Chapter 879 — Gazing at Mountains That Are Not Mountains, Turning Among the Peaks

"Great Black Heaven, you were beaten until your edge was blunted.

You have hidden in the lower realms so long that you have no idea how terrifying the Heavenly Court has become. " "Heaven Venerable" smiled faintly and walked toward the palace gate: "This body of mine is the crystallization of the Heavenly Court's wisdom over the past million years, its most powerful weapon! In the future, the Heavenly Court will rely on weapons like this to sweep the cosmos, purge the world, quell the demonic miasma, and contend for the unknown realm you have desired all your life but could never attain.

" Great Black Heaven's expression darkened.

He gave a cold snort, rose to his feet, and followed him out. "In the future, ten great god-men will rule the cosmos and all worlds, whether Youdu or Xuandu, Yuandu or Guixu.

Everywhere, there will no longer be any force of rebellion, any possibility of rebelling against or defying the Heavenly Court! " "Heaven Venerable"'s voice carried an invigorating power, deeply stirring: "By then, there will be no such thing as reform or change, because all arts and laws, all divine abilities, all the Great Daos are contained within this body. However many men and gods of the future exert their intelligence and talent, they will never leap beyond the knowledge this body holds. They will sorrowfully discover that all their efforts, all their reforms, are entirely within the grasp of this body! The future.

. .

" He smiled: "For those with ambition, it will be a future of utter pessimism and despair.

But for those of us who hold power, it is a future without a care in the world.

" Great Black Heaven was deeply shaken. He said in a low voice: "A lifeless, stagnant future.

. .

" He was even somewhat terrified by the future he had imagined.

Just imagine: in the not-too-distant future, ten of the most powerful, towering "Heaven Venerables," wielding the greatest power from ancient times to the present, floating above every realm of the cosmos, suppressing all things! Their faces would be like the Heavenly Dao made manifest, their eyes like sun and moon, their bodies harder than any weapon in the world, their magic power vast and profound, more mighty and boundless than the Nether Sea.

They floated above the sun, moon, stars, and even the rivers of stars; heaven and earth revolved around them.

In this world, the ancient gods would sink into ruin, the common people would be like straw dogs; whether god-race, demon-race, or human-race, all would be mere ants, all under the surveillance of these ten majestic god-men.

What a terrifying future that would be!

"May that day never come!

" Great Black Heaven steadied himself and caught up with "Heaven Venerable. " "Heaven Venerable" walked out of the Great Black Palace.

Shen Mu stood before the palace, stretching his body, assuming one posture after another that seemed impossible to ordinary people. "Heaven Venerable" smiled, watching him loosen his muscles and bones.

After a moment, Shen Mu turned to look at Great Black Heaven and smiled: "Great Black Heaven, is this the powerful one you invited? If I defeat him, our wager will take effect? " Great Black Heaven nodded and said in a deep voice: "Indeed.

If you defeat him, the lords of the three hundred and sixteen heavens shall be yours to deal with as you please. Those three hundred and sixteen fools, I will let you take away, and I will not interfere again.

But I will not hand over the northern heavens to you either.

" Shen Mu laughed heartily: "I wanted to make a Tu Bo's Oath with you, but you too come from Youdu, and there are too many loopholes to exploit in a Tu Bo's Oath.

Tu Bo is too honest, too inflexible.

If I made a Little Tu Bo's Oath with you, Little Tu Bo might not be able to beat you.

So I can only rely on you to keep your word. " "Heaven Venerable" smiled: "Young man, you need not consider such things, because you cannot win.

You are the legendary Overlord Body, unique through all ages, but this body of mine is the king among Overlord Bodies, one born only once in a million years.

" Shen Mu gave a light laugh, stepped back, his body vanishing into the darkness outside the palace; only two rows of dazzling white teeth could be seen floating in the dark. The white teeth floating in the air opened and closed, and Shen Mu's laughter came: "Brother, after you!

" "Brother?

You call me brother?

" "Heaven Venerable" could not help but laugh.

He stepped out into the darkness, smiling: "You do not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. " In the darkness, light suddenly burst forth.

Shen Mu and this "Heaven Venerable" had already crossed blades; in an instant their divine abilities swept away the darkness around the Great Black Palace, revealing the enormous planet behind it.

The planet's surface was mottled and incomparably rough.

Around the Great Black Palace, towering god-demons stood like statues cast of boulders, erect in the darkness like grotesque, massive mountain ranges, unmoving, letting the two men's divine abilities strike against the surface of their skin.

The aftershocks of Shen Mu's and "Heaven Venerable"'s divine abilities stirred up gales of such violence that wherever they passed, the air ground together in lightning and thunder.

And when the gales blew past the bodies of these god-demons, they actually ignited roaring fires from the friction, burning upon their skin with the feel of a prairie blaze.

There were three hundred and sixteen of these god-demons in all, the masters of the three hundred and sixteen heavens of the north.

Their strength far surpassed other god-demons, immensely powerful, most of them existences of the Jade Capital realm; even at the center of the collision between Shen Mu's and "Heaven Venerable"'s divine abilities, they remained unharmed.

This battle concerned their fate and future, and they wished to witness its victory or defeat with their own eyes. From the Great Black Palace, Mo Santong, Xue Taidou, and other disciples of Great Black Heaven rushed out and looked into the darkness; their expressions could not help but change drastically.

In the darkness, "Heaven Venerable" brought forth all manner of Great Dao divine abilities as if plucking them from thin air; any ability he casually employed seemed like a great divine ability that had entered the Dao!

As if he were master of every divine ability and Dao art under heaven, and had comprehended each system of divine ability and Dao art to the level of entering the Dao!

Entering the Dao had its high and low grades; divine ability users and god-demons used the heavens to rank the levels of entering the Dao.

To comprehend one move of Dao-entering divine ability was the first heaven; to comprehend a second move of Dao-entering great divine ability was the second heaven. Different Great Daos had different levels of heavens.

For instance, the Dao of the Sword: the strongest record of the sword Dao was established by Kaihuang. It was said that Kaihuang's sword Dao reached thirty-three heavens, unsurpassed through all ages, and to this day no one had broken his record.

Therefore Kaihuang's Heavenly Court possessed thirty-three heavens, and the Heavenly Court was built upon the thirty-third heaven.

Another example was the Buddha Dao: the strongest record of the Buddha Dao was Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha, whose Buddha realm was twenty heavens; it was said that the twenty heavens of the Buddha realm were all transformations of his Great Dao. And the Demon Dao—Great Black Heaven's Demon Dao had also reached unfathomable depths; just how many heavens of Dao-entering he had attained, Great Black Heaven had never said.

But the last time the Martial Dao Emperor, one of Kaihuang's Four Great Celestial Masters, came, Great Black Heaven had employed seventeen moves of Dao-entering great divine ability in all, and both he and the Martial Dao Emperor Zhuo Cha were gravely wounded.