Chapter 947 — Hard to Tell the True Heavenly Venerable from the False
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
The Heaven Alliance was founded for one purpose: to overthrow the rule of the Ancient Gods, to overthrow "Heaven"—and in the Longhan Era, "Heaven" meant the Ancient Gods. At that time, Heavenly Venerable Yun, as the Alliance's leader, had to unite every force at hand.
Whether demigod or postnatal being, anyone with the will to overthrow the Ancient Gods could join the Heaven Alliance. After they uprooted the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, the Heaven Alliance grew mightier by the day—until at last Heavenly Venerable Yun realized that in overthrowing "Heaven," they had themselves become "Heaven. " But by then he no longer had the power to change the Heaven Alliance as it was.
He had become an obstacle to its dominion over the world. He knew he was doomed to die. For the sake of what was to come, he devised a plan—a plan to be carried out through the hand of the Dao Ancestor.
"Heavenly Venerable Yun meant to use the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor to split the Heaven Alliance. If need be, the Heavenly Emperor could even be exposed, forcing the Alliance to abandon, for a time, its suppression of the lower world and throw itself into the battle to hunt the Heavenly Emperor down.
" The Dao Ancestor went on: "In this way, an opportunity could be won for the lower world to grow. " Shen Mu was shaken to the core.
How far Heavenly Venerable Yun had thought ahead! There was no way the Heaven Alliance would ever let the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor return to life. Only with his death were they free of rivals.
Should he revive, all their labors would come to nothing.
For every Ancient God had flaws and weaknesses, and each was bound to act by the rules of its own Great Dao—but the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor did not.
He was not bound by the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.
Such a Heavenly Emperor was the most terrifying of all. If they knew the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor had died without truly perishing—that his soul had reincarnated and slipped in among their Ten Heavenly Venerables—the alliance of the Ten would at once fracture and crumble to dust. If they learned which of them he was, they would set aside every grievance between them and join forces to destroy him.
"Then why," Shen Mu asked, "when the Jingping Calamity broke out, did the Dao Ancestor not reveal who the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was? " His heart darkened.
So many had died in the Jingping Calamity.
It was his most helpless hour, the hour he was struck hardest.
He had come within a breath of never rising again—yet for the sake of those who survived, he too had survived, and had carved out an entirely new path. Yet if the Dao Lord had revealed then who the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was, and turned the flood of calamity upon him, perhaps the Jingping Calamity would never have come to pass. The Dao Ancestor shook his head.
"The time has not yet come. " Shen Mu's voice was hoarse.
"Not yet? When will it be time?
How many must die before it is time? " The Dao Ancestor's gaze was profound. "When the Kaihuang Calamity broke out, I did not speak the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor's name either, and the Jingping Calamity was not the time. The crux is this: the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor's strength is not enough to stand against the Heaven Alliance as it is now.
One against nine—he cannot hold. And after his death, the lower world has neither the strength nor the means to resist the Heaven Alliance.
The postnatal beings must come to possess strength enough to contend with the Heaven Alliance, and the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor must possess strength enough to tear it apart.
Only then will the time be best. " His expression was indifferent.