Chapter 1054 — The Young Sect Master

Shen Mu shared the same misgiving: as the ancient War-Presiding Deity, the Western Emperor could not possibly be so naive. But to him, whether she was naive or not was beside the point. What mattered was that the Western Emperor's life had to be preserved, and that the Heavenly Artificers of the Western Extreme Heaven had to be sent to Jingping.

Jingping had no shortage of artisans, but there were not yet many divine smiths who could truly be called Heavenly Artificers. A new generation was still being trained, and so the most accomplished Heavenly Artificers of the Western Extreme Heaven were needed to travel there and instruct them.

Although Shen Mu was on very good terms with the Indra Heavenly King Buddha, the latter was, after all, Emperor Kaihuang's War Heavenly King, and he had been ensnared by love, his whereabouts unknown to this day.

After the Jingping Calamity, Shen Mu knew that the Indra Heavenly King Buddha could not be relied upon. Raising Jingping's own people was the wisest course.

In the early years of the Kaihuang era, a host of nameless men had gathered around Emperor Kaihuang and carved out a world at his side; in time, they became his Four Heavenly Kings and Four Heavenly Masters, shaking the world with their fame. The celebrated figures of the Shanghuang era, by contrast, held no important posts under Kaihuang and accomplished nothing at all.

This could serve as a mirror for Jingping.

Shen Mu and the Western Emperor settled on how many Heavenly Artificers would be sent to Jingping. Only after watching these artisans walk into the Spirit-Energy Transfer Bridge, bearing great furnaces and divine weapons, did he finally set his mind at ease.

The remaining Heavenly Artificers set about repairing the Celestial Dragon Palanquin. The palanquin was exceedingly intricate, and since those dispatched to Jingping had been the most skilled, the ones left behind were not their equals. Shen Mu had to take the field himself.

The Western Emperor acted as his assistant, lending a hand as she laughed: "As a Celestial Venerable, you actually understand this sort of thing?"

Shen Mu wiped the sweat from his brow. "I was originally a cowherd and a blacksmith. This is my old trade."

The Western Emperor asked, curious: "A cowherd and a blacksmith? What else can you do?"

Shen Mu thought for a moment. "An elixir master who can paint, a fortune-teller who plays with knives and swords, a thief steeped in Buddhist wisdom — and, yes, I am a tailor who can make furniture."

The Western Emperor could not keep from laughing. "You're such a countrified Celestial Venerable! Nothing like the other Celestial Venerables, each of them so lofty and aloof, their words so sweet to the ear."

Shen Mu, wholly absorbed in repairing the palanquin, said, "I am not like them. They were born noble; I was born with mud on my legs."

It was a full two days before the palanquin was repaired.

"Your Majesty, I must hurry to the Southern Extreme Heaven to see the Southern Emperor, so I will not linger here." Shen Mu took his leave. "The Ten Celestial Venerables of the Heavenly Court quarrel on the surface, but in truth they are scheming against you. I must go to the Southern Extreme Heaven to see whether the Southern Emperor is safe."

The Western Emperor did not detain him, but said earnestly, "Once you reach the Southern Extreme Heaven, send word to me that you are safe."

Shen Mu assented. God King Langwan had already boarded the palanquin. The Western Emperor came to see them off, cast a glancing at the female God King within, and said in a low voice, "Celestial Venerable, is she truly the God King among the Creators?"

After much hesitation, Shen Mu said, "She and I have met the Earth Earl."

The Western Emperor pondered a while. "Since the Earth Earl knows her identity, I have nothing more to say. The Earth Earl is far craftier than the four of us Emperors; in all his life, he suffered a great loss only at the hands of the Heavenly Emperor. But I still wish to caution you, Celestial Venerable — you do not understand the Primordial Age. I understand that age, and it fills me with dread. The Creators were the masters of the Primordial Age; even the ancient gods were dominated and enslaved by them."

"Even the ancient gods were dominated and enslaved by the Creators?" A chill ran through Shen Mu's heart. He looked at the lovely face of the incomparably beautiful woman in the carriage, and only after a long moment did he look away. "Your Majesty, please remain."

He boarded the palanquin. Dragon Qilin, in human form, took the reins, with Yan'er standing beside him. Dragon Qilin gave a thunderous cry, and the celestial dragons soared into the sky, flying toward the Spirit-Energy Transfer Bridge behind Celestial Rampart City.

God King Langwan's gaze was remote as she looked out the window. "What the Western Emperor told you — do you believe it?"

Shen Mu let his gaze rest on her face and said with a composed mien, "Sister, do you think I should believe it?"

God King Langwan fell silent and made no answer.

"I believe it." Shen Mu turned grave. "A lone Creator is not strong, but when adult Creators number more than ten thousand, the power of their sacrifices can already contend with the mighty of the Heaven-Soaring Realm, or even the Emperor's Throne Realm. When the Creators reach a hundred thousand, their sacrificial power grows greater still. And if a million, ten million, even a hundred million were to offer sacrifice at once, enslaving and dominating the ancient gods would be nothing out of the ordinary. So the Western Emperor did not lie."

God King Langwan drew back her gaze. "Do you, too, feel dread toward the Creator race?"

Shen Mu shook his head and said airily, "I am a Creator myself; why should I feel dread?"

God King Langwan studied him with utmost seriousness. "The Grand Emperor was also a Creator, and he too felt dread toward the Creators — so much so that he did not hesitate to destroy the entire race."

"But I am not the Grand Emperor." Shen Mu shifted his gaze to the Spirit-Energy Transfer Bridge, drawing ever nearer beyond the window, and said softly: "The age in which the Creators ruled the cosmos and the primordial wilds has passed. The Creators of today are nothing but a band of homeless wretches. Sister, you too are one of those wretches. Only by blending into the present age can any of you find a road to survival — and that includes you."

The Celestial Dragon Palanquin gradually slowed as it made for the Spirit-Energy Transfer Bridge.

"I have already located the ancestral seat of the Creators," Shen Mu said, withdrawing his gaze and meeting God King Langwan's eyes. "I still need to fix its exact position, and I also need to learn what sort of seal it is under. But what I promised you, I will never go back on. I will make the Creator race leave the Other Shore and return to this world."

God King Langwan pondered for a moment. "Are you not afraid the Creator race will return to its place of dominance?"

"No." Shen Mu leaned back. "You can no longer go back. Even if you find the ancestral seat, you can no longer go back. Shujun, the God King of the Primordial Age, has already accepted this fact, but you, the God King of the present age, have not."

God King Langwan was silent for a while, then said, "Tell me first the general location of the ancestral seat."

Shen Mu's vital energy coalesced into a star chart of the great cosmos, marking the site of the sealed ancestral seat. God King Langwan rose to her feet, and Shen Mu hastily warned, "I have only located the general area — I have not found the precise position!"