Chapter 1205 — The Refined Scholar

Shen Mu's eyes went wide, and he laughed.

"I never imagined you kept such close watch on me, Brother Dao. " The scholar Tai Yi shook his head. "It is not only you I have watched. In truth, I have watched many. One of the little bamboo horses that checked Ling Heavenly Venerate's manuscript was me. I was also a peach in Yue Heavenly Venerate's peach grove, and the fish that Kaihuang Shen Ye hooked and then lost off the hook, and a ghost at Tu Bo's side. Or a star drifting past Tian Gong's eyelid, or a white hair of Hao Heavenly Venerate, plucked out and thrown away.

" He laughed. "I have been to too many places and seen too many people. Every figure who left a heavy stroke upon the vastness of history, I have gone to see them all. I also saw you abandon your own path and return to the path of the Heavenly Palace and the Heavenly Court, and I sighed over it. At that moment, I was a tear you let fall.

" Shen Mu's body gave a slight shudder. He remembered how, after seeking Shujun's counsel, he had resolutely cast aside his former path and chosen to cultivate the Heavenly Palace and the Heavenly Court; at that time he had been unable to hold back his tears, and at his ear he had heard a faint, mournful sigh. He steadied himself and asked curiously, "Brother Dao, your divine powers are vast.

Yet you have come back here. For what reason?

" The scholar Tai Yi laughed.

"I have always been here. There is no coming back, or not coming back. " Shen Mu knew in his heart that Tai Yi's realm was beyond his fathoming, beyond his understanding.

Perhaps, had he not abandoned that path back then, he might have cultivated to Tai Yi's realm, but now it was no longer possible. The scholar Tai Yi looked around him and said, "This tree is a place of great peril. It runs through one cosmic era after another, and the powerhouses of those eras all wish to climb up from the past to this place, to escape death. That you chose this place as your domain, we may count as fate. " Shen Mu laughed.

"Were it not for the guidance of those two ancient gods in the Taiji lode, I could never have obtained this, the Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground. " The scholar Tai Yi's expression turned strange, but he said no more of it.

"This place was originally mine. But since you have made it your domain, then you too must do something to guard the Ancestral Court. " Shen Mu said gravely, "Brother Dao, give me your instructions. " The scholar Tai Yi said, "As you said, my sealing of Great Black Mountain can only delay matters; it cannot end the threat forever.

In time, Great Black Mountain will still split apart, and those past eras will still try to invade.

What I need your help with is this. " "Nothing could be more my duty! " Shen Mu agreed readily, and laughed. "And if foreign enemies invade my domain, I shall be relying on you as well, Brother Dao!

" The scholar Tai Yi had not expected him to make such a request.

He thought for a moment, then laughed. "As you wish.

" Shen Mu let out a long breath. He knew that neither his strength nor his forces could compare with the Ten Heavenly Venerates; he had always been trembling with fear, treading on thin ice.

Now that he had obtained the "Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground," he was forever worried that he could not hold it. But with Tai Yi's word, even if the Ten Heavenly Venerates came in person, they likely could not take this "Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground" from him! Little did he know, the Ten Heavenly Venerates had never set their eyes on this "Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground" at all. "With Tai Yi here, I can set out with the First Ancestor and the others to blockade gates without worry!

" Shen Mu rubbed his fists and palms together, inexplicably excited. "In the past, the Dao Ancestor took Lin Xuan, and Rulai took the Buddha's Son, to blockade the Great Academy; and Bashan Jijiu took me to blockade the Golden Palace of Loulan.

But those were elders encouraging their juniors.

The elders would sit themselves down there, so awe-inspiring and fierce! The other side could only obediently do things by the rules, or the elders would fly into a rage!

This time, I, a junior, will take my elders to blockade the domains of the Ten Heavenly Venerates. Whoever dares not do things by the rules, I will fly into a rage! " "Besides, no matter what heaven-shaking mess I make, I need only hide here at Great Black Mountain. If the sky falls, Tai Yi will hold it up! " The Ancestral Court. The Taichu lode. The Heavenly Court could not be without a Heavenly Venerate to guard it. Xiao had sent his most prized disciple, Gao Huaitong, to guard this lode.

Xiao Heavenly Venerate, though a Heavenly Venerate of the human race, treated all races alike; he only hated the ancient gods. Gao Huaitong was not of the human race, but a demigod, of outstanding talent, who had cultivated to the Imperial Throne realm.

Gao Huaitong had just settled in and ordered the gods under his command into the lode to mine divine stones, when a god came to report: "The Mu Heavenly Venerate has come with more than twenty strange-looking people.

He says he has come to pay a visit, and to blockade the gate according to the rules, and to challenge the disciples of Xiao Heavenly Venerate. " "The rules of gate-blockading? " Gao Huaitong was puzzled.

"Since when has our Heavenly Court had such an odd rule? " He summoned Yan Qiling and asked, "Little junior sister, you have spent time in the lower world.

This Mu Heavenly Venerate has come to blockade the gate. Do you know the rules of the lower world? " Yan Qiling said, "There is indeed such an unwritten rule in the lower world: when an elder brings a junior to blockade a gate and challenge, the fight must be between those of the same realm, and neither side may break this rule, or they lose face. But there is in fact a principle behind this rule: the elder must have the strength to overawe the other side.

" Gao Huaitong laughed.

"The people of the lower world are all ruffians, ignorant and unlearned, to have come up with such an odd rule.

In the Heavenly Court there is no such thing as gate-blockading. Still, Mu Heavenly Venerate, for all that his abilities fall short, has a resounding name, so we must not be discourteous.

Little junior sister, your skills are superb, and among those of your realm you have rarely met a match. Go and send him on his way. " Yan Qiling shook her head. "I have contended with him several times, and never once won. " Gao Huaitong's expression shifted slightly. He hesitated.

"If you cannot beat him, then I too would find it hard to beat him. . . " The reporting god said, "This time it is Mu Heavenly Venerate holding the field. He says he will let the others do the challenging. " Gao Huaitong laughed despite himself.

"If Mu Heavenly Venerate came to challenge in person, I would fear him a little.

I never thought he would have the gall of a bear's heart and a leopard's courage, to let others challenge. Very well.

We brothers shall have a contest with the people he has brought, and teach him the height of the heavens and the depth of the earth. " He led more than ten disciples of Xiao Heavenly Venerate out to meet them, and saw Shen Mu arriving outside the mining district aboard that small swift boat.

On the boat were indeed strange-looking people, tall and short, fat and thin, and only two or three of them were passably presentable. There seemed to be deep grudges among these people; not one of them could look at another with favor, and crammed together on one boat they had nearly come to blows. What they hated most of all was Shen Mu himself; everyone on the boat looked at him with displeasure. Gao Huaitong saluted Shen Mu and smiled. "Mu Heavenly Venerate, you have come to visit, and I was remiss in welcoming you.