Chapter 1073 — The Foundations of the Ancient Gods

"The so-called egg-born ancient god refers to the Heaven Emperor of the Ancient Gods."

Luo Xiao said, "We Creators are divided into many clans, and the mightiest of them all is the Juyu clan. The Juyu hold the finest territory in the Ancestral Court, a land rich in heavenly treasures and earthly wonders, and home to the oldest vein of primordial divine stone. The Primordial Stone, the supreme holy relic of we Creators, was mined from that very vein. But beside the Primordial Stone they also dug out a huge egg. When that egg hatched, what came forth was the Heaven Emperor of the Ancient Gods."

Shen Mu was shaken. He had heard this tale from Shu Jun and Lang Wan, but never in such detail as Luo Xiao now gave it.

The egg of the Heaven Emperor had come from the same source as the Primordial Stone — both from the primordial divine stone vein!

Then was there some subtle connection between the Heaven Emperor and the Primordial Stone?

Luo Xiao went on, "The second kind of ancient god is born of the Dao. When the first Creator died, Youdu came into being. With death came a resting place for souls between heaven and earth, and so Tubo arose from Youdu, born of the turning of fate."

"When the Creators used their divine consciousness to command the powers of heaven and earth, the stars shifted from their courses under that power, and so Xuandu was born. Tiangong arose in turn, governing the myriad heavens and worlds and the orbits of countless stars."

"When souls died, Tianyin was born; Tianyin gathers up the shattered souls."

"When the Creators made things out of the void — creating stars in the void, creating all things in Yuandu — Guixu appeared. Guixu stands for creation and destruction: it devours all that is created in the void, and spews forth the matter that has been destroyed. Within Guixu grow two flowers on a single stalk, one standing for creation, the other for destruction."

Hearing this, Shen Mu looked at Dahong and Gu Xiao. Both wore expressions of shock, laboriously assumed, and Shen Mu laughed coldly in his heart.

Of the four in the carriage, Shen Mu knew the least, and Luo Xiao the second least; and the ones who knew the most about the history of the ancient gods that Luo Xiao was recounting were precisely Dahong and Gu Xiao, who were working so hard to look shocked!

Luo Xiao said, "The ancient gods were born from the flowers, but they are not the flowers. Because creation and destruction are one body, the two of them are counted as a single ancient god. Tubo, Tiangong, Tianyin, and the Guixu sisters are called the Four Primordial Spirits. They are the ancient gods born of the Dao. The third kind of ancient god is born of sacrifice."

He continued, "The ancient gods born of sacrifice came later. They are the spirits created when a clan gathers all its Creators in joint sacrifice, pooling the divine consciousness of all to make a guardian for the clan — also called a holy relic. The Five Luminaries Ancient Gods, the Orthodox Gods of the Stars of the Firmament, even the Great Sun Star Lord and the Ancient Goddess Taiyin, were all born of sacrifice. They were meant to guard the clans, and we call them spirit gods."

Something stirred in Shen Mu's heart. "And the Four Emperors of the Ancient Gods?"

"The Four Emperors of the Ancient Gods were spirit gods visualized and sacrificed into being by the four mightiest tribes of that age."

Luo Xiao said, "In the primeval age, the clans warred and slaughtered one another without cease. A single Creator's power was not great, but when the Creators of one clan joined together, their strength was terrifying. Together they visualized and sacrificed, creating extraordinarily powerful beings. Four of the strongest tribes, through their visualization, created the Four Emperors of the Ancient Gods."

"Nüxin created the White Tiger, Fangbo the Azure Dragon, Juyu the Black Tortoise, and Yanglu the Vermilion Bird. Such is the origin of the Four Emperors of the Ancient Gods. The other clans, great and small, created the Orthodox Star Gods. Because each clan visualized and sought a different kind of power, these spirit gods differ in their natures as well."

Luo Xiao said, "Every clan treated these spirit gods as weapons to guard the tribe; when clans warred, the Creators and their spirit gods slaughtered the enemy together. Later the Juyu grew strong, and there arose the order of one emperor and three kings. The one emperor was the Great Emperor of the Juyu; the three kings were Fangbo Shu Jun, Nüxin Gong Yun, and Yanglu Boyang."

Light broke upon Shen Mu. "So that is how it was."

Gu Xiao and Dahong likewise showed looks of sudden understanding, and said in unison, "So that is how it was. Brother Luo is truly learned, to know so many tales."

"We Creators pass down history and wisdom through divine consciousness; that is how I come to know the origins of the ancient gods."

Luo Xiao said modestly, "Still, much history has been lost to war. The fourth kind of ancient god is the ancient god born of heaven and earth."

Something stirred in Shen Mu. "The Earth Mother Yuanjun!"

"The Earth Mother Yuanjun is one of them, and the strongest."

Luo Xiao said, "This kind of ancient god is born of heaven and earth — the Earth Mother Yuanjun, for instance, transformed from the primordial wood; the True Dragon, transformed from dragon veins; the phoenix, transformed from the essence of wind and fire; the qilin, transformed from the essence of mountains. In all their myriad forms, they are ancient gods. Such gods vary in strength and are many in kind."

Shen Mu fell into thought.

Each of these four kinds of ancient gods had its own formidable aspect.

Even among the gods born of sacrifice there were beings as mighty as the Four Emperors of the Ancient Gods, and among the gods born of heaven and earth there were powers as dreadful as the Earth Mother Yuanjun.

And among the Dao-born ancient gods there were those as "weak" as Lady Tianyin.

Of course, Lady Tianyin's weakness was only relative to Tiangong and Tubo; in truth she too was exceedingly powerful. And since Shen Mu had revived her, Lady Tianyin had shaken off the bonds of the Great Dao, and her strength was now even greater.

Gu Xiao said abruptly, "The birth of every ancient god is bound up with the Creators — so why would the ancient gods want to wipe out the Creators? Brother Luo, being a Creator yourself, do you know the answer to that?"

Luo Xiao shook his head. "My people went through the War of Destruction and the War of Blood and Rust; much of our history was lost, and the Ancestral Court vanished. I came out this time to seek the lost history of those two wars. And I wanted to see whether the Creators still have any chance of returning to the Ancestral Court."

Gu Xiao's eyes flickered. "And if you learn that lost history and find that the Creators deserved their fate — how would you face yourself then?"

Luo Xiao's face flushed red. "I do not know about the rest, but the clansmen who raised me were good people. We opened up the void to escape the chaos of war — we are no gang of monstrous villains! I do not believe our forebears deserved their fate."

Gu Xiao laughed. "Whether they deserved it or not is hardly for you to judge, Brother Luo — after all, you know little enough about those dark primeval years."

Dahong said with a smile, "So then, little brother Xiao, you must know those dark primeval years very well?"

Gu Xiao said hastily, "I was only saying it in passing. Don't frighten me, Brother Hong."

The two roared with laughter.

Shen Mu laughed along with them.

Luo Xiao watched the three of them laughing merrily, not knowing what they were laughing at, and could only laugh twice along with them.

The smile faded from Shen Mu's face, and he looked out the window.