Chapter 934 — The Heavenly Palace Casts Off the Old and Brings In the New

Before the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, the many young masters inscribed on the Azure Splendor Roll and the Divine Splendor Roll stared with wide eyes, struck dumb by the sight: Shen Mu drawing his sword out of Yun Jianli's body, wet with blood. One move.

With a single move, Shen Mu had defeated the Yun Jianli who, only moments before, had seemed invincible!

And not merely defeated him, but severed his Immortal Bridge with one stroke, striking him down from the Immortal Bridge realm to the Life-and-Death realm!

That was not the worst of it, either.

The worst was this: Yun Jianli's Immortal Bridge treasury had been utterly destroyed.

Which was to say that Yun Jianli would never cultivate his way back to the Immortal Bridge realm for the rest of his life, that he would be nothing more than a divine-power practitioner of the Life-and-Death realm for the rest of his life, forever barred from any hope of godhood! Of course, for Yun Jianli this might not be so bad.

The men of the Yun clan were afflicted from birth; let them cultivate to the Immortal Bridge realm and they would abruptly drop dead. Shen Mu had severed his Immortal Bridge; perhaps it would even let him live longer.

But for everyone else, it was monstrous beyond words!

The crowd trembled in body and soul.

Against that single move of Yun Jianli's, not one of them had much hope of victory; and facing that sword stroke of Shen Mu's, not one of them could hope to dodge it, but must meet Yun Jianli's same fate! Into every mind the scene was branded: that sword thrusting toward them. Yet rehearse it a hundred times, calculate it a thousand, still there was no way to evade it.

Every time, the blade would pierce them and sever the treasury, and not the Immortal Bridge treasury alone: Numinous Womb, Five Luminaries, Six Harmonies, Seven Stars, Heaven-Man, Life-and-Death, every one of them would be cut through! This was Shen Mu striking with all his strength!

Suddenly the bird-headed woman with a human body began to laugh, a clucking little laugh. "It has just come to me that I have business elsewhere. I shall go on ahead.

Another day I shall come and pay my respects to the Heavenly Venerable!

Farewell—" The feathered wings behind her spread wide, and the others too began to shift their feet. Supporting Yun Jianli, Shen Mu came forward and said in a clear, carrying voice: "Since you are all here, why be in such haste to leave?

Those who do not know better would think I, Heavenly Venerable Mu, have no idea how to receive a guest, and gossip would spread.

" The bird-headed woman, who had meant to fly away, went rigid at the words and did not dare stir. No one else dared stir either; fine cold sweat broke out on their foreheads. Shen Mu smiled faintly, red lips and white teeth, and said gently, "There is no need for alarm, friends.

We of the lower world do not eat people.

" Yet in the eyes of the crowd that smile was monstrous and evil beyond measure.

For all that they were the favored children of heaven on the Azure Splendor Roll and the Divine Splendor Roll, before that one sword of Shen Mu's they felt a deep and utter helplessness. The bird-headed woman said, her voice shaking, "Do lower-world folk eat demigods?

" Shen Mu did not answer. Supporting Yun Jianli, he stepped onto the island and came to the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, and said with a helpless air, "Brother Yun, you told me to strike with all my strength, and now look. I had meant to slaughter a batch of the Heavenly Court's more shortsighted young masters to establish my authority.

As things stand, how am I to kill them and establish anything?

" The crowd's blood ran cold; they stared at him in terror. Shen Mu's face broke into a plain, rustic smile. He swept his gaze around once and said, with an apologetic air, "Friends, I did not say I meant to kill you.

There is no need to worry.

Have you come to challenge me? " Eagerness lit his features.

Silence.

One after another, they shook their heads.

Shen Mu looked deeply disappointed. Yun Jianli had been wounded by him, and his body was failing by the moment; yet though that sword had severed his Immortal Bridge, he remained composed, as though it were not he who had been hurt, and showed no trace of loss at the ruin of his Immortal Bridge treasury. He smiled and said, "To establish your authority, Heavenly Venerable, why strike at the younger generation? " Shen Mu laughed heartily.

"You are right. Only, my realm is not high.

Were any Venerable God at all to make his move, I could not withstand him. " Yun Jianli coughed again and again, and said to the crowd, "Do not believe him. He means to kill Venerable Gods to establish his authority.

If you go back and fetch your senior brothers, most likely they will die at his hands as well.

" The crowd stared, and said nothing. Supporting Yun Jianli, Shen Mu passed among them. Qi Jiuyi hurried to follow and caught hold of Yun Jianli, grumbling under his breath, "Sect Master Shen, you were too heavy-handed! Brother Yun's Immortal Bridge is severed by your hand. Can the old grannies of his family ever let you off?

Who in the Heavenly Court does not know that the widows of the Yun family are the hardest to provoke?

You have laid hands on their precious darling; if you do not lose eight layers of skin, you will lose your life! " Yun Jianli smiled bitterly.

"Are my family's great-grannies and great-great-grannies truly so hard to deal with? " Qi Jiuyi sneered. "You do not know it yourself?

Ask anyone else, then. Who in the Heavenly Court does not know that the Yun family's grandmothers will defend their own to the death?

Sect Master Shen, you have kicked a hornet's nest!

" Shen Mu said, "Severing Brother Yun's Immortal Bridge was deliberate on my part. With his Bridge severed, he can try the fruits of the Jingping Reform; he can try the Heavenly River treasury. Come over here as well, all of you. " He turned and beckoned with a wave of his hand, smiling. "In those years I set up an altar here and expounded the Dharma, teaching the world the way to godhood. A million years later, I preach here once more. " The crowd from the Azure Splendor Roll and the Divine Splendor Roll exchanged glances, then, summoning their courage, followed him into the Manhui Corridor Pavilion.

After Shen Mu had seen to Yun Jianli's wounds, he smiled and said, "In those years Heavenly Venerable Yun opened up the Immortal Bridge treasury because, after Heavenly Venerable You had opened the Life-and-Death treasury, there was no road ahead; he wished to build a bridge and lay a path.

Thus Heavenly Venerable Yun opened the Life-and-Death treasury. And the Life-and-Death treasury gave illumination to Heavenly Venerable Yu, who opened the great realm of the Heavenly Palace, and from that came the saying that one ascends to the Heavenly Palace and becomes a god. The Immortal Bridge treasury is of the utmost importance; without it, there is no Heavenly Palace realm beyond. Heavenly Venerable Yun's merit is beyond measure.

" Yun Jianli said, "You spoke just now of the Heavenly River treasury.

What is it?

" Shen Mu explained, "The Heavenly River treasury is the fruit of the Jingping Reform. The Immortal Bridge treasury links what came before to what comes after, but it is not indispensable.

The Heavenly River joins all the realms, opens the passage of life and death, and connects to the Heavenly Palace. If the Immortal Bridge treasury is destroyed and the Heavenly River opened in its place, then the Heavenly Palace and all seven of the divine treasuries are threaded into one; the seven treasuries become a single treasury! " Yun Jianli's eyes lit up. The others in the Manhui Corridor Pavilion also trembled slightly, grasping the crux of what Shen Mu had said.