Chapter 991 — Red Bellyband Supreme (Second Update!)

The "Bellyband Creator" stopped, turned around, and said with a smile, "Is the illustrious Mu Tianzun not also wearing a child's garment? Isn't what you wear underneath a red bellyband?

" He was none other than the "Shen Kai" Shen Mu had encountered in the early years of Longhan—the later Emperor Kai, Shen Ye, the great emperor who inaugurated the Kai Era, the Shen Tianzun of the Heaven Alliance! In those days, Shen Tianzun had been a young man, tall and stalwart, handsome and bright, with an air of one who remains unchanging through all the transformations of heaven and earth.

Now he had become a middle-aged man, yet that singular air remained unchanged. When Shen Mu had seen the "Bellyband Creator" just now, he had recognized him at a glance—because of his air, not his appearance.

Of course, the sight of a middle-aged man wearing a red bellyband, his beard shaved clean yet still shadowed with bluish stubble, was also what drew Shen Mu's gaze.

The other Creators were all enormous in build, making it hard to notice the features of the small "infant," but for Shen Mu it was easy to observe what was amiss. Shen Mu's chest grew hot, and he could not resist wanting to step forward, but Emperor Kai was dressed so revealingly that he dared not approach for an embrace.

"Though this garment of mine is a child's robe, at least it covers my backside. " Shen Mu laughed heartily and said, "What I wear underneath is the real bellyband!

Emperor Kai, your bellyband cannot even cover your backside. " The two drew near.

Emperor Kai pulled off the bellyband from his body, revealing that he was not wearing nothing underneath; the reason he had seemed to be exposing his backside was that his garment's color matched his skin. His garment began to change color, shifting hues like a chameleon, and soon transformed into a purple-blue robe.

"Clothing of the Sky Feather Clan?

" Shen Mu said in surprise. Emperor Kai said, "You know of the Sky Feather Clan too?

After I became Emperor Kai, they made several sets of clothes for me.

" Beneath Shen Mu's bellyband was also clothing made by the Sky Feather Clan, personally tailored by Yu Zhaoqing, and very fitting. At present, the Sky Feather World was occupied by a demon clan under the Heavenly Court's command, and the Sky Feather Clan had thrown in their lot with Jingping.

Yu Zhaoqing had always wanted to reclaim the Sky Feather World, but Jingping's strength was insufficient, making it very difficult to seize it back. Shen Mu came to Emperor Kai's side, opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.

For so long he had dreamed of meeting this ancestor, with countless questions he wanted answered, and a thousand words he wanted to speak to him.

Shen Mu held complex feelings toward this ancestor—from the admiration and reverence when he learned he was a descendant of Emperor Kai, to the heartache and disdain when he learned that he had abandoned the multitudes to hide in the Carefree Land, to the anger at his lack of striving and the desire to perform well before him in hopes of gaining his approval when they met in the early years of Longhan.

And later, when the Jingping Calamity erupted and Emperor Kai ordered the Four Great Celestial Masters and Four Great Heavenly Kings to gather their forces and retreat, Shen Mu felt a deep disappointment in him.

After arriving at the Heavenly Court, Shen Mu began to understand Emperor Kai's decision. Now, seeing Emperor Kai again, all sorts of emotions surged up at once, so that the various words that had reached his lips all seemed unimportant. Whether reproach or admiration, reverence or disappointment, heartache and disdain or understanding and sympathy—none of it mattered anymore.

Shen Mu's gaze was warm and gentle, his expression calm, as he asked with a smile, "A million years since we parted—have you been well?

" Emperor Kai's gaze involuntarily dropped a few inches, as if moved by him, then lifted again to look directly into his eyes. "I have been well enough.

Sometimes life was bitter, sometimes joyful; sometimes making decisions was agonizing, but sometimes hearing news from the outside brought me great comfort. " Shen Mu understood what he meant: the bitter times were the early days of the Kai Era; the joyful times were when they kept growing, expanding territory, and making the lives of the countless beings better and better. The agonizing decision was the choice to migrate to the Carefree Land, abandoning the multitudes they were meant to protect. The comfort from news from the outside was that word of Shen Mu had reached his ears, bringing him great solace.

Shen Mu knew that Emperor Kai had actually been controlling the Kai Emperor's divine beings hidden in the Desolate Ruins; though he was in the Carefree Land, he paid close attention to outside affairs. Emperor Kai's voice seemed to resonate through his chest, deep and powerful: "I never guessed that the Mu Tianzun who charged into the early years of Longhan together with Niu Sanduo was my descendant.

" He could not help but laugh.

"Back then I kept calling you Brother Mu, and I still remember how your face flushed red and you stammered out a rebuke, saying I was not allowed to call you Brother Mu. " Shen Mu also could not hold back his laughter.

"You thought I was being arrogant and conceited, but it never occurred to you that calling me that would muddle the generational hierarchy. " Emperor Kai was silent for a moment, then said, "I have come to take you back, back to the Carefree Land.

My entering this place may fool anyone, but not the God King Langwan; she will soon notice.

Come with me, or it will be too late. " Shen Mu looked at him with complex eyes, and after a moment shook his head. Emperor Kai frowned and said with patience, "Your parents are very worried about you and begged me to rescue you. Only if you come back with me will they be at ease.

" Shen Mu shook his head again. Emperor Kai raised an eyebrow. "You are still as stubborn as before, as unruly, as overbearing, as reckless in your actions.

You have not grown any more mature!

" "You haven't changed either. " Shen Mu said with a sneer, "You are still as cautious and timid as before, looking ahead and behind, wanting absolute certainty before acting, and thus missing one opportunity after another.

Yet you do not know that an enemy never gives you a hundred-percent chance of certain victory. " Their gazes met and collided, and at the same time both felt uncomfortable, feeling that the other was still as irritating as a million years ago.

They looked away, gazing past each other's shoulders. This aversion was not the hatred between enemies, but a subtle feeling between close kin. Shen Mu and Emperor Kai were kin, bound by blood, yet both were exceedingly intelligent and firm in their Dao hearts; no matter how eloquently the other spoke, neither would change his mind.

Both realized the other was such a person, and so could not help but feel aversion, thinking the other hopelessly obstinate, wishing they could give him a beating and pound him awake from his stubbornness. This was also why they had been unable to hold back from fighting at the Jade Pool Gathering in the early years of Longhan after a single disagreement.

"Back then at the Jade Pool, our duel ended without a victor. " Emperor Kai sighed and said, "You are so stubborn that I cannot help wanting to give you a beating.

A million years have passed, and I have advanced greatly; you are no longer my match. You are only thirty-five or thirty-six now, aren't you? Yet I am nearly forty thousand years old.

I have grown far, far more than before.

" Shen Mu extended a palm, fingers spread, and gave him a sidelong look. "At the same cultivation realm, I could take on this many of you!

" Emperor Kai clenched his fist and stared at his five fingers.