Chapter 1041 — A Passing Guest Among the Purple Blooms

Within Shen Mu's Primal Embryo Spirit Treasury, above and below the Taiji Diagram, the forty-nine Daos of Heaven and the sixty-four great Daos of Youdu all stirred to life at once and began to merge; yet the instant the Heavenly Dao and the Daos of Youdu touched, they annihilated one another, and his cultivation plummeted at a breakneck speed. Shen Mu halted at once. The Eastern Emperor frowned.

Now even Long Qilin and Yan'er could clearly sense the killing intent coming off him.

Shen Mu remained unmoved, pondering in silence.

He had borrowed the strength of Heaven Duke and Earth Count to piece his shattered soul back together, and it was by relying on the Gate of Heaven's Mandate that he reconciled the power of Heaven Duke with that of Earth Count.

The Gate of Heaven's Mandate upheld heaven above and anchored earth below; it was one of the gates of the Heavenly Court. To go from the inner city of the Jade Capital into Lingxiao Hall, one had to pass through a certain gate, and that gate was the Gate of Heaven's Mandate.

Back then, Shen Mu had inverted the Gate of Heaven's Mandate, and by its wondrous workings he had remade his soul through the paths of the gods and the paths of demons. In those days, after he first created this divine art that could raise the dead, he had not studied it further, nor delved into its essence; he had merely grown used to stealing the power of Heaven Duke and Earth Count.

And now, at the brink of life and death, he had finally begun to ponder what the essence of this divine art truly was.

The killing intent in the Eastern Emperor's eyes thickened, and Yan'er and Long Qilin grew more frantic by the moment, staring at Shen Mu without blinking. Though they were no match for the Eastern Emperor, should he mean to kill Shen Mu, they would fight him to the death.

Only, the outcome of such a fight was plain for all to see: they would all die at the Eastern Emperor's hand.

Just then, of a sudden, a Creation force that defied heaven and rewrote fate began to circulate gently within Shen Mu's body, soft yet brimming with the power that makes life and soul, and quietly it flowed into the corpse of that dragon god. The dragon god's body gave off threads of white light, drifting and wafting like mist, while the black sand of his soul kept re-forming within him: a heaven soul was born, the earth soul was rebuilt, the life soul evolved. Seeing this, the killing intent in the Eastern Emperor's heart faded.

Yan'er and Long Qilin felt as though a weight had dropped from them, and they gasped for breath.

The pressure the Eastern Emperor had brought to bear a moment before had been so great that it had nearly robbed them of breath. Shen Mu marshaled the power within his body and remade the seven po souls of the dragon god one by one; after a moment, the dragon god slowly came to, looked about in bewilderment, and could not think why he lay here. He scrambled hurriedly to his feet, and bit by bit the scene before his death returned to him: he remembered that he had died at the hands of his own father, the Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon; yet he dared not feel resentment, and only bowed his head and said nothing.

The Eastern Emperor took no notice of it at all, and laughed aloud, "Great Mage, truly you are the Great Mage! " Shen Mu smiled.

"Is the Eastern Emperor reassured now?

" "Naturally I am reassured," the Eastern Emperor said with a smile.

"You have passed this trial, Great Mage.

The next trial will test your potential. " Shen Mu let out a long breath, as though he had set down a great stone, and said with a smile, "Then may I ask how Your Majesty intends to test me?

" The painted boat sailed on into the depths of the Jade Pool; the Eastern Emperor came to the prow and said at his ease, "The Heavenly Emperor's offspring are few. Of Heaven Duke and Earth Count, one was wounded by love, the other fettered by his children, and their descendants are few as well.

Earth Mother is dead; the Empress and Yuanmu exist in name only.

The strongest bloodline in the world today is mine.

" His long beard flowed, his blue robe was elegant, and his voice rang clear: "My dragon sons and dragon grandsons number countless strong ones among them. They could go to the Heavenly Court and contend with the heroes of the world; they could die and descend into Youdu and reign there as kings among ghosts.

Great Mage! " He looked at Shen Mu and smiled.

"I have a dragon daughter, Guyan, and a dragon son, Qingming, both of peerless gifts. If you can defeat them, Great Mage, then you will have passed this trial. Guyan, Qingming, come and pay your respects to Heavenly Venerable Mu. " In the depths of the Jade Pool a dragon island appeared, where many young dragons, men and women alike, were in the midst of cultivation.

No sooner had the words of the Eastern Emperor Qinglong fallen than a man and a woman, two dragon gods, rose into the air and stood there, saluting Shen Mu. Shen Mu glanced at the pair. They were indeed rare talents, and he praised them: "The blood of the Eastern Emperor is truly extraordinary.

But though I am Your Majesty's Great Mage, I am, after all, Heavenly Venerable Mu. To set two juniors to test me, is that not setting too little store by the title of Heavenly Venerable? " The Eastern Emperor raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh?

And what insight does the Great Mage have?

" Shen Mu said calmly, "In the early years of the Longhan era I took the title of Heavenly Venerable.

I fought my way into the Jade Pool and cut down countless demigods; Heavenly Venerable Hao, foremost of the ten Heavenly Venerables of today, was crushed by me for a thousand years. If Your Majesty would use your dragon sons and grandsons to test my mettle, you underestimate me far too much. " The Eastern Emperor frowned slightly. "The Great Mage means.

.

. " "Heaven Duke and Earth Count both once reincarnated, in an attempt to escape the plight of the ancient gods," Shen Mu said slowly. "As the ancient-god emperor of Eastern Pole Heaven, Your Majesty must surely have reincarnated as well?

" The Eastern Emperor nodded.

"Your Majesty is no stranger to the cultivation systems of the spirit treasuries and the heavenly palaces? " "After I reincarnated in those years," the Eastern Emperor said indifferently, "I reached the Spirit Bridge in a hundred years and the Emperor's Throne in a thousand.

I met the Crimson Emperor; Emperor Ming called me uncle.

I left behind the Azure Dragon Great Wilderness Sutra, an Emperor's Throne cultivation art, which is enshrined in the Heavenly Court's archives.

Many of my descendants cultivate my art. " Shen Mu smiled. "Your Majesty has grand vision and deep stratagem.

Then has Your Majesty studied the realms of the Heavenly Court? " The Eastern Emperor's face broke into a smile, and he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Know yourself and know your enemy, and in a hundred battles you will never be defeated. Naturally I have studied the realm of the Heavenly Court. In truth, my reincarnated body is still alive, wandering through age after age. I too have been collecting Emperor's Throne arts, and I have gained insights of my own.

" Shen Mu was moved with a thousand feelings; he clapped his hands in admiration. "The ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Court are mere children.

To dare belittle the ancient gods, they truly do not know death. Not to speak of Heaven Duke and Earth Count: the Eastern Emperor alone is not to be taken lightly!

" The Eastern Emperor laughed heartily.

"The ten Heavenly Venerables hold great power, and I must bow my head and yield to them, but my strength is by no means the weaker for it. " "Therefore I make bold to ask Your Majesty's reincarnated body to test my potential," Shen Mu said.

The Eastern Emperor had long since guessed his thought; his eyes flickered, and he said at his ease, "Since the Great Mage extends so warm an invitation, I cannot decline.