Chapter 1087 — The Emperor Tries to Cleave the Ancient Divine Egg
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Ling Tianzun pondered a while, then said, "It can be attempted, but my dao of creation is not yet perfect, and you must wait a time. When I have perfected it and forged a divine artifact of creation, I shall be able to create a Jue Wuchen."
"How long will it take?"
"I do not know. You have only to wait."
Yun Tianzun had no choice but to let her be. His thoughts turned again to Luo Xiao, and he wondered, "That Luo Xiao, is he truly Luo Xiao? Or is Luo Xiao not Luo Xiao, but that man...?"
Before his eyes rose unbidden the image of Mu Qing. He shook his head and murmured, "It cannot be him. Ling says he is only a shadow out of the future. And yet I dearly wish to see this shadow of the future; I have so many ambitions I would share with him..."
He stared blankly at the carefree Creators of Taixu and said in his heart, "I feel that he and I are the same kind of man. Why, then, is he a shadow of the future? In this age there is no comrade of the dao for me. Why must my only comrade be in the future...?"
He had a strange illusion, that he and that comrade of the future, across endless ages, upheld each other and advanced together, and yet stood so very far apart.
Several hundred years later, Crown Prince Qi led the Ten Guards of the Heavenly Court in rebellion, and the Heavenly Court fell into chaos. Many ancient gods rose in rebellion with him as well.
This disaster began in the inner palace. Crown Prince Qi, the mightiest of the demigods, carried the blood of both the Empress and the Heavenly Emperor, and he had come of age; he was the most terrifying of all demigods.
His fighting strength was unfathomable, greater even by far than that of Langxuan the Divine Emperor or the Ancestral God King.
The chaos he wrought was no small thing either, for this rebellion numbered not only demigods and the ancient gods who followed him, but the Empress behind his back as well.
When Crown Prince Qi unleashed the divine art of Guixu and devoured the Heavenly Court, even the ancient gods trembled at it.
Yet Crown Prince Qi was defeated all the same. Before the Heavenly Emperor of the ancient gods he did not last a single move, and was suppressed; the Heavenly Emperor cast him into the deepest reaches of the Jade Lock Pass of Youdu.
A voice from on high reached straight down to Youdu, its tone icy: "From this day, your surname is stripped from you, and only sin remains. From this day, you shall sink forever, tormented in the fire of karma! From this day, you are..."
"Xie Wuqi."
In this war the Heavenly Court's dead and wounded were grievous, certainly beyond those of Achou's rebellion; even the Empress herself was cast into the cold palace because of it.
Nearly all of the Ten Guards were dragged onto the newly built God-Slaying Platform, and the platform cut for a hundred days without cease, taking heads beyond counting.
So much was cut that this newly forged divine blade grew monstrously fierce; its two killing auras were tempered until nothing could break them, slaying primal spirits and destroying bodies as easily as slicing melons and chopping vegetables.
The Heavenly Emperor chose new champions from every race to fill out the Ten Guards, and the elites of every race were all but emptied out by the choosing.
The Ten Guards of old had all been mighty demigods; the Ten Guards of now were gods of every race who had cultivated to the Jade Capital realm.
And so, without anyone marking it, the balance of power in the Heavenly Court shifted.
After the upheavals of Achou Tubo and of Xie Wuqi, the old powers of the Heavenly Court had withered to freezing point, and a new age arrived, no one quite knowing when.
Thus the Divine Treasury Heavenly Palace system replaced the bloodline system and became the mainstream among every race throughout the heavens.
Before this, bloodline determined station, and determined strength.
After this, cultivation determined station, and determined strength.