Chapter 938 — Tearing Apart the Heavenly Court

In that instant, even Shen Mu felt his scalp go numb, as though he were plunging into an abyss.

The Court Realm might remain incomplete, but it was still a supreme realm, and even an incomplete supreme realm was a thing of terrible dread.

Yet Heavenly Venerable You might not prove a match for that mysterious figure upon the sea.

Over the years, the Heavenly Court had been ceaselessly amassing the arts of the Imperial Thrones, intending to combine them all into a complete Court Art. Though they had not yet succeeded in forging that complete art, they had nonetheless accumulated an immense trove of techniques.

Heavenly Venerable You, however, had long since leapt clear of the Heavenly Court's circles of power, withdrawing to Youdu.

True, the Imperial Throne powerhouses who had fallen in battle across history were far from few, and some of their souls had returned to Youdu after death; Heavenly Venerable You might well have obtained no small number of Throne Arts there. Yet for a long time now, the Heavenly Court had been steadily eroding Youdu's purpose—as when they commanded the Black Emperor, Yin Tianzi, to forge the Nether Capital, an act meant not merely to weaken Tubo but also to intercept a portion of the souls of fallen Imperial Throne beings.

Thus it was impossible for Heavenly Venerable You to forge a complete Court Realm art.

Add to that the sheer overwhelming resources the Heavenly Court commanded, with the Dao Ancestor's classical arts of number deducing the Great Dao runes of every ancient god—without those ancient god runes, Heavenly Venerable You could not possibly be a match for the mystic upon the sea.

And what was more, another Heavenly Venerable–level existence had descended!

Cold sweat broke out on Shen Mu's forehead.

He had thought his rescuer would be the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor. Had the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor made his move, tearing apart the Heavenly Court would have been simplicity itself.

He had never imagined Heavenly Venerable You would concern himself so deeply with Shen Mu's safety as to intervene personally.

His heart was moved—yet at the same time, he feared for Heavenly Venerable You's safety.

Heavenly Venerable You and the mystic upon the sea erupted almost simultaneously. Heavenly Venerable You raised his horse-lantern and brought it down with a heavy strike; in an instant sea and sky changed color, the entire Yaohai seeming to flip over in a single revolution. The next moment Yaohai vanished from the Heavenly Court and appeared within a vast, dark, boundless world.

The Court's Yaotai and Yaohai had been forcibly dragged by him into Youdu itself!

At the same time, the mystic upon the sea made his move. Behind him, heavenly palaces rose one after another, touching sky and earth, rumbling forth until they formed a vast, boundless Heavenly Court!

Simultaneously, another figure appeared upon the surface of the Yaohai within Youdu. Light burst forth behind him, and heavenly palaces emerged—likewise an incomplete Heavenly Court.

The two Heavenly Venerables lifted their feet as one and stamped down heavily upon the surface of Yaohai. Space convulsed violently, and the sheer pressure forced Yaohai back into the Heavenly Court once more!

"Heavenly Venerable You absolutely cannot hold off both of them at once!"

Shen Mu struck without hesitation. He forcibly erased the Creator's consciousness upon the altar, then rose abruptly to his feet as a beam of light shot from the center of his brow.

Qi Jiuyi, Yun Jianli, and the others were startled, unable to fathom his intent. They thought Shen Mu had swallowed a bear's heart and a leopard's gall and meant to attack those two Heavenly Venerables.

But unexpectedly, the divine light from the third eye in Shen Mu's brow shone toward Yun Chuxiu's direction—which bewildered the two of them all the more.

The light from Shen Mu's brow burst forth, and a coffin appeared at Yun Chuxiu's feet. Yun Chuxiu gave a cry of alarm and hastily retreated two steps.

Shen Mu flicked his sleeve. The coffin opened with a bang, and divine light swirled within.

Yun Chuxiu's heart lurched. She saw the corpse within the coffin.

Shen Mu strode toward the coffin and said in a low voice, "If Heavenly Venerable You cannot hold them off, then I will perform the Soul-Guiding Pull, summon the soul of this corpse's owner, reshape her spirit and soul, and bring her back to life!"

Yun Chuxiu shot him a glance, and it happened that Shen Mu's gaze turned toward her at that very moment.

Their eyes met. Yun Chuxiu tittered and said, "The Great Dharma Master is indeed the Great Dharma Master."

Having said this, she spoke no more. Just then, the sky convulsed violently once again—another Heavenly Venerable had descended, his aura exploding, a succession of heavenly palaces emerging, Dao-notes reverberating without end!

But this Heavenly Venerable was not targeting Heavenly Venerable You—he was targeting the two Heavenly Venerables from before.

Those two Heavenly Venerables were both taken aback, scarcely able to believe it.

Yet they had both concealed their true faces, unwilling to bear the crime of slaying the Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, and so at this moment they could not tell who this suddenly appeared Heavenly Venerable was either.

Shen Mu breathed a sigh of relief, closed the coffin, and sent it back into the Shen-character continent within his eye, then watched the situation with anxious urgency.

Yun Chuxiu came to his side and watched the situation on Yaohai with him. Her voice was like a mosquito's drone: "You know who I am now?"

Shen Mu nodded slightly, his voice exceedingly faint: "I know. On the Ghost Ship, I once summoned the soul of Your Highness."

Yun Chuxiu burst into a giggle. "This palace has been wondering all along who it was that summoned this palace's soul several hundred thousand years ago. Later I heard of a Great Dharma Master of Ten Thousand Kalpas Without Extinction, and I guessed it was you—and indeed it was."

Shen Mu laughed heartily.

Yun Chuxiu lowered her brows, bashful and shy, twisting the hem of her garment, looking like a maiden plunged into first love. She whispered, "Put my little sister's corpse away properly, or I shall not forgive you! The other ancient gods need your soul-shaping art, but this palace does not. This palace's soul and spirit are whole and complete, and I have already leapt free of the ancient gods' physical husk!"

In the pavilion, Qi Jiuyi and Yun Jianli witnessed this scene, and their hearts could not help but fill with waves of sourness.

Though Yun Jianli knew the woman meant no good, a sour tang still rose in his heart despite himself—a touch of jealousy.

They had no idea that Shen Mu and Yun Chuxiu were not lovers at all—quite the contrary, it was a most perilous game!

Shen Mu had merely seized upon "Yun Chuxiu's" tender spot, threatening her with the resurrection of Lady Yuanmu; and though "Yun Chuxiu" helped Shen Mu escape his predicament, she too was threatening him.

Yet Shen Mu had at last been able to confirm a conjecture in his heart: that the Empress's little sister, Lady Yuanmu, had indeed died—and had died at the Empress's own hand.

The assassination attempt upon the Empress during the Longhan Era had been one of the great unsolved mysteries—and now it could be closed.

Yet one point remained in doubt: why was Heavenly Venerable Ling's hairpin lodged in the back of Lady Yuanmu's skull?

By Shen Mu's deduction, the Empress had already reached an agreement with the Heaven Alliance back then. When she returned home to visit her kin, she incited the Longbo Kingdom to rebel and besieged Guixu.

The Heavenly Emperor dispatched the Feathered Forest Army to the rescue. In Wei Suifeng's presence, the Empress created the illusion of another Empress assassinating the Empress, making the world believe the dead woman was herself.