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

Que Jingxue bowed to the ground before Shen Mu, then rose and departed.

The others too bowed to Shen Mu one after another and took their leave.

Soon only Shen Mu, Qi Jiuyi, Yun Jianli, and a few others remained in the pavilion; outside the door Yan'er and the Dragon Qilin kept watch.

Shen Mu was the first to break the silence, sighing. "When I came to the Heavenly Court, my thought was to kill a few to establish my authority, to make a great disturbance here. I never imagined that I would kill no one at all, and instead take so many lives upon my back."

Yun Jianli coughed a few times, the black qi at his brow grown darker. "That is precisely where Heavenly Venerable Mu's skill lies. In one stroke you have dug away more than twenty geniuses from the Azure Splendor List and the Divine Elegance List. They are talents the Heavenly Kings, Heavenly Venerables, and ancient gods of the Heavenly Court spent untold pains to cultivate; you turned them, and turned them so that they had no choice but to turn. I cannot help wondering, Heavenly Venerable: what do you do in the Yuan Realm?"

Shen Mu's interest was roused. He turned. "Brother Yun, have you heard of the Heavenly Sacred Cult? You see that Brother Qi always calls me Sect Master Shen; that is because I am the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sacred Cult. Would Brother Yun be interested... "

Yun Jianli laughed heartily, then coughed violently.

Shen Mu's heart tightened. The vertical eye at his brow opened, and after examining him he said, "Since you opened the Heavenly River Divine Treasury, your cultivation and strength have grown greatly, and your death draws nearer by the day."

Yun Jianli laughed. "My death may not be far off, but Heavenly Venerable Mu's death is nearer still. You have many lives upon your back; before long a high god will come to kill you."

Shen Mu said leisurely, "In the Heavenly Court there are many who want me dead, and many who do not. For besides being one of the Three Heroes of the Jingping Overlord Body Reform, and Heavenly Venerable Mu, I am also the Great Mage of Myriad Kalpas Unperishing. When you and I fought, and I used my full strength, those who do not want me dead saw what I can do, and they will do all in their power to protect me. The Heavenly Court, unbreakable, will split in two because of my coming, one into two. The grievance between the two sides will deepen, and little by little come into the open."

Yun Jianli shuddered. After a moment he sighed. "Now at last I know why you, heedless of life or death, insisted on coming to the Heavenly Court. In the Yuan Realm, the Heavenly Court's inner contradictions could still be kept down. But you have come to the Heavenly Court, and its inner contradictions will be stirred up, will erupt, and will split the Heavenly Court apart. From then on the Heavenly Court will never again set its eyes on the lower realm. To quell the outside, one must first settle the inside; they will surely deal with the internal crisis first. Heavenly Venerable Mu, are your schemes so deep?"

Shen Mu smiled ambiguously. "In the lower realm, we call this being an old hand of the rivers and lakes. I was played in the palm of such old hands, until the Jingping Calamity broke out. Now I am merely collecting a little interest."

Outside the door came the Dragon Qilin's voice. "Sect Master, Miss Yun Chuxiu is here."

They broke off the subject at once. Shen Mu smiled. "I will have rooms prepared for you and your sister; stay here for the time being."

Yun Chuxiu came into the Manhui Corridor Pavilion. The girl was lively and restless, forever bustling about, forever circling Shen Mu and Yun Jianli, while Qi Jiuyi circled her, to the girl's unending vexation.

Because Yun Jianli's cultivation was deep, his condition grew ever more critical. Shen Mu pressed on with bitter training in the Taiwei Enclosure's Higher Consciousness, strengthening his own spirit-consciousness, making ready to smelt away Yun Jianli's great blood curse.

His spirit-consciousness grew stronger and stronger. Under his improvements, the Taiwei Enclosure's Higher Consciousness cultivated at a speed beyond his imagining.

"Before long, I can try to break Yun Jianli's great blood curse."

Suddenly the sky began to darken, dim and unclear. Something stirred in Shen Mu's heart; he halted his cultivation and strode out of the Manhui Corridor Pavilion. The Manhui Corridor Pavilion was the dwelling of Her Highness the Empress; there it should have been eternal daylight, and the sky could never darken.

Yet now the sun and moon in the heavens were dim and unclear, the stars growing fainter and fainter, and the sky was dusk.

Many palace maids came out of the Manhui Corridor Pavilion too; some hurried off to find lanterns, meaning to hang them up.

Yun Jianli, Yun Chuxiu, Qi Jiuyi and the others came out as well and looked up at the sky.

In the heavens the sun suddenly faded away by degrees, and the moon went dark at once, no moonlight to be seen; one by one the stars vanished, and the night grew thicker.

"Is it like this throughout the Heavenly Court?"

A palace maid cried out loudly, "Or is it only our Jade Pool that has gone dark?"

The other maids were busy lighting lanterns and hanging them up; no one answered her.

More and more lights kindled in the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, striking against the darkness.

Yun Jianli was alarmed. He rushed toward the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, crying, "No! Do not light the lamps! Put out the lanterns, quickly!"

Shen Mu caught hold of him, smiling. "Brother Yun, there is no need for haste. Let us see how each side's strength measures up."

Sweat stood out on Yun Jianli's forehead. Yun Chuxiu, meanwhile, looked curiously all around, and suddenly cried in alarm, "Something is coming into the Jade Sea! Something has entered the Jade Sea from a tributary of the Heavenly River!"

In the darkness, upon the surface of the Jade Sea, the waves suddenly rose high, standing erect in the sky, a wall of water joining heaven and earth, moving at a fearsome speed, straight for the Manhui Corridor Pavilion.

Crack—

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled in the sky, countless bolts bursting forth. At some unknowable moment dark clouds had spread across the sky above the Jade Pool; suddenly firelight appeared within the thunderheads, brighter and brighter, lighting the black clouds as though they would burn.

Then out of the thunderheads and the black clouds thrust the hideous face of a curly-bearded god-king, the thunderbolts seeming to form his beard, spreading in every direction like writhing dragons, indescribably dreadful.

The curly-bearded thunder god-king looked down at the great wave in the Jade Sea below, and suddenly opened his hideous maw and gave a roar that shook heaven and earth, shattering the wave.

A colossal thing rose from the sea, and the cry of a dragon shook the air, like an immense black-green island floating up from the ocean floor.

Shen Mu watched the dreadful prodigies, his eyes brighter and brighter, and softly intoned, "Where shall I find the winning move, to set my stone down upon the Heavenly Court? The Heavenly Court — from tonight, it splits."

Yun Chuxiu, hearing this, suddenly turned to look at him, her gaze complicated.

Shen Mu smiled at her, and Yun Chuxiu answered with a sweet smile.