Chapter 936 — The Chess Piece Falls in the Heavenly Palace, Deciding Victory

All was silence within the Manhui Corridor Pavilion.

Que Jingxue and the others had fallen mute, their faces complicated, their hearts tangled beyond words.

The Heavenly River Divine Treasury had shaken them deeply; but what shook them more were Shen Mu's words, each one stabbing straight into the heart.

Shen Mu had not been wrong. The reason the Heavenly Court regarded the Reform with hostility was not fear that the lower realm might threaten its rule. At the Heavenly Court's present scale, even if Jingping were granted several thousand years, even ten thousand, Jingping would still not be its match.

The Heavenly Court hated the Reform because those who held power there could gain nothing from it; to support the Reform, or even to ignore it, would shake the very foundations of their rule.

If the men who held the Heavenly Court's power accepted the Reform, they might fall; they might be undone by their political rivals.

And even if they did not reincarnate, they would have to rewrite their own cultivation arts, to comprehend them all over again, to start from the beginning once more.

The Reform consumed too much strength and too much time. What if some newcomer of the younger generation surpassed them in the interim? What if some newcomer took their place?

How could they be willing to hand over power and station with open hands?

And to ignore the Reform would mean new gods replacing the old, gods stronger than these old ones, more driven, who would sooner or later overthrow their rule, just as they themselves had overthrown the rule of the ancient gods.

Therefore the simplest course was to brand the Reform as treason, its followers as rebels against Heaven and Dao, as a thing that must be strangled at birth.

Only thus could they guarantee that they would never fall, that their rule would endure, that those who came after would have no chance to take their place.

And yet, even understanding all this, Que Jingxue and the others still faced a dilemma.

Should they cultivate the Heavenly River Divine Treasury? Should they accept the Jingping Reform?

Refuse, and they would one day die on the battlefield; the benefits of the Heavenly River Divine Treasury were unmatched by the traditional divine treasury of the Divine Bridge, and should they ever meet on the battlefield one who had opened such a treasury, they would surely be slain by him.

Accept, and their own sect would be the first to cast them out. The elders who had raised them would in an instant turn a new face upon them, put them to death, and drag their clans down with them.

Qi Jiuyi came in from outside and sat down in silence, saying nothing.

A faint smell of blood hung about him.

Everyone in the pavilion was startled. Just now Qi Jiuyi had said he would see off the few who were leaving; now he carried the reek of blood on him, and those few had most likely met with disaster.

Shen Mu's look asked the question; Qi Jiuyi said calmly, "It is all taken care of. The Heavenly Court sent them here for no other purpose than to kill Heavenly Venerable Mu, so it is only fitting that they died at Heavenly Venerable Mu's hand."

Shen Mu frowned. "Why did you have to kill them? Letting them go would have been enough."

Qi Jiuyi sneered. "Let them go? Sect Master Shen, you mean to use their mouths to sow disorder in the Heavenly Court, don't you? You underestimate the Heavenly Court. Once they had gone, every young one who came to the Jade Pool today would have died inexplicably, not one of them left alive, myself included."

Que Jingxue and the others felt a chill; some were frightened after the fact.

Shen Mu asked with concern, "Then, Brother Qi, was it done cleanly?"

"Soul and spirit scattered utterly. Very clean."

With a trace of arrogance, Qi Jiuyi said, "Sect Master Shen need not doubt my abilities. Since I opened the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, I am no longer what I was. Their arts and divine powers are all outdated; once I might not have been their match, but now they cannot withstand a single blow."

Behind him appeared a nine-headed phoenix soaring above the Heavenly River, its nine heads proud and untamable, savage beyond measure. "They were killed by Heavenly Venerable Mu. They challenged Heavenly Venerable Mu, never imagining that Heavenly Venerable Mu was so ferocious as to annihilate their souls outright. Surely Heavenly Venerable Mu does not mind taking that charge upon himself?"

Shen Mu smiled. "I do not mind. I can bear it."

Qi Jiuyi swept his gaze around, his eyes growing fiercer. "You may all rest easy. They are dead by my hand; even if you cultivate the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, no one will know."

A young man's voice trembled. "And if one of us does not cultivate the Heavenly River Divine Treasury?"

Qi Jiuyi said no more. Behind him the nine-headed phoenix spread its wings, flames blazing.

The man said in despair, "Once we open the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, we cannot hide it from our fellow disciples, much less from our master. My master is a Heavenly King of the Heavenly Court."

Yun Jianli said abruptly, "You can go to the Yuan Realm."

Everyone was startled, not understanding why he had said such a thing so suddenly.

Yun Jianli said, "Going to the Yuan Realm is a way to live, to escape the scrutiny of your sects. And in the lower realm there is the Jingping Reform; you can draw far more of its strengths there. Since I have witnessed Heavenly Venerable Mu's abilities, I too wish to walk a while in the lower realm. To remain in the Heavenly Court is to sit at the bottom of a well and call it the sky; you never see the true heaven and earth. We who wield divine powers are also seekers of the Dao. Since the Heavenly Court is dead and stagnant, since the high gods cling to their offices and think only of their own gain, staying here we can see no hope at all. Better to simply descend to the lower realm!"

Que Jingxue rose and made to leave, giggling. "Heavenly Venerable Mu, Yun Jianli, and you, the savage fellow with nine heads — we shall meet again in the Yuan Realm!"

Suddenly she stopped, turned, and looked with a half-smile at a youth in yellow robes who had been silent all this while in the pavilion. "Prince Jade, you are of the imperial house; you cannot possibly support the Reform, can you? Nor can you cultivate the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, can you?"

The yellow-robed youth's face changed drastically. He rose at once, wary. "Senior Sister Jingxue, what are you saying? Even if my cultivation were higher still, I could never sit upon the throne. The Heavenly Emperor is ageless, deathless, imperishable; naturally I mean to rebel. I support the Reform!"

"Well said. And yet I do not trust you."

Que Jingxue smiled. "Friends of the Azure Splendor List and the Divine Elegance List — we all need a little blood on our hands before we can trust one another. Otherwise, if word of our cultivating the Heavenly River Divine Treasury gets out, not one of us will live."

The people in the pavilion rose in silence.

The yellow-robed youth knew things had gone wrong. At once he shot into the air, trying to break through the roof of the Manhui Corridor Pavilion and escape from above.

In the instant he moved, almost everyone in the Manhui Corridor Pavilion struck at once. Shadows flickered, and who knows how many divine powers burst forth in that instant, blasting the yellow-robed youth to powder and splintered bone.

His soul did not escape either; it was beaten out of existence by them, spirit and all.

They landed, robes flapping, and it was long before calm returned.

Shen Mu, Qi Jiuyi, and Yun Jianli watched it all in silence. They did not stop it, nor did they speak.

Que Jingxue wiped the bloodstains from her hands and looked deeply at Shen Mu, probing. "Prince Jade challenged Heavenly Venerable Mu, and was slain by Heavenly Venerable Mu in the Manhui Corridor Pavilion."

Shen Mu nodded. "I killed him."

"Thank you, Heavenly Venerable, for granting us this."