Chapter 1268 — A Lesson from the Overturned Cart

At these words Bai Yuqiong's eyes flew wide, filled with bewilderment and alarm, while at the bottom of her heart there also rose a thread of bitterness. What bewildered her was that she had never imagined so many overlords of prehistoric and primeval times hidden among the lofty Ten Heavenly Venerables.

What alarmed her was that she herself had come to know so many secrets — and though Shen Mu had not yet disclosed the true identities of these people, from what she knew of him, he above all loved to toy with human hearts, to drive people to despair until they had no choice but to make the choices favorable to him and throw themselves into his camp.

And the bitterness in her heart was bitterness over the exertions of generation after generation — they had thought that at last the ancient gods had been overthrown, that the old era had been toppled, only to discover that the old rulers had merely changed their faces and were still sitting upon the throne of rulers! "Heh, heh. . .

" The girl smiled and lowered her head. For the first time, she felt that the world she had been seeing was so false, so unfit to be looked upon. There was a fire in her heart that wanted to blaze up but would not catch.

"Is Fire Heavenly Venerable also a transformation of the old rulers?

" she asked.

Shen Mu shook his head.

"No.

Fire Heavenly Venerable is still Fire Heavenly Venerable. No one has seized his body, and no one has been reborn through him.

Fire Heavenly Venerable merely. .

. " He paused for a moment, then said hoarsely, "He merely chose to become one of the old rulers, and yet he himself has not realized it. " Hope showed again in Bai Yuqiong's eyes.

Seeing it, Shen Mu said, "Do not hold too many hopes for Fire Heavenly Venerable. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Cloud Heavenly Venerable, Minghuang, Ling Heavenly Venerable, Moon Heavenly Venerable, and Kaihuang — all of them have already been disappointed.

" Long before, in the Archives Pavilion of the Heavenly Court, Fire Heavenly Venerable had rushed up to the topmost floor.

Shen Mu fled into the Dark Capital, and as Fire Heavenly Venerable prepared to seize him, it was Dark Heavenly Venerable who blocked his way.

At that time, Dark Heavenly Venerable told him that Fire Heavenly Venerable had changed — he was no longer the Fire Heavenly Venerable of old and could not be trusted. To trust him was to die.

Yet in those days Shen Mu had still been full of expectation toward Fire Heavenly Venerable, thinking it mere prejudice on Dark Heavenly Venerable's part.

It was only later that Shen Mu realized Dark Heavenly Venerable's words were not without reason; after returning from the South Heaven, his heart toward Fire Heavenly Venerable had gone cold as dead ashes.

He did not want Bai Yuqiong to drive her own cart into the same overturned rut. Bai Yuqiong watched the battle outside in silence.

Then, changing the subject, she said with a worried look, "I fear Hao Heavenly Venerable is about to lose. The Great Emperor is too strong.

" Shen Mu did not wish to dwell on this subject either; he smiled and said, "Then you have it wrong.

It is the Great Emperor who is about to lose.

Hao Heavenly Venerable is too strong. " Bai Yuqiong was utterly confounded. "In fact," Shen Mu said, "the Great Emperor came to intercept Hao Heavenly Venerable at my invitation. " Smiling, he went on, "As you know, although I am the Mu Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Alliance and one of its founding elders, I am also a rebel in the Anti-Heavenly Alliance. As long as something can be of use, I will surely use it. And so, with the Primordial Stones, I made use of the Great Emperor and asked him to intercept Hao Heavenly Venerable.

Yet my purpose was to have the two of them wound each other — and if they could destroy each other outright, so much the better. That said, although I regard the Great Emperor as very strong, Hao Heavenly Venerable's true strength has never yet been revealed. " With a gaze deep and distant fixed upon that soul-shaking battle, he went on unhurriedly, "My other purpose in sending the Great Emperor into action was to ascertain exactly how far the upper limit of Hao Heavenly Venerable's strength could go. Have you not noticed?

Hao Heavenly Venerable has been perfectly at ease all along, and to this very moment he has still not shown his true strength. " Bai Yuqiong looked toward Hao Heavenly Venerable.

Indeed, although he was thoroughly at a disadvantage, he remained as calm and unhurried as Shen Mu had said. As for his divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, it had been beaten down by the Great Emperor until it was severely wounded — the Great Emperor's power was so overwhelming that the divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, had been battered until its physical body was a tattered wreck!

Even the Heavenly Palaces of the divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, had been reduced to ruin under the Great Emperor's mighty assault!

Shen Mu said, "The Heavenly Palaces of Hao Heavenly Venerable and those of the Imperial Heavenly Venerable number twenty-eight each. Yet though their numbers are the same, their types are not entirely alike. If you carefully examine the palaces one by one, you will discover that the types of Hao Heavenly Venerable's and the Imperial Heavenly Venerable's Heavenly Palaces, added together, reach as many as thirty-five! " Bai Yuqiong's heart gave a leap, and she carefully examined the types of Hao Heavenly Venerable's and the Imperial Heavenly Venerable's Heavenly Palaces.

The types of Heavenly Palaces cannot be distinguished by the Imperial Seat arts, for some Imperial Seat arts are in fact of the same type.

For example, among the flame-class Imperial Seat arts, besides Fire Heavenly Venerable's art, there are Red Emperor Qi Xiayu's art, the former Red Emperor's art, and even arts of the heavenly-fire class. But these arts are all of one type; to cultivate the Great Heavenly Court, one can choose only one among them. Yet of the Imperial Seat arts of Hao Heavenly Venerable and the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, not many types are repeated — divided by type, they indeed number thirty-five!

"In other words, Hao Heavenly Venerable has very likely merged Imperial Seat arts of thirty-five types, and in truth he is only a step away from the Heavenly Court realm.

" Shen Mu went on, "The reason he is at ease is that he possesses the combat strength to stand against the Great Emperor. He is not far from the true Heavenly Court realm.

That he has not yet exerted his full strength is only meant to force the Great Emperor to reveal the identity he hides among the Ten Heavenly Venerables. He knows that the Qiang Heavenly Consort is close at hand — his purpose is to draw the Qiang Heavenly Consort out.

" Bai Yuqiong's voice turned a little hoarse. "The Qiang Heavenly Consort plus the Great Emperor — Hao Heavenly Venerable has no chance of winning at all! Moreover, the Qiang Heavenly Venerable also possesses the divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable. .

. " "You are wrong," Shen Mu said unhurriedly.

"It has been a million years since the Imperial Heavenly Venerable pioneered the realms of the Heavenly Palace and the Heavenly Court, and Hao Heavenly Venerable is the true culmination of it all.