Chapter 914 — Old Grudges Revisited

Dragon Qilin was startled. "Five million rings, less than a tenth — doesn't that mean the Earth Mother has lived at least fifty million years?"

Shen Mu was still counting the growth rings. "You aim far too low," he said. "This stick is only the core of the Yuan Wood, the heart of the tree. Who knows how many layers of bark lie outside it — it is not the whole trunk. If the core holds even a tenth of her true rings, that would already be counted good."

Yan'er was startled too. Did that not mean the Earth Mother's age began at five hundred million years?

"Young Master, if this stick is not the Earth Mother's true rings, why count them all to the end?" Yan'er was rather puzzled.

Counting all the while, Shen Mu answered with half his mind: "Counting the rings is not the goal. I only want to look at the rings of this treasure and then decide what sort of artifact it is fit to be refined into. Besides, the rings hold some of the Earth Mother's secrets from her early years... These few rings here, for instance, are incomparably dense, which means that some two million years after the Earth Mother's birth a great event occurred that all but stopped the Yuan Wood's growth. That event shows that the Yuan Realm suffered a calamity then."

What happened before Longhan was a blank to every later-born being; unless the ancient gods spoke of it, no one could know what had occurred then.

That was the Primordial Age of Hongmeng, and the world held no record of that age at all.

Shen Mu finished counting the rings carefully and said in a low voice: "The core of the Yuan Wood is more than seventy-six million years old, and within it lie ten calamities that all but halted the Yuan Wood's growth. It seems that even under the rule of the ancient gods the Yuan Realm was not at peace... But the ancient gods were plainly the mightiest beings of the Primordial Age of Hongmeng — how could they have met with peril? Did they slaughter one another, or was there some power from outside?"

By rights, the ancient gods were the strongest beings of antiquity, and nothing could threaten them; the Earth Mother, moreover, stood shoulder to shoulder with the Earth Lord and the Heaven Lord, second in strength only to the Ancient God Heaven Emperor.

In the Primordial Age of Hongmeng, beings such as these could not have met with peril — unless the Earth Lord, the Heaven Lord, or the Ancient God Heaven Emperor had struck at her. But in that age the quarrels among these ancient beings had not yet reached the point of fire and water that cannot abide each other; they could not have slaughtered one another.

Shen Mu pondered a long while and could make nothing of it.

"The core of the Yuan Wood has so many rings. To refine it into my divine weapon and temper it until I can wield it as I please would be terribly difficult. Perhaps I can brand a rune seal upon every single ring — one ring, one formation, one heaven. Seventy-six million formations — the energy of the formations alone would be enough to destroy heaven and earth!"

Shen Mu was full of fighting spirit, but his face darkened at once: the core of the Yuan Wood had too many rings, and his store of knowledge was nowhere near enough to brand formations upon every one of them.

His learning was not deep enough for that.

"Could I use it as a spear? But I am no master of spear play... Could I use it as a flying sword?"

The thought stirred him, and he tried pouring his vital essence into the core of the Yuan Wood; at once Shen Mu's face went black as charcoal.

His vital essence had already recovered to its peak, no whit inferior to a Venerable God's, yet when such immense dharma power poured into this core of the Yuan Wood it was like a clay ox plunging into the sea — it could not fill it at all.

The Earth Mother had indeed given him a remarkable treasure — perhaps even a being at the Emperor Throne realm could not have refined such a treasure — yet he could not draw out much of the core's power at all!

Shen Mu kept driving his vital essence, and at last made the core of the Yuan Wood rise into the air; but the stick was too long, and after he had twirled a few sword flourishes he found his dharma power spent.

"No wonder the Earth Mother ran off so fast!"

Shen Mu reached out and seized the stick, swinging it a few times with effort, only to find that used as a spear it had no spearhead, while used as a staff it was too long.

"If only it could be a little shorter..."

Scarcely had the thought crossed his mind when the core of the Yuan Wood shrank a great deal.

Shen Mu was taken aback, then said: "Shorter still."

The core of the Yuan Wood shrank again.

Shen Mu said: "Shorter still."

The core of the Yuan Wood shrank to some three feet; Shen Mu caught it in his hand and used it as a wooden sword, and it felt far more natural at once. Delighted, he cried: "Long!"

Pff—

The core of the Yuan Wood in his hand swelled violently, becoming a long staff that thrust into a mountain peak a hundred li away, punching a slender hole through the mountain, the tip of the staff emerging on the far side.

Startled, Shen Mu tugged hard but could not pull the core free, and said helplessly: "Short..."

With a whoosh, Shen Mu was dragged off Dragon Qilin's head against his will, and the shrinking staff carried him with a thunderous crash into that mountain peak.

Dragon Qilin and Yan'er were aghast; the mountain peak was smashed open, and only after a good while did Shen Mu leap out of it, in a sorry state.

A thought stirred in Shen Mu's heart; he took out the sword pellet, and it flew up and settled on the tip of the staff, becoming a spearhead. Then he moved with the spear — the great spear now large, now small, now thick, now thin, now long, now short, now hard, now soft, and it could even coil and wheel around his whole body like a great python, a truly fearsome sight.

"The core of the Yuan Wood is not bad at all."

Shen Mu flew back, sighing in admiration, and put the sword pellet away. He laughed: "A pity it cannot become a wooden sword — I fear it would not stab a man to death. I have not studied spear play much; it is a waste for it to fall into my hands."

He put the core of the Yuan Wood into the Taotie Pouch, and Yan'er came up to help him straighten his disordered clothes.

Shen Mu took out a small jade bottle, broke the seal, and drove his vital essence, wrapping a drop of Hongmeng primal liquid and sending it flying out. He smiled: "Yan'er, this is yours."

Yan'er was both startled and delighted, and hastily swallowed that drop of Hongmeng primal liquid.

Dragon Qilin was exceedingly envious. Shen Mu said: "Fat Dragon, you still cannot suppress the energy of the Hongmeng primal liquid. Give you a drop and you would die. When you have grown a little, I will save a drop for you."

Dragon Qilin agreed and set his mind at ease.

"With the core of the Yuan Wood, perhaps I can rescue our eldest senior brother..."

Seeing no one around, Shen Mu took out the peach-wood hairpin and drove it toward the Yong River. The Heavenly River surged and swelled, joining with the Yong River.

After the Lame Old Man had rescued him, he told him what the Human Emperor Qikang had seen at the Yong River: the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven had captured Wei Suifeng and sunk him in the river, and Wei Suifeng had merged with the ghost ship and seized the chance to flee.

Previously they had been within the sphere of the Eastern Heaven Palace, and Shen Mu had not wished to alert it; but here the Earth Mother had dared to appear, which meant they must have left the Eastern Heaven Palace's domain. So Shen Mu tried to see whether he could use the peach-wood hairpin to rescue the ghost ship, and Wei Suifeng with it, from Heaven Venerable Ling's divine ability.

The divine ability within the peach-wood hairpin was roused, and mist at once churned up from the heart of the river, as though the fog came surging out of times long past; the river waters boiled and surged!