Chapter 946 — Gazing Into That Abyss

Shen Mu's heart stirred. He opened the vertical eye at his brow and examined it closely, and at that moment Shu Jun's voice came into his mind: "This is the Emperor Seal of the Great Emperor Juyu! A treasure condensed from the divine consciousness of the Great Emperor Juyu!"

With his third eye Shen Mu looked, and at once discovered what was strange about the Emperor Seal.

This Emperor Seal, a substance condensed from incomparably powerful divine consciousness, became in the sight of his third eye an emperor standing tall enough to prop up heaven and earth, standing in the palm of his hand!

Shen Mu's gaze fell upon that emperor, and at once he felt his own divine consciousness assailed!

In a single instant his divine consciousness was driven back into his body, back to the space between his brows, squeezed until it nearly collapsed!

Shen Mu hastened to shut the eye at his brow, and Shu Jun's voice went on: "How could a treasure of the Great Emperor Juyu fall here? This Emperor Seal symbolizes the authority of the Juyu clan. In those years the envoys of Juyu carried the Great Emperor Seal to every corner of the cosmos, and any race that would not submit was annihilated by it! When the Great Emperor Seal came forth, corpses lay for ten thousand li, and none dared disobey! But the Great Emperor Juyu ought to have died amid the siege of the ancient gods. Why should his Great Emperor Seal appear again?"

Shen Mu's divine consciousness had been battered until his head felt about to split; only after a while did he feel it recover somewhat. He said, "Shu Jun, how is the might of the Great Emperor Seal to be unleashed?"

Shu Jun laughed aloud. "Give me all your blood and breath and divine consciousness for the next three years, and I will teach you how to rouse the power of the Great Emperor Seal. The Great Emperor Seal is exceedingly mighty; in those years it slew and suppressed countless Creators. Even a clan chief, even an ancient god jointly built by millions of clansmen, could scarcely withstand this treasure's power! Only give me your blood and breath and divine consciousness for the next three years, and I can make you master this power!"

"Never mind."

Shen Mu paid him no further heed. He tossed the Great Emperor Seal up and caught it, and said to himself, "What deeper meaning did Heavenly Venerable Yun have in leaving this Great Emperor Seal behind? The box left for Kaihuang held a map of the Great Void; the box left for me holds the Great Emperor Seal. I fear there is some connection between these two things..."

The Dao Ancestor said in surprise, "Heavenly Venerable Mu knows the name of this treasure seal?"

Shen Mu put the Great Emperor Seal away and laughed. "A little. This Great Emperor Seal was condensed by the prehistoric Great Emperor Juyu from his divine consciousness. Its power is great, but how it is to be roused, I do not know. The Dao Ancestor and Heavenly Venerable Yun must have been on good terms?"

The Dao Ancestor nodded. "In those years, after this old Dao had achieved something and made a name among the human race, Heavenly Venerable Yun sought me out and questioned me about my attainments in the arts of calculation. He spoke with me long, and told me that by means of my Dao of calculation the great Dao of the ancient gods could be deciphered, and their rule overthrown."

He recounted it all in detail, telling the whole story of how Heavenly Venerable Yun had come to him.

At that time Heavenly Venerable Yun was already the Heavenly Emperor of the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, nominally subordinate to the Longhan Heavenly Court, ruling all the acquired living beings of the mortal world on behalf of the ancient god Heavenly Emperor.

The Longxiao Heavenly Court, by contrast, was ruled by Heavenly Venerable Hao, its Heavenly Emperor, who governed every demigod race under heaven.

The two Heavenly Courts slaughtered one another year after year; the war between demigods and acquired living beings never ceased, and that war between races endured for tens of thousands of years of the Longhan era, with none knew how many dead.

Yet in name both Heavenly Courts were branches of the Longhan Heavenly Court, and the ancient gods still ruled the whole world. The war between demigods and acquired living beings made the rule of the ancient gods utterly secure, and both Xiaohan and Longxiao still offered sacrifice and tribute to the ancient gods.

If sacrifice and tribute were not offered, the ancient gods of the Longhan Heavenly Court would descend and aid the other side in the war, punishing any force that defied the Longhan Heavenly Court, and truly rivers of blood flowed and bones piled into mountains.

It was under such circumstances that Heavenly Venerable Yun sought out the Dao Ancestor, already of some renown, and invited him to join the Heaven Alliance.

At that time the Dao Ancestor was attempting to use the arts of calculation to analyze the various great Daos of the world. He was proficient in every kind of divine power, only his fighting strength was not high; it was merely that he had learned a great many divine powers.

In that age of suffering, geniuses were as countless as the blazing stars, and those of great fighting strength were not few; the Dao Ancestor and the Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha were unremarkable among them.

When Heavenly Venerable Yun told the Dao Ancestor that his arts of calculation could decipher the great Dao of the ancient gods, and thereby utterly overthrow the rule of the ancient gods and end the world's suffering, the Dao Ancestor was startled, and could not believe his words.

At that time the Dao Ancestor had already parted ways with the Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha, each living his own life, each with his own disciples and followers.

Yet Heavenly Venerable Yun made him believe that this could be done, that mortals too could fathom the wellspring of the ancient gods' power, and even obtain that wellspring.

So the Dao Ancestor began to carry out Heavenly Venerable Yun's plan, ceaselessly deciphering the great Dao of the ancient gods, and this work went on for five or six hundred thousand years.

To this day, he had basically mapped out the great Dao of the ancient gods.

"But I too have sensed the changes in the world's affairs, and the ancient gods of today are no longer the threat between heaven and earth."

The Dao Ancestor sat staring blankly, then suddenly said, "It is the Heaven Alliance instead that has taken the ancient gods' place as the world's threat. I am only a researcher, one who asks nothing of worldly affairs. I never foresaw such a state of things, and do not know what to do. That is why, when I learned last time in Qingyun Heaven that Heavenly Venerable Mu had come, I took the risk of sending you to the Shoucang Pavilion, hoping to pass on the great Dao of the ancient gods to you and bring about some change."

Shen Mu thanked him, and said, "Why did the Dao Ancestor pass on the great Dao of the ancient gods in the Shoucang Pavilion to the ancient god Heavenly Emperor?"

The Dao Ancestor hesitated, then said, "That too was Heavenly Venerable Yun's idea."

Shen Mu was startled.

"In that final period, Heavenly Venerable Yun seemed to know his life was near its end, and so he told me that the Heaven Alliance had already slipped beyond control, and needed an enemy. He sensed that among the Heaven Alliance there was one who might be the ancient god Heavenly Emperor, and told me to keep close to him."

The Dao Ancestor said, "He had no strength to settle the Heaven Alliance; he could do only this, let the Heaven Alliance split, lest it become a monstrous colossus. It is a pity; the Heaven Alliance still became the very thing he dreaded."