Chapter 904 — The Dark Night Approaches

What is A'Chou?

A'Chou is simply a man who has lost everything.

A'Chou, whom Earth Count made of himself: his father, mother, wife and children lay buried in the Heavenly Court's conspiracy against him, and at that time even Earth Count's power bound him fast and kept him from vengeance. A'Chou and Earth Count were two consciousnesses within one life.

Earth Count was governed by the rules; A'Chou wanted to break them; and in the end he was left wretched and alone, struck back down into Youdu by the Heavenly Emperor and suppressed by Earth Count at Jade Lock Pass in Youdu. Shen Mu was now A'Chou as well. Like A'Chou, he was merely an appendage of the original body. A'Chou was Earth Count's reincarnated body; he was the second consciousness, born in an infant's flesh after Shen Fengqing was sealed.

A'Chou had no soul of his own. Neither did he. A'Chou was a guardian, an avenger, who burned with wrath and wanted only to protect his own kin, yet could protect them no matter what he did, and in the end fell into the clutch of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.

Shen Mu likewise wanted to protect Jingping, and to avenge those who had perished in this catastrophe.

A'Chou was powerless to turn the tide; in the end he was suppressed at Jade Lock Pass, enduring the endless scorching of karmic fire. In the end A'Chou became a sinner against the rules of Youdu. He ought to have been Earth Count: just, impartial, possessed of divinity alone.

Yet humanity was born in him.

Shen Fengqing was the Young Earth Count; and Shen Mu, the other consciousness born from his shell, ought likewise to have possessed divinity alone, yet Shen Mu was the humanity of the Young Earth Count.

The same predicament, the same fortunes; therefore he was A'Chou, a man who wished to protect and wished to avenge, yet had no strength to resist.

Shen Mu laughed, heh heh, clutching Heavenly Venerable Ling's peach-wood hairpin in his hand and pointing it at his own brow. Where his third eye should have been, in the center of his brow, only a deep sunken socket remained.

"Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, you have waited all this while and never struck. Was it to wait until I was utterly in despair, until in the end I had no choice but to cling to you?

" Blood still ran from the socket of his third eye, streaming down either side of the bridge of his nose. Even so, his hand was steady.

The peach-wood hairpin sank deep into that hollow socket, and he laughed softly: "Jingping is gone, and so I have nothing left. Nothing matters now. If I but stir Heavenly Venerable Ling's hairpin, the Heavenly River will come bursting out of it, destroy this body, shatter this consciousness.

You will never have another chance at resurrection! " A vast and surging tide of thought came rushing down from the sky and became a sound like rolling thunder in his mind.

The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor's voice held a cold indifference: "You should not have dug out your own eyes. Having dug them out, you do not even have a soul left. You are ruined. What power do you still have to break Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine art? You cannot bring me my physical body. Why should I still aid you? " His voice grew colder still: "You thought you could hold everything in your grasp.

You thought you could fling Our imperial edict at the Black Pig Demon. You thought you could treat with Us, make Us your arm, your chess piece. But you have been one move short all along. Do you still remember Wei Suifeng? " Shen Mu was stunned for a moment. "Wei Suifeng, right general of Our Feather Forest Guard, once commanded the Feather Forest's Right Guard for Us.

Like you, he was arrogant to the point of madness. " The Heavenly Emperor's voice was mocking: "Like you, he was full of himself. He thought he could slip into the Heavenly Alliance; he thought he could pull the wool over heaven's eyes; he thought he could do something for the lower realms. But in the end he could not fool Us. Because his office was conferred by Us!

The very first moment he mingled into the Heavenly Alliance, I saw through him and had him seized!

He too had comprehended Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine art, and I have already ordered the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven to take him and sink him in the river, to trade him back for the ghost ship! " His laughter was hearty and bright: "So long as the ghost ship can be exchanged out, I can likewise exchange out the physical body that Heavenly Venerable Ling has locked within the Heavenly River.

I can still use the Empress's body to threaten the Empress; I still have the Dao Ancestor as my helper; I can still seize Earth Count's daughter to threaten Earth Count! " "Why then should I still lean on you? I used you to reshape my souls, to make my three souls whole; I used you to wound Heavenly Venerable Hao grievously, forcing him to return to the Heavenly Court and not dare meddle in the Primordial Realm. I used Heavenly Venerable Hao again to do away with the Earth Mother, obtained the Earth Mother's body, and thereby obtained the whole of the Primordial Realm! Half of this cosmos, of heaven and earth, lies in my grasp! " "Heavenly Venerable Mu, do you truly believe you are qualified to treat with Us? " He was the true victor of this war over the Primordial Realm.

Whether it was Shen Mu, or the teeming multitudes of the Primordial Realm, or the god-and-demon armies of the Heavenly Court, the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court, even the Earth Mother, even Heavenly Venerable Hao, all were his chess pieces. He would rise again, and he would gain half of heaven and earth. In the past he had lost because he stood in the light, and everyone schemed against him: demigods, acquired beings, ancient gods, all wished him dead. But now he stood in the dark.

Who could still scheme against him? He was the winner, the sole great winner of this war over the Primordial Realm. Shen Mu said indifferently: "The Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven? The Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven is right behind me. Why does Your Majesty not ask him how the exchange turned out?

" The Heavenly Emperor's voice vanished; his consciousness withdrew, plainly to question the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven, who was walking toward Shen Mu from the east.

After a moment, Shen Mu felt another stream of thought-consciousness appear in his mind.

It was the Heavenly Emperor's. This time the Heavenly Emperor did not prattle on like the exalted victor he had been a moment before. He fell silent.

Shen Mu said flatly: "Wei Suifeng is my eldest senior brother.

The most pigheaded man under heaven is him, and the slickest man under heaven is him as well. He has ranged across the ages for a million years.

You cannot hold him.

" The Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court had already drawn near; at any moment they could seize Shen Mu, or snuff him out as easily as one blows out a lamp.

The Heavenly Emperor's voice sounded once more, this time not in Shen Mu's mind but from beyond the heavens: "Four Emperors, stay your hands. " Qi Xiayu, Yin Tianzi and the rest halted and looked up.

A single Primordial Tree, lush and verdant, descended from the sky and planted itself at the center of the Primordial Realm. Another "Heavenly Venerable Yu" descended together with the Primordial Tree: majestic, towering, his body streaming ten thousand rays of light, the very picture of august righteousness.

The root ball wrought from the Primordial Tree's roots slowly unfurled, and one enormous root after another stretched out and bored down into the earth.

The roots writhed beneath the ground, and upon the surface mountains ten thousand li long rose up in ridges. The sight was like a grand and magnificent mountain-building movement, or something more magnificent still: the vitality stored within the Primordial Tree made these suddenly appearing mountains, flowers and grasses grow wildly, turned trees into forests, and left hills bright and waters fair.