Chapter 953 — Where the Mind Reaches, All Becomes Real

The Divine Martial Army was one of the Heavenly Court's Ten Guards, ranked with the Feathered Forest Army; only the mightiest gods and demons were chosen to fill its ranks, every one of them tested in a hundred battles! He had seen the soldiers of the Feathered Forest Army on the ghost ship — nearly every god and demon there was a dreadful being of the Jade Capital realm, or stronger still!

That the Empress should lead one of the Guards, the Divine Martial Army, to explore the Great Void — her purpose must have been not exploration but conquest! "The Great Void is a ruin within this cosmos, a zone of radiance.

But once you enter it, you find a different world hidden within. " Yun Chuxiu leaned on his shoulder, recalling the past, and said softly: "Then, after we entered that zone of radiance, strange things happened again and again — grotesque and bizarre occurrences, imagined creatures, endless and unceasing.

" She knit her brows: "We were assailed by every kind of uncanny event and suffered grievous losses; not one in ten of the Divine Martial Army survived. Even I and the two Celestial Masters were gravely wounded. It was only later that Celestial Master Yue suddenly awoke to the truth, and fathomed the secret of the Great Void.

It is this: what the mind conceives becomes reality. " Shen Mu's heart quivered: "What the mind conceives becomes reality? Celestial Master Yue means. .

.

" "He means that what attacked us and killed the soldiers of the Divine Martial Army were in truth the great horrors conceived in our own minds. The things we dread become real in the Great Void. " Yun Chuxiu said: "Someone imagined being struck dead by lightning, and truly a dreadful thunder came.

Someone imagined a demon god with a thousand heads and ten thousand arms slaying him, and truly such a demon god appeared. Someone feared the sky would fall and the earth would sink, and truly the sky fell and the earth sank and stars plunged from the heavens. Great horrors came upon us without cease, until the mightiest army of the Heavenly Court was scattered and routed, and we had to turn back without ever seeing the true face of the Great Void. In the end, of all who walked out of the Great Void alive, I alone remained — and I was gravely wounded, at death's door. The two Celestial Masters. . . " She sighed, and said bleakly: "Both Celestial Masters were beings of surpassing wisdom, great masters at the perfection of the Imperial Throne — and yet neither came out alive.

" Shen Mu narrowed his eyes. What Yun Chuxiu described was terrible indeed.

Was the Great Void truly such a dreadful place?

"What great horror wounded Your Highness?

" Shen Mu asked.

"The Heavenly Emperor.

The true Heavenly Emperor. " A look of dread came over Yun Chuxiu's face, and her voice rasped a little: "Though I killed him, he is also what I fear most! In the Great Void he appeared again and came killing toward us, and I was afraid.

.

. " She shuddered several times, cold with terror. Shen Mu said suddenly: "Then how did the two Celestial Masters and the other survivors die? Since Celestial Master Yue had fathomed the secret of the Great Void, knowing that what the mind conceives becomes reality, he must have kept everyone's minds empty of thought. For beings such as they, that should not have been difficult.

Why did they all die in the Great Void, and Your Highness alone come out alive? " Yun Chuxiu showed a smile of pure innocence, lovely enough to stir the heart; she even puffed out her chest, the cloth at her collar drawn taut, her charms straining to burst forth, and said with a laugh: "What is Heavenly Venerable Mu trying to say? " Shen Mu paid no heed to her alluring manner, and said with a faint smile: "What I mean to say is that in such great terror, the surviving soldiers of the Divine Martial Army had already lost their reason, panicked and unmoored; and Your Highness could not know the thoughts of others, so the surest path to self-preservation was to kill the others, so that they could think no more.

What the mind conceives becomes reality — once they were dead, they could conceive nothing more. " His gaze fixed hard upon the girl's fair face, and word by word he said: "And so Your Highness killed them. And Your Highness did not trust the two Celestial Masters either, and so killed them as well. By this means alone did Your Highness walk alive out of the Great Void. " Yun Chuxiu giggled, her bosom heaving in waves: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you and I are indeed of one kind! You guessed at once how I left the Great Void.

Perhaps you and I are truly a pair! " Shen Mu paid no heed to her seductions, and said indifferently: "Your Highness, we are not a pair, nor could we ever be of one kind. I will never abandon my companions, still less strike a deadly blow against them!

It is only because I have seen too much darkness that I can guess at Your Highness's scorpion heart. " Yun Chuxiu sneered: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you are too much the idealist. They were not my companions, only slaves and servants.

Either they died or I died — so it could only be they. When you reach the Great Void and face the same straits I faced, your choice will be as mine! You and I are fellow travelers, now and always! Even if we are not now, in time you will become as I am!

" Shen Mu frowned. The tower ship sailed out of the Northern Heavenly Gate and passed over the Heavenly River. Below lay the Heavenly Court's military encampment, Beiluo Shimen. There were stationed gods and demons and warships beyond counting; world upon world encircled the stars around Beiluo Shimen, and these worlds nourished Beiluo Shimen, supplying the grain and stores the barracks required. Shen Mu gazed at the encampment, its divine light surging to the heavens, vast across a million li. The Heavenly Court was too powerful.

Never mind the Ten Guards — Beiluo Shimen alone could annihilate Jingping ten thousand times over!

"Ever since I revealed the secret of the Great Void, the Heavenly Court has devised all manner of methods to keep its mind empty of thought. Among them the Buddhist art of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is the most famed. " Yun Chuxiu said: "Neither-perception-nor-non-perception lets one's thoughts dwell between having and not having, so that the Great Void cannot turn one's thoughts into reality. This is the art created by Great Brahma.

Have you studied it?

" Shen Mu shook his head. Yun Chuxiu showed a bewitching smile, gazing at a smear of radiance that appeared in the dark starry sky.

Luo Wushuang walked toward them and said in a low voice: "Then, Heavenly Venerable, what do you fear most? " Shen Mu turned to look at him and smiled: "I have the Overlord Body; there is no terror in my heart. What does Divine Blade Luo fear most?

" "With the divine blade in my hand, I fear nothing," Luo Wushuang said indifferently.