Chapter 1314 — The Sky-High Deal
One or two Queqi beasts might have been explained away, but to find a great herd of them here left him utterly perplexed.
The Void Beasts held dominion over the Ancestral Court, where no other living thing should possibly have survived, so whence had these Queqi come?
"Does Mu Tianzun know this kind of beast?
" Xiu Hongsu asked, watching the Queqi rise from the marsh, smiling as she said: "Her Highness the Heavenly Consort says this beast is called Queqi, and it is rather gentle. Besides the Queqi, all manner of other giant beasts have also appeared in the Ancestral Court one after another.
" Curiosity stirred in Shen Mu, and he asked: "Other beasts have appeared as well? Had these beasts not long been extinct?
Why would they return?
" Xiu Hongsu said: "That I do not know. Her Highness the Heavenly Consort may know, for I asked her, but she did not say. " Shen Mu's eyes flickered, thinking to himself: "Could it be that the two ancient gods in the Taiji mines used yin and yang qi to create life, fashioning the various beasts of the Ancestral Court?
Yet judging by how those two conduct themselves, both petty and miserly, they would hardly expend their own strength to create so many beasts?
" If the ancient gods of the Taiji mines had not done it, then where had these beasts come from? Along the way Shen Mu saw more beasts, among them the Shanxu, its back overgrown with mountains, and as it walked the mountain wind rushed through the ranges and caverns upon its back with a howling roar.
There were also Pohe with wingspans of a hundred miles, crouching by day atop god-mountains that pierced the clouds, and upon spying prey spreading their fleshy wings to glide high in the sky and strike. If they missed, the Pohe would limp and crawl, hooking the cliffs with the talons beneath their wings to climb back up again.
He also saw Daxiong, Xiufeng, and other beasts, and even glimpsed a Taipu!
The Taipu was a most terrifying creature, its battle prowess no less than a Void Beast, if not greater!
Shu Jun, one of the Three Kings of Primordial Antiquity, had subdued a Taipu whose prowess was in no way inferior even to the Void Mother Beast!
Yet the Taipu were clearly extinct!
"To create one or two beasts through Taiji creation would be one thing, but to create so many would be the death of such miserly ancient gods!
These beasts were certainly not of their making! " At last they reached the Taishi mines.
Shen Mu descended from his treasure carriage and followed Xiu Hongsu into the mines.
Deep within the lode, Taishi qi drifted thick and billowing, and it was perilous beyond measure, for Shen Mu saw gods turned into ghostlike things, their bodies voided and transparent.
This was the result of long exposure to Taishi qi and assimilation by it! The Dao of Taishi possessed form without substance, and these gods, through long contact with Taishi qi, had lost their flesh bodies and retained only empty shape, with flesh, primordial spirit, vital qi, soul, and all else gone!
Yet they could not be counted dead.
Possessing form without substance, they drifted in confusion without thought, unable to see or hear or feel, living a life worse than death. They stood in the mines, drifting now and then, passing straight through rock.
The eeriness here was dreadful beyond words!
"Even with Her Highness's Tianzun treasure suppressing this place, the strangeness of this lode cannot be fully suppressed.
" Xiu Hongsu sighed and said: "The strangeness here is immensely powerful.
Ordered to guard it, my heart often pounds with fear, and I feel myself in danger of being assimilated by the mines.
So from time to time I must leave and steady my cultivation outside.
" Filled with sympathy, Shen Mu said: "When you have leisure, Xiuxiu, come sit with me. My place is not nearly so perilous as this.
.
. " At that moment Yan Tianfei's voice came, laughing as she said: "If Hongsu went to your place, she would die without ever knowing how!
Perilous as these mines are, beside your place they are a gentle haven, a shelter from the storm.
" Xiu Hongsu hastily bowed, and Yan Tianfei waved her away.
Shen Mu stepped forward and bowed: "Why is Her Highness not holding the white cat this time? " Yan Tianfei returned the courtesy gracefully and said: "I sent him to find who is working mischief in secret and releasing the beasts.
Xiao Qi is the keenest, and what I cannot find, he can find.
" Shen Mu's heart stirred, and he said: "These beasts were released?
" Yan Tianfei nodded and invited him into her separate palace hall, walking and talking with him as she said: "Indeed.
" "Then where did these beasts live before? " Shen Mu asked.
"Some lived on the back of the Yuan Realm, some on the back of the Four Polar Heavens, and the Heavenly Court, Xuandu, Youdu, and such worlds each held some. Even on the back of my Guixu, some mighty beasts survived. " Yan Tianfei said with a half-smile: "Mu Tianzun, you postnatal beings and demigods often call us ancient gods cruel, yet you do not know it is we ancient gods who uphold the order of the world. Before sealing the Ancestral Court, we moved these beasts to the backs of those worlds so they might breed and thrive.
And what of you postnatal beings and demigods? " Scorn showed on her face: "You overthrew us in the name of our cruelty, yet how many races have gone extinct by your hands?
In cruelty, you surpass us ancient gods! " Shen Mu smiled: "Say no more, Your Highness. I have seen the cruelty of the ancient gods in the Longhan era with my own eyes, and I can judge for myself whether it exceeded that of demigods and postnatal beings.
To you, the ancient gods are not cruel, but to us, unless the ancient gods die, we have no way to live. " Remembering he had been to the Longhan era more than once, Yan Tianfei pressed the matter no further and asked him to be seated, saying: "Of Hao'er's quintessential blood, how much have you obtained?
" "Hao Tianzun holds thirty-five Heavenly Palaces, though he claims but twenty-eight to the outside.
" Shen Mu took his seat and brushed his hand lightly before him, and drop after drop of fresh blood floated between them, each drop of Tianzun blood crystal clear and gleaming with splendid light like the purest ruby. Yan Tianfei's heart thumped twice, for Shen Mu had laid out thirty-five drops of Tianzun blood!
Thirty-five drops meant Hao Tianzun's thirty-five Heavenly Palaces!
"I have a great bargain to discuss with Your Highness.
" With a sweep of his sleeve Shen Mu made the thirty-five drops vanish and smiled as he said: "Give me half the yield of this mine of yours, and I will give you Hao Tianzun's thirty-five drops of Tianzun blood, that you may fathom his arts and divine powers!
What say you to this deal? " Yan Tianfei's gaze flickered, and she smiled faintly as she said: "Mu Tianzun, you stand before me in person. If I wished to seize it by force, could you resist me?
" She rose gracefully, all the clinging charm of the consort gone, replaced by the bearing of one who rules the world, a confident smile upon her face: "With a snap of my fingers I can slay you a thousand times over! I can even utterly grind away your soul and erase every trace that you ever existed!
" She laughed: "Your vaunted Archmage Immortal Through Myriad Calamities is nothing in my eyes. The only one in this world who can truly break your divine power is I, not even Tai Di! The only one who can hold you fast is I!
Hand over Hao'er's divine blood, and I shall spare your life! " Shen Mu burst into hearty laughter, his laughter shaking back and forth through the palace hall.