Chapter 939 — Song and Dance to Celebrate the Peace

Though Heavenly Venerable Moon was a cripple, her legs long since ruined, she was, after all, the most ancient of the Heavenly Venerables.

Even though she had lived in seclusion for many years, she was not to be slighted.

The space around Yaochi had been crushed by those dreadful beings until it was all but shattered through; only the stretch of space about the island where the Manhui Corridor Pavilion stood remained something like a safe harbor. Standing on the island and looking out, one saw space broken into countless fragments, whirling into a dreadful spatial storm; and those fearsome beings stood motionless amid the broken torrents of space.

The sight was too terrible; it gave Shen Mu and the others a kind of illusion, as though the world outside had already been destroyed and only their lone island was left. "If a war of the Heavenly Venerables breaks out, I fear the Heavenly Court will be utterly destroyed.

" Shen Mu kicked the still-sleeping Dragon Qilin and thought with regret, "A pity it will not come to blows. " The Dragon Qilin woke, glanced around, and said in surprise, "Hierarch, it is not over yet?

" Shen Mu nodded, and the Dragon Qilin flopped back down to sleep.

Yun Jianli laughed.

"This fellow is blessed; he can actually sleep through this.

" The Dragon Qilin opened his heavy-lidded eyes and rumbled, "If the sky falls, the Hierarch will hold it up.

If the Hierarch dies, I die too; better to simply sleep.

" Everyone laughed, speechless. Yet on reflection, there was real sense in the Dragon Qilin's words.

The present situation was far beyond their control; even Shen Mu, the chief culprit who had set off this rending of the Heavenly Court's order, could not steer its course now.

However much they cared about the situation, they had no means to change it, so worry was useless.

Whereas the Dragon Qilin, at such a juncture of life and death, could still sleep; that was a truly enviable ability. "Heavenly Venerable-level beings have now reached ten, six of them of the Heavenly Court.

" Yun Jianli analyzed, "That being so, the Heavenly Court still has four Heavenly Venerables, and still holds an overwhelming advantage.

Heavenly Venerable Mu, the situation has not truly turned bright and hopeful.

If a few more Heavenly Venerables appear, do you have reinforcements?

Will Heavenly Venerable Shen appear? " Shen Mu smiled faintly. "Kaihuang keeps watch in the Land of No Sorrows; he would not appear before, and he will not appear now.

Besides, who says the remaining four Heavenly Venerables are certain not to help me? " Nearby, Yun Chuxiu was slightly startled and looked toward him, thoughtful.

Of the Heavenly Court's ten Heavenly Venerables, Hao, Huo, Xiao, Zu, Lang, Qiang, Yan, Hong, Xu, and Gong, only the Ancestral God King had revealed his true face; the rest had never shown their true countenances, lest they leave their political enemies evidence of the murder of Heavenly Venerable Mu.

And among them the Empress was hidden, one who aided Shen Mu. The Empress aided Shen Mu because Lady Yuanmu's corpse was in his hands; she feared her sister's revival, and so had no choice but to lend her help. Shen Mu declared with certainty that others would still come to his aid; so which of the ten Heavenly Venerables would that be?

The Heavenly Court's ten Heavenly Venerables had never been a single body.

In the past they had bickered and tripped one another up; not long ago Heavenly Venerable Hao had ridden the mightiest divine artifact down to the lower realm, and had only been forced back, so that the Yuan Realm fell into another's hands.

Another Heavenly Venerable came walking over; even the island where the Manhui Corridor Pavilion stood could not bear it, and its edges began to collapse, the rocks crumbling ceaselessly into dust.

The palace maids on the island screamed in alarm and fell back, surging toward the Manhui Corridor Pavilion, lest they be ground away by the Heavenly Venerables' dreadful aura.

Though the Manhui Corridor Pavilion where Shen Mu lodged stood by the sea, with Tiangong, Tubo, the Empress and others secretly guarding it, it would not be touched for the moment. But this Heavenly Venerable's arrival once more broke the balance; the island beneath them could not hold long before it was ground into ash, and they with it reduced to powder, their souls scattered!

Then another Heavenly Venerable descended, coming to Yaohai. His arrival restored the balance, and the island stopped crumbling.

"Among the ten Heavenly Venerables, there is even one who stands against the Heavenly Court!

" A Heavenly Venerable whose face was hidden in layer upon layer of radiance laughed coldly. "In vain we called one another fellow Daoists; who would have thought a man's face may be known but not his heart.

But you are, after all, the minority! " Then another Heavenly Venerable arrived, the balance broke once more, and the island resumed collapsing!

Yet hardly had this Heavenly Venerable halted his steps when another Heavenly Venerable came walking up; the balance was restored again, and the island's collapse stopped at once.

The Heavenly Court's ten Heavenly Venerables, all present!

Add Tiangong, Tubo, Heavenly Venerable You, and Heavenly Venerable Moon: fourteen supreme powerhouses in all!

Yun Jianli was filled with emotion and sighed, "A scene like this is rarely seen, a grand spectacle such as never was. Fourteen Heavenly Venerable-level beings; if they came to blows, it would be a magnificence without precedent!

" "Magnificent, my ass!

" Qi Jiuyi was beside himself, spittle flying everywhere, and raged, "Right now we should be begging and pleading, praying above all that they do not lift a hand!

If they do, we will all die quick and clean!

Second Brother, damn you, you are still asleep!

How to bring this to an end is the problem! " Shen Mu spoke suddenly.

"By my reckoning, only His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor, who rules the whole Heavenly Court, can stop this strife.

Perhaps the Heavenly Emperor's decree will soon arrive here. " Everyone felt a chill; the Heavenly Emperor was, after all, still lord of the Heavenly Court, and all the gods, ancient gods and Heavenly Venerables alike, were his subjects. Though the Heavenly Emperor had not concerned himself with governance for years, having handed the court's affairs to the ten Heavenly Venerables; though Tubo, Tiangong and the rest seldom obeyed his dispatches, he was, after all, still the nominal sovereign of the Heavenly Court.

Were he to intervene, he could surely halt this strife. Yet Shen Mu and the Empress both knew full well that the nominal sovereign of the Heavenly Court, the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, had died back in the Longhan era; the reason the Heavenly Court still kept the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor as its nominal ruler was simply the division of interests among the ten Heavenly Venerables.

Without the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, which of the ten would be Heavenly Emperor?

They must maintain the identity of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, continuing to weaken the ancient gods' power while swelling their own; only when one's own strength and following towered over the other nine could one depose the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor and take the throne for oneself. Until then, none of the ten would be the first to expose the fact that the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was dead; they would still acknowledge him as sovereign of all under heaven.

As for Yun Jianli, he did not know the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was dead; the Yun family had not handed this matter down.

For the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor's death was too great a matter; had the Yun family passed it down, the Yun family would long ago have been extinguished, and would never have become one of the Heavenly Court's great clans. Sometimes only ignorance permits survival; this was an unwritten rule in the Heavenly Court. Suddenly a voice broke the deadlock over Yaohai.