Chapter 915 — The Spirit Wood's Core Radiance Bursts Forth

The Yuan Wood stood dense and verdant, mantling the vast expanse of the Yuan Realm. In the heavens above, all the heavens revolved around this one tree. Seen from afar, it seemed nothing remarkable; but the nearer one drew to it, the more magnificent it became.

Though the Earth Mother was long dead, the Yuan Wood still brimmed with a terrifying vitality.

The divine beings of the Heavenly Court gathered divine gold from all the heavens and built within the Yuan Wood's crown their most vast and splendid palaces, fashioned after the pattern of the Heavenly Palace itself, with its Jade Pool and Jade Capital, a thousand palaces and ten thousand halls, and it was named the Yuan Realm Heavenly Palace. The true body of the Ancient God Heaven Emperor dwelt within the Heavenly Court, while Celestial Venerable Yu, being the weapon that held the Yuan Realm in subjugation, stayed behind in the Yuan Realm, living in the Lingxiao Hall of the Yuan Realm Heavenly Palace. The Heavenly Palace was luxury beyond compare; but at the root of the Yuan Wood lay the darkest of places, where the armies of the Heavenly Court heaped the corpses of untold gods and demons of the Yuan Realm, to serve as nourishment for the Yuan Wood.

Amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood stood the Great Prison of the Yuan Realm. The Great Prison was built in the darkest, filthiest place in all the Yuan Realm.

The divine beings of the Heavenly Court raised its walls from white bone and forged its cages, holding there the gravest criminals of the Yuan Realm. No sunlight ever pierced it; chill winds blew unceasing; it was bitterly cold and damp beyond bearing.

And because the bones of gods and demons lay so thick, the ground was covered with divine blood and demon blood that never dried, mingled together, and from that filth monsters were often born, prowling at large through the prison.

Rarely did any god of the Heavenly Court come to this place; only its jailers, wardens, and judges made their dwelling here. These jailers, wardens, and judges were all demon-gods of the Youdu lineage; the filth of this place, unbearable to others, was to them quite comfortable. Just then the Great Prison had received no small number of guests. A woman dressed in a finely made court-lady's gown frowned as she watched a warden hold up a newborn monster and wash it in a pool of blood, until the creature was drenched all over. The warden washed it awhile; the monster was still squeaking, divine blood and demon blood splashing everywhere, and the warden lifted it up, opened his vast mouth, and popped it in.

The woman hurriedly turned her face away, not daring to look closely.

"Senior Sister Yun Huayan, the wardens here are demon-gods born in Youdu. Monsters born of filth and darkness are their rations; to you such creatures are utterly revolting, but to them they are incomparably delicious food.

" Beside the woman, a youth smiled gently: 'Newborn monsters especially are the greatest delicacy. ' Yun Huayan covered her nose and mouth and said with a frown: 'This Great Prison is too savage a place — no place for a human to stay. Why has that Jingping Hegemon not come yet?

Deal with him quickly, and we can go back and report. ' At that the warden's eyes lit up.

He fished a monster from the blood pool, dangled it in his hand, and chuckled to the youth: 'Young Master Taoyu, this one's fresh.

Will you eat? ' Young Taoyu frowned hard and hastily waved his hand. The warden sighed that it was a pity and went back to washing in the blood pool, when suddenly a burly man in a black round-collared robe strode over and laughed: 'Such a delicacy — why won't you eat it?

Lord Warden, wash it well and give it to me; I like it.

' The warden washed the monster clean and handed it over. The big man suddenly opened his mouth wide — a mouth like a pool of blood — and swallowed the squeaking monster down. Taoyu and Yun Huayan and the others all frowned deeply, and Yun Huayan cried: 'Vimalakirti, that is enough!

' The big man Vimalakirti swallowed the monster, wiped the foul blood from the corner of his mouth, and chuckled: 'You are of the god race, and I am of the demon race — of course I eat such things. When in a strange land, follow its customs; you come and taste it too!

' Taoyu's expression changed; he shifted the subject: 'That Jingping Hegemon is none other than Celestial Venerable Mu of the Nine Celestial Venerables.

I have heard that in the early years of Longhan it was he who, on behalf of Celestial Venerable Yu, passed down the dharma, enabling the living beings of the world to become gods. Once the method of god-making appeared, the creatures of the world could stand alongside the ancient gods and live long lives. We have been ordered to dispose of him — is that.

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' Vimalakirti chuckled: 'If he had not passed down the method of god-making, Celestial Venerable Hao would have.

I heard my honored master say that this Celestial Venerable Mu merely stole Celestial Venerable Hao's merit. A fame-monger of that sort stumbled by chance into the Longhan era, and the muddled Heaven Emperor actually let him swindle a Celestial Venerable's title. .

. ' 'Shut your mouth! ' Yun Huayan looked warily around. Many experts had come here on hearing the news to wait for Shen Mu — four or five hundred of them at least, all young experts of the Heavenly Court, a mixed company of dragons and snakes, full of ears and eyes.

These young experts were the young disciples of the Heavenly Court's great heavenly palaces. When the Heavenly Court campaigned against the Yuan Realm, they too had been ordered to join the army, entering the Yuan Realm to kill and temper themselves and win military merit, for only so could they hope for promotion in the future. 'To speak ill of the Heaven Emperor — do you want to die? ' Yun Huayan lowered her voice: 'If word of this reaches the Heavenly Court, even our honored master cannot protect you!

' Vimalakirti laughed: 'In the Heavenly Court, our honored master has never once set the Heaven Emperor in his eyes — so what harm in a word or two?

If we had been the ones cast back to the Longhan era, never mind a Celestial Venerable's title — even the Heaven Emperor's seat, heh heh. . .

' For all that, he lowered his voice. 'The Western Heavenly Palace, the Northern Heavenly Palace, the Cloud-Dispatching Heavenly Palace, the Vaisravana Heavenly Palace, the Five Brightness Heavenly Palace, the Miluo Heavenly Palace, the Light-Bright Heavenly Palace, the Wondrous Rock Heavenly Palace. .

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' Taoyu said in a low voice: 'Nearly all the great heavenly palaces have sent their finest disciples.

Our Daoist Jade Pure Palace may not be the first to take the prize and kill Celestial Venerable Mu! ' 'Celestial Venerable Mu's fame is unearned. They say he is half dead and has lost his soul. Whoever strikes first takes the prize.

If we strike a step late, we will not even get the broth! ' Vimalakirti said: 'In my view we should go outside the Great Prison and wait by the stump for the rabbit — wait for Celestial Venerable Mu to come, and take the merit for ourselves!

' Taoyu hesitated: 'I just saw many strong ones from the great heavenly palaces heading outside — plainly they have the same plan. If we hurry over now, I fear Celestial Venerable Mu will already have been killed by someone else.

' Vimalakirti urged: 'Stay here, and we will get not even a fart! Our honored master said that if we can win this merit, he will recommend us to follow Celestial Venerable Hao, and Celestial Venerable Hao will guide our cultivation for thirty years!

' Yun Huayan and Taoyu gritted their teeth, and the three of them set off for the outside of the Great Prison. At the same moment, a dozen or more others walked out of the Great Prison as well.