Chapter 1843 — A Brand-New Lord of the Divine Dao

The only ones who never left were Ling Yuxiu and Lang Wan. Later still, Long Qilin and Long Pi came; after no one knew how long, Long Pi departed as well.

Countless years later, the reincarnated Lord Shang came, and Emperor Yanfeng came too; once they arrived, they never left.

The reincarnated Lord Shang had forgotten the hardships of his former life and never awakened the memories of it; he was now a most cheerful young man, always possessed of an optimism that compelled admiration.

At last, Lang Wan took her leave of Shen Mu: "Holy Infant, I mean to leave.

" Shen Mu was cultivating the Guixu Lotus Platform; hearing this, he raised his head, a trace of doubt in his gaze as he looked at her. "Holy Infant, in years past I coveted achievement, and refined the consciousness of the Great Emperor for my own use.

Through these long ages I have watched so many attain the Dao, each finding a path of their own, cultivating Dao flowers and Dao fruits. But I know that my own path is exhausted; I can go no further.

" Lang Wan said softly: "When I return to Jingping this time, I will reincarnate.

The Creators are few in number, so I may not be reborn among them.

I may become a sprite in the forest, a fish in the water, or a woman of the human race.

I think I will be like Lord Shang, and never awaken the memories of my former life. Otherwise, the race of the Creators would become a fetter on my road to the Dao.

" Shen Mu rose to his feet, his gaze complicated: "Will you come back?

" "Most likely not.

" Lang Wan smiled: "Holy Infant, could you leave one more painting for me? " Shen Mu took out paper, ink, brush, and inkstone, and looked at the woman he had once secretly loved; for a long while he could not set brush to paper. In the end Lang Wan left with a painting.

After returning to the race of the Creators, two years passed, and she bore a child, whom she named Si Shen. Yet she did not reincarnate as she had told Shen Mu she would; instead she instructed Si Shen with all care, nurturing him with all her heart, and raised him into the new generation's God-King of the Creators. Jiang Baigui came to visit her, and after observing Si Shen for a long while, he asked: "Who is his father? " Lang Wan smiled, and gave no answer: "The Creators' fertility is very low, and that is why in those years they worshiped the Empress in prayer for offspring, for many sons and daughters.

But Si Shen will be an anomaly.

He will strengthen the race of the Creators, so that our kind does not vanish from history.

" Jiang Baigui was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "Goddess Queen, you have fallen in love, and your cultivation method has been broken.

Your method severs emotion and extinguishes desire; once you feel emotion, the method breaks, and your power will disperse — both your consciousness and your vital essence will steadily weaken.

I have perceived that your cultivation is not advancing but receding. Though the Creators enjoy long lifespans, you too will gradually grow old as your cultivation degrades.

You ought to reincarnate; I will arrange everything for your reincarnation. " "No.

" Lang Wan laughed: "All my life I have sought a future for the race of the Creators.

After I conceived, every kind of emotion came crowding in upon me, and only then did I feel myself to be an ordinary person. I do not wish Si Shen to grow up knowing neither his father nor his mother. I will watch him grow to manhood.

" Jiang Baigui's gaze was somewhat complicated, and he took his leave. Lang Wan escorted him out of the Creators' territory. Jiang Baigui turned back, looked at this remarkable woman, and suddenly said: "Who exactly is his father? If you are unwilling to tell me, then can you at least tell me how long the Creators take, from conception to birth? " Lang Wan smiled and shook her head, waving him on his way: "His father is only an ordinary man.

" Jiang Baigui departed with regret.

He had his guesses, but he did not dare be certain. By the time Lang Wan's beauty had faded, by the time she had turned to dust, perhaps no one would ever know this secret. Jiang Baigui returned to Jingping.

Jingping's reforms no longer needed him to preside over them in person; Jingping had already formed a spirit of keen enterprise, and the Jingping of today was a wholly different place from the Jingping of former years.

"Forty thousand years have passed. Is he still in the Ancestral Court? " Jiang Baigui looked up at the sky beyond the sky and murmured.

The stars beyond the sky grew ever more numerous — a swelling of stars brought about by the growing abundance of spiritual essence and spiritual power.

The essence and power spilling out from the Ancestral Court had all along been causing the heavens and the worlds to grow.

That man had never once come back.

In the sky over Jingping hung a single bright moon, serene and dim; in the moon palace, a woman too, from time to time, gazed in the direction of the Ancestral Court.