Chapter 1189 — Yet Another Divine Weapon Emerges

Shen Mu watched this scene, feeling that everything happening on this altar was utterly absurd and bizarre.

Each of these eight Heavenly Venerables was full of fine talk about humanity and righteousness, claiming to keep all living beings in their hearts — and yet the disasters they had wrought were even greater than those of the ancient gods.

Qiang the Heavenly Venerable was none other than the traitorous Grand Emperor she herself had denounced; Xiao the Heavenly Venerable was none other than Taichu, the ancient god and Lord of Heaven; Gong the Heavenly Venerable was one of the Creator's three great God Kings, the Primeval God King who had enslaved the ancient gods; Consort Yan was suspected to be the Empress; and Hong the Heavenly Venerable was none other than the very Heavenly Duke they claimed they would overthrow! As for Hao the Heavenly Venerable, Langxuan the Divine Emperor, and the Ancestral God King — they, too, were the most powerful sons of the ancient gods! Hearing these people speak such high-sounding, sanctimonious words almost made him laugh out loud.

"Irony — goddamn irony!

" Looking at their solemn, earnest faces, Shen Mu finally could not hold it in and burst out laughing.

The eight Heavenly Venerables glanced at him, each giving a cold snort.

"Mu the Heavenly Venerable, you are of no use to us now.

What are you laughing at?

" asked the Ancestral God King, puzzled.

Shen Mu laughed. "God King, you are mistaken.

Apart from a very few among you, none of the fellow Daoists present would kill me. I know far too many secrets — if I were to blurt them out at a moment like this, we would all be finished!

" With that, he roared with laughter. Xiao, Hong, Gong, Consort Yan, and Consort Qiang joined in the laughter, leaving only Hao the Heavenly Venerable, Langxuan the Divine Emperor, and the Ancestral God King unsmiling.

Hao said flatly, "Knowing many secrets can sometimes preserve your life, but at other times it can get you killed very quickly — killed in a muddle, without knowing why.

The Great Sun Star Lord, for instance.

" Shen Mu replied all smiles, "Thank you for the advice, Fellow Daoist Hao. As long as I can stay alive for now, I am content. " Hao turned around and said, "In that case, let us break open the rift in the Ancestral Court, leave this place first, and then seal the rift tight!

" The eight Heavenly Venerables flew toward the crack in the sky of the Ancestral Court, Shen Mu following behind them.

Every one of the eight harbored his or her own secret designs; though they would not go so far as to turn on him and kill him on the spot, sealing Shen Mu inside the Ancestral Court was well within their power.

And so he had to seize the chance to dash out together with them.

At the rift of the Ancestral Court, the eight Heavenly Venerables exchanged glances, and Hong said with a smile, "Everyone, let us each use our own means to break the seal of the Ancestral Court.

" They all voiced their assent.

The eight struck at once, and from this combined display one could discern the heights of their respective cultivations. Hao was by far the most outstanding; the moment he moved, twenty-eight heavenly palaces rolled forth, vast and magnificent.

Next came Langxuan the Divine Emperor, with twenty-six heavenly palaces in all, linked together to form a stretch of Heavenly Court. Hong had twenty-five; Consort Qiang and Consort Yan each had twenty-four; Xiao had fewer, only twenty; and the Ancestral God King and Gong had a mere eighteen.

Shen Mu took it all in.

Though the number of heavenly palaces represented the level of one's cultivation, he did not believe a single one of the numbers these eight had displayed! Even though Hao had shown off his twenty-eight heavenly palaces on more than one occasion, Shen Mu still refused to believe it.

Hao counted as the honest man among the eight, but that honesty was only relative to the Ten Heavenly Venerables — and which of the Ten was not a wily, scheming old fox? The number of palaces they revealed was merely what they wanted their opponents to know.

Even if one of them were to flash out all thirty-five palaces at once, Shen Mu would not feel the least bit surprised! The eight Heavenly Venerables each wielded their divine arts, and, unexpectedly, even these all belonged to the ancient gods' system of arts — arts formed when the Dao Ancestor used the art of numerology to decipher the Great Dao of each ancient god!

And of this, too, Shen Mu believed not a whit.

These eight Heavenly Venerables were crafty old foxes who had entered the Dao long ago; their divine arts were by no means ancient-god arts built upon the foundation of numerology, but rather the great transcendent arts that they themselves had realized through their own enlightenment. What they displayed was meant only to deceive others!

The infighting and mutual scheming among the Heavenly Court's Ten Heavenly Venerables was fiercer than anyone could imagine!

Even though the eight had not used their true methods, they were, after all, Heavenly Venerables, and the might of their divine arts was vast and ferocious.

Wave after wave of world-annihilating power swept toward the rift of the Ancestral Court! As these arts blasted into the rift, the reverse faces of worlds — the Heavenly Court, the Primal World, the Mystic Capital, the Nether Capital, the Four Extremes Heaven, among others — emerged from within the rift to contend with their arts!

At the end of the Primeval Age, Taichu, the ancient god and Lord of Heaven, had led all the deities and saints under heaven in sealing the Ancestral Court, seeking to bury all the inglorious history that lay within it, drawing upon the blood of the ancient gods and the Great Dao of one ancient god after another. Add to that the reverse faces of the Heavenly Court, the Primal World, the Mystic Capital, the Nether Capital, and other worlds — how dreadful was that seal!

Yet now the eight Heavenly Venerables joined forces, and their might was fully a match for all the gods of that bygone age! Moreover, they only needed to pound out a single passage rather than shatter the Ancestral Court's seal altogether, so breaking it open was all the easier!

The bodies of the eight Heavenly Venerables towered, swelling ever larger, until even the twenty-odd Heavenly Courts floating behind them no longer seemed so terrifying.

Behind their heads, divine light formed wheels that revolved slowly, and all manner of divine arts leaped out from the wheels, wrenching the crack open.

They flew forward, pressing deeper into the seal, drawing closer and closer to breaking the Ancestral Court apart.

Shen Mu followed behind them, and when he looked back, he saw enormous eyes surfacing all over the sky and ground of the Ancestral Court, staring at them with greed.

They were Void Beasts.

The Void Mother Beast had been slain by Shen Mu within the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Banner, and a new mother beast had not yet formed; the Void Beasts were a host of dragons without a leader, and without the mother beast, Consort Qiang could hardly command so many of them at once.

These Void Beasts were masterless, filled with avarice for the outside world, yet their terror of Shen Mu and the eight Heavenly Venerables kept them from daring to approach. Only when Shen Mu and the eight were on the verge of leaving the Ancestral Court did the Void Beasts finally come forth from the void and fly toward the rift.

At last the eight Heavenly Venerables broke through the seal.

A sharp glint flickered in the Ancestral God King's eyes, and he was just about to knock Shen Mu, who was behind him, back into the Ancestral Court — when suddenly a ray of light flashed. Shen Mu had cast his translocation art and teleported out through the gap.

The Ancestral God King abandoned the notion at once and praised him inwardly: "This lad slips through every crack!