Chapter 1024 — The Heavenly Dragon-Drawn Treasure Chariot

" Shen Mu was about to speak when Yun Chuxiu cried excitedly, "To the Eastern Extremity first! " Shen Mu's face sank, and unable to contain himself any longer, he pointed a trembling finger at the woman and laughed in fury. "Yuanmu, you've fallen into degradation now, all ruined and reckless—where is the bearing you once had?

Don't forget, it was I who beat that bastard son of yours and the Heavenly Emperor's, Hao, so badly he couldn't tend to himself for a thousand years!

And I did it right before your eyes, while you stood by helpless! " Yun Chuxiu hastily flung herself before him, carefully pounded his legs, looked up at him with a woebegone air, and said, "Calm your anger, Heavenly Venerable.

How did you know I was Yuanmu?

Could it be that I let something slip in Taixu? I do so love the way the Heavenly Venerable looks when he's angry. . . " Shen Mu's bellyful of rage had nowhere to vent, and he only snorted.

Yun Chuxiu tittered. "Hao is no good at all. He plotted against his own father and would have plotted against me too, but since he couldn't well do it himself, he asked Heavenly Venerable Ling to deal with me. Luckily I was clever—I had been on my guard against Ling all along, and I used her hand to feign death and slip away.

She only did me a favor.

When you beat him, I was angry at first, but later I was very pleased. " She pounded his legs, saying fervently, "On this journey, many Heavenly Venerables will surely strike at you—and among them will be Hao! You have offended him too bitterly; I want to watch with my own eyes as he beats you to death! " Shen Mu said dejectedly, "Just let Heavenly Venerable Hao beat me to death, then. Stop pounding—go back to your seat and rest.

Dutian, let's not go to the Eastern Extremity first; let's go to the Yuan Realm, and from the Yuan Realm to the Eastern Extremity. I haven't returned to the Yuan Realm in a long time—I want to go home and visit kinsfolk and friends. " Demon King Dutian acknowledged and drove the nine dragons to pull the chariot toward a spirit-energy transfer bridge.

Yun Chuxiu was flighty by nature; she ran out of the carriage again and gripped the pillar to look around. Divine King Langwo showed a trace of suspicion and glanced at Shen Mu. Shen Mu's spiritual sense rippled, and he sent a message of the mind: "She is Lady Yuanmu among the ten Heavenly Venerables, though I don't know which identity she wears within their ranks. Lady Yuanmu is also an ancient god—an ancient god born in Guixu, the Heavenly Emperor's paramour, and the sister of the Empress.

" "Her temperament is exceedingly odd.

" Divine King Langwo said in surprise, "As Lady Yuanmu of Guixu, shouldn't she be dignified, generous, and proper in demeanor?

How can she be this way? " Shen Mu sighed; once Lady Yuanmu had taken on Jue Wuchen's form, her temper had indeed become impossible to fathom. Shujun's spiritual sense rippled, cutting into their exchange: "The ancient god Yuanmu controls the power that destroys all things. In the primordial age, this was already her nature—as irritating as she was endearing.

" Shen Mu glanced at him and asked, "Does Divine King Shujun know that the ancient god Heavenly Emperor was oviparous?

" Shujun nodded. "Yes.

" Shen Mu pressed hastily, "If the Heavenly Emperor came from an egg, then where did the egg come from? " "That I don't know.

" Shujun shook his head. "We don't know where the Primeval Divine Stone or the Primeval Origin Stone came from, nor where the Primal Chaos liquid came from, nor where those primordial giant beasts came from. The egg of the ancient god Heavenly Emperor was picked up by the Great Emperor's tribesmen from a treasure spot in the ancestral court.

I know little of it.

" Shen Mu frowned.

Shujun went on, "It is said that when the Great Emperor's tribesmen found the egg, they saw that it was enormous and that within it was a life—a life even more ancient than the race of the Creator, yet lost in slumber.

In the early years, they worshipped it as a divine object.

Later, when the Primeval Divine Stone appeared and the Creator himself was a god, they cast the egg into a corner. Who knows when they turned it out again and resumed their rites—and then an ancient god Heavenly Emperor hatched from it! They brought the ruin on themselves. " He shook his head and sighed.

The cracking of that shell had raised the curtain on the destruction of the Creator race.

"Who do you think will strike at you, now that you have left the Heavenly Court? " Divine King Langwo asked. "Just now Yuanmu said that Heavenly Venerable Hao cannot sit still. Besides him, who else might lay hands on you? " Yun Chuxiu poked her head in, laughing, "We're entering the spirit-energy transfer bridge! What are you two talking about? " Shen Mu steadied his mind and looked out the window at the roaring streams of light. "We were saying that after I leave the Heavenly Court, someone will strike at me halfway.

Lady Yuanmu, do you think there is anyone who intends to kill me this time?

" "Don't call me Yuanmu," Yun Chuxiu said.

"I'm Yun Jianli's sister now, and I've come down with you to the mortal world to look for my brother.

" She thought for a moment, then said, "Every Heavenly Venerable seems to have a reason to act, even I have a reason to slay you now that you've left the Heavenly Court. But the Heavenly Court holds many secrets you don't know.

The one you've hurt worst is not actually Hao, but the Great Emperor. He was hiding nice and safely, and then you said the Great Emperor is right among us—I think he won't sit still.

" Shen Mu said, puzzled, "If you can guess that the Great Emperor will act, the other Heavenly Venerables should be able to guess it too. Would the Great Emperor still come for me? " Yun Chuxiu blinked, and after a moment said slowly, "The Heavenly Court has an eleventh Heavenly Venerable, but he has been dead for over forty thousand years.

Back then, it was he who used the ancient god Heavenly Emperor's body to ambush and slay Heavenly Venerable Ling, and was trapped to death by Ling within a divine art. After forty thousand years, his body should not yet have rotted.

If he is the Great Emperor—if the Great Emperor truly still lives—then this body of his will set out. " She smiled. "Using that body to kill you, no one could see through his true face. " Shen Mu's mind shook violently, and he let out a turbid breath. "How clever.

If this eleventh Heavenly Venerable's body leaves the Heavenly Court, then surely he cannot hide it from your eyes and ears; and so, you all. .

. " Yun Chuxiu shook her head. "His body is not in the Heavenly Court. " Shen Mu blinked. Yun Chuxiu giggled. "He is buried in the Yuan Realm.

I told you long ago to go to the Eastern Extremity first, but you insisted on the Yuan Realm—isn't that just going to your death?

" Shen Mu's mind roared. Abruptly the treasure chariot lurched to a stop, and Demon King Dutian's voice came: "Sect Master, we've reached the Yuan Realm! "