Chapter 1208 — The Four-Dimensional Divine Realm

Gao Huaitong and the others withdrew. Shen Mu strode down and stood before the First Ancestor Human Emperor. His body quaked, and behind him sixteen heavenly palaces swayed, blazing with light, while the sound of the Dao roared and thundered—so that the countless gods and demons beneath Heavenly Venerable Xiao's banner were dazzled and shaken, secretly alarmed.

The First Ancestor Human Emperor frowned.

"At the same realm, I am no match for you. " Shen Mu laughed.

"At the same realm, the only ones fit to face me are the Ten Heavenly Venerables—and even they are no match for me. First Ancestor, I will cede you three realms.

" He raised three fingers.

"The realms of Yaochi, Zhanshentai, and Yujing—so long as you can reach my side and land a blow on me, it counts as your victory.

" The First Ancestor Human Emperor raised his brows. "Land a blow on you, and it counts as my victory?

" Shen Mu nodded and said unhurriedly, "That is right.

" He swept his eyes around and smiled.

"Nephews, the same goes for you.

So long as you can draw near and strike my true body, it counts as your victory.

" The many disciples of Heavenly Venerable Xiao hesitated and looked one after another to Gao Huaitong. Gao Huaitong wavered, then his gaze came to rest on Yan Qiling. Her eyes flickered, and she smiled.

"We may as well try.

" Gao Huaitong gave a faint nod to his other junior brothers and sisters. Shen Mu smiled slightly and said in a low voice, "Open—" His body quaked again.

Of a sudden the sound of the Dao grew incomparably loud, and stars beyond counting gushed from between his brows, rose floating into the air, and in an instant became a sky-wide river of stars and constellations.

Xuandu sat high above, and upon the Heavenly Dipper there appeared a Lord of Heaven with Shen Mu's face, white-browed and white-bearded. Amid the stars great and small stood ranks of divine cities, each garrisoned by an ancient god with Shen Mu's likeness.

At the same time, the earth divided into yin and yang; the two qi of yin and yang flowed and turned like an Ancestral Court, and a primordial tree sprang from the ground, lush and verdant, rising level with the heavens!

And beneath the yin and yang, Youdu surged forth; Tubo trod upon Guixu, ruling over the souls of countless beings in the world.

The Four Extremes Heavens divided this miniature cosmos into the four heavens of east, south, west, and north. Beneath the Lord of Heaven's feet the Tianyin Realm emerged, and within Guixu two lotuses bloomed in the gloom.

Beyond this Primordial Ore Vein it was as though they had entered another world; the crowd could see only this world, and not the world outside.

Gao Huaitong's expression shifted slightly.

"A domain.

.

.

" he murmured. He looked at Shen Mu and saw Shen Mu's full face—yet no matter from which direction one looked at Shen Mu while standing in this domain, what one saw was still Shen Mu's full face!

Shen Mu was like a four-faced deity, without a back, without a back of the head!

Even gazing down from the heavens or up from beneath the earth, what met the eye was still his front! A four-faced god without a single weakness. "Take him down! " the Second Ancestor cried aloud.

The Human Emperors struck first, charging at Shen Mu where he stood upon the midline of the yin-yang Taiji! Gao Huaitong had meant to first observe what methods Shen Mu possessed, but Yan Qiling had already led the many disciples of Heavenly Venerable Xiao in a charge forward.

He had no choice but to steel himself and charge as well. In a flash, Human Emperor Lanpo was smashed to the ground by the Lord of Heaven and could not move; Human Emperor Kongxian was beaten down by the seventy-two Earthly Fiend ancient gods and could not rise; the Fifth Ancestor Human Emperor, bearing the Five-Thunder Sky-Upholding Bell, charged forward and was dragged into Youdu by Tubo; the Second Ancestor was seized by the Vermilion Bird, Emperor of the South, and suppressed in the Southern Pole Heaven; the Sixth Ancestor was trapped in the Northern Pole Heaven by the Black Tortoise, Emperor of the North!

The Human Emperors at the very front fell one after another, and the disciples of Heavenly Venerable Xiao, too, were struck by blows as uncanny as gods and ghosts, suppressed one after another, powerless to resist. Yet Yan Qiling and the others were, after all, mighty in divine ability, and soon rushed to the vicinity of the Taiji diagram.

Looking up, they beheld heavenly palaces ranked in graceful disorder—sixteen heavenly palaces, sixteen primordial spirits of Shen Mu, some standing beneath the Southern Heavenly Gate, some amid layer upon layer of palaces, and they were not far now from ascending the Jade Terrace to drink the heavenly dew. The Yaochi realm held one great boon: one could climb the Jade Terrace and drink the heavenly dew, and for one who had cultivated to the divine realm this was a transformation as of rebirth.

Yet several of Shen Mu's heavenly palaces were incomplete—the Heavenly Palace of the Medical Dao and the Heavenly Palace of the Buddhist Dao were both lacking—so that he could never wholly enter the True God realm, and it was most difficult for him as well to step into the Yaochi realm. Within the sixteen heavenly palaces Shen Mu's primordial spirits each unleashed divine abilities against the crowd, ten thousand transformations dazzling the eye, and several more people toppled to the ground.

By this point only Yan Qiling, the First Ancestor Human Emperor, Gao Huaitong, and two others remained—five in all. Gao Huaitong withstood the attacks pouring from the sixteen heavenly palaces even as he helped Yan Qiling charge forward.

No sooner had Yan Qiling rushed into the yin-yang Taiji diagram than she saw Shen Mu, standing within it, thrust out a great hand, his divine ability smashing down.

Her strength was formidable as well, and all that Heavenly Venerable Xiao had taught her was divine ability and Dao arts of the very highest order. Yan Qiling met Shen Mu's blow head-on, her innate primordial qi merging ten thousand daos into one stream—and even so she could not withstand it, and was struck out of the yin-yang Taiji diagram.

At that very moment the First Ancestor Human Emperor rushed into the yin-yang Taiji diagram. His realm was high, yet the instant he entered Shen Mu's domain he perceived that here heaven and earth were one, leaving him no purchase for borrowed strength; so he called up the Dao-realm divine ability with which he had contended against Gao Huaitong and broke through barrier after barrier to force his way in. The place where he breached differed from Yan Qiling's, the two of them occupying precisely opposite quarters—yet what faced him was likewise Shen Mu's full face.

He took Shen Mu's blow head-on and was sent flying too.

Gao Huaitong broke through the obstruction of the sixteen heavenly palaces and fought his way into the diagram, while Yan Qiling and the First Ancestor Human Emperor also charged in at the same moment. The three of them, from three directions, without a word exchanged, attacked Shen Mu at once! Upon the Taiji diagram three figures darted to and fro like a hare starting up and a falcon swooping, their forms and positions ever shifting, dazzling to the eye—yet they could never close in!

Shen Mu seemed to have no flaw, no weakness, no track to follow; he blocked every one of their divine abilities, and the force of his counterattacks only grew stronger! "Attack from a single direction!

" the First Ancestor Human Emperor said suddenly. The other two caught on.

The three knit into a single line, and each, after unleashing a single divine ability, at once fell back and yielded the chance to the other two. And of those other two, one would split off to fend against the divine-ability attacks loosed from the Lord of Heaven, Tubo, the Earth Mother, and the many heavenly palaces and gods and sages of the heavens.