Chapter 921 — The Blood-Rust Domain

Shen Mu felt somewhat uneasy; he was reluctant to ask the Red Emperor, Qi Xiayu, for the loan of a ship.

That day, when he had been besieged by the Heavenly Court and the four Emperors had joined hands to block him, Qi Xiayu had shown him no mercy.

Though Shen Mu could understand her predicament, and knew she harbored grand designs and was compelled to hold herself back, he could not help feeling a certain discomfort in his heart. He was no saint like the Woodcutter.

The Woodcutter, a sage, could cast aside all emotion and act purely from interest, deciding only after a cold and rational weighing of gain and loss.

The Woodcutter had never taught him; pure reason was beyond him.

The Woodcutter's disciple was the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping; toward Shen Mu and Wei Suifeng he had simply let them run wild, never asking after them.

Shen Mu steadied himself and said, "If that is so, then let us set out at once to see the Red Emperor.

" "My master does not wish to see you," said Qi Jiuyi.

"While you were at the Shangcang Divine Sect, I contacted her.

My master said she is unwilling to meet you, but the Phoenix Ship may be lent to you for a time. Once you reach the Heavenly Court, however, she will take it back. The Phoenix Ship should arrive soon.

" Shen Mu breathed a sigh of relief; most likely the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu also felt a measure of guilt, and this would spare them both the awkwardness of a meeting.

"Young Master, the Phoenix Ship has arrived!

" A divine being walked into the palace and bowed. Qi Jiuyi stepped out first, and Shen Mu followed.

A thought stirred in his heart, and he asked, "Brother Qi, is the Red Emperor still in the Yuan World, and has not returned to the Southern Heaven? " Qi Jiuyi said, "She has not gone back. The elder says she must hunt down an enemy, to seize a villain named Li Youran.

That Li Youran stops at no evil, and there are still remnants of the Kaihuang line unpunished; she must remain to search them out. .

. " At this point he recalled that Shen Mu had once said he was a descendant of Kaihuang, and felt somewhat apologetic; but glancing at Shen Mu's face, the other seemed not at all displeased.

Though he and Shen Mu had fought to the death time and again, their friendship had been forged in battle; he admired Shen Mu greatly, and with Long Qilin as another tie between them, he did not regard Shen Mu as an outsider. The Phoenix Ship was one of the few treasures capable of traversing the barriers between the worlds of shamans and warriors. No one knew what its hull was made of; phoenix wings grew from its sides, and its speed was terrifying.

Often when the mighty of the Heavenly Court wished to descend to the lower worlds, they borrowed the ship from the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu.

Shen Mu followed Qi Jiuyi aboard and saw thousands of Heavenly Soldiers and Generals of the Southern Heaven manning the vessel. "This ship is a treasure of the Emperor Throne, unmatched in speed under heaven, but to drive it consumes enormous dharma power; it takes more than six thousand officers and men to set it in motion.

" Qi Jiuyi gave the order to depart for the Heavenly Court. The six thousand-odd Heavenly Soldiers and Generals drove the Phoenix Ship; it rose across the sky, gradually accelerating, and along its sides gorgeous phoenix wings unfolded one by one, streaming with light and color, wrapping the whole vessel in radiance. The wings blazed in every hue; once opened, they began to beat, and the Phoenix Ship flew faster and faster.

Qi Jiuyi went on: "My master's ship is not the only treasure that can pierce the world barriers, but it is the most comfortable of them; aboard it one need not fear the turbulence of space at all.

" The Phoenix Ship only grew faster, yet aboard all was perfectly steady. When every wing had begun to beat, its speed reached its limit at last, and with a hum it vanished from the Yuan World!

Shen Mu stood at the bow and watched the ship cleave through space, which appeared as ribbons of dazzling light; he could not tell how fast the treasure vessel traveled among them. Its speed surpassed his understanding, proof that Qi Xiayu did indeed possess extraordinary powers.

"Indra, the King Buddha of the Heavenly Worthy, has always wished to attain the Emperor Throne and even borrowed cultivation methods from the Great Brahma; but the gulf between the Emperor Throne and Lingxiao is a natural chasm. In both knowledge and foundation, there are barriers that cannot be crossed.

" Shen Mu could not help marveling at the ship's speed; from it he could gauge Qi Xiayu's prowess, and recalling the enmity between Indra and Qi Xiayu, he thought: "There are many strong ones at the Lingxiao realm in this world, but few at the Emperor Throne realm.

This is likely the chief reason. To go from Lingxiao to the Emperor Throne is as hard as ascending to heaven. " Indra, Li Youran, had created his own Indra King Buddha Scripture, yet compared with the Great Brahma King Buddha's Sutra of Immeasurable Kalpas, the gap in knowledge and foundation was not something cultivation could make up.

Though Qi Xiayu was inferior to the Great Brahma King Buddha, Indra Li Youran was likely far inferior to her in turn. The Phoenix Ship threaded through space, and after an unknowable length of time it gave a gentle jolt, emerged from the depths, and came into a vast starry sky. Shen Mu looked out from the bow and saw stars blazing with extraordinary brilliance, ribbons of light linking star to star like chains. This was the true starry sky, not a celestial diagram.

"That is the Tiangang star cluster, one of the Thirty-Six Tiangang; at its center is Tiangang City, also called the Jade Qilin Cluster. " Qi Jiuyi said, "From another angle you would see that the Tiangang cluster takes the form of the ancient god Jade Qilin.

The Tiangang Star Lord among the orthodox deities of the celestial stars was born in Tiangang City.

" Long Qilin grew agitated, leaned over the bow to peer out, and said, "That is where the ancestor of the Qilin divine race was born? The Tiangang Star Lord was born there?

" The Phoenix Ship flew swiftly and soon came before the face of the Tiangang cluster; seen from afar, the linked stars and star chains formed precisely the shape of a qilin. At the center of the interwoven star-chain light stood a jade divine city of immense size.

Qi Jiuyi hesitated, then said, "There are many kinds of qilin.

The Tiangang Star Lord is a Jade Qilin, the most noble of them all.

Beyond that, in the Yuan World there are essences of water, fire, metal, wood, and earth, which gave birth to the five great Qilin ancient gods. As for whether my second brother is a descendant of the Tiangang Star Lord, that is beyond my knowledge.

" Long Qilin's face darkened. From birth he had been able to command the Qilin Sacred Flame, clearly belonging to the fire qilin lineage of the Yuan World, unrelated to the Tiangang Star Lord's bloodline.

The Phoenix Ship flew into the constellation formed by the Thirty-Six Tiangang stars, where great divine cities stood within each cluster: Tiankui City, Tianji City, Tianxian City, Tianyong City, Tianxiong City, Tianmeng City, and many more. Each cluster took a different form; the star chains shaped various ancient gods, archaic in aspect and fierce, indescribably hideous and terrifying.

The forms of the clusters were the forms of ancient gods; one could well imagine that those ancient god star lords looked the same.

"Those divine cities are garrison grounds. " Qi Jiuyi said, "In this assault on the Yuan World, the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals deployed came mostly from the great divine cities of the Tiangang and Disha star clusters. The forces of the Heavenly Court proper, and of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces and Seventy-Two Treasure Halls, were never used. " Shen Mu's heart tightened.