Chapter 1781 — Enemies Everywhere

Shen Mu refused Lang Wan outright and said to the woman, "This journey is exceedingly dangerous. The other side has five who have attained the Dao, all of them formidable, and there are beings such as Celestial Venerable Hao and the Hall Master of Joy. Celestial Venerable Hao also carries one of the Fourth Young Master's zither strings. As long as we do not tear away the mask of civility, all is well; but if we do, I cannot protect you.

" A shadow of dejection crossed Lang Wan's face.

Seeing her expression, Emperor Yanfeng grew only more certain: "The Creator wants to poach from my Ling family! Imperial Preceptor Jingping has been bought off by her! But my son-in-law is a man of true worth; he was not seduced, he did not fall.

" Lang Wan had always been cold by nature; to put on such a girlish manner now, she must be scheming something. A veteran of the world like Emperor Yanfeng saw it clearly enough.

Though Lang Wan was a Divine King of the Creator race, wide in experience and knowledge, in matters of the heart she was a blank page, and her doings easily left traces behind. Shen Mu, utterly unaware, went on, "This time, Celestial Venerable Yue will come with me.

The Fourth Young Master's string is terrifying, and the path the Hall Master of Joy walks seems to be the same path as Celestial Venerable Yue's. With Celestial Venerable Yue present, this journey will not be very dangerous. " Celestial Venerable Yue murmured assent.

Emperor Yanfeng grew anxious again and said to Jiang Baigui, "Imperial Preceptor Jingping, do you think Celestial Venerable Yue means to poach from my Ling family as well? " Jiang Baigui said indifferently, "Your Majesty, there was once a man who lost his axe and suspected his neighbor of stealing it.

However he looked at the man, the neighbor seemed to him the thief. Later he found the axe in his own house, and when he looked at the neighbor again, however he looked, the man was no thief at all. " Emperor Yanfeng laughed loudly, turned his face away, and his expression darkened: "Imperial Preceptor Jingping really has been bought off! " Celestial Venerable Yue went to pack her things.

Shen Mu said to Celestial Venerable You, "Can you find any trace of Xing An?

" Celestial Venerable You stirred the Book of Life and Death and slipped into Youdu.

The Book shone over the great chiliocosm, and after a long while Celestial Venerable You appeared again and shook his head: "In all the worlds there is no sign of Xing An.

Only the Ancestral Court remains, and because the prehistoric stowaways have sealed it, we cannot enter to search. " Shen Mu was surprised and looked toward the Ancestral Court: "Could Xing An have gone there? " Celestial Venerable Yue came hurrying over, her hair tied up, changed into crisp, practical clothes, her ancient zither slung on her back. She asked, "That Hall Master of Joy, is she also cultivating the Ultimate Void?

" Shen Mu boarded the Golden Ship of Salvation with her.

He shooed Lan Yutian off the ship; the dragon qilin tried to come aboard and was shooed off too. Shen Mu said, "I am not too clear about her techniques and divine powers. But when she dealt with my divine powers, what she used was the path of space.

I tried to draw her into an illusion with my divine-sense powers, and she broke that as well. She must have cultivated other paths. " Celestial Venerable Yue thought it over. Divine-sense powers did indeed counter the path of space; in the past, in order to deal with her, the Ten Celestial Venerables had sent Divine Emperor Langxuan, master of the path of divine sense, to strike first. Shen Mu had used divine-sense powers against the Hall Master of Joy precisely to strike at her weakness, yet she had broken them.

That showed the Hall Master of Joy did not possess the path of space alone. "Every hall master of Miluo Palace has secrets of their own.

Though the Hall Master of Joy was grievously wounded by Lord Shang, she still cannot be underestimated. " Shen Mu warned her again and again: "Your target is that zither string of the Fourth Young Master, not her. If you can avoid a clash with her, better to avoid it.

Though you have attained the Dao, you have not yet branded the void, and for now you are no match for her. " Celestial Venerable Yue nodded solemnly.

Ever since Lan Yutian had passed on his teaching, the path she walked was no longer the old one of attaining the Dao through the dao realms. Instead she meant to use Lan Yutian's Ancestral Court system of dao realms to brand the thirty-sixfold void into her own universe. Her cultivation in the dao realms had already arrived, but she had not yet perfected the Ancestral Court cultivation system, so her cultivation still fell short.

Only when she perfected the Ancestral Court system of dao realms would her cultivation become immeasurably deep and mighty, and she would become a true Dao-attainer; only then would she have the strength to fight the Hall Master of Joy.

The Golden Ship of Salvation sailed slowly toward the Heavenly Court above the Ancestral Court. The Heavenly Court was now more colossal than ever, with many buildings of exotic style, which must be the hallmarks of the civilization of the previous universe. Shen Mu and Celestial Venerable Yue watched from afar.

The runes and dao patterns on those buildings were utterly different from those of the present day; yet the divine powers of the great Dao all lead to the same end by different roads, and if one studied them closely one could grasp from them the irrefutable truths of the great Dao. At the stage Shen Mu and Celestial Venerable Yue had reached, looking upon any strange and inconceivable dao art gave one the feeling of seeing through the surface to the essence; there was scarcely any secret left to speak of. Shen Mu looked in the direction of Heavenly Emperor Hao and once more saw the zither string from the universe of the past. His expression turned grave.

The might of this string was enough to destroy a Dao-attainer such as Shen Ye of Kaihuang. If Heavenly Emperor Hao brought this string into the Heavenly Court, then the power of life and death over the whole Heavenly Court would likely fall into his hands! Facing such deadly peril, these stowaways would likely submit to Miluo Palace because of it!

"Yue, can you see that string? " Shen Mu asked. Celestial Venerable Yue peered into the distance. She could see Heavenly Emperor Hao walking toward the Heavenly Court, but not the string.

She shook her head: "I cannot see it. " Shen Mu's heart sank a little.

If Celestial Venerable Yue could not see it, then others surely could not either. Most likely he alone could see that string!

The marvelous subtlety of the Fourth Young Master of Miluo Palace's dao arts was thus made plain! Shen Mu steadied himself and looked in another direction. Her Highness the Empress was leading the remnant army of the Heavenly Court, entrenched in a remote corner of the Ancestral Court.

Heavenly Emperor Hao had few troops left, and among them the only expert capable of contending with Jingping was Her Highness the Empress.

"While you were away, the Empress sent envoys to discuss surrender.

" Celestial Venerable Yue stood shoulder to shoulder with Shen Mu at the bow of the ship. She adjusted the ancient zither on her back and said to him, "Her Highness the Empress had a mind to submit.

The envoys she sent were negotiating with Emperor Yanfeng, but Jiang Baigui burst in and said flatly that there would be no negotiation.

So the Empress gave up.

" "Junior Brother Jiang did very well.

" Shen Mu laughed: "I know all of the Empress's calculations. She reckons she still has some strength, and wants to come over to our side, preserve her own forces, and remain one of the Ten Celestial Venerables.

But times have changed; the age of the Ten Celestial Venerables should be drawing to its close. The Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace has come to pay a visit!