Chapter 895 — All Is Lost
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
The Molten Lava Earth Lord pointed a finger at the ground. Demonic qi surged beneath it, and then the ground vanished, revealing a vision of Youdu.
Shen Mu looked over and saw that before the Earth Lord's true body, another "Imperial Heaven Venerable" had descended. That majestic fleshly body, though it could not compare to the Earth Lord's, was still exceedingly vast—roughly one-tenth the size of the Earth Lord. It was the same with the "Imperial Heaven Venerable" in Xuandu. The true bodies of the Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord were truly vast; only a handful of ancient gods could truly rival them.
The "Imperial Heaven Venerable" in Youdu likewise possessed layer upon layer of Heavenly Palaces, and those palaces formed a boundless Heavenly Court, magnificent and grand. The Divine Treasury and Heavenly Palaces of the "Imperial Heaven Venerable" were constructed from the runes of the Great Dao of nearly every ancient god.
Thus, when the Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord saw such an "Imperial Heaven Venerable," they could not help but be thrown into confusion. The ancient gods had no such thing as cultivation realms; they were born this strong.
They too could cultivate and raise their power, but cultivation only deepened their comprehension of their own Great Dao—it could not free them from their own limits. The Earth Lord, for instance, could not comprehend the Heaven Lord's Great Dao. Later-born beings and demigods, however, labored under no such restriction—yet they were innately countless times weaker.
Even with the Divine Treasury cultivation system and the Heavenly Palace cultivation system, they could never catch up to the ancient gods. After all, no matter how much later-born beings and demigods comprehended, they could not surpass the ancient gods born of the Great Dao. A Great Dao arrived at through comprehension would always be inferior to the true Great Dao.
But the Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord knew there was one exception.
In the early years of Longhan, at the Grand Gathering of the Jade Pool, the Hao Venerable spoke of the eighth realm of the Divine Realm of the Imperial Heaven Venerable—and that eighth realm was the realm called the Heavenly Court. The Heavenly Court was the key by which later-born beings and demigods could surpass the ancient gods! The Heavenly Court encompassed the ancient god system—thirty-six Heavenly Palaces and seventy-two Treasure Halls. One who successfully cultivated the Heavenly Court could stand on equal footing with beings like the ancient god Heavenly Emperor!
For a long time, there had been no record or legend in the world concerning the realm of the Heavenly Court. Those who held power in the Heavenly Court did not wish others to know of this realm, and the ancient gods helped conceal it as well. Because this realm was too terrifying!
The Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord also knew that for a long time, those who held power in the Heavenly Court had been searching for all manner of Imperial Throne cultivation methods, precisely in order to forge the Heavenly Court cultivation method.
But gathering all thirty-six Heavenly Palaces and seventy-two Treasure Halls was exceedingly difficult, and the rulers of the Heavenly Court had never achieved much. Imperial Throne powerhouses were never numerous in any era, and moreover the cultivation methods of the thirty-six Heavenly Palaces and seventy-two Treasure Halls required different attributes.
Gathering them all was naturally fraught with difficulty.
Yet the two "Imperial Heaven Venerables" that had suddenly appeared in Xuandu and Youdu had given them a genuine fright. "No, no!
" Shen Mu counted and said, "These two Imperial Heaven Venerables—the number of Heavenly Palaces behind them is wrong! The one in Xuandu has eighteen Heavenly Palaces, and the one in Youdu has twenty. They are not at the complete Heavenly Court realm!
They are not invincible!