Chapter 872 — Driving the Gods to Solicit Votes

Shen Mu's eyes flew wide.

The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor had a wisp of soul that had never scattered—and that wisp had become an elder of the Heavenly Alliance?

Did this not mean that the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor still occupied a high post in the Heavenly Court?

All around him were the very people who had once killed him, killed him until his soul had nearly scattered entirely to the winds!

These people had also seized his throne as Heavenly Emperor and taken over his physical body.

His power, his position, his wife—none of it belonged to him anymore. And he still had to dissemble before these people, to call them brothers, to scheme alongside them against the ancient gods, to help them become the rulers of the whole universe. Perhaps, when the masters of the Heavenly Alliance slew the Primordial Earth Mother back then, he had been among them—perhaps he himself had struck her down, had even raised a new Primordial Earth Mother to take her place!

Only this could explain why, after the Heavenly Alliance eliminated the Primordial Earth Mother, the Primordial Wood should have fallen into the Heavenly Emperor's hands instead. Because he himself was in the Heavenly Alliance; to defend the Alliance's interests was to defend his own! And he was still biding his time, still scheming for resurrection, scheming to reclaim his power and his station, scheming to borrow the strength of the Heavenly Alliance to restore his rule, scheming to destroy his enemies within the Alliance!

This affair was stranger than any strange affair Shen Mu had ever encountered—more garish, more grotesque, more inconceivable! Shen Mu could not help laughing, laughing out loud, the laughter growing louder and louder and echoing without end through the vast hall of Tianyin Palace.

He laughed until his breath went awry, coughing without cease: "An old hand at the game.

. . cough, cough!

So this is what the village head meant by an old hand at the game! What talk of gallant vengeance—it is all scheming and machination!

What talk of the order of the mortal world—it is all a plaything in your hands! What talk of justice in the mortal world—it is merely something for you to trample underfoot!

" His laughter subsided, and he said with a faint, ambiguous smile: "I find the Heavenly Court unspeakably ugly. Jingping, that pellet-sized realm struggling between death and survival, is the true mortal world, where one can feel warmth and cold. The Heavenly Court is nothing but a cesspit for filth. " The slovenly old Daoist said not a word, seemingly lost in meditation.

Lady Tianyin's expression shifted slightly as she warily studied the phantom silhouette of the Heavenly Emperor within the black sand of souls. The figure in the black sand betrayed no emotion, and said: "Then why does Lord Shepherd still wish to see me? " "Because Jingping lacks the time and opportunity to grow. " Shen Mu said: "Jingping needs time.

The Kaihuang Era lasted twenty thousand years, yet could not overturn heaven and earth, because it was extinguished all too soon.

Jingping has barely had a few hundred years, and already it shows signs of being extinguished.

I need helpers like Your Majesty to share the burden.

And Your Majesty needs my help, to reshape your soul.

" The figure in the black sand laughed: "You and I are using each other. I hold considerable power in the Heavenly Court and can buy Jingping time. I will set the old and new Primordial Earth Mothers at odds, and Jingping will have a chance to live. But I rather suspect that if I should one day return to the great throne, and Jingping has grown strong by then, Jingping will instead become a canker at my heart. " Shen Mu said with complete earnestness: "Does Your Majesty have another choice?

" The figure in the black sand laughed: "No. " "I did not think Your Majesty had one either. " Shen Mu said calmly: "Your Majesty, reshaping your soul requires one more condition—the borrowed power of the Lord of Heaven and the Earl of Earth. " The black sand trembled; the figure within it was silent. Shen Mu smiled: "I know nothing of the Lord of Heaven's side, but the Earl of Earth strikes me as rather thorny.

If I borrowed the Earl's power to resurrect Your Majesty, the Earl would certainly kill me himself.

" The figure in the black sand kept its silence.

Lady Tianyin fell into a dilemma of her own, unsure whether she ought to speak.

Back then, in order to keep the Earl of Earth under control, the Heavenly Emperor had taken advantage of the Earl's reincarnation and indulged the Heavenly Emperor's son in leading the demigods to strike at the reincarnated Earl. The reincarnated Earl was called Achou, and he had three children: his son and his eldest daughter were dashed to death, leaving only his youngest daughter, who fell into the Heavenly Emperor's hands when Achou stormed the Heavenly Court—becoming the handle by which the Emperor controlled him.

Though they addressed each other as sovereign and subject, a grudge had long been seeded between them.

The slovenly old Daoist slowly opened his eyes: "The Earl of Earth's daughter is still alive. She holds an extremely high position in the Heavenly Court. This matter should leave room for mediation.

" The figure in the black sand said: "There is also the Lord of Heaven.

He may not be willing to lend his power to resurrect me either.

" Shen Mu's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the Heavenly Emperor had done the same sort of thing to the Lord of Heaven?

No wonder both the Lord of Heaven and the Earl of Earth were unwilling to mention this Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, and held his conduct in no small contempt. The Lord of Heaven would not even bring up that stretch of history. "The sins a man commits himself leave him no way to live.

" Shen Mu said: "Your Majesty, you appear to grasp all power in your hand, peerless under heaven, yet in truth your kin are estranged and your people have turned away.

When you found yourself in desperate straits, not a single person came to your rescue. " The figure in the black sand gave a snort but did not refute him.

Shen Mu said: "Then let the Dao Ancestor persuade the Earl of Earth's daughter, and let the daughter persuade the Earl of Earth.

As for the Lord of Heaven, I will think of another way.

As for the pressure on Jingping, I would ask Your Majesty to have the new Primordial Earth Mother bear it.

" The figure in the black sand snorted again, much displeased with the tone of his speech.

Shen Mu's eyes glimmered, and he said: "There is one more matter: the Venerable Yutian.

I wish to obtain the remaining wisp of Yutian's soul. " "Impossible! " The figure in the black sand shook his head decisively.

The slovenly old Daoist shook his head as well: "Impossible.

Yutian's soul is concealed in the Pixiang Hall; no one can possibly extract it. This matter. .

.

" He glanced at the figure in the black sand and fell silent. Shen Mu frowned.

That wisp of remnant soul of Yutian was connected to the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.

At the Yaochi Gathering back then, Yutian had been ambushed and killed, and the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor had ordered a search for Yutian's soul—but the Earl of Earth never found it. Shen Mu could well guess that Yutian's soul had shattered, but the remnant bearing his memories had actually been gathered away by the Heavenly Emperor; only he, by acting personally, could have kept the Earl of Earth in the dark.

And when the Heavenly Court changed hands, Yutian's remnant soul was hidden away in the Pixiang Hall, tied up, most likely, with the interests of every power under heaven—no longer something the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor or the Dao Ancestor could decide on their own.

Shen Mu ground his teeth. Could it be that Yutian was doomed to remain a simpleton from now on? "Then that Yutian who came down from the Heavenly Court—whose handiwork was he?