven King Buddha sighed: "I did pass it on.

" Without haste he said: "In the Longhan years, the Heavenly Venerable Yun came to me and said the human race was in peril, and that a mighty one was needed to give the human race hope.

He wished to imitate several people, several who had already vanished without a trace. So I passed on to him the art I had just created, still unripe. He cultivated my art, and imitated the Heavenly Venerable Yu, imitated the Heavenly Venerable Shen. " He glanced at Shen Mu: "And imitated the Heavenly Venerable Mu as well. " Shen Mu's heart stirred, and he ventured: "What does the old Buddha mean?

" "The Heavenly Venerable Yun's gifts were exceedingly high, higher than mine, higher than the old Daoist's too; after all, he was one of the nine great Heavenly Venerables who received the blessing of the ancient gods in those years.

After he obtained my art he perfected it, and his ingenious conceptions were finer even than mine, its creator's.

" The Brahma Heaven King Buddha said: "He imitated these three Heavenly Venerables to the life, and truly brought great hope to the human race and the other later-born races. In the end he fell in battle nonetheless, and I do not know whether the art he improved has been handed down. " Shen Mu was shaken to the core; he understood what the Brahma Heaven King Buddha meant.

Someone had used a divine power born of the King Buddha's art to recreate an Earth Mother! "Could it be the Heaven Alliance? " he said in a low voice.

The Lord of Heaven and the Lord of Earth exchanged a glance, fell silent, and said nothing.

The Brahma Heaven King Buddha said: "It need not be the Heaven Alliance.

After the Heavenly Venerable Yun's death, the art he improved may well have spread out from the Heaven Alliance.

It is so very long ago; what happened within the Heaven Alliance is hard to say.

" Shen Mu nodded slightly, thanked the elders, and withdrew his spirit-consciousness. "Does the old Buddha mean to leave? " The Lord of Heaven raised his head and looked beyond the heavens, inquiring: "Now is a good chance to leave.

If you do not go now, this lad will lay the willow leaf back down.

" The Brahma Heaven King Buddha laughed: "If you do not leave, neither will I.

" The Great Sun Star Lord said timidly: "I want to leave, but I dare not. .

.

" The Molten Lord of Earth consoled him: "Where could you go?

Would you not have to return to Youdu? Where in Youdu is there anything as amusing as this?

" The Great Sun Star Lord's face went the color of earth, and he cursed inwardly: "It is you who find it amusing; I have never found it amusing in the least! Here I live in constant dread, fearing that one day I will be eaten by that little tyrant of Youdu. .

. " Shen Mu waited a while; the Lord of Heaven, the Lord of Earth and the rest did not leave by way of his third eye, so he laid the willow leaf back over it, and raised his head to gaze quietly at this Earth Mother Venerable God.

Behind him, countless demigods had already knelt prostrate and cried with one voice: "We pay our respects to the Earth Mother Venerable God! Earth Mother Venerable God, boundless fortune and long life!

" Those divine clans and demon clans that had come from the various heavens knelt in worship as well, trembling, not daring to stir.

In the Shanghuang era the Earth Mother was half ruler of the Primordial World; in name the successive Shanghuang emperors of the Northern Heaven Court ruled, but in truth it was she who held half the realm of the Primordial World! In those years, under her rule, no race dared resist!

Of course, the Southern Shanghuang Heaven Court was an exception; the Southern Shanghuang Heaven Court could even split the Primordial World in two, rule the south, and stand as the Earth Mother's equal.

As for the reason, that was not for outsiders to know. There were not a few who did not kneel to the Earth Mother Venerable God: Shen Mu, Gongsun Yan, Feng Qiuyun and the Dragon Qilin all stood straight as spears; only the Water Qilin bowed low, shivering, not daring to raise its head.

The Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu's face changed drastically as well; yet she set her ancient zither upright, one hand gripping it, heroic and splendid, standing as the Earth Mother Venerable God's equal.

The Divine Blade Luo Wushuang led the youths of the Lingxiu Army swiftly to her back, auras blooming, the divine blade ringing in its sheath. They all belonged to the Outer Heaven Court; though they were of different heaven palaces and did not meddle with one another, and had their petty squabbles in ordinary times, at this moment, facing an ancient god like the Earth Mother Venerable God, they must join hands.

Bai Qu'er did not kneel either; as the Shanghuang Sword God, she was of a remnant clan of the Southern Shanghuang Heaven Court, and would not kneel to the Earth Mother at all. The Scholar did not kneel either.

In the Kaihuang era there was no Earth Mother Venerable God; and besides, she did not bow even to the Shanghuang, much less to the Earth Mother Venerable God. Beneath the towering Origin Wood that pierced the heavens, the Earth Mother Venerable God looked down on them all as on ants.

The aura of that ancient god, born of heaven and reared by earth, was so majestic, so dreadful, that none could summon the least thought of resistance! The Earth Mother looked at them and did not speak at all, but the quieter she was, the more the gods present trembled with fear.

"This is interesting. " A laugh suddenly broke the stillness.

The Scholar, waving a feather fan, said with a smile: "A while ago there was a quarrel over the true and false disciples of the Earth Mother, and it turned heaven and earth upside down. Lü Zheng, should there not now be a quarrel over a true and false Earth Mother?

" The donkey was so pleased that its lips curled up, and laughed: "Hee-haw, hee-haw! " The bray was rather grating to the ear. Just then a voice suddenly came: "Why should there not be a quarrel over a true and false Earth Mother?

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