Chapter 868 — In the Shadows, the Sparrow Watches the Cicada

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" shook his head, and saw something white come flying out from between his brows.

He raised a hand and touched his forehead; on his fingers were white brain matter and red blood.

"That sword was truly fast — it caught a man wholly off guard..."

He poked a finger at the space between his brows, and the finger sank into his brain.

He felt the back of his head; it was the same there.

Shen Mu came down at a slant and took two steps forward. Behind him the Heavenly River surged vast and wide, slowly drawing itself back, drifting at his back, and above the Heavenly River a heavenly palace could be faintly made out.

Within the palace, divine voices clamored, as though countless gods and demons were chanting there; only as Shen Mu's aura subsided did that chanting slowly sink low and fade away one by one.

Shen Mu's primordial spirit returned with sword in hand, standing outside the Southern Heavenly Gate of the palace, upon the waters of the Heavenly River, watching "Heavenly Venerable Yu" without any further movement.

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" shook his head again; his mind grew ever more muddled. He laughed. "This body is indeed imperfect; there is much still to be supplied. And the divine arts of the lower realm have advanced faster than I imagined."

Shen Mu shook his head. "You are only using the innate strength of this body, not your own power. This body holds within it the great laws of the Great Way of nearly every ancient god — only nothing of your own. Do you mean to hide your true identity, or is your power unable to break through the world barrier? Either way, lacking anything of your own, you are doomed to die by my hand."

He was stating a fundamental principle.

To break through the world barrier, the stronger one's cultivation, the greater the resistance; and so those who descend from the Heavenly Court to the lower realm are usually divine arts practitioners, and rarely gods or demons.

Only one powerful enough to shatter the world barrier outright can pierce through both realms — and such cases tend to appear in times of large-scale wars between gods and demons.

When the Kaihuang Era and the Shanghuang Era were destroyed, for instance, the world barrier ceased to exist.

Beyond that, there are a few other circumstances in which the limits of the world barrier may be broken through.

For example, the spirit-energy translocation bridge that Shen Mu and the Black Tiger God had designed and built together; or the Phoenix Ship of the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu; or the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha's dharma gate of entering dreams — all of these can bypass the world barrier.

There may be other secret paths besides, but Shen Mu did not know of them.

By this rule, the powerful who come down from the Heavenly Court are usually divine arts practitioners — Qi Jiuyi, Prince Qiuming, for instance. They are still divine arts practitioners; after arriving in Yuandu they seek out the powerful ones the Heavenly Court left behind in Yuandu and make those powerful ones their followers.

Then there are the Heavenly Court's envoys in Qingyun Heaven — Xiao Chunfeng, Yu Hongxiu, and the disciples of the Orthodox Gods of the Heavens. All of them are divine arts practitioners, sent down to the lower realm to perfect the heavenly chart.

Because Qingyun Heaven is one of the heavens subordinate to the Dao Sect of the Heavenly Court, they had no need to seek the protection of gods and demons; Qingyun Heaven itself could provide them protection. They had not expected, however, that Shen Mu and Dao Master Lin Xuan would find their way into Qingyun Heaven; in the battle at the Dao Academy, they were cut down until scarcely any survived.

As for Lou Yunqu and the others, back then they had come to the lower realm aboard the Phoenix Ship of the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu, so as to avoid being rejected by the world barrier; and because Mingdu and the Nether Capital share the same nature, they could use Mingdu's Heavenly Gate to travel through Mingdu.

For "Heavenly Venerable Yu" to descend to the lower realm, he too had to follow this principle.

"Heavenly Venerable Yu"'s realm must be limited to that of a divine arts practitioner, at most cultivated to the peak of the Divine Bridge realm; any more power and he could not pass through Yuandu's world barrier.

Unless a Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Court forcibly shattered the world barrier — but the turmoil that would cause was beyond imagining.

It was on this reasoning that Shen Mu was certain he could slay "Heavenly Venerable Yu."

He had incomparable confidence and conviction: in this world there simply did not exist a being who could defeat an Overlord Body at the same realm — not even a 'Heavenly Venerable Yu' forged by the Heavenly Court to contain the great laws of all the ancient gods!

"Heavenly Venerable Yu"'s brain matter was still flowing out; his brain had been shattered by that one sword of Shen Mu's, and the divine treasure system within his body destroyed as well.

Shen Mu's primordial spirit had wielded the sword, one strike flying to the heavens, and had already slain his fleshly body and shattered the primordial spirit within it.

"That behind you is no Divine Bridge — why is your seventh divine treasure a Heavenly River?"

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" was somewhat bewildered. The brain matter in his skull was nearly drained, yet still he studied Shen Mu, studied the Heavenly River divine treasure behind him.

Though the great ways within his body were many, they were all innate great ways, the great ways of the ancient gods; the Great Way of Creation was not among them.

He could not, as Shen Mu did, use the Great Way of Creation to repair damage to his flesh; he could only let his brain matter drain away.

"You have created an entirely new divine treasure? With this divine treasure, you can connect the heavenly palace with the other divine treasures, forming a complete whole?"

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" shook his head once more; his skull was now empty.

Yet still he could speak, still he could ponder. "Heavenly Venerable Mu is worthy of the name. To have come this far, you are fully fit to stand alongside the Seven Heavenly Venerables. How laughable that the rest of the Heavenly Court still scrambles for fame and profit, for power and influence, blind to the changes in the lower realm. Heh heh — if the Heavenly Emperor were not a crowd of people, things would be far more convenient."

Shen Mu looked straight into his eyes and said in a low voice, "What do you think, seeing my seventh divine treasure — Heavenly Venerable Yun?"

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" smiled faintly and said unhurriedly, "So you took me for him, and that is why you went so far as to expose your Heavenly River — to use your seventh divine treasure to make Heavenly Venerable Yun give himself away. After all, Heavenly Venerable Yun is the founder of the Divine Bridge divine treasure; seeing your seventh divine treasure, he would surely be thrown into confusion, for the seventh divine treasure you have opened is better than his Divine Bridge, more wondrous. But you guessed wrong. I am not him."

Dao fire suddenly blazed up around his whole body. He smiled and said, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you are still too young, exposing your capital so early. This body is merely one of my experiments; I only wished to test the battle strength of 'Heavenly Venerable Yu,' and now I find this body has many deficiencies. I know your capital, while you cannot obtain this body to learn its mysteries. The next time you meet another 'Heavenly Venerable Yu,' that will be the day you die..."

Suddenly, the dao fire on his body went out.

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" was startled. He once more urged the dao fire, trying to burn this body to ash, but the dao fire would not burn at all!

"This body of yours — I'll be taking it."