Chapter 1185 — Thirty Billion Years Old

"Thirty billion years..."

Shen Mu shook his head. Measuring the rings of the Great Black Peak by Dragon Qilin's method would surely yield some margin of error, though not a great one. Yet the figure of thirty billion years still gave Shen Mu a start.

He knew well that the number thirty billion years referred only to the age of the Great Black Peak—and beyond the Great Black Peak, this black tree possessed fifteen other ring-shaped mountain ranges!

If those ring-shaped mountain ranges likewise bore similar growth rings, did that not mean the rings of this black tree amounted to an astronomical figure beyond all imagination?

The entire black tree was unimaginably vast, many times thicker even than the Yuan Wood, and far more ancient besides. The age of the Earth Mother Yuanjun was but a mere fraction of its own!

"The Earth Mother Yuanjun is only a few billion years old, yet this black tree has passed through sixteen different great rings, and within each great ring lie several tens of billions of lesser rings. What manner of ages has this tree endured? No tree could possibly live so long—and yet this tree truly has lived so long."

Shen Mu's expression turned strange. The black tree was now dead, leaving only its stump—a thing to inspire regret.

"Those two ancient gods in the Taiji Vein—this place they recommended to me—what exactly is its origin? Still, it can indeed be called a treasure ground second only to the Five Great Veins."

He was well content. That the two ancient gods in the Taiji Vein had recommended this place to him was a profound act of goodwill, greatly to his advantage in establishing a firm foothold within the Ancestral Court.

So long as the Azure Heaven Canopy unfurled its Twenty-Eight Heavens, this place would be easy to defend and hard to assault!

Moreover, the Black Wood Mountains lacked the eerie strangeness of the Primeval Vein; mining the veins here would surely prove far easier.

Shen Mu flew through the air, patrolling among the great mountains one by one. The mineral veins here were not concentrated within the Black Wood Mountains, but lay at the foot of the outermost ring of black mountains.

There, quantities of ore lay exposed, appearing exceedingly ancient. He collected a few pieces but could not identify what ore they were, and so put them away for the time being, intending to bring them out and inquire of Mojiang.

Shen Mu made a circuit of the place. It too had been devoured clean by the Void Beasts—no vegetation remained, save for some plant life still clinging near the central Great Black Peak.

To survey the entire Black Wood in a short time would take more than ten days; a detailed inspection would require even longer.

Shen Mu came to a halt. The chief problem now was that this place was highly conspicuous, and the Void Beasts might attack at any moment. He must quickly prepare his means of response.

"The one who controls those Void Beasts is the Qiang Heavenly Consort—that is, the Supreme Emperor. By rights, she should long since have grown restless, attempting to mobilize the Void Mother Beast and use it to probe the strengths and weaknesses of the other Heavenly Venerables' territories."

Shen Mu blinked and thought: "But why has she shown no sign of movement to this day? Could it be..."

A sudden chill ran through him, and the smile on his face froze: "The Palace Heavenly Venerable has made a move against the Qiang Heavenly Consort? If the Palace Heavenly Venerable can kill her, then so be it—kill her and all troubles vanish! But if he cannot kill her, she will surely deduce that it was I who informed on her!"

The frozen smile on Shen Mu's face gradually twisted. He immediately flew back to the Great Black Peak, his heart pounding wildly: "After the Palace Heavenly Venerable beats her bloody, she will certainly vent her fury on me!"

Arriving at the Great Black Peak, he at once mobilized the Azure Heaven Canopy and sent out the Void Beast he had subdued and tamed, stationing it outside the Black Wood to stand guard beyond the Twenty-Eight Heavens.

Shen Mu raised his head to the sky and waited quietly—yet neither the heavens nor the void showed any sign of movement.

He waited half a day, still with no movement, and felt somewhat reassured. Taking out the Taishi Egg, he focused his mind on studying the Taishi runes.

He had already deciphered the first Taishi rune—one could say he had found his way in. Once past the threshold, studying the subsequent Taishi runes would be much easier.

Thus more than ten days passed in peace. The Void Beasts never laid siege to this place, and Shen Mu's heart settled. He thought: "The longer I can stall, the better. So long as the other Heavenly Venerables wish to leave this place, they must come seek me out. By then, even if the Qiang Heavenly Consort wants to kill me, she cannot—and I shall be safe."

He could not help muttering: "Earning that ten percent of divine stones from the Palace Heavenly Venerable is truly hard..."

Meanwhile, the Qiang Heavenly Consort, clothes in disarray and covered in wounds, fled in wretched disorder from the Nüxin Clan's mineral vein. Her face was mottled with bruises—plainly she had been beaten savagely—and behind her the Palace Heavenly Venerable pursued, intent on killing her.

The Qiang Heavenly Consort was furious. In a fit of rage she cried: "The only ones who know my identity are Taichu and that wretch Shen Mu! Taichu and I exist in a state of balance—if he exposes me, I can expose him in turn. So it could never be him who sold my identity. Then it can only be that wretch Shen Mu!"

"You truly seek death! Time and again you dare pluck at this tiger's whiskers!"

Her divine consciousness erupted, and at once the Void Mother Beast dwelling in the Nineteenth Void seemed to receive a command. With a thunderous roar it rose to its feet, shaking its immeasurably vast body.

In that instant, all the Heavenly Venerables within the Ancestral Court sensed the tremor coming from deep within the void, and one after another they emerged from their palaces, lifting their heads to gaze upward.

There, suddenly, a colossal eyelid surfaced in the sky, hundreds of li in length. The eyelid slid open, and a massive eyeball appeared, rolling and swiveling.

Then the sky rang with a pop-pop-pop sound, and one giant eye after another drilled forth from the heavens—fendish beyond measure, like mushrooms sprouting after rain, swiftly crowding the entire sky!

Beyond that, upon the earth, in rivers, lakes, and seas, countless more eyeballs surfaced as well!

The Heavenly Venerables each sneered coldly, paying it no mind.

Though the Void Beasts were fierce and powerful, compared to these Heavenly Venerables they were far, far inferior. Even the Void Mother Beast they did not fear in the slightest.

They too were resolved to destroy the Void Mother Beast—only that this beast hid within the Nineteenth Void, and their divine consciousness was not strong enough. Unlike the Creators, they had not cultivated their divine consciousness specifically.

They could not traverse the void in their physical bodies, and if their primordial spirits entered the Nineteenth Void, it would be far too perilous.

Yet so long as the Void Mother Beast poked its head out, they could easily destroy it.

In the sky, on the ground, in rivers, lakes, and seas, countless Void Beasts emerged. The Void Beasts in the sky beat the fleshy wings between their six limbs and flew through the heavens, while on the ground, Void Beasts raced on six legs!

Beyond that, gigantic Void Beasts also shuttled through the void, and nearly all the Void Beasts set forth at this moment, charging madly in the same direction!

And that direction was precisely the north of the Ancestral Court!

Even those Void Beasts that had clung to the Rift of Heaven, intending to tear the rift wider, released their claws one after another and plummeted from the rift.