Chapter 1039 — The Divine Dragon Soars Through the Clouds

Dragon Qilin slipped the harness from his body and stole a glance at Shen Mu. Shen Mu glared ferociously back at him, and Dragon Qilin said hurriedly, "Sect Master, I never said a word about you pulling the cart!"

Divine King Langwo laughed. "Better that we get down and fly the rest of the way."

Shen Mu nodded. The two of them stepped down together, leaving the six dragon gods behind. "Guard this treasure palanquin and wait for my return," he told them.

The six dragon gods assented, and Shen Mu led Divine King Langwo, Dragon Qilin, and Yan'er off in the direction of the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace.

They walked upon the sky itself, with range upon range of mighty mountains rolling beneath their feet, cloud and mist all below them.

In the heavens stood the dragon cities built by the divine dragons, magnificent beyond compare—vast cities whose intricate and gorgeous architecture left one gasping in wonder.

"You have never been here before, Yan'er?" Shen Mu asked.

Yan'er shook her head and flitted about in curiosity, taking in the sights of the East Pole Heaven.

She was the daughter of the South Emperor Vermilion Bird and the East Emperor Azure Dragon. In her childhood the South Emperor had sent her to Venerable Moon, and there she had acquired the habit of loving to wait upon others—though she seldom got out.

Venerable Moon lived in seclusion in a peach grove, and in those days Yan'er could only remain within that grove. Only after Venerable Moon gave her to Shen Mu did she have the chance to run out and see the vast world.

Her father, the East Emperor Azure Dragon, was a stranger to her; he had never once come to see her and barely had any contact with her, and the South Emperor Vermilion Bird had met with her only a very few times. Only on her last trip to the Heavenly Court had she been able to spend a few days with the South Emperor.

"I wonder where Lingbao Mountain is."

Shen Mu looked this way and that, hoping to spot the legendary Lingbao Mountain.

He was curious indeed about Lingbao Mountain. The first he had heard of it was from Zhe Huali, who said that in the East Pole Heaven there stood a divine mountain called Lingbao Mountain, and that it was the whetstone of the East Emperor Azure Dragon.

The East Emperor Azure Dragon brimmed with vitality, and his dragon teeth grew fast and needed frequent grinding, so he used Lingbao Mountain to grind them. The teeth ground off fell upon Lingbao Mountain and became strange, tooth-shaped creatures.

Many young blade-students of the Heavenly Court made their way to Lingbao Mountain to seek treasure, hoping to win a dragon-tooth blade. Zhe Huali's demonic blade had come from there as well.

That demonic blade possessed wondrous qualities. In the days when the Carefree Sword was still in Shen Mu's hand, the demonic blade had clashed with it many times, and even when a notch was cut into it, the blade would swiftly grow itself back as good as new—a most marvelous thing.

The last time Shen Mu was within the Three Rooms at the end of the Void Bridge in the land of the Great Void, opening and closing doors, he had inadvertently glimpsed the East Emperor Azure Dragon with his eyes squinted, hugging a divine mountain and grinding his teeth.

Whether the East Emperor's dragon teeth or Lingbao Mountain itself, both were treasures beyond measure, and he envied them greatly.

Lingbao Mountain in particular, which could grind through the East Emperor's dragon teeth—its very substance must surely surpass even the teeth, and it stirred Shen Mu's heart all the more.

The East Pole Heaven was filled with magnificent mountains. Every divine peak was towering and majestic, and even in the Yuan Realm they would have been reckoned rare.

The Heavenly River came rushing down from the starry sky, vast and mighty, pouring into the East Pole Heaven and flowing past the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace. Many divine dragons swam freely in its waters, and fish-dragons leaped from the river, spitting out mystic-water dragon pearls that vied in brilliance with the sun and moon above.

"That mountain yonder must be Lingbao Mountain!"

Behind the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace Shen Mu saw a magnificent mountain that looked like the king of ten thousand peaks, far taller than any other divine mountain—and yet it was no single summit, but as many as nine.

This mountain range was wreathed in pearl sheen and jeweled radiance, magnificent beyond compare, in no way smaller than Mount Sumeru with its twenty tiers of heavens.

"So the East Emperor Azure Dragon coils there, hugging Lingbao Mountain to grind his teeth?"

Picturing the sight, Shen Mu sighed in admiration. "The East Emperor is a big fellow, no doubt of that!"

"Sect Master, there are Heavenly Court people here!" Dragon Qilin whispered, staring at the divine city ahead.

Shen Mu looked toward that divine city and felt a chill. The gods and devils within it were no dragons, but the Heavenly Court's great army of gods and devils, drilling with blades and weapons and rehearsing formations—surely the troops the Heavenly Court had stationed here.

Yet this divine city stood upon the palm of the divine artifact Venerable Yu—or rather, the artifact Venerable Yu held the city in his hand!

Shen Mu raised his eyes and took the measure of that artifact, Venerable Yu. Unlike the one in the Yuan Realm, this Venerable Yu had eight arms in all, enthroned in the sky, his body motionless. Six arms were spread apart with palms open, and in each palm rested a divine city.

The divine city they had just seen was only one of them.

The two central arms of the artifact Venerable Yu each pinched a dharma seal, and those seals held hidden mysteries, giving off a sense of boundless power waiting to erupt.

And the two seals pointed precisely at the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace of the East Pole Heaven!

The artifact Venerable Yu had four faces, eyes closed, not opened.

"I fear the East Emperor Azure Dragon can hardly sleep easy. This artifact Venerable Yu is even more colossal than Lingbao Mountain—surely no smaller than the East Emperor's own body, and his strength is harder still to reckon."

Gazing at the artifact Venerable Yu, Shen Mu thought, "Whoever the Venerable is that commands this artifact, if he were to strike without warning, the East Emperor would have no escape from his doom."

Many idle gods, devils, and divine arts practitioners flew out from the six divine cities, most of them bearing blade cases or long sabers on their backs, heading for Lingbao Mountain—demigods, no doubt, who meant to seek treasure there.

Then a demigod with a booming voice shouted at the top of his lungs, "The East Emperor has gone to grind his teeth again—hurry and pick up the treasure!"

From the six great divine cities thousands upon thousands of gods, devils, and divine arts practitioners came whistling out, a bustling throng that gathered into clouds, clamorous indeed.

Hearing this, Shen Mu was filled with envy. "A dragon-tooth blade is the finest of blades," he thought. "In this world today it would be hard indeed to find a better divine saber. And if it were further refined by Jing Ping's microscopic forging, the might of such a saber would be truly terrifying! A pity—I am a Venerable, and I cannot bring myself to go treasure-hunting."

He was sorely torn within, longing to run over and pick up a dragon tooth himself, but he could not bear the loss of face. If the East Emperor learned of it, he would surely mock him.

"Holy Infant, this East Pole Heaven is not the Ancestral Court, so I shall not go to the Azure Dragon Heavenly Palace."

Divine King Langwo's eyes flickered as she gazed at the artifact Venerable Yu. "In the Yuan Realm I had no leisure to examine this artifact, but here I would like to look it over carefully and study whether it has any weakness."