Chapter 1013 — Breaking Into the Heavenly Lord's Inner Court Again

Shen Mu was overcome with shame, feeling that he had sunk low, that he could not withstand temptation.

"If Long Pang were here, he would surely have told a few parables to wake me up, so that I would not be so intoxicated by beauty."

God King Langwan, for her part, had no other thoughts; she merely visualized a mirror and examined the willow leaf at the center of her brow, checking whether Shen Mu had placed it straight.

The leaf was lovely, and it pleased her greatly.

After all, this willow leaf had been forged by the joined efforts of the elders of Hidden Remnant Village. Though those elders could not compare with a God King like her, in crafts such as forging and painting they were masters rarely matched under heaven, and so the leaf had naturally been wrought with surpassing beauty.

What was more, the leaf had been refined through the sacrificial forging of the Earth Lord and the Lord of Heaven; it was no ordinary thing.

Worn at the center of her brow, it lent her a singular charm.

Shen Mu glanced at the phoenix crown on her head and hesitated. The crown was magnificent, the emblem of a God King's rank, and the treasures set into it were priceless; worn openly, it would surely draw every eye.

"But then, a woman so beautiful draws every eye wherever she goes."

He gave up the notion of asking God King Langwan to take off the phoenix crown: "It looks good on her, and so long as she does not look like a Creator, that is enough. There is a deep and deadly hatred between the Creators and the Ancient Gods, and I must be careful; after all, many powerful beings of the Ancient God lineage support me in secret. If God King Langwan's identity were exposed, it could bring unnecessary trouble."

God King Langwan summoned the chieftains of the various clans and gave them her instructions. Shen Mu sought out God King Shujun and said, "God King, I intend to return to the Heavenly Court. Will you come with me?"

Shujun hesitated, then said, "Going back is fine too."

Shen Mu was somewhat displeased. "Did you not say you wished to find your clansmen? Now that you have found them, why return to the Heavenly Court? The Heavenly Court is a perilous place. Stay here; you can go to the Worry-Free Land and study the lore of the Kaihuang Reform, cultivate diligently, and open your Divine Treasury and Heavenly Palace all the sooner."

"You come running to ask whether I will go with you, and then you want me to stay — two-faced and double-dealing!"

Shujun said angrily, "There is nothing worth learning in the Worry-Free Land, and its cultivation methods are not as good as yours; one can only pick up a few divine abilities and arts there. I am not staying. And do not forget, you still owe me a Creator hidden in the Heavenly Court!"

Shen Mu said, stammering, "I only meant well by you. After all, when I entered the Great Void I brought many people with me, but you alone were not among them. If you came back with me, anyone who saw that great head of yours would surely wonder where you came from..."

Shujun laughed in sheer fury. "And what of God King Langwan? If you take her back, will no one ask about her? Our bargain is not finished — do not think you can shake me off!"

Shen Mu was left speechless, and then a sudden alarm rose in his heart: "In my heart I wanted Shujun to come along, so that I would not be seduced by God King Langwan — that is why I asked whether he would come. Yet in my heart I also did not want Shujun to come, and so I told him to stay. It is over, it is over — I need Long Pang!"

They set out at once.

Several days later they came to the continent where the three rooms stood, climbed to the summit, and arrived before the three houses.

"I wonder whether the Fire Heavenly Venerable and the Void Heavenly Venerable have escaped from these three rooms," Shen Mu thought.

God King Langwan opened the middle door and said, "Opening the door from here requires none of those steps outside; walk straight in and you arrive at the Void Bridge."

Shen Mu and Shujun walked in. They stepped through the doorway — yet what lay within was not a room, but the far end of the Void Bridge!

They were standing right in front of the middle door!

The Void Bridge ran in broken, fitful spans, its radiance washing to and fro. Shen Mu frowned slightly; crossing this bridge would be no easy matter. He had only reached this place safely before by joining hands with the Void Heavenly Venerable and the Fire Heavenly Venerable, and with the Ark of the Other Shore besides.

If they tried to leave by way of the Void Bridge, then even with God King Langwan added to their number, they likely lacked the strength for it.

Just then a dreadful fluctuation came from the central room, and the figures of the Fire Heavenly Venerable and the Void Heavenly Venerable flew out from the painting on the wall!

These two great Heavenly Venerables had actually broken free of the cycle of life and death in the world of the painting, and escaped!

Without pausing to think, Shen Mu shut the door before the two Heavenly Venerables had even landed, then opened it again. Within the doorway there were no longer the Void and Fire Heavenly Venerables, but a vast expanse of palaces.

In his haste Shen Mu could not tell where the world behind the door might be, and he shouted, "Quick, inside!"

God King Langwan said hurriedly, "Different steps in opening the door lead to different places. I know of a safe place..."

"There is no time!"

Shen Mu seized her hand without another word and rushed into the room; Shujun rushed in after them.

The door banged open. From the top of the Void Heavenly Venerable's head two horns blazed up like flames, twisting through nine turns and eighteen bends, like two long rivers of demonic fire from Youdu.

Her body was covered in wounds. She looked around and saw the Void Bridge in broken segments of flowing light, with collapsing, crumbling void currents on every side — but of Shen Mu and his companions there was no trace. She gave a cold snort and turned sharply.

The Fire Heavenly Venerable also walked out of the room and stood face to face with her.

He too was covered in wounds, and his injuries were grave; they would not heal in any short time.

The two of them met each other's gaze — five eyes in all, for the Void Heavenly Venerable had another eye at the center of her brow, like the Earth Lord's third eye — and then each looked away.

The wounds on their bodies had been dealt by one another. They had crossed the Void Bridge and burst into the central room ahead of Shen Mu, only to fall into the world of reincarnation the Creator had left behind.

The two of them fell into the cycle of rebirth. The Void Heavenly Venerable was reincarnated as a God King with a million gods and demons under her command, and the Fire Heavenly Venerable was likewise reincarnated as a God King. Deep enmity ran between their two divine kingdoms, and each led armies against the other in savage slaughter.

The most terrifying thing about the world of reincarnation was this: when one fell into the cycle, the Creator's mighty divine consciousness altered the memories of the fallen. Even the Fire and Void Heavenly Venerables, caught off guard, had their memories rewritten by that world.

The tampered memories of the two Heavenly Venerables were filled with hatred for the enemy, and so they fought with all their might, slaughtering until heaven and earth were overturned.

When Kaihuang first came to this place in years past, he too fell into the world of reincarnation, and forced his way through by sheer strength of his Dao heart.

The Fire and Void Heavenly Venerables had better fortune than Kaihuang. After all, two great Heavenly Venerables had descended there, and the power unleashed when they fought exceeded the limits that world of reincarnation could bear. The two of them, eyes red with killing, soon discovered that the million-strong armies of gods and demons fighting alongside them had frozen in place!