Chapter 925 — The Creator's Enigma

Shen Mu gazed upward, murmuring under his breath—words of divination and numerology—while arcane runes whirled and danced around him, endlessly transforming, a wondrous sight to behold.

Qi Jiuyi felt a faint stir within. He knew Shen Mu was calculating the star orbits, unraveling the puzzle his eldest senior brother had left for him.

On the alien star's God-Slaying Platform among the remnants of the Chiming clan, Qi Jiuyi had seen a similar arrangement.

Back then, Wei Suifeng had left a small box within the astrological formation—a box containing the Mystic God-Slaying Saber, which Shen Mu had snatched away. It was also because of what Wei Suifeng had left behind that Shen Mu had Jing Ping make contact with the remnants of the Chiming era, and later return to the Hanging Realm alongside the Chixi deity; through this, Jing Ping was able to forge an alliance with the Hanging Realm.

"If I could solve the puzzle Wei Suifeng left behind before Sect Master Shen does, could I get my hands on the treasures Wei Suifeng left behind?"

At this thought Qi Jiuyi shook his head at once. On the alien star's God-Slaying Platform, both he and Zhe Huali had been working at the puzzle Wei Suifeng had left—yet Shen Mu had been the first to solve it.

"That fellow's mastery of divination was already above mine back then—over the years it must have grown even more unfathomable," he thought to himself.

Shen Mu let out a slow breath, smiled, and reached up a single finger to gently stir the sky. The stars began to revolve, their tracks shifting.

Some stars followed fixed orbits; others darted about like headless flies, in complete disorder.

At last the stars ceased their motion, and countless stars came together to form the shape of a flower bud.

Shen Mu flicked his finger lightly, and the stars moved again; the flower bud woven of starlight slowly unfurled.

"Superhuman skill!" That was the only thought left in everyone's mind.

That exclamation was praise for Shen Mu—and equally praise for Wei Suifeng, who had left behind this field of stars.

This pair of senior and junior brothers, Wei Suifeng and Shen Mu, had shown them the beauty of the Grand Starry Divination—truly superhuman, dazzling beyond compare!

The flower blossomed, and a ray of cinnabar-red light fell from it.

Shen Mu opened his palm, and the cinnabar-red light landed neatly in his hand. The radiance dispersed, leaving only a rhombic crystal over half an inch long.

Holding this extraordinary rhombic crystal between his fingers, Shen Mu lifted it to the starlight and examined it. Though stormy waves surged in his heart, his face remained placid as still water. He smiled and said, "Brother Qi, does this crystal not look very much like the one in the brow of that leader of the creators on the relief we just saw?"

Qi Jiuyi was briefly startled. Studying the red creation divine stone, he asked doubtfully, "Sect Master Shen, what are you trying to say?"

"Nothing."

Shen Mu put the cinnabar-red crystal away and said with a smile, "Perhaps it is not the same one. My eldest senior brother was active from twenty thousand years ago down to several thousand years ago. He liked to collect things and leave them for me. He and I are separated by several thousand—even twenty thousand—years, yet we have long since known each other. Most likely he found this gemstone beautiful and hid it here for me."

Qi Jiuyi itched to seize him by the neck and shake him hard until he coughed up his speculations.

He forced down the urge, but Yan'er had already stuffed a spirit pill into Shen Mu's hand and said, "Young Master, why not explain it in detail?"

Shen Mu passed the spirit pill to Long Qilin, glanced at the nine deities Qi Jiuyi had brought, and said with a smile, "Too many mouths make for loose talk—better left unsaid."

Qi Jiuyi waved a hand and said to the nine deities, "Withdraw for now. Return to the ship—we will follow shortly."

Though the nine deities were curious too, their young master had given an order, so they had no choice but to withdraw first.

Qi Jiuyi's gaze flickered. "Now will Sect Master Shen speak?"

Shen Mu said, "The reason my eldest senior brother left behind this creation divine stone was to tell me that he suspects the stone's master is still alive."

Qi Jiuyi felt a chill run down his spine. "You mean—?"

Shen Mu's expression turned grave. "The master of the creation divine stone is a prehistoric creator of vast powers. He is most likely connected to the extinction of the prehistoric creators. He may be a supremely powerful being from history—one who still exists in this world. In the past, he may have been among the mightiest of the ancient gods; now, he may be one of the heads of the Heavenly Court."

The feathers all over Qi Jiuyi's body stood on end, and his mind went blank.

Yan'er looked at him curiously and confirmed that he too was a bird.

Yan'er's concerns differed from Qi Jiuyi's. Once Shen Mu resolved her doubts, she was content to let the matter rest. Qi Jiuyi, however, thought far deeper—hence the chill that ran through him.

Just imagine—such a terrifying being hidden away in the age of the ancient gods, and now concealed within the present Heavenly Court. He could not help but think of the fall of the ancient gods' age and the turmoil of the Longhan, Chiming, Shanghuang, and Kaihuang eras.

If such a terrifying being lurked through every era, taking revenge on the ancient gods and wreaking havoc across the ages, how horrifying would that be?

Qi Jiuyi was utterly distraught, pacing back and forth, wishing he could instantly forget what he had just heard.

Suddenly he stopped, staring fixedly at Shen Mu. "Sect Master Shen, who do you suspect this person is?"

The figure of the Heavenly Emperor rose unbidden in Shen Mu's mind. After a moment, he shook his head.

The Heavenly Emperor's deeds did indeed fit certain of his suspicions. For one, the Heavenly Emperor's origins were exceedingly ancient—he had been born even before Tubo and the Heavenly Duke.

For another, the demise of the ancient gods' age was in fact connected to the Heavenly Emperor: he had founded the ancient gods' Heavenly Court, suppressed dissent, propped up the demigods and the later-born beings, and incited war between the demigods and the later-born.

But he had overplayed his hand. He was ambushed by Sovereign Hao, Sovereign Yun, and others, and his body was taken from him.

Even so, he had not died—he merely moved from light into shadow, and even became the head of the Heavenly Alliance, one of the overlords of the present Heavenly Court!

The passing of each era throughout history—the Chiming era, the Shanghuang era, the Kaihuang era—likely bore the Heavenly Emperor's shadow as well.

Yet if the Heavenly Emperor was that leader of the prehistoric creators, then the age of the prehistoric creators must have come before the ancient gods—and it would have been they who created the ancient gods of this world.

This Shen Mu could not affirm.

For the ancient gods were far too old. The Earth Mother Sovereign was, at the very least, hundreds of millions of years old.

And Qi Jiuyi was not wrong on one point: the prehistoric creators fashioned things with their divine consciousness, but it could not be affirmed that they could create souls.

The ancient gods, however, had souls.

This still needed to be investigated.

There was also this: the rumor Qi Jiuyi had heard was that the prehistoric creators had been wiped out by the ancient gods, and that the Heavenly Emperor had been the leader of the ancient gods. Even Tubo, the Heavenly Duke, and the Earth Mother held him in admiration—though they despised his character.

If the Heavenly Emperor was the leader of the prehistoric creators, why would he lead the ancient gods against his own kind?

But it was the Heavenly Emperor who had captured and suppressed Wei Suifeng.