Chapter 1015 — It Never Rains but It Pours

Shen Mu sighed and shook his head: "I cannot. That I possess the identity of Holy Infant at all is thanks to Sister God King's maneuvering. If Sister God King wished to strip me of my godhood and my standing, it would be a simple matter—easier than turning over a hand."

God King Langwan frowned and said gently: "I will not recklessly use my spirit consciousness to probe the thoughts of others anymore."

"It would be best not to."

Shen Mu said with utter sincerity: "This is not the Other Shore World, nor is it the Worry-Free Land. This is the Heavenly Court—a place where dragons lurk and tigers crouch. Not one Heavenly Lord's strength is inferior to Kaihuang's; some are stronger still. The Heaven Lord and the Great Emperor are hidden here as well, and countless ancient gods keep their eyes on this place. If you use your spirit consciousness as you please, you will easily expose your identity. I treat Sister God King with a sincere heart, and I hope Sister will treat me with a sincere heart in return."

God King Langwan said that she would.

Shen Mu breathed out in relief and smiled: "I will have Ling'er arrange lodgings for you. We most likely cannot stay long at the Heavenly Lord Residence, but at least there will be a place to set our feet. Once you have grown familiar with the Heavenly Court, we will go in search of the ancestral court of the Creators."

He called Snow Fox over, explained at length, and Ling'er led the two away to choose their lodgings. When Snow Fox had finished the arrangements, Shen Mu sought her out again and asked after the current state of Jingping.

"This time Jingping's Directorate of Works took on Zaofu Palace's contract, forging the components for the spirit-energy translocation bridges. In just two years we turned out so many translocation bridges, and the quality is fine while the price is low. When the Heavenly Court's Daoist sects came to measure them, they all said the calculations were exquisitely subtle, with very few flaws."

Snow Fox said: "Our Jingping name is well and truly made now, and we've earned a great deal of money. The Heavenly Court's Daoist sects have handed us some work designing divine weapons as well; the Directorates in every region are working day and night forging divine weapons, though there isn't much work to go around. Besides us in Jingping, plenty of other heavens are forging divine weapons for the Heavenly Court too, so the orders they give us are few."

"It will pick up soon."

Shen Mu said: "The Heavenly Court looks to be at perfect peace, but I fear war will come before long. The Worry-Free Land will make its move. The Heaven Lord, the Earth Lord, and the Four Emperors of the Four Extremes Heaven—in time the Heavenly Court will send troops against them all. Before the army moves, provisions go first; the same holds for fine weapons. If the Heavenly Court means to move against those forces, it will surely stockpile every kind of divine weapon and sharp blade in advance, so that the battlefield will not burn through them and leave them with nothing to wield."

He paced to and fro: "When the Heavenly Court opens the Great Void battlefield, the slaughter will be terrible. By then, too many heavy divine artifacts will have been destroyed, and the Directorates of the Heavenly Court and of the great heavens will not be able to keep pace. At that point Jingping will be allowed to forge heavy divine artifacts. The more war there is, the faster wealth flows to Jingping and the less the other heavens hold. And the more the other heavens will rebel."

Snow Fox said: "When will the Young Master return to Jingping?"

Shen Mu hesitated, then said: "I cannot go back for the time being. If I remain in the Heavenly Court, Jingping will be all the more secure. If I go to Jingping, Jingping will only gain more peril."

"Heavenly Lord, Yun Chuxiu of the Yun family requests an audience!" a maidservant's voice came from outside the door.

"Yun Chuxiu? Isn't she dead? Cut down by the Luo Shen Blade and thrown beneath the Void Bridge—has Lady Yuanmu made another Yun Chuxiu?"

Shen Mu's head ached dreadfully. The Great Void was a place of extreme peril; Lady Yuanmu had once suffered a great loss there, and should not be entering the Great Void again.

So long as she had not entered the Great Void, she could not know what Yun Chuxiu had encountered and witnessed there, and she certainly could not know that Luo Wushuang had already turned traitor.

The reason Lady Yuanmu had remade a Yun Chuxiu was, he guessed, that she had heard of his return and come to sound out the wind.

Only—if Yun Chuxiu came and ran into God King Langwan...

"Refuse her!"

Shen Mu waved a hand: "Simply send her away."

At that very moment, Yun Chuxiu's voice came drifting in: "Heavenly Lord Mu is so heartless—actually driving me off. Have you forgotten the love we shared in the Jade Pool?"

Shen Mu's head swelled to the size of a bucket. The woman had clearly already forced her way into the Heavenly Lord Residence and started spouting nonsense again. Yet if he was to keep his life in the Heavenly Court, he did indeed still need Lady Yuanmu.

Yun Chuxiu's laughter pierced his ear. Giggling, she said: "We shared hardship in the Great Void and true feeling came of it—is the Heavenly Lord truly going to be so heartless? Eh, who are you?"

Shen Mu's heart gave a lurch. He hurried out, and saw two "Jue Wuchens" facing each other, each staring wide-eyed at the other. One was Yun Chuxiu; the other was God King Langwan.

"When it rains, it pours..."

Shen Mu ground his teeth. He was just about to step forward when Yun Chuxiu sneered: "Is that you, sister? Where did you steal the Jue Wuchen blueprint from? Clearly I am the only one who has it!"

Just then another goddess came to report: "Heavenly Lord, Lian Huahun, a disciple of Heavenly Lord Hao, requests an audience."

Shen Mu's eye twitched wildly—the Empress had come as well!

Clearly the Empress too had learned that he had returned safely from the Great Void to the Heavenly Court, and had come to sound out his depths.

Yun Chuxiu wore a look of shock, gazing blankly at God King Langwan. If this woman who was nearly identical to herself was not a clone of the Empress, then who was she?

"Show her in," Shen Mu said, utterly dispirited.