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

With the seven treasuries joined into one body, vital essence would surge by leaps and bounds; at the same realm, one's vital-essence cultivation would be far stronger than that of those who plodded along the old way! And because the treasury was one whole, the arts would circulate far more swiftly than through the traditional seven treasuries, since the old arts required vital essence to start from the Numinous Womb, run the paths prescribed by the art, flow on to the Five Luminaries treasury, pass through the Five Luminaries into the Six Harmonies, and thence to the Seven Stars, Heaven-Man, Life-and-Death, and the Immortal Bridge.

With the Heavenly River treasury binding the others into one, the vital essence ran directly within that single great treasury, cutting away many needless steps, turning the intricate into the simple! By the same principle, divine powers would rouse to action more swiftly than in the traditional seven treasuries; the boost to a practitioner's fighting strength was simply terrifying!

They were, after all, the finest young talents of the Azure Splendor Roll and the Divine Splendor Roll, surpassingly gifted and keen of wit, and in a moment they perceived the immense promise of the Heavenly River treasury. Shen Mu went on: "Once one has cultivated to the Heavenly Palace realm and become a god, the seven treasuries one cultivated before matter very little to the Heavenly Palace; they are no more than appendages of the Heavenly Palace realm.

But with the Heavenly River treasury, the power within the Heavenly Palace can merge with the treasury and strengthen it, and one's dharma power will be fuller and mightier than by the traditional method; the benefit to a god is immense as well! " The bird-headed woman suddenly spoke. "Heavenly Venerable, you make the Heavenly River treasury sound so fine. Why has the Heavenly Court never thought to replace the Immortal Bridge treasury with it? " Shen Mu looked at her, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes.

The woman said hastily, "I am Que Jingxue of the Azure Splendor Roll, disciple of Taimu. " "Taimu?

" Shen Mu had never heard of this deity, and said with a smile, "Once the gods of the Heavenly Court have cultivated to the great realm of the Heavenly Palace, who still cares about the treasuries?

They are a brick for knocking at the door; once the door is opened, the brick is thrown away.

What concerns them is the realm of the Heavenly Court itself.

From the moment they heard there was such a realm, they threw their whole minds upon it. As for you divine-power practitioners, would you dare question your masters? Would you dare question the system of treasury cultivation handed down by the Heavenly Venerables? If you did dare to question it, then you might have within you the makings of the Heavenly River treasury. " The crowd was stunned and fell to recalling the course of their own cultivation. As the most outstanding prodigies of the Heavenly Court, it was true that they had never once thought of abolishing the Immortal Bridge treasury; their greatest innovation had perhaps been to try their hand at inventing a few divine powers. To them, each fixed realm was an iron law, not to be questioned, nor even thought of as questionable.

Shen Mu said, "The lower world is different.

In the lower world, many have had their Immortal Bridge treasures severed, and so countless people study how to improve the treasuries, how to break through the old fixed understanding. The Jingping Reform did not follow the laws of the ancestors, did not hold the ancient gods in blind awe, did not worship the Heavenly Court, did not worship the Heavenly Venerables; and so there was reform, and so there was the Heavenly River treasury. " When the crowd heard the word "reform," they could not help but shudder.

Suddenly a youth rose to his feet, his whole body shaking, and said in a hoarse voice, "I will hear no more of this teaching!

Heavenly Venerable, forgive me for being a coward and a shirker; I shall go on ahead! " Shen Mu said with concern, "You do not wish to know how to open the Heavenly River treasury? " "I do! " The man's smile was like weeping.

"But I dare not listen!

I fear that if I hear the Heavenly Venerable's Heavenly River treasury, I shall inexplicably drop dead! " He turned and hurried away.

Several others rose and left as well.

The rest wanted to go too, but the Heavenly River treasury was too tempting, and they hesitated.

Qi Jiuyi's eyes shifted; he rose and said, "I will see them out. " Shen Mu smiled faintly and continued explaining how to open the Heavenly River treasury.

"The Heavenly River treasury accords with the great Dao of heaven and earth.

But the number of treasuries within the human body is still best kept at seven, and so the Immortal Bridge must be abolished.

I have created several methods for sensing the power of the Heavenly River; once the Immortal Bridge is abolished, one may come to the river's edge and set my methods in motion, and so sense the power of the Heavenly River.

" Shen Mu set out the several methods of sensing the Heavenly River one by one. Many of the young people in the Manhui Corridor Pavilion were doubtful; though they committed the methods to memory, they dared not attempt them. Yun Jianli smiled. "Then let me, a dying man, be the one to try whether the Heavenly River treasury can be opened. " Que Jingxue's face showed disbelief; lowering her voice, she said, "Young Master Yun, are you willing to cast aside the Immortal Bridge treasury your ancestor Heavenly Venerable Yun opened?

Would that not make you a traitor to Heavenly Venerable Yun? " Yun Jianli shook his head.

"My ancestor would never be so mired in the old. I think that if he had seen Heavenly Venerable Mu's Heavenly River treasury, he would have leapt for joy and abolished his own Immortal Bridge treasury of his own accord.

" Que Jingxue said in a low voice, "This is reform! Think carefully; reform is rebellion! " Yun Jianli smiled.

"What has a dying man to fear? " A branch of the Heavenly River flowed into the Jade Pool, and here the river's power was thick indeed. At once he tried setting in motion the method of sensing that Shen Mu had taught.

His talent was exceedingly high, higher even than the Human Emperors of past ages; in no time he had grasped the knack and drawn the power of the Heavenly River to him.

A Heavenly River gradually took shape about him, growing wider and longer by the moment.

Yun Jianli gathered his strength, awaiting the moment of breakthrough. Time slipped by.

The crowd in the pavilion watched him in anxious alarm. If Yun Jianli could open the Heavenly River treasury, then the road Shen Mu pointed to was proven walkable.

Who knows how long it was before the Heavenly River encircling Yun Jianli suddenly poured into his body; with a muffled sound, Yun Jianli's frame convulsed, and a wondrous rhythm issued from within him. It was a Dao-sound, its cadence like the vast rise and fall of the Heavenly River, passing through one world after another, from the Heavenly Palace of the Heavenly Court down to the mortal world, and on to Guixu and Youdu.

The music was so beguiling that one could not help but sink into it.

Yun Jianli too was astonished and delighted, gazing entranced at his own treasury; the waters of the Heavenly River rushed down from the Heavenly Palace, threading through all his treasuries, flowing into Youdu, and forming one great cycle.

"Are we to cultivate the Heavenly River treasury as well? " Que Jingxue murmured.

The others were eager to try, and yet a deep anxiety lay in their hearts, and they dared not. Shen Mu said, with much meaning in it, "You may choose not to cultivate the Heavenly River treasury; then, when the Heavenly Court goes to war with the lower world, you will die at the hands of the people of the lower world.