Chapter 1032 — The Village Headman's Sword, the Lame Old Man's Leg

Langwan and Shu Jun exchanged a glance, suppressed the shock in their hearts, and, with no time to think it over, slipped through the Gate of Receiving Heaven. Shen Mu had Dutian, Yan'er, the dragon qilin and the rest ride the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Chariot through the Gate of Receiving Heaven, and was just about to step in himself when a paper boat came gliding up, and from it the old underworld constable said, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, hold your step.

" Shen Mu halted and said, "What instructions has Heavenly Venerable You for me? " The old constable said, "Tu Bo sent me to ask the Heavenly Venerable Mu why he has taken up with the race of Creators. Tu Bo says the Creators are savage and wicked beyond measure, that in ages past they brought calamity upon the cosmos and stopped at no evil.

To league with them is to serve as claws and fangs for a tiger, and you will lose the support of the Ancient Gods.

" Shen Mu answered meekly, "Tell Tu Bo for me that it is only by the wholehearted support of Tu Bo and the Heavenly Lord that I obtained the title of Master Indestructible Through Ten Thousand Kalpas; how should I then act recklessly? As for the race of Creators, I am borrowing their strength to deal with the Great Emperor, each using the other and nothing more, and I have no thought of borrowing their strength to set myself against the Ancient Gods. I humbly submit to Tu Bo's sagely judgment, and am overcome with trepidation. " The old constable stared at him, and after a moment said, "That last line of yours is a bit much, isn't it?

Tu Bo is not the Heavenly Emperor. Is there call for such abject dread? " Shen Mu said with a grave face, "I was raised under Tu Bo's eye, after all. As a junior, I must show reverence and dread. " The old constable kept looking at him and could not help shaking his head.

"Go on, then. I will speak with Tu Bo.

" Shen Mu thanked him and asked, "Is Heavenly Venerable Yu well? " Had he not asked, all would have been well; but at the mention of Heavenly Venerable Yu, the old constable's wrath boiled up from nowhere, and he fumed, "He has been stolen!

" Shen Mu was startled and blurted, "Heavenly Venerable Yu has been stolen? Who was so bold as to slip into the Nether Capital and steal Heavenly Venerable Yu?

Were you not watching him properly?

" "I still have to reap souls in every quarter and ferry the dead across, split into a hundred million bodies. Where would I find the time to keep my eyes on him always?

" the old constable said crossly. "He is my elder brother, not my son.

I could only watch him with a split body and let him walk about the Nether Capital as he pleased. Who would have thought a thief would slip in and make off with him, stealing and spiriting him away together?

" Shen Mu asked suspiciously, "And where did the thief who stole Heavenly Venerable Yu come from? " "Where from? From your house, of course!

" The old constable sneered.

"Keep your own elders in order!

Truly lawless, to dare run off to the Nether Capital and commit villainy. I will not pursue this matter. Heavenly Venerable Yu's stay in the Nether Capital was indeed holding back his growth. But your elder dragging Heavenly Venerable Yu about to steal wherever he goes is hardly a good thing. Take care the Heavenly Court does not catch him.

" Shen Mu assented, "I will most certainly discipline Grandfather Cripple and not let him do wicked deeds. Heavenly Venerable You may set your mind at ease.

" The old constable saw him off, then sailed his boat back to the third eye in the center of Tu Bo's brow and reported Shen Mu's words to Tu Bo's primordial spirit. Tu Bo was astonished.

"Humbly submit to Tu Bo's sagely judgment, overcome with trepidation?

That is what he said?

" The old constable nodded.

"His manner was most sincere. " "Rarely is he so courteous.

Then let the matter of today rest, and put it on his account. " The old constable assented and asked, "Now that Heavenly Venerable Mu has parted from the Divine Son of the Nether Capital, must the accounts be kept separately? " Tu Bo said, "Formerly he and the Divine Son of the Nether Capital were one body; the evils the Divine Son did were his evils too.

Dealings must be just.

We cannot, merely because they are now apart, fail to record the wrongs he committed before. " The old constable praised him.

"Tu Bo is impartial and without favor. " Shen Mu returned to the world of the living, and there saw the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Chariot stopped not far off, with Divine King Langwan and the others waiting, and the faces of Divine King Langwan and Shu Jun still somewhat pale.

"Sister Divine King, you fear neither Heavenly Venerable Shen nor any other Heavenly Venerable.

Why do you fear Tu Bo alone? " Shen Mu asked, perplexed.

"Tu Bo is the natural nemesis of the race of Creators," Divine King Langwan said, shaking her head. "Your elder brother, the little Tu Bo, alone routed our Creator race and sent us fleeing helter-skelter.

How much more, then, Tu Bo himself? " Shen Mu was struck dumb.

In the Other Shore World, the Land of No Sorrow had always been on the receiving end of blows, until Shen Fengqing's coming changed the balance.

The Creators of the Other Shore World, though peerless in spiritual consciousness, had suffered grievous losses before the Divine Son of the Nether Capital, Shen Fengqing, many of them devoured by the big-headed baby. The great path of the Nether Capital did indeed seem able to overcome the Creators. Shu Jun said, "We are strong in spiritual consciousness and weak in primordial spirit. When the primordial spirit is weak, the soul is weak, and it is easy for Shen Fengqing to strip away the soul and eat it. Shen Fengqing is the little Tu Bo; face to face with the true Tu Bo, the Creators' flaws show all the greater. Tu Bo slaying Creators is no harder than that.

In the great war of the ancient age, the Creators who died at Tu Bo's hands far, far outnumbered those who died at the hands of the Heavenly Emperor, the Heavenly Lord, and the Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign all together! " Divine King Langwan said, "I never saw the great war of ancient times, but I have heard the forebears speak of Tu Bo's fearsome name. When I led the Creators of the Other Shore World in reform, drawing on the Divine Treasury Heavenly Palace system and beginning to cultivate the primordial spirit, it was to rid the Creators of their weakness. Yet when faced with the little Tu Bo, Shen Fengqing, the gap was still immense. " Shen Mu laughed.

"What you learned was only the primordial spirit cultivation method of the Land of No Sorrow, and the Land of No Sorrow's method already lags far behind Jingping's. At the same realm, the primordial spirits of Jingping's divine-power wielders and gods and demons are stronger. Take me and Emperor Kai: at the same realm, my primordial spirit could beat his primordial spirit this many! " He held up one hand and made a gesture.

Neither Langwan nor Shu Jun believed it.

Shu Jun especially: he had seen Shen Mu fight Emperor Kai, and Shen Mu was a little stronger, yes, but only a little, not greatly stronger than Emperor Kai.

Yet they did not know that this time Shen Mu was not boasting. Emperor Kai's strength lay in his fighting power; the attack force of Sword Twenty and the thirty-fourth heaven of the sword path was truly too strong, and made up for the insufficiency of his cultivation.

Shen Mu's strength lay in his primordial spirit and his mana.

His cultivation of the primordial spirit was vast beyond measure; with a single primordial-fetus divine treasury and the mana of his primordial spirit he could rival a heavenly god of the Yaotai realm, and once he reached the Honored God realm his mana pressed hard upon masters of the God-Slaying Platform realm. The reason his battle with Emperor Kai had seemed so close was chiefly that Emperor Kai's sword path was too strong, surpassing his own by a wide margin.