Chapter 923 — The Primordial Creators

Shen Mu plucked off another rhombic crystal. It was about as tall as he was, and when he stood behind it and looked out, the world appeared different from usual—but that was only because of the crystal's refraction. "A world seen through a crystal as an eye is different from one seen through the fleshly eye.

But this crystal can't be limited to only this, can it? " He touched the center of his brow, where a small lump bulged.

During the catastrophe of the Yuan World, he had gouged out his third eye and cast it into the Netherworld, and when the wound at his brow healed it had left behind a tiny, fleshy bump.

"In the past, my third sacred eye was for contacting the Netherworld; with that eye I invoked the Netherworld's great Dao powers. Did the prehistoric giants set crystals into their brows because they too wanted to work some divine power?

" No matter how he racked his brains, he could not puzzle it out. He went to the center of the altar and looked at the pool of light fluid. It flowed like water, gradually condensing.

Just now the Red Emperor, Qi Xiayu, had driven the Phoenix Ship, shattering that bizarre 'Heavenly Lord' and draining the light fluid almost entirely, but now the fluid was gathering again. If this altar filled with that strange light fluid, most likely another 'Heavenly Lord' would condense to guard the place.

"And what is this light fluid? " Shen Mu carefully scooped up a clump of it.

Divine light swirled in his eyes as he scrutinized it closely, but the fluid contained no runes or Dao principles; it seemed to have nothing unique about it. "Why can this kind of light fluid form a Heavenly Lord spirit body of such fearsome power?

" Carefully he sent his primordial qi into contact with the fluid.

Suddenly the clump condensed and transformed into a tiny Heavenly Lord only five or six inches tall, which drove a fist at him. Caught completely off guard, Shen Mu grunted as his chest gave off the sound of bones snapping, and his whole body flew backward, smashing through one withered prehistoric giant skeleton after another with heavy thuds. The next instant he was slammed against an ancient structure.

The colossal force behind that tiny Heavenly Lord's punch cracked the building behind him.

The force kept surging, vast and irresistible, pressing him onward until it blasted him straight through the building! Qi Jiuyi cried sharply, "On guard!

Protect my second brother! " The nine divine beings stood guard around Long Qilin, on full alert as if facing a great enemy.

On the altar, the tiny Heavenly Lord, five or six inches tall, sprang up. His palms hollowed and his hands turned inward, forming the shape of the glyph 'mao'.

Shen Mu landed, his ten fingers moving in a blur as he set his broken bones back into place.

When he looked up, the tiny Heavenly Lord was striking with both hands, and Shen Mu's expression changed drastically as he blurted, "The fourth Heavenly Dao—the Heaven Seal?

" It was the fourth of the Heavenly Daos.

Yan Qiling had once said that the Dao Ancestor had organized the great Daos of heaven and earth for the Heavenly Court, sorting them into different orders; and among them, from the Dao runes on the Heavenly Lord's body, the Dao Ancestor had derived forty-nine Heavenly Daos. Shen Mu had acquired the Ancient God's Dao-rune jade slip from the Pavilion of Hidden Archives, so he knew these forty-nine Heavenly Daos; the fourth was called the Heaven Seal.

And this tiny Heavenly Lord formed from light fluid was now manifesting the fourth Heavenly Dao, the Heaven Seal! The tiny Heavenly Lord's twin seals flew at him with enormous power—truly, yin and yang embraced the uncarved and engendered one another, filling heaven and earth, leaving no room to dodge. The delicate Heavenly Lord's Heaven Seal was already before Shen Mu; as the twin seals smashed out, Yan'er shot out from Shen Mu's shoulder, wings fluttering, and thrust out an avian talon that clamped over the tiny Heavenly Lord's face.

The tiny Heavenly Lord roared again and again, hurling his Heaven Seal forward, but he could not reach her. His fury blazed higher and higher, and his roars were like thunder from the heavens. "Sister Yan'er, don't kill him!

" Shen Mu said hurriedly. "Seal him up.

I want to study him properly!

There's something strange about this Heavenly Lord spirit body! " Yan'er extended both wings and traced a circle in front of her.

The ring looped around the tiny Heavenly Lord. He roared and struggled but could not break free, and then all at once heavenly fire blazed up around him—he actually meant to melt the ring away with the Dao of Heavenly Fire. Shen Mu clicked his tongue in wonder, hoisted the tiny Heavenly Lord up, and looked him over from every side.

The tiny Heavenly Lord glared at him viciously, but locked fast by a grand expert of the Lingxiao realm like Yan'er, he could not move. "Young Master, what is this little Heavenly Lord?

" Yan'er asked curiously.

"Is he a Heavenly Lord's son? " "No.

He is a spirit body, one formed from light fluid.

" Shen Mu examined him closely and said, "No soul, no body—just a mass of pure energy. Inside him there is no Dao, no runes, no consciousness.

.

. Strange.

How can he wield the Heavenly Dao?

What exactly is he?

" He examined him even more carefully, but his doubts only multiplied.

No soul, no body, no thought, no awareness, no Dao, no runic brand—how could he be so powerful? This completely defied common sense! "A moment ago the light fluid was perfectly normal.

It was only when my primordial qi touched it that the fluid changed and became a tiny Heavenly Lord.

. .

The little fiend is too strong—he even broke my ribs.

" At the thought, Shen Mu's anger flared. He seized the tiny Heavenly Lord and gave him two hard slaps on his backside. The tiny Heavenly Lord flew into an even greater rage, but he could not break free and could only fume.

Then, with a bang, he burst apart, dissolving into a ball of light and scattering away. Shen Mu's hand closed on emptiness; only Yan'er's ring remained.

Shen Mu stood stunned, lost in thought.

He walked around the altar and saw that all the prehistoric giants' bones lay facing toward it, yet the altar itself bore no imprinted runes; it was simply built of ordinary stone.

He truly could not understand how these giants of the Age of Primal Chaos had produced a strange energy like the light fluid.

"Since Senior Brother left a map of this place, he must have found something! " Shen Mu roused his spirits and headed for the spot marked on the map. Long Qilin hurried after him, and Qi Jiuyi could only steel himself and follow, heavy with worry.

Shen Mu's abilities were enormously powerful, and yet he had nearly been killed by a tiny Heavenly Lord formed from a clump of light fluid—that made clear how dangerous this place was!

"The place Senior Brother marked is right here.

" Shen Mu rolled up the map and looked ahead. Where Wei Suifeng had marked the map stood a majestic hall; though it had fallen into ruin, it still looked imposing.

It was an open-air hall with no roof, its interior extremely vast. Shen Mu entered first and saw all manner of reliefs carved into walls made of polished rock.

He looked at them one by one.

These reliefs depicted prehistoric giants ruling over a boundless continent. Their bodies were colossal; they could pluck stars and seize the moon, and their strength was terrifying. The continent itself was inconceivably vast.

The giants lived in different places, forming different races and tribes; the environment there was harsh and full of supremely powerful prehistoric beasts. The giants fought the beasts, and they also fought one another over territory and people, killing back and forth.

"The prehistoric giants in these reliefs do not have three eyes! " Shen Mu looked closely.

The giants in the reliefs had no rhombic crystals in their brows either.