Chapter 937 — The Lord of Creation of the Heavenly Palace

Yun Jianli's primordial spirit gazed at that altar of divine sense within his primordial-embryo spirit treasury—Shen Mu's divine sense had actually condensed into a solid object, and such powerful divine sense he had never seen before.

"Because of the great bloodline curse I cannot live to the moment when I become a god, and that is why I do not fear death. But when death truly comes, I am afraid all the same." He could not help laughing.

Outside, an even more dreadful surge of power rolled in, and fire came flying from some unknown place, like an incomparably colossal firebird racing through the darkness.

On the pavilion, the plump dragon-sparrow that Yan'er had become could not resist hopping and cheering, bouncing to and fro until she nearly crushed the pavilion.

The place grew ever more chaotic as new and overbearing beings kept joining the battle.

In the darkness another Heaven Gate of the Nether Capital rose slowly from the Yao Sea, and a scroll of the Book of Life and Death flew out from the gate, blazing with light, shining toward this side.

Scarcely had the Book of Life and Death appeared when, behind the island where the Manhui Corridor Pavilion stood, an enormous dragon head thrust up; its long neck arched over the island, and the dragon head planted itself before the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, letting the Book of Life and Death shine upon it as it would.

The giant dragon breathed out, and thunder crashed ten thousand li into the Heaven Gate of the Nether Capital.

Suddenly an ancient tree fell from the sky and crashed down upon the dragon's head. The dragon's head was pressed down into the Yao Sea, and it rolled its body away, avoiding the island lest it crush the people there to death.

The giant dragon coiled around the old tree and locked it fast; the old tree's roots abruptly swelled, climbing over the dragon's body, and they rolled and fought through the sea and the cloud layers.

Yun Jianli, Qi Jiuyi, and the others watched until their eyes dazzled and their spirits reeled, horror rising in their hearts again and again. The island where the Manhui Corridor Pavilion stood was truly too perilous; at any moment it might be smashed into flying ash.

Even so, those who fought were still not the strongest beings. The strongest beings in the Heavenly Court were the Ten Heavenly Venerables!

Those ten, the most powerful beings since the beginning of history!

The diamond-shaped pupil in Shen Mu's brow grew brighter and brighter as he drove the Primordial Stone of the Great Beginning with all his strength; the golden altar he had laid down within Yun Jianli's primordial-embryo spirit treasury abruptly came to life!

The curse within Yun Jianli's bloodline was drawn out thread by thread by that altar, bit by bit pulled from his blood!

And at this moment the sky shook with a thunderous roar; the sound of the Dao filled the heavens, reverberating without cease, for a time drowning out every being in the Yao Sea who fought with hidden face!

This power was so dreadful, so strong, that it left one scarcely able to muster any desire to resist!

Not only were the people on the island startled to the heart; even those dreadful beings locked in slaughter fell still.

In the space of a single turn the Yao Sea fell calm and still; giants hid their faces within the dark clouds, and the sun and the moon rose out of the sea and hid behind the black clouds.

One after another the stars drifted up into the sky and vanished.

The golden light flew off, the golden scroll withdrew, the white banners vanished, the golden needle flew back, the divine dragon sank into the sea, the dark turtle slipped away, leaving only the quiet, peaceful Yao Sea, as though the battle that had all but destroyed heaven and earth had never happened.

The sky was still dense with dark clouds, not a sliver of daylight showing, plunging the Yao Sea into deep darkness; only the Manhui Corridor Pavilion remained brightly lit.

At this moment a figure came walking across the surface of the sea. It was he who had unleashed an aura and presence beyond the Imperial Throne realm, startling everyone back.

He had the strength for it.

If he wished to kill, no one in the Heavenly Court could stop him!

And now he had come to kill!

He still kept his face hidden, unwilling to let his true body be seen.

After all, the one he had come to kill was Heavenly Venerable Mu—a Heavenly Venerable who had taught the method of becoming a god to all living beings, bringing the realm of godhood down into the mundane world.

He did not wish to leave many traces, lest someone with designs seize on a slip and use it to suppress him, or to do away with him.

Now he had no one left to bar his way.

He was already very close to the Manhui Corridor Pavilion.

Yun Jianli hurriedly turned his head and said hoarsely, "Heavenly Venerable Mu!"

Shen Mu, still wholly intent on drawing out the great bloodline curse for him, said calmly, "Be at ease. What came before was merely the foreplay. Now begins the main performance."

Cold sweat broke out on Qi Jiuyi's brow, and despair crept into his heart. Yan'er, too, flew back into the pavilion, ruffling her feathers in unease; from somewhere she produced a lantern, and even holding it up she was still trembling.

This was the lantern Heavenly Venerable Yue had given her, and within it was hidden Heavenly Venerable Yue's divine power. Yet whether that power could save their lives, Yan'er had no confidence at all.

Only Long Qilin still lay sprawled at the foot of the pavilion, eyes squinting, dozing.

Then light shone up from beneath the surface of the sea.

The man abruptly halted and lowered his head to look beneath the sea's surface.

Beneath the surface a paper boat was sailing right under the soles of his feet, following him like his own reflection, and on that paper boat an old man carried a storm lantern.

The man stopped; the paper boat stopped too.

In the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, Shen Mu smiled and said, "Would you all care to witness two beings who have cultivated to the incomplete Heavenly Court realm cross blows?"

"No!"

Qi Jiuyi said without hesitation, "Not for all the world! This situation is already beyond saving!"

Sweat rolled down his brow in cold beads, and his heart was filled with utter despair.

The old Yin Courier, the Heaven-Equaling Benevolent Sage King of Youdu, was also Heavenly Venerable You among the Nine Heavenly Venerables of the Longhan era, the opener and creator of the Life-Death Spirit Treasury!

Who the other might be, none could say—but he was certainly a Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Court.

If two Heavenly Venerables fought a great battle here, what dreadful turmoil would it raise?

To say nothing of a little pavilion, a little Manhui Corridor Pavilion, a little island—it was doubtful even the Yao Pond could be preserved, and perhaps the whole Heavenly Court would be smashed into fragments!

The man did not make his move. He only looked at the calm sea; beneath its surface the paper boat floated quietly in another world, as though that side were the sea's surface and this side the sea's floor.

On the paper boat Heavenly Venerable You was silent, making no move at all.

Both sides had their misgivings; neither wished lightly to break this balance, nor to shatter the Yao Pond—or even the Heavenly Court itself—into pieces.

At that very moment Shen Mu at last drew out all of the great bloodline curse from within the body of Heavenly Venerable Yun: a blood-colored divine sense, which he forcibly bound upon the altar within Yun Jianli's primordial-embryo spirit treasury.

Shen Mu let out a breath of relief—when suddenly the blood-colored divine sense upon the altar congealed and became a hazy, indistinct figure, which gave a strange, unfathomable laugh: "Heh heh heh, which Creator is it that has pulled out my great bloodline curse? I never imagined there was another Creator in the Heavenly Court besides myself..."