Chapter 1175 — Journeying Without You

Outside the mine, the Ancestor God King stood wreathed in a blaze of divine light, its brilliance rivaling the heavens: forty-nine beams joining sky to earth, each shimmering with a luster of its own, like a peacock spreading its tail. "This treasure ground is no trifling matter.

" Light shifted in the Ancestor God King's eyes.

He was the son of the Lord of Heaven, heir to the Lord of Heaven's bloodline, the loftiest of bloodlines, the celebrated Du Ling Physique; to cultivate any divine ability or dharma art came to him as easily as turning his palm. He gazed at the chaos qi drifting through the ore vein. Chaos qi was no trifling thing, and that it seeped from this vein meant the vein was surely a treasure ground of the first order, which meant the treasures within were even more terrifying than the chaos qi itself.

"Quite apart from anything else, though chaos qi and chaos stone are terribly hard to refine into treasures, they are extraordinary treasures all the same. Carve a divine image from chaos stone and use it to suppress the heavens - who could stand against it? " He stepped into the vein and murmured, "Even if there is nothing else in this vein, these two mountains of chaos stone can be forged into weapons - a pair of whips - and once I swing them, they will serve all the better for beating my old father to death!

" He had barely finished the thought when the earth convulsed, mountains and rivers heaving. The Ancestor God King gaped.

The two mountain ranges formed of chaos stone were swaying, and beginning to collapse! Chaos stone came crashing down, a din that truly shook heaven and earth; even he could not help but feel a twinge of dread. The power of the chaos mountains was too frightful - it was less a collapse than a total disintegration.

The Ancestor God King hurriedly fell back, and in the space of a few breaths the chaos ranges were reduced to nothing, shattered into countless boulders, the dense chaos stone pressing the entire vein down into the earth.

With the chaos mountains broken, the chaos qi hidden within the stone was at once released, a vast and boundless stream of air like surging mist, battering in all directions. Wherever that savage current passed, the earth sank ever lower, and the divine mountains of solid divine gold were crushed ever smaller; even those Void Beasts that flew the skies and burrowed the earth were ground to powder in an instant, with no time even to flee.

His heart pounding, the Ancestor God King withstood the impact of the chaos qi and looked toward the two chaos ranges and the vein, only to find that they had become two great chasms sunk into the earth.

"What in the world has happened?

" he wondered, alarmed and uncertain. Just then a rumbling and a hoarse, heavy panting rose from underground, and the Ancestor God King was startled again: "Can some dreadful demon beast still live down here?

Did that monster bring down the vein? " In the mist, chaos stones flew up on every side, flung high, like stars crashing into the earth, splitting the ground open into one bottomless pit after another.

The boundless chaos qi obscured his sight, and he could not see what manner of monster had emerged. That 'monster' seemed to have been buried in the mine and was now digging a road out. The Ancestor God King grew more cautious still, heavenly palaces floating one after another behind him, utterly unlike the reckless, crude manner he usually displayed.

Anyone who had lived through the eras of Longhan, Chiming, Shanghuang, and Kaihuang, lived on to this day, and become a Heavenly Venerable, was no fool; Heavenly Venerable though he was, he was prudent and wary, and in the face of a perilous place like the Ancestral Court he did not dare to be careless. After a while, the 'monster' stopped flinging out chaos stones and walked outward instead, and a voice came to him, delighted: "Out at last!

Pi, Yan'er, you can come out now.

" At the sound of that voice, the Ancestor God King's face darkened. A while later, Shen Mu emerged from the collapsed region with Long Qilin and Yan'er, and when he put away the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner he saw the Ancestor God King likewise standing amid the chaos qi.

His heart tightened; then he smiled and nodded to the Ancestor God King. The Ancestor God King gave a cold snort and said flatly, "I have long heard that Heavenly Venerable Mu tears apart whatever place he visits.

I did not believe it before, but seeing it today, the name is well earned.

This primordial ore vein, this divine chaos mountain, has stood in the Ancestral Court for countless hundreds of millions of years without harm, and yet the moment you arrive, you destroy it!

" Shen Mu was all humble trepidation: "You flatter me, nephew, you flatter me! " At the word 'nephew,' the Ancestor God King raised an eyebrow and said mildly, "What treasure did you take from the vein?

Bring it out. " Shen Mu shook his head and sighed, "What treasure could there be here?

To speak plainly, this place is an ancient ore vein that gave birth to something like the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.

You must have heard my elder brother, the Lord of Heaven, speak of it - the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was born in the Taichu ore vein of the Juyu clan. He was the most ancient of gods, originally an egg, yet he never emerged, until the Supreme Emperor hatched him. " A flicker passed over the Ancestor God King's face, and his voice came out hoarse: "You mean there is an ancient god egg here as well?

The ancient god egg in this vein must have fallen into your hands.

Hand it over! " Shen Mu laughed. "Nephew, the ancient god in this vein has already emerged; he drained the vein's spiritual power long ago.

I came in, careless, and brushed against the body of the vein, which is why it collapsed. I took no treasure at all. I suspect. .

.

" He looked around and said with leisure, "that this being, the equal of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, is hidden in the Ancestral Court even now. He may even be watching us at this very moment!

" The muscles in the Ancestor God King's face twitched. He glanced about, then laughed. "Words prove nothing. You went into the vein; only you know whether there was an ancient god egg, whether there were treasures. Shen, I have always found you distasteful.

Bring me your treasures and I will spare your life. " He said haughtily, "Others dare not kill you; I do!

I am not like them, forever weighing gain against loss - I would kill even my own old man! " Shen Mu smiled a smile that was not quite a smile. "You do not dare.

Nephew, you got in because I brought you in; if you want to get out, it must be I who brings you out. I cannot die.

" Killing intent flared in the Ancestor God King's eyes. Shen Mu said mildly, "Nephew, only because I bring you to play can you play here. If I do not bring you, you can only watch. " The Ancestor God King was furious.

"I can imprison you, torture you, humiliate you, cut off your four limbs. I can torment your primordial spirit until you can neither live nor die!

" Shen Mu gave a light laugh. "You truly do not dare.

I have fellow Daoists.

Every Heavenly Venerable who has entered this place, apart from you, is a fellow Daoist of mine. With such a commotion here, how could they fail to be alerted?

If you wish to die now, then by all means make your move. " The Ancestor God King laughed heartily and bowed.

"I was wrong. Uncle Mu, your little nephew begs your pardon! Farewell, farewell. " Shen Mu said politely, "Do not blame yourself, nephew.

No need for ceremony, no need for ceremony. " His face wreathed in smiles, the Ancestor God King turned to go, then halted abruptly and said with a laugh, "Uncle, that treasure you used just now could actually hold up the body of a chaos mountain - remarkable indeed.

If I guess rightly, it must be the foremost treasure under heaven, lost these six hundred thousand years: the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, is it not?