Chapter 1082 — The Deadlock of a Hundred Thousand Years

Ling Tianzun stood there in silence, and it was only after a long moment that she seemed to come back to herself.

All at once, with a cry of joy, this unkempt girl charged over, snatched the hairpin from Shen Mu's hand, felled him with a single flying kick, and then fell upon him with fists and feet, beating him with the most savage ferocity. That whole pack of contrarians astride their bamboo poles came charging up as well, and the bamboo-pole ponies laid into Shen Mu with such a beating—crack!

crack! thump!

thump! —that the air rang with it.

Yue Tianzun, Yan'er, and the rest stared with mouths agape, while Long Qilin alone squinted drowsily and dozed on the ground, turning a blind eye to the whole affair.

"You stole my hairpin! I'll teach you to steal my hairpin!

" Ling Tianzun shouted between blows.

"I'll teach you to sneak away! I'll teach you to come sneaking back! Do you have any idea how painfully I've waited?

" Shen Mu curled up on the ground with his head in his hands, begging for mercy without cease.

Still seething with anger, Ling Tianzun kept up her assault, raging, "Do you know how bitter these years have been for me? After you left, everyone said I was wrong—only I knew I was right, because you are the living proof!

" Even as she spoke and struck, her eyes reddened, and she wept even while she continued to beat him.

"Everyone said I was mad—even Yun, even Yue—they all believed I was wrong, that I could never succeed!

How I wished you were at my side, if only to say a single sentence: 'You are right!

' But no, you had to run away!

You had to vanish without a trace! I'll beat you to death! " .

. .

She flung herself upon Shen Mu and burst into loud sobs, a girl who had nursed her grievances for who knows how long, and yet her hand still clasped that peachwood hairpin tightly, while her other hand seized the lapels of his robe, as though she feared he might vanish once again. Others might not have understood such a feeling, but Shen Mu knew all too well the solitude that frustration and the world's incomprehension bring; at such a time, all it takes is a single "You are right" from a fellow Daoist to summon fresh courage and hack one's way forward through thorns and brambles once more.

Shen Mu had known such a moment; so had Ling Tianzun.

Shen Mu had Long Qilin—even if Long Qilin did not understand him, at least he would encourage him.

Ling Tianzun had nothing at all.

Yue Tianzun helped her to her feet, and Ling Tianzun threw herself upon her shoulder, weeping without restraint, though her other hand still pinched the hem of Shen Mu's garment.

Shen Mu brushed the footprints off his clothes and laughed: "If you hadn't succeeded, how could I have come back?

" "I knew all along that I would succeed!

" Ling Tianzun said stubbornly.

Shen Mu roared with laughter; when the laughter subsided, he said in all seriousness, "You are right.

" "I know! " It was a long while before Ling Tianzun's emotions settled. She tossed Shen Mu aside and turned the peachwood hairpin over and over in her hands.

Yue Tianzun, meanwhile, dragged Shen Mu off to find a clean place to drink tea—finding a clean place in Ling Tianzun's courtyard was no easy task at all. The only trouble was that the little horses astride their bamboo poles were still hammering away at Shen Mu's legs; he waved them off several times, but could not drive them away, and so had to let the matter drop.

Yan'er, for her part, bustled about with the six men who had been transformed from heavenly dragons, sweeping Ling Tianzun's rooms and courtyard and setting straight the papers she had written and calculated on. "Yan'er, you've filed this scroll in the wrong place," Long Qilin said with a glance.

"Wrong?

" The little horses roused themselves at once, abandoned Shen Mu, and charged at Long Qilin, beating him with a rain of crackling thumps. Long Qilin went on sleeping, unmoved as a mountain.

Yue Tianzun looked at Shen Mu for a while, then at Ling Tianzun, who sat clutching the hairpin and giggling fatuously to herself; she blinked, then probed: "Mu, are you truly from the future? " Shen Mu took a sip of tea and jerked his chin toward Yan'er with a smile: "In the future, you will take this girl in and give her the name Yan'er.

Her mother gave birth to her and personally delivered her into your care, and she will feed you until you are plump and fair. " Yue Tianzun looked at Yan'er again and snorted with laughter: "Nonsense—I would never let myself be fattened by her! What, did I pass her on to you in the future as well?

" Shen Mu smiled faintly, set down his teacup, and asked: "Has Yun Tianzun gone to the Heavenly Court to plead his case? " Yue Tianzun nodded, her gaze remote and deep: "Not long after you vanished back then, Hao Tianzun, by the decree of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, established the demigod court of Longxiao to command all the demigods under heaven.

The demigods rose, and especially in a place like the Origin Realm their power grew greater and greater.

The friction between the human race and the demigods multiplied—and yet, weak as we were, even in alliance with the other acquired races we remained ground down beneath the demigods' heel. These years have been hard, very hard. " Shen Mu looked at her face; the Yue Tianzun who had once been frail had grown far more resolute. "We joined hands with the acquired races and fought the demigods in more battles than I can count—more defeats than victories. " Yue Tianzun smiled bitterly, her fingertip tracing the rim of her teacup: "It looks like a struggle between the demigods and the acquired races over territory and gain, but it is really nothing more than a division of spoils—only, those dividing the spoils are not us, but the Ancient Gods. And why do we taste more defeat than victory?

Is it not because we begrudge the sacrifices?

" Shen Mu's heart stirred.

Yue Tianzun went on: "Whenever we came to blows with the demigods, the deities of every faction would raise their divine-demon armies and hold blood sacrifice after blood sacrifice, offering to the Ancient Gods and begging them to descend and help us fight. Mu, you come from a later age—in that age, when wars were fought, did people still use living beings as offerings, begging the Ancient Gods to descend? " Shen Mu shook his head. "Can you guess what we offer as sacrifices to those greedy Ancient Gods?

" said Yue Tianzun.

Shen Mu shook his head again, his voice hoarse: "I don't want to guess. " "When people are pushed to the brink, there is nothing they will not do. " Yue Tianzun raised the teacup and drained it in one go, but it caught in her throat like strong liquor and she could not stop coughing; she recovered only after a while, set the cup down, and sighed: "A pity it is not wine. Back then, when the human race was driven into a dead end, when the demigods had fought their way to the Xiaohan Heavenly Court and battered the gates of Jade Capital—we still made our sacrifice to the Ancient Gods.

" Her voice turned rough: "We deities who guarded the Xiaohan Heavenly Court sacrificed ourselves—offered ourselves to the gods on high as though we were cattle, as fodder for the Ancient Gods.

Then the Ancient Gods descended.

But Hao Tianzun's side made sacrifices as well, and drew down another host of gods.

Can you guess how that war ended?