Chapter 974 — The Supreme Beyond the Clouds

Yue Tingge and Luo Wushuang suppressed the shock in their hearts, stepped forward, and each exerted their magic power to lift the Yun Heavenly Venerable's body, slowly sending it onto the Tai Emperor's altar.

Shen Mu examined the wounds upon the Yun Heavenly Venerable, but strangely, there was not the slightest wound upon his body; his soul, however, had vanished without a trace.

"The Yue Heavenly Venerable said the Yun Heavenly Venerable is dead, so the Yun Heavenly Venerable is truly dead. Fortunately, even a dead man, I can bring back to life!

" Shen Mu examined him closely and found no trace of the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness. After a moment's thought, he made his decision: "I must ask you two to send him into the space between my brows.

Within my brow is hidden a Youdu; I will conceal his corpse there for now. "

Yue Tingge and Luo Wushuang had a thousand doubts in their hearts, but still they did as instructed, sending the Yun Heavenly Venerable's body into the space between Shen Mu's brows, where it came to rest upon the Shen-Character Continent.

Shen Mu let out a long breath of relief, and set the Tai Emperor's altar in motion, beginning the return voyage. The Tai Emperor's altar passed once more by the Fire Heavenly Venerable's side, and Luo Wushuang could not resist glancing at Shen Mu again.

Shen Mu, helpless, halted the Tai Emperor's altar and said, "How about this—you two turn him around? "

Luo Wushuang sneered.

"What use is turning him around?

Would he not still be trapped in the Supreme Divine Consciousness domain? "

Shen Mu said, "If he turns himself around, it will take him two hundred years or more to succeed.

If we turn him for him, we can free him two hundred years sooner.

"

Luo Wushuang frowned, about to speak further, when Shen Mu said, "Luo Divine Blade, can you guarantee that after the Fire Heavenly Venerable breaks free, he will not kill me, will not kill the Yue Heavenly Master? "

Luo Wushuang said no more, and together with Yue Tingge, turned the Fire Heavenly Venerable around.

The Tai Emperor's altar continued flying outward. After a long while, the altar crossed the abyssal void and came beneath the star-ring.

The three men and one dragon leaped down from the altar.

Shen Mu put away the Tai Emperor's altar, keeping only the Tai Emperor's Seal, and looked with doubt at that divine dragon. This divine dragon had been quiet the whole way, unlike before, when it had always made a great fuss, crying "Maha, maha" without cease. Suddenly Yue Tingge's voice trembled: "The Fire Heavenly Venerable has taken a step!

"

Shen Mu was startled and hastily looked—and indeed saw that the Fire Heavenly Venerable had taken a step in their direction!

"This is bad!

" His scalp went numb, and he fled in panic toward the outside of the Supreme Divine Consciousness domain, with Luo Wushuang, Yue Tingge, and that divine dragon hastily following.

The closer to the core of the Supreme Divine Consciousness domain, the stronger the suppression; but once the Fire Heavenly Venerable had taken the first step, the next would come faster still, for he was walking outward!

With each step he took, the pressure grew less!

With his strength, breaking free would likely be the work of but a short time. Shen Mu's scalp numb, he charged outward with all his might, striving to escape this place before the Fire Heavenly Venerable broke free.

Just then, he heard footsteps.

Those footsteps shook heaven and earth, trampling the void into collapse, bursting forth with a tremendous roar like mountains crumbling and the earth splitting.

Shen Mu looked back, and saw flames surging to the heavens within the Supreme Divine Consciousness domain.

Suddenly another footstep came, the sound even more resounding, the flames higher still, melting the very sky!

"It's over—the Fire Heavenly Venerable has broken free!

"

Shen Mu clenched his teeth and charged madly forward.

Yue Tingge whooshed past him, soaring away, crying, "I won't accompany you to your deaths—I'll go on ahead!

Mu Heavenly Venerable, hold off the Fire Heavenly Venerable for me, and next year I'll burn paper money for you!

"

"Burn paper for your grandpa! "

Shen Mu was furious, but saw Yue Tingge transform into a heap of blocks that went rolling forward with a gibbering clatter, exceedingly fast, and soon vanished without a trace. Shen Mu struggled forward with all his strength, but saw that Luo Wushuang's steps were swift—he too had actually run ahead of him, clearly having recovered well these past days, already able to employ the magic power of the Jade Pool or Jade Capital realm.

"Luo Wushuang, you chattered endlessly about saving the Fire Heavenly Venerable—why are you fleeing too?

" Shen Mu demanded angrily.

Luo Wushuang hesitated, slowed his steps, and, overcome with shame, said, "I only thought that the Mu Heavenly Venerable's fame spreads far and wide, and that if the Fire Heavenly Venerable killed you, he would surely kill me to silence me, lest word get out and he bear the name of one who slew a Heavenly Venerable. I forgot the word 'loyalty'…

"

Just then, that divine dragon actually overtook him as well, shaking its head and wagging its tail, riding the wind, its speed even greater than Shen Mu's by much!

Shen Mu was suspicious: "This divine dragon is one I visualized—it cannot possibly surpass me in strength… This is bad, it's the Tai Emperor's borrowed life! The Tai Emperor has borrowed life into the divine dragon I visualized!

" He had just realized this when suddenly behind him a fierce firelight blazed over him, scorching his body till it seemed about to burst into flame. Shen Mu's body went rigid; he halted, turned around, and forced a smile: "Fire Heavenly Venerable, long time no see.

"

Luo Wushuang too had no choice but to halt and turn around, blade-qi ten thousand zhang, standing ready. The Fire Heavenly Venerable whooshed into the air, vaulted over them, and landed before that divine dragon, reaching out and seizing it in his hand.

The divine dragon struggled but could not break free, and opening its mouth, sneered, "Fire Heavenly Venerable, you want to kill me? You cannot kill me.

The whole Supreme Divine Consciousness domain is filled everywhere with my divine consciousness—I am undying…

" It whooshed into flame, and soon was reduced to ashes.

The Fire Heavenly Venerable looked toward Shen Mu, and Shen Mu's body went stiff.

"Mu Heavenly Venerable, we meet again. " The Fire Heavenly Venerable's face was expressionless.

Behind him that flame-wheel that burned all things to nothing turned slowly, and upon the flame-wheel, tongues of fire leaped without cease, now blazing fiercely, brilliantly bright, as though within the fire suns were bursting forth one after another—clearly, seeing Shen Mu, his heart was far from calm.

"Every time I see you, I recall the scene of you beating me soundly upon the Jade Pool," said the Fire Heavenly Venerable.

Shen Mu said with a solemn face, "As the saying goes, blows breed acquaintance—many lifelong bonds of life and death are forged through fighting…

"

"The Yun Heavenly Venerable's body falling into your hands is better than falling into mine. Thank you. " Leaving these words, the Fire Heavenly Venerable turned and walked away, his figure receding into the distance.

Shen Mu was stunned for a moment, then called out loudly, "Thank me for what?

"

"Thank you for reviving the Yu Heavenly Venerable.

"

The Fire Heavenly Venerable's voice came from afar: "Back then at the Jade Pool I once said that if you could find out who harmed the Yu Heavenly Venerable, I would no longer bear a grudge against you. Not only did you do so, you revived him as well.

"

Shen Mu waved high: "Fire Heavenly Venerable, stay and talk a while before you go!

"

The Fire Heavenly Venerable's voice grew ever more distant: "When I see you, I cannot help but feel loathing rise in my heart, cannot help but want to beat you to death.