Chapter 1052 — The Maiden of the Far Western Heaven Domain

Tianzun Hong could not help but laugh.

"The Grand Emperor?

Who is the Grand Emperor? " Shen Mu smiled and said nothing. Tianzun Hong chuckled. "Daoist brother has returned from the Great Void, and at his side there is now this young lady — yet this young lady is not the Empress.

There are Creators in the Great Void, and so I made bold to guess that the lady is a Primordial Divine King. As for the Grand Emperor, that was something Daoist brother himself said. " He sighed with feeling.

"Daoist brother said the Grand Emperor is hidden among us Ten Tianzuns, yet Daoist brother did not say just who the Grand Emperor is, so that we all suspect one another.

Daoist brother surely does not suspect that the Grand Emperor is me? " Shen Mu said in admiration, "Tianzun Hong's explanation is seamless.

Truly admirable.

" Tianzun Hong laughed heartily, looked at Divine King Langwan, and said with a smile, "Then is this young lady a Primordial Divine King? " Divine King Langwan shook her head and said softly, "I come from the Ancient Age, not the Primordial Age. " Tianzun Hong said, "The Primordial Age and the Ancient Age are divided by the first years of Longhan. In the first years of Longhan the Heavenly Court was founded, and civilization entered the Ancient Age. By the era of the Crimson Emperor it was the High Antiquity: the Ancient Age lasted five hundred sixty thousand years, the High Antiquity four hundred thousand. Then came the era of Kaihuang, which is the Recent Antiquity, also called the Old Age, and the Recent Antiquity lasted twenty thousand years.

From the fall of the Kaihuang era down to the present is the Modern Age, a million years in all. Can it be that the lady is a Creator born in the Longhan era?

" Divine King Langwan smiled a radiant smile, and in that instant everyone in the chariot had heart and spirit drawn to her smile. "Why does Tianzun insist that I am a Creator? " Tianzun Hong stroked the thumb ring on his thumb and said with a smile, "Because the lady came here from the Great Void, and in the Great Void, apart from the Creators, there is only the Land of No Sorrow. You were born in the Primordial Age, whereas the Land of No Sorrow of Kaihuang was established twenty thousand years ago, when the Recent Antiquity met the Modern Age. So you are certainly not one of the Land of No Sorrow.

" The Western Emperor had been staring fixedly at Divine King Langwan all along, and at these words she could not help but grow anxious again.

Shen Mu laughed heartily and said unhurriedly, "Tianzun Hong, the reason I invited you here this time was not to discuss where my elder sister comes from. Since you are not the Grand Emperor, then whether she is a Creator, whether she is a Divine King, has nothing to do with you. I asked you here to sit awhile only to tell the Western Emperor that if she had attacked your Heaven Rampart City just now and seized your divine artifact Yutianzun, she would by now be a dead tiger. " The Western Emperor's heart tightened, and she fell silent. Ever since he had stepped into the treasure chariot, Tianzun Hong had held the initiative throughout, setting aside the matter of his plotting to stab Shen Mu in the back and instead successfully stirring up conflict between Shen Mu and Divine King Langwan. And now Shen Mu had successfully steered the conversation back.

Facing these two figures, each as crafty as an old fox, the Western Emperor felt it best to say nothing at all for the moment.

The more one said, the more one erred; the more one did, the sooner one died. Even Divine King Langwan, who had all along betrayed no emotion, she felt she could not see through. There were four people in the treasure chariot, and only now did she realize that she herself was the most innocent of them all.

Shen Mu rose to his feet.

"A great calamity has been dissolved before it took form, so Tianzun should be going back now. " Tianzun Hong also stood, putting on the air of a kindly old man, and chuckled, "Daoist brother, you have spoiled my good business, but you are my senior, so there is nothing I can do.

In the future Daoist brother must make it up to me.

" "Of course, of course.

" Shen Mu saw him off, saying, "Since I have spoiled my fellow Daoist's good business, I will give my fellow Daoist a piece of news by way of compensation.

The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor is among the Ten Tianzuns, and so are Her Majesty the Empress and Madam Yuanmu.

" Tianzun Hong's body gave a slight shudder. He turned around, and with a look half smile and half mockery said, "That news has indeed shaken me, and yet it is also only to be expected. If even the Earth Mother Yuanjun is so hard to kill, dead yet unyielding, again and again stirring up trouble, how much more so His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor, whose skills are a notch above hers?

Still, though this news is of high value, it can hardly make up for my losses.

The Western Pole Heaven is one of the Four Pole Heavens; the four poles of the universe are no small matter. " Shen Mu said unhurriedly, "And what if I say that Gong Yun is also among the Ten Tianzuns? Is that news enough?

" "Who is Gong Yun? " Tianzun Hong asked suspiciously. "Could it be Tianzun Gong? " Shen Mu watched his face, noting the faintest shifts of his expression, but could detect no concealment in it at all. "Gong Yun is also called Xinfu. She is one of the three Divine Kings of the Primordial Age, the wife of the Grand Emperor.

The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor and Gong Yun gave birth to the Divine Emperor Langxuan. " Tianzun Hong's heart and spirit were greatly shaken.

He gave a heh-heh laugh.

"So there are so many tricks hidden among these Ten Tianzuns!

How laughable that I have called them fellow Daoists for hundreds of thousands of years and never once knew their origins! I have been taught, I have been taught! " Shen Mu still could see nothing amiss in his manner, and inwardly he praised him: "This is what the village chief calls an old hand of the rivers and lakes — he leaves not the slightest trace, his depths are unfathomable. " "Fellow Daoist Hong, this time it was I who spoiled your good business, and these two pieces of news truly cannot make up for it.

In the future I will surely repay you. " Shen Mu said with the utmost sincerity, "Fellow Daoist, set the Western Pole Heaven aside for now, and we will speak of it in the future. " Tianzun Hong said with a smile, "It is not that I do not trust Daoist brother, but Daoist brother owes me a favor, and it must be put in writing.

" Shen Mu fetched paper and brush and wrote out a note. Tianzun Hong took the note and drifted away. Shen Mu watched him go far off, then returned to the chariot, where he saw that the Western Emperor was still staring at Divine King Langwan, while Divine King Langwan, calm of countenance, let her look her fill.

Shen Mu sat down, his face darkening. The Western Emperor said coldly, "So then, Tianzun Mu, is this young lady a Creator.

.

. " "Enough!

" Shen Mu flared up and shouted, "Had Your Majesty the Western Emperor not been so rash as to seize the divine artifact Yutianzun, would I have been so passive before Tianzun Hong?

I even wrote him a note and handed it over, owing him a favor, and in the future I do not know how I am to repay it!

Your Western Pole Heaven — I preserved it for you. Your life — I preserved it for you.

What more do you want? " The Western Emperor blushed and said with a smile, "You great oaf, why do you fly into a temper at the least thing?

Not a shred of subtlety about you.