Chapter 1033 — Looking Back on a Former Spring, Like a Dream

"Does a man who cultivates the sword dao sense a peak that can never be climbed, never be crossed?"

The Blind Elder and the Silent Craftsman exchanged a glance, and resolved to keep hidden the matter of their having cursed Kaihuang to his very face. The Blind Elder chuckled. "Luckily, no such peak exists in the dao of formations. I have never seen such a thing."

The Silent Craftsman shook his head. "In the dao of forging, I have never seen such a thing either. You sword cultivators are a truly pitiable lot. Strange, though—why have I never heard Shen'er speak of this?"

Hearing him mention Shen Mu, the Village Head's tone soured. "Shen'er fears neither heaven nor earth; he cannot sense that peak at all. And with a temper as coarse as his, even if he did sense it, he would simply climb up and piss on it! Kaihuang's sword dao is far too strong. I reckon that with one step further, his sword dao will be branded into the cosmos itself—he will be the first ever to use a postnatal Great Dao to reverse-verify the innate."

The Silent Craftsman and the Blind Elder were shaken to the core. To brand oneself upon the cosmic void, to reverse-verify the innate—what manner of realm was that?

"The sword dao, the saber dao, formations, forging—these are all Great Daos created by postnatal living beings. They do not belong to the innate. And Kaihuang's sword dao, cultivated to its utmost, is simply too strong."

The Village Head said, "Anyone who cultivates the sword dao can sense him with perfect clarity. There is no ignoring what he has achieved in the sword dao. I can feel that he is not far from its peak. Perhaps he is the first man to brand a postnatal Great Dao upon the cosmic void. Having come that far, to call him Sovereign of the Sword Dao would be no exaggeration."

The Blind Elder and the Silent Craftsman trembled inwardly. The height the Village Head described was far too lofty. Each of them had his own strengths and his own achievements, yet neither could imagine what terrifying comprehension and creative power it would take to brand one's own Great Dao upon the cosmic void.

The Village Head sighed. "I wonder how Shen'er is faring in the Heavenly Court. When I think of the humiliations and the endless obstructions he must suffer at the hands of the Heavenly Court's gods, I..."

His eyes reddened. He hurriedly stopped speaking of Shen Mu and changed the subject. "What brings you two here, anyway?"

"Shen'er is back!"

The Blind Elder laughed. "Word came from the Pig Butcher: two days ago Shen'er went to the Surging River Academy, and the Pig Butcher drove him off! It will not be long now before Shen'er arrives here!"

An inexplicable agitation seized the Village Head, and his eyes reddened again. "Shen'er is back? It is good that he is back, good that he is back... Wait. You are saying that the moment Shen'er returned he went to see the Pig Butcher, and did not come to see us? So he truly does dote on that butcher more. And after we wiped his shit and cleaned his piss raising him..."

The Silent Craftsman chuckled. "When he comes back to see us, we must give him a proper welcome!"

The Village Head and the Blind Elder both nodded.

The Heavenly Dragon Treasure Palanquin drew near the Heavenly Sage Academy. Within it, Shen Mu, God King Langwan, and Shu Jun had at last refined the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness from the bottle. Each of the three took a share. Langwan claimed the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness for herself, transforming it into her own cultivation, and her strength surged.

Shu Jun in particular—he had died once, and ever since his resurrection he had been unable to restore either his body or his divine consciousness. Now, having refined the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness, he at once reforged his flesh. As one of the Three Kings of the Primordial Age, Shu Jun was naturally shrewd; he knew that divine consciousness obtained by refining another's could never match consciousness forged by oneself, and so he poured nearly the whole of it into elevating the body he had just remade. He shed his former frail appearance and became tall and imposing—the sheer toughness of his flesh now rivaled that of a great master of the Lingxiao realm.

Shen Mu envied him greatly.

The Supreme Daluo Divine Consciousness concealed within the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness was sorted out as well. Shen Mu was at last able to fill in the missing portions of the Supreme Daluo Divine Consciousness he had previously obtained; only, the Grand Emperor's divine consciousness still lacked the cultivation methods concerning the Heavenly Court. Even so, possessing a Supreme Daluo Divine Consciousness at the Emperor Throne level left him well content.

Among his fifteen Heavenly Palaces, the Daluo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace grew more archaic and weighty, overshadowing the other thirteen, and threatening to stand on equal footing with Shen Mu's own main Heavenly Palace.

"A guest usurping the host—there may be trouble to come."

Shen Mu frowned slightly, surveying his Heavenly Palaces, a vague unease stirring in his heart. Eight of his palaces were incomplete. If the Daluo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace was so strong, and if it did usurp the host's place, that would mean the Grand Emperor's path was the better one. That a guest usurps the host is a small matter; that it damages the heart of the Dao is a great one! If the Daluo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace truly surpassed his main Heavenly Palace, Shen Mu's invincible heart of the Dao would be broken. Even were he to build his Heavenly Court around the Daluo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace, he would in the end be no more than another Grand Emperor—no wiser than the Grand Emperor himself. And if his heart of the Dao was broken, the far greater likelihood was that he would never rise again.

"Blind Grandpa, Granny Zhu, you both truly must work harder, and perfect your Emperor Throne techniques as soon as you can..."

Shen Mu heaved a long sigh and thought, "If only I could steal away every Emperor Throne technique the Heavenly Court has collected over the years and give them to Jingping. Granny Zhu and the others could draw nourishment from those techniques, and by analogy perhaps create Emperor Throne techniques of their own. What a pity..."

At last the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Palanquin reached the Heavenly Sage Academy. Shen Mu stepped down, and before he could even reach the gate he heard a chorus of maha maha. A hundred-odd flood dragons, cooing sweetly, buried him and the Dragon Qilin. Shen Mu was licked until he was covered in dragon slobber; he barely managed to extricate himself, only to find the Dragon Qilin buried beneath them. Yan'er hastily produced a few spirit pills, and only then lured the flood dragons away. Shen Mu straightened his clothes, took out a mirror and checked it, making sure no dragon slobber was clinging to his face, before entering the Academy.

The Heavenly Sage Academy was now called the Heavenly Sage Sect, but it still taught in the manner of an academy; nothing had changed. Granny Zhu, the Deaf Elder, and the Alchemist had stayed here to manage it, and the place remained in perfect order.

"Shen'er, this girl is lovely."

Granny Zhu looked God King Langwan up and down, growing happier the more she looked, and quietly gave Shen Mu a thumbs-up. Shen Mu flushed slightly and hurried off to find the Alchemist. The Deaf Elder's eyes lit up; he fetched brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, sat down squarely, and prepared to paint Granny Zhu and God King Langwan into a picture—only to spend a long while with no idea how to begin.

God King Langwan studied Granny Zhu and could not help praising her. "What a beautiful little sister."

Granny Zhu laughed. "Little sister? You should call me Granny."