Chapter 1056 — The Incense Hall Descends Upon the Mortal World

Shen Mu's face darkened.

"Was this your idea, yours and the Southern Emperor's? " he said coldly. The Red Emperor Qi Xiayu looked puzzled.

"This was the Moon Celestial Venerable's idea as well.

Celestial Venerable Mu, you are a Great Mage imperishable through ten thousand kalpas; by rights you should not be so frantic. As far as you are concerned, Heaven Duke and Earth Count both still live, and to resurrect the Southern Emperor, to free her from the bondage of the ancient gods' Great Way — is that not a heaven-sent opportunity? " "A heaven-sent opportunity?

" Shen Mu laughed in his fury, then sank weakly onto the throne and said in defeat, "A heaven-sent opportunity?

You did not consult me, and yet you dare call it a heaven-sent opportunity?

My resurrection arts are not omnipotent. There are still arts in this world that can counter my soul-remolding, and every one of them lies in the hands of the Heavenly Court's Ten Celestial Venerables.

.

. " The Red Emperor Qi Xiayu's expression changed drastically.

Shen Mu had already given his order; the Celestial Dragon Palanquin charged toward the Southern Pole Forbidden Zone.

"The Grand Emperor's Great Luotian of divine consciousness, the Heavenly Court's Hall of Wafting Incense, the Heaven Emperor's Forbidden Zone, the Empress Yuanmu's Gulf of Returning — all of them can resist my soul-summoning arts.

They could even hide your soul away in the Great Void, and I would never find it.

" Sitting in the carriage, Shen Mu felt a flare of anger. "Southern Emperor, are you so certain that I can bring you back to life?

" He could not help being angry.

The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird was one of the few among the ancient gods with whom he shared a deep bond; after Heaven Duke and Earth Count, she stood closest to his heart. When Shen Mu first returned to the early years of the Longhan Era, the first ancient god he met was the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird; the two had talked joyfully aboard a ship, and the Vermilion Bird had taken him as her little brother.

Later, when Shen Mu beat Celestial Venerable Hao bloody and had no place left to stand in the Heavenly Court, it was in the Vermilion Bird's heavenly palace that he took shelter. What was more, the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird was also the first ancient god to learn of the Heaven Alliance.

And later still, aboard the ghost ship, when Shen Mu stole the power of the four emperors of the ancient gods and the four emperors seized him and Zhe Huali, it was the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird who decided alone to set them free, letting them break loose from the ghost ship's bonds. His feelings for Heaven Duke and Earth Count were those of a junior for his elders; his feelings for the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird were those between a younger brother and an elder sister.

Her design was plain enough to him: to seize this chance, as Lady Tianyin had done, to cast off her ancient god's body and win rebirth, no longer bound by the Great Way of heaven and earth.

And the very reason for Shen Mu's anger was that she had done this without consulting him, deciding on her own, so certain that Shen Mu, a Great Mage imperishable through ten thousand kalpas, was omnipotent and would surely resurrect her! To her, the Ten Celestial Venerables' scheme was the perfect moment: to die at the Ten Celestial Venerables' hands, and at the same time to wash away in blood the gods and demons the Heavenly Court had planted in the Southern Heaven — two ends met at once.

"And yet this chance is also the perfect moment to strike at me, and at the ancient gods!

" Shen Mu clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird meant to use this chance to die and be reborn, to break free of the Great Way's bonds; and the Heavenly Court meant to use this chance to suppress her soul, so that she could never be reborn. The Ten Celestial Venerables would surely use this chance to show the world and the ancient gods that Shen Mu, this Great Mage imperishable through ten thousand kalpas, was no reliance the ancient gods could lean upon! They had means enough to counter and crush Shen Mu's arts, so that Shen Mu could not resurrect a dead ancient god.

"The Ten Celestial Venerables have four or five means that can counter my resurrection arts.

But the Grand Emperor's ultimate void cannot be used, or it would betray his identity as the Grand Emperor; nor can the Gulf of Returning of the Empress and Yuanmu be used, for they too fear exposing themselves.

The Heaven Emperor's Forbidden Zone cannot be moved.

That leaves only the Hall of Wafting Incense. " Shen Mu looked ahead, cold sweat starting on his brow.

The Heavenly Court's Hall of Wafting Incense was where the remnant soul of Celestial Venerable Yu lay suppressed; when Shen Mu summoned Celestial Venerable Yu's soul, he had been unable to call that remnant soul out from within the hall.

Even Earth Count, searching for Celestial Venerable Yu's remnant soul in person, had been unable to enter the Hall of Wafting Incense! The Hall of Wafting Incense was one of the Heavenly Court's seventy-two treasured halls, and the Heavenly Court's Ten Celestial Venerables would surely bring out this hall to suppress the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird's soul, rendering Shen Mu's divine arts useless and killing her utterly!

"Let this be only my guess.

Let the Hall of Wafting Incense still be in the Heavenly Court, and not sent down to the Southern Pole Heaven.

.

. " The Celestial Dragon Palanquin pushed its speed to the utmost.

Shen Mu looked back and saw the Vermilion Bird's heavenly palace collapsing; the fall of this most ancient of heavenly palaces was now certain, and that the Southern Pole Heaven would change masters, inevitable. Even if he could resurrect the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird, the Southern Emperor could never again rule this place.

And what was more, the Southern Emperor might not be resurrectable at all!

Boom — the sky shuddered violently.

A Heavenly River tens of thousands of li wide suddenly appeared above the Southern Pole Heaven, vast and surging, twisting space as it drove through the suns one after another, and upon its waters countless tower-ships and great vessels emerged.

Unlike the rivers of the mortal world, the surface of the Heavenly River here was dish-shaped, like two plates pressed rim to rim; the Heavenly River had no above and no below, and so on both its faces countless tower-ships and great vessels raced along. That was the Heavenly River Navy!

The Heavenly River linked the great heavens, and so through a million years the Heavenly River Navy had always been the Heavenly Court's best-armed force and its army with the greatest number of gods and demons! Always, the Heavenly River Navy had been the main force in putting down rebellions across the great heavens, and the main force in annihilating era after era!

Whether it was the Xiaohan Heavenly Court of old, or the Chiming Heavenly Court, the Shanghuang Heavenly Court, or even the Kaihuang Heavenly Court, all had been ground to flying ash beneath the tower-ships and great vessels of this greatest of god-and-demon armies. Shen Mu raised his head and saw the Heavenly River splitting in the sky like a nine-tailed fox of unimaginable vastness stretching out its tails — though it had more tails even than a nine-tailed fox.

Hundreds of Heavenly River streams poured toward every corner of the Southern Pole Heaven; tower-ships and great vessels followed these branches straight into the Southern Pole Heaven, the river water quenching its raging fires, and countless gods and demons of the Southern Pole Heaven were slaughtered.

It was a one-sided massacre.

The Heavenly Court's war machine had started up; to knock out the Southern Pole Heaven from among the Four Pole Heavens had cost it hardly any effort at all!

This was the foundation the Heavenly Court had gathered over a million years!