Chapter 837 — Tea Offered on the River

Luo Wushuang's little boat drew away, and from the river behind him came an unspeakably dreadful aura of Youdu demonic qi. Even without turning his head, he could picture the horror of it.

As though the most frightful and hideous demon god had thrust its body out of another world, and with its towering strength was tearing and crushing everything in the world, devouring all that could be devoured!

Zhe Huali had not kept the matter of the Divine Son of Youdu from him, and so the moment Luo Wushuang sensed that something was wrong, he had immediately withdrawn.

"Master Luo, Zhe Huali, he..." one of the disciples on the boat ventured cautiously.

Luo Wushuang's face was as still as deep water. He looked at his empty sleeve, and the pain of the severed arm seemed to assail him again, piercing him to the heart.

"Forty thousand years ago, the Supreme Emperor Hegemon Body took one of my arms. And now he has taken another."

Luo Wushuang closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them again, and said softly, "Zhe Huali has already walked out onto a road of his own. On that road he will not walk beside us, but away from us. I had thought he was my right arm, and now... From this day on, if you meet him, be on your guard. Fight him to the death, show him no mercy! He entered the Dao through the blade; his strength is great, and his future achievements will be no small thing!"

The ripples on the river subsided.

The Divine Son Chiming, the First Ancestor Human Sovereign, the Village Chief and the others were still shaken. The scene just now had been too terrible; even they could not help but shudder.

The river water was stained red. The two visitors from the Heavenly Court had died quickly, unexpectedly quickly.

Shen Mu, for his part, was fine. He took out the willow leaf and pressed it to the center of his brow, then ran to the riverbank to check on the progress of Qi Kang, Yishan, and the other Human Sovereigns' cultivation.

"Zhe Huali, what happened on the ship, is it true?" the Village Chief asked.

Zhe Huali nodded and recounted what had happened aboard the ghost ship. The others were dumbfounded. The Divine Son Chiming felt a lingering fear and glanced down at the river; the ghost ship below was long gone without a trace.

"The Ancestor Dragon King and Feng Qiuyun entered the ghost ship. Whether they live or die, no one knows."

A warmth rose in the Village Chief's heart. "Shen'er risked his life to bring me back. What even the Four Emperors of the Ancient Gods could not settle, he settled. He has truly grown up, and he is full of confidence. Whether the Hegemon Body is true or false no longer matters so much."

He dearly wanted to tell the First Ancestor that he himself had created the legend of a Hegemon Body. But then he thought that if he told the truth he would most likely be mobbed again; not only would the Human Sovereigns of past generations beat him soundly, the First Ancestor himself would probably be unable to resist joining in. So he could only hold his tongue.

They came to the riverbank. To the Human Sovereigns of past generations, Shen Mu and the others had merely gone to the middle of the river and fought a great battle there; not much time had passed. But for Shen Mu, more than a month had gone by aboard the ship.

After daybreak, the Human Sovereign Qi Kang and the Human Sovereign Yishan sensed the power of the Heavenly River and opened the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, stirring everyone beyond measure.

Their success meant that the Heavenly River Divine Treasury could replace the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury and become the seventh Divine Treasury!

Yet that replacement would likely be a very long process.

"Cult Master Shen, this Heavenly River Divine Treasury, you opened it?" Zhe Huali examined the newly opened Heavenly River Divine Treasury of the two Human Sovereigns, deeply shocked.

Shen Mu was not without his smugness. He laughed and said, "Xu Shenghua and I made a wager, to see who could first open a new seventh Divine Treasury. Whoever won would be the true Hegemon Body; whoever lost would be the female of the pair. At first I had no confidence of beating him, but then I ran into the Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign, who gave me an Earth Origin Dao Fruit, and in one stroke I broke through the wall of life and death and entered the Life and Death Realm. Xu Shenghua's talent is exceedingly high; whatever I can think of, he can think of too. But his cultivation progressed half a beat slower than mine, and so I was the one who created the Heavenly River Divine Treasury first!"

Zhe Huali was filled with longing. "To have such a fellow Daoist constantly spurring one on, truly that is one of life's great blessings."

He stayed behind to study and comprehend the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, while Shen Mu packed his things and set off for the far bank of the Heavenly River.

Since the Heavenly River Divine Treasury could be opened, there was no need for him to involve himself in what followed. All Jingping, high and low, would spread the Heavenly River Divine Treasury far and wide, and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping would also develop a technique to seal the Southern Heavenly Gate, so that the gods of Jingping too could cultivate the Heavenly River Divine Treasury.

In the middle of the river, Shen Mu sat with the Dragon Qilin on Lord Dragon Keeper's head. Lord Dragon Keeper rode the clouds and mist, flying toward Hundred-Year Mountain on the far side.

In the river water, a sapphire-blue flood dragon king surfaced and followed along the whole way, swimming with Shen Mu toward the far bank at great speed.

After yesterday's battle, Lord Dragon Keeper was puffed up with pride, one might even say overbearing, charging recklessly through the river, wishing every dragon king and demigod in the water to know that he had a formidable lord.

The morning sun rose in the east, pouring down its light. Shen Mu looked eastward and saw the sun as if leaping up out of the waters of the Heavenly River, the river's surface ridged with golden waves, like golden serpents dancing in chaos.

Shen Mu and the Dragon Qilin cheered in unison, both declaring it a fine sight.

Then Shen Mu's face darkened. The sun rising from the river's heart in the east had turned crooked and warped, like a misshapen melon or a split jujube, indescribably ugly to behold.

Ever since the Origin Realm had reappeared, the Sky Chart a hundred thousand li across could no longer cover Jingping, and the Heavenly Court gods who kept the heavens' phenomena turning grew more slack by the day.

They could hardly be blamed. The Sky Chart was a hundred thousand li high and three hundred zhang thick, and now that the Origin Realm had reappeared, many of the magnificent towering mountains within it rose higher than the sky itself, propping the Sky Chart up so that it bulged here and sagged there. The courses of the sun, moon, and stars fell into disorder, throwing the Heavenly Court gods in charge of the Sky Chart into frantic confusion.

Shen Mu withdrew his gaze and looked no more. Suddenly the river water churned, and an old man with a dragon's head and a human body, leaning on a staff, rose slowly from the river's heart and stood upon the water, a host of dragon sons and grandsons behind him, blocking their way.

Divine clouds soared and divine light coiled over the river's surface.

Two of the dragon maidens took human form: one bore all manner of jewels whose radiance shot to the heavens, the other carried tea and refreshments.

Shen Mu had Lord Dragon Keeper halt, and said, "Old sir, why do you block my way?"