Chapter 1096 — The Dragon-Blood Divine Tree Guards the Primordial Spirit

Aboard the ghost ship, Wei Suifeng's face was grave. He examined the damage to Shen Mu's mind, then his ten fingers flew, tapping swiftly in succession, sealing Shen Mu's soul and spirit-fetus with the Seven Chapters of Creation from the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture, lest spirit and soul leave the body. Then his form abruptly became a tiny shadow, and with a swish it entered the Primordial Fetus Divine Treasury between Shen Mu's brows.

The Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture was the art he had comprehended from the scripture the Woodcutter Sage had transmitted upon the stone; the masters of the Heavenly Sage Cult down through the ages had all cultivated the arts he passed down.

The transformation of the body into a black shadow was called the Shadow-Transforming Demon Art; besides that art there was also the Mirror Image Art, whereby the body could become a mirror image. Wei Suifeng came to Shen Mu's Primordial Fetus Divine Treasury and looked around, and his heart was startled, for Shen Mu's treasury was utterly unlike anyone else's, vast and boundless, like the primordial cosmos.

"No wonder our junior brother is so powerful! " He had no time for close study; he saw that Shen Mu's Primordial Fetus Divine Treasury was collapsing, the heavenly signs in chaos, the earthly order overturned, ruin and subsidence on every side, the yin and yang, the four phases, the five elements, the seven stars, all in utter disarray.

"Heavenly Dipper Dao Art! " Wei Suifeng cried softly, and raised up his heavenly palace, steadying the surging earth, water, wind, and fire, pacifying the earthly order; with a wave of his hand the heavenly signs ceased their turmoil and the host of stars returned to their stations.

Then he divided yin and yang and settled the five elements, and at last kept Shen Mu's injuries from worsening.

Suddenly he saw a great gaping wound within Shen Mu's Primordial Fetus Divine Treasury, the scar left behind by a great spear that had pierced through this place. "What a fearsome blow! " Awe seized Wei Suifeng.

He erased the divine ability hidden in that spear scar, and only then breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Mu's spirit-fetus and soul were in tatters, his heavenly palaces ruined and desolate, his spirit-fetus and soul barely clinging to life. Wei Suifeng frowned; injuries of this kind lay beyond his power to heal.

Shen Mu's divine sense stirred, his breath as faint as a gossamer thread: "Eldest senior brother, a jade bottle hangs at the Dragon Qilin's neck, and within it is Primal Chaos Essence Liquid.

. .

" Wei Suifeng hurriedly flew out from his divine treasury, took down the Gourd-Heaven Bottle hanging at the Dragon Qilin's neck, flew inside, drew out some Primal Chaos Essence Liquid and set it in a great golden vat, then soaked Shen Mu's head in the vat.

"Great Cult Master Wei seems to have poured in far too much essence liquid.

. .

" The Dragon Qilin glanced at the liquid in the vat and thought, "He likely does not know that this Primal Chaos Essence Liquid is meant for watering the body of the Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign.

Pouring in so much, surely nothing will go wrong? " Shen Mu's head began to absorb the Primal Chaos Essence Liquid.

His Primordial Fetus Divine Treasury seemed to stir a fresh act of creation; the shattered stars recovered one after another, the broken taiji diagram was swiftly restored, sun and moon resumed their courses, sundered mountains thrust up from the earth, sweet rain fell from the heavens, and phantom figures of ancient gods came back to life. Shen Mu's spirit-fetus and soul too were swiftly recovering, flesh and blood regrowing apace. Wei Suifeng clutched the Gourd-Heaven Bottle, ready at any moment to add more Primal Chaos Essence Liquid to the vat.

He watched the liquid dwindle bit by bit, and for every bit it dwindled he added a little more.

Feeling it still was not enough, he pinched Shen Mu's mouth open and poured the Primal Chaos Essence Liquid glug-glug into his belly. The Dragon Qilin was startled and hastily warned Wei Suifeng: "Great Cult Master, the Primal Chaos Essence Liquid cannot be taken in excess, it will burst him.

This is a treasure meant for watering the primordial tree! " Wei Suifeng rapped him hard on the crown of his head: "Are you the cult master, or am I? I am an old hand of the rivers and lakes; I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice. I know my own measure.

.

. " Before he finished speaking, he saw Shen Mu's body in the golden vat gradually swell, and soon it stood taller than the man himself by a good deal.

Wei Suifeng was startled, and the Dragon Qilin said, "Great Cult Master, you truly may not have eaten more salt than I have eaten rice. My rice is spirit elixirs.

. .

" Wei Suifeng rapped him on the head once more, then stared in anxious dread at Shen Mu in the vat. The golden vat was large enough, yet even so it could no longer contain Shen Mu's body.

"Junior brother! " Sweat sprang out on Wei Suifeng's brow, and he shouted, "Your newborn flesh is not as your old flesh was; it must be tempered.

Quickly drive your art, lest you grow great but not strong! " Shen Mu, muddled and dim, opened his eyes to glance at him, then closed them again.

Wei Suifeng frowned and paced around the golden vat: "His body is unharmed, and the injuries to his Primordial Fetus Divine Treasury and his heavenly palaces are largely healed. Then why does he still not wake?

" As he pondered, Shen Mu's stature surged again by several zhang, like a youthful creator deity.

Wei Suifeng at once removed the excess essence liquid from the vat, but as for the liquid he had poured into Shen Mu's belly, there was nothing he could do; and Shen Mu's injuries were so strange that he could not judge where the man was wounded. "Who did he fight, to be hurt so badly?

" Wei Suifeng asked hastily.

The Dragon Qilin said in a fluster, "Great Hong, likely the borrowed-life body of the Grand Emperor, and in all likelihood that later-day Heavenly Venerable Hong. " "The Grand Emperor!

Then the gravest wound is to the divine sense.

My divine sense is not strong; I fear I cannot heal him. " Wei Suifeng tried to stir his divine sense and touch Shen Mu's. The instant the two divine senses met, Wei Suifeng perceived that Shen Mu's was in extreme disorder, and he said at once, "Junior brother, how is an injury of the divine sense to be healed?

" Shen Mu roused himself to clarity for a moment: "Find the Divine King Gong Yun.

She owes me a favor.

.

. " With that, a dragon-blood treasure tree flew out from between his brows and came to rest beside the golden vat. The tree's branches whirled and danced, and waves of melodious Dao-sound came forth.

Seeing this, Wei Suifeng breathed a sigh of relief; the last remnant of Shen Mu's divine sense flew out and lodged itself in the dragon-blood treasure tree, borrowing the tree's Dao-rhyme to keep himself lucid a while longer. And Shen Mu in the golden vat grew no larger; ring after ring of radiance circled his body, nearly two thousand halos, and within each halo was a tiny phantom of an ancient god.

These ancient god phantoms dwelt throughout Shen Mu's body, together refining and consuming the excess Primal Chaos Essence Liquid within him. Wei Suifeng looked on and clicked his tongue in wonder. The dragon-blood treasure tree Shen Mu had stolen from the Zhaoyang Hall of the Heavenly Emperor was just the thing to keep that last spark of his divine sense from perishing.

"Where can the Divine King Gong Yun be found? " Wei Suifeng asked.

His vital essence flew out, lifting Shen Mu from the golden vat and laying him beneath the dragon-blood treasure tree.

Shen Mu wore no clothes; his garments too had been destroyed by Great Hong. Wei Suifeng took off his own robe, and the Dragon Qilin hastily dressed Shen Mu in it.