Chapter 1199 — Two Dreams Linked

Shen Mu crossed the Nether Sea and walked into the Ninth Divine City of Fengdu, coming to stand beneath the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital and lifting his head to survey this colossal thing.

This Nether Capital Heavenly Gate had been forged jointly by Yin Tianzi and Di Yiyue, and Di Yiyue possessed a Du Ling physique with the blood of the Heavenly Duke in her veins, making her one of the mightiest spirit bodies in the world today. The power of the Du Ling physique lay in this, that no matter what system of Dao techniques and divine arts such a spirit body studied, it could master them swiftly with scarcely any hindrance.

Yin Tianzi's Emperor's Throne treasure was precisely the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate, which he had begun refining since the mid-Longhan era, yet it had been shattered several times and he had never brought the work to completion.

By the Kaihuang era Yin Tianzi had cultivated to the perfected state of the Imperial Throne realm, and knowing that he had reached his utter limit and could hardly advance further, he began striving to press toward the techniques of the Heavenly Court.

Yet after all he was not one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, and when he tried to take the Youdu Great Dao he himself cultivated as foundation and cultivate the techniques of other systems upon it, he met with immense difficulty. When he sought to fuse the other techniques he cultivated with his own original techniques, he suffered frustration again and again.

And when he sought to complete the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate and borrow it to fuse the other techniques, he likewise failed time and again. It was just then that Di Yiyue rose to fame, gradually winning great renown among the heavens.

At that time the Kaihuang Heavenly Court was upheld by the ancient gods, who wished to raise the Kaihuang era to an exceedingly powerful state and push Kaihuang forth to stand against the Ten Heavenly Venerables.

Therefore the Kaihuang Heavenly Court stood on excellent terms with the Heavenly Duke and Earth Count and with the Four Emperors of the ancient gods.

Kaihuang sent Di Yiyue to the Four Emperors of the ancient gods to cultivate, making her take the Four Emperors as masters, and it was then that Di Yiyue's power was revealed without reserve.

Di Yiyue at that time learned the Dao arts and divine powers of the Four Emperors with ease, mastered them through and through, and cultivated the four Heavenly Palaces in one stroke, shaking the world.

Nor was that all, for she also fused the techniques of other Imperial Thrones and vied with Kaihuang himself, contending for the imperial throne, and though she was defeated, Kaihuang prized her all the more for it, and it was a fair tale for a time.

It was then that Yin Tianzi made contact with Di Yiyue and asked her counsel on how to refine the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate, and with one exchange leading to another, added to Yin Tianzi's handsome looks and his deliberate courting, the two fell in love.

Di Yiyue was forceful by nature, yet toward Yin Tianzi she gave her whole heart, aiding him in fusing Imperial Throne techniques and aiding him in refining the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate, holding nothing back, it may be said.

When Di Yiyue meant to marry Yin Tianzi, it was also the end of the Kaihuang era, when the winds and clouds turned treacherous and Kaihuang secretly ordered Heavenly King Shakra, Li Youran, to build Worry-Free Village, in truth to forge the Worry-Free Sword and the Thirty-Three Heavens.

After Li Youran had built Worry-Free Village, he began building the Other Shore Ark, and it was then that Di Yiyue married Yin Tianzi, and though many urged her otherwise, she was blinded by love and could no longer read the situation, so that she died upon the wedding hall. Shen Mu gazed up at this heavenly gate, which held both Yin Tianzi's divine powers and Di Yiyue's heart's blood, and what she had seized back from Yin Tianzi, for as deeply as she had loved before, so deeply did she hate today.

Even so, Shen Mu could not but admire Yin Tianzi's talent, for hidden within this Nether Capital Heavenly Gate was a divine power of reincarnation, which the Youdu Great Dao itself did not possess.

Yin Tianzi had once used that power of reincarnation to plot against Que Feiyin, the reincarnated soul of the Southern Emperor, and Que Feiyin has now become Bai Yuqiong, the Third Heavenly Master of the Heavenly Court, yet to this day Heavenly Master Bai Yuqiong has not undone Yin Tianzi's power of reincarnation. The Dao of Reincarnation was the very capital on which Yin Tianzi staked his life.

In this one point, no one surpassed him. Di Yiyue stepped out from behind the gate, somewhat abashed, and said with a smile: "Little brother, when Jingping faced calamity I did not come to save you, not because I would not, but because with one decree from Kaihuang I dared not.

I once did wrong, so that the Kaihuang Heavenly Court fell so swiftly, and now I no longer dare act on my own, for fear of erring again. " Shen Mu smiled: "That matter is past, and am I not perfectly well?

I have come to break Yin Tianzi's power of reincarnation, and I need elder sister's help.

" Di Yiyue said in delight: "I too mean to unravel his divine art. Though Yin Tianzi's character is utterly base, in the Dao of Reincarnation his attainment is unmatched.

These past years I have never had sufficient assurance of breaking it, but with your aid it will surely go faster!

" She stroked the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate, her fingertips gliding lightly over rune after rune upon it, and said: "Yin Tianzi cultivated only four Heavenly Palaces, yet the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate amounts to another him.

His strength cannot be counted among the very peak of the Heavenly Court, for the Dao Patriarch and Mahabrahma Buddha both surpass him by far. Yet joined with the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate, his strength is no whit inferior to the Dao Patriarch and Mahabrahma Buddha. " Shen Mu's heart trembled faintly, and studying the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate closely, he said in a low voice: "Elder sister, this gate you helped him make, what mystery lies in it?

" "His natural gifts are limited, and he is not the most gifted of men.

To fuse four kinds of Imperial Throne techniques was already his limit. " Di Yiyue said: "Yet I realized his Dao of Reincarnation could be made better still.

That is the purpose of the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate. Within this Nether Capital Heavenly Gate are stored four kinds of Imperial Throne techniques, and if fully urged into motion, he would be as one possessing eight Heavenly Palaces, not far removed from the Dao Patriarch and Mahabrahma. " Shen Mu was filled with admiration. Di Yiyue said: "But that was twenty thousand years ago, when with the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate he could stand as an Imperial Throne powerhouse who had cultivated eight Heavenly Palaces.

As for now, I do not know.

" She showed a smile: "This Nether Capital Heavenly Gate was refined by him, and also by me, so back then I could keep him from bringing out its might and take this treasure back from his hands.

These days I have been studying the Dao of Reincarnation without cease, and long ago I also gained from him some Dao arts of reincarnation. Come and look. " Di Yiyue brought out the fruits of her research in these days, paper upon paper in heaps enough to sweat oxen and fill storehouses, and one could see how hard Di Yiyue had labored to take revenge upon Yin Tianzi.

Shen Mu turned the pages carefully, setting them against the runes upon the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate and verifying the two against each other.