Chapter 1338 — A Storm Rises Anew

"To make the Ancestral Court an altar, and the living beings of the Ancestral Court the offering — a stroke indeed to astonish the world and confound the vulgar! Who in the world contrived it?

" Shen Mu frowned deeply.

What being had such magical power and such wisdom as to reduce the Ancestral Court to this state? Judging by its present condition, the place was fit for no one to dwell in; it must be sealed, and no one whatsoever allowed to set foot here!

Where there are people, there is strife; if the warfare of the Heavenly Venerables were to erupt a few times more, then even Tai Yi, I fear, could not hold those prehistoric beings back from descending! "If the sky falls, Tai Yi will hold it up.

.

. " But was the Great Emperor alive or dead?

It seemed his head had not yet come plummeting down.

.

. Shen Mu looked about in every direction, and still he saw no head of the Great Emperor falling to the ground.

Earth Mother was still searching far and wide; across the churning earth, tentacles kept thrashing about — those were Earth Mother's roots. She could not have had time, it seemed, to find more than one fist of the Great Emperor; everything else had been offered up in sacrifice, turned into the offering. "How wretched the Great Emperor is.

" Shen Mu sighed ruefully: "A pity he did not fall into my hands. . .

While the four Heavenly Venerables are still hunting down the Great Emperor's head, let me first make for the Sea of Chaos and fish up the Taichu Primal Stone! " The Sea of Chaos had once been Tai Yi's own ore vein, a place which the sacrificial power of the previous universe could never reach. It was filled with chaos qi, so dense and ponderous that it could very readily assimilate all other things into chaos qi.

If the hand of Heavenly Venerable Xiao fell into the sea, it would not become an offering; in all likelihood it would not soon be assimilated by the chaos qi either; and the Taichu Primal Stone was even less liable to assimilation. So long as he could plunge to the depths of the Sea of Chaos, he would find those fragments of the primal stone.

"The last time I walked out of there alive, I owed it to the Glazed Azure-Heaven Banner, which answered every plea.

Unluckily, Taisu has already come forth into the world, and the Glazed Azure-Heaven Banner can no longer answer every plea; but I still have the two eggshells my Dao-brother Tai Yi left to me. " Shen Mu was full of confidence — with Tai Yi's eggshells, he would surely be able to enter the Sea of Chaos and find the fragments of the primal stone and the hand of Heavenly Venerable Xiao.

The fragments of the primal stone were precious treasures; the hand of Heavenly Venerable Xiao was a heavy treasure of no small account!

He sped toward the Sea of Chaos with the speed of wind and lightning, when all at once the earth before him heaved and writhed. Countless roots burst through the soil, like so many burrowing dragons, drilling in and out of the ground as they raced after him in a frenzy!

"Earth Mother again! " At the flicker of a thought, Shen Mu employed his great divine art, the Ferry of the Other Shore Divine Ark; he set foot upon a divine ark and sailed far away, vanished into the void, and flung Earth Mother far behind.

Countless roots followed him into the void, piercing one layer of the void after another, like a host of demons dancing madly; but as Shen Mu pressed deeper, Earth Mother's roots began to struggle.

In the end, she could not overtake him and had no choice but to retract her roots.

Shen Mu emerged from the void with a cold laugh, and his form came to rest upon the surface of the Sea of Chaos. At that very moment, four thunderous crashes rang out in succession, and Shen Mu's body stiffened — around him, four figures of prodigious stature had appeared.

With difficulty he lifted his head and saw Heavenly Consort Yan; then he saw Heavenly Venerable Xiao, the Ancestor God King, and Divine Emperor Langxuan.

The bodies of the four Heavenly Venerables were tattered and torn; wounds covered them everywhere, their skin burst open, their robes in disarray, and the divine blood of Heavenly Venerables still dripped ceaselessly from their wounds onto the Sea of Chaos. These four must have been pursuing the Great Emperor, only to be wounded by his desperate counterstroke; yet judging from their wounds, besides those left by the Great Emperor, there were also wounds ground out by the void.

They must have chased the Great Emperor into the depths of the thirty-fifth layer of the void, and been eroded into such a state by it. Shen Mu stood in the center of the four Heavenly Venerables, meek and still, and at last understood the feeling of Lava Tu Bo when he was hemmed in by the assembled Heavenly Venerables.

Lava Tu Bo was only an avatar of Tu Bo, something that could be cast away at any time without much consequence to Tu Bo's true body; Shen Mu, however, could not be so free and easy as Tu Bo.

He steadied his mind and was about to speak, when suddenly Heavenly Venerable Xiao clutched his severed arm and said with a most affable countenance: "I have lost an arm; I fear I can hardly search out the Taichu Primal Stone anymore. This treasure, then, I yield to you three Dao-friends.

" He withdrew at once, and his form vanished. Divine Emperor Langxuan's face was waxy yellow and his breath faint; coughing blood, he said: "Dao-friend Xiao's wound is only external, but mine is internal.

Before you arrived, I was ambushed by the Great Emperor, and my injuries are the heaviest of all. This Taichu Primal Stone is beyond my fond hopes. Enough, enough — I leave it to you all.

" His form receded backward and disappeared.

Heavenly Consort Yan and the Ancestor God King each frowned. These two redoubtable rivals had withdrawn at the very first moment without searching for the Taichu Primal Stone; plainly they had other designs. All at once a succession of booming reports burst from within the Ancestor God King's body; his countenance changed drastically, and he cried out: "The treasure of my Way of Heaven is shattered — this cultivation of mine is as good as ruined! Your Ladyship, forgive me that I cannot escort you into the Sea of Chaos, nor find the primal stone to present to you!

I must hurry back to my domain to heal my wounds!

" Heavenly Consort Yan changed countenance as well; retreating, she sighed: "My old ailment has flared up, and little of my cultivation remains. I must return to my mineral vein to keep this injury in check.

" The Ancestor God King likewise withdrew, sneering: "Then let that rascal Heavenly Venerable Mu have the windfall! Heavenly Venerable Mu, you lucky dog! " In the twinkling of an eye the four Heavenly Venerables vanished without a trace, and upon the Sea of Chaos only Shen Mu remained.

Cold sweat streamed down the nape of his neck as he stood motionless on the Sea of Chaos. "These four black-hearted wretches know that none of them alone can stand against the other three; hence they withdraw on some pretext, but in truth they are waiting for someone to take out the primal stone, whereupon three will join forces and strike that person a crippling blow.

" His eyeballs darted to and fro.

Though the four Heavenly Venerables had departed, their Qi held this place locked in their grip!

And Shen Mu stood at the very center, held by the locked Qi of all four at once — the slightest movement, he felt, would disturb the intertwining Qi of the four and bring down a simultaneous attack from them all!

"Even if I could flee into the Sea of Chaos in a single instant, I could hardly escape death. " His eyes spun faster and faster; yet no matter how he calculated, the moment he shifted his form, what awaited him was a dead end — certain death, with no hope of life!

All around the Sea of Chaos, an eerie stillness reigned.