Chapter 1209 — All Remedies Fail

The divine treasury domain dispersed, and the crowd lay sprawled every which way upon the ground; only Yan Qiling, Gao Huaitong, and the First Ancestor still stood upright, unharmed and unmaimed. Shen Mu clapped his hands and laughed.

"Exchanges like this—we ought to hold them once or twice more, and often. Everyone had a fine time.

" The rest clambered up, faces smeared with dust and defeat, and said nothing, sullen.

Gao Huaitong coughed once. "A Heavenly Venerable is worthy of the name. We prostrate ourselves in admiration.

You are our martial uncle; the lessons you teach, we of Heavenly Venerable Xiao's line can only listen to. Another day we shall pay a visit to the Great Black Wood. " Shen Mu said, delighted, "There is little habitation here in the Ancestral Court, so we ought to exchange visits properly and keep the roads between us open.

Stay your steps, worthy nephew; I still have to take these others to call upon the domains of the other Heavenly Venerables. " Gao Huaitong assented, and watched them go into the distance. After a moment he sighed.

"Truly a man of the gods—well worthy of the title of Heavenly Venerable. Junior sister, I once heard our master speak of the reforms in the Yuan Realm.

Can you guess what he said? " Yan Qiling's expression turned grave. She knew he was the disciple Heavenly Venerable Xiao prized most, and knew he knew their master's mind.

She shook her head. "I do not. " "Our master said: the reforms of the Yuan Realm blaze and thunder, and have gone on for a million years without cease.

They will surely shake the cornerstone of the heavens, shake the cornerstone of the Heavenly Court. First observe their momentum; if they can be destroyed, destroy them; if they cannot, follow them. " Gao Huaitong said, with deep meaning, "Blunt their sharpness, untangle their knots, soften their glare, mingle with their dust; seize their will, divide their power.

In the end, even if heaven and earth are remade, what cannot be replaced is still us. The world will still be ruled by us. " He smiled.

"Master Xiao's wisdom is far beyond what Heavenly Venerable Mu can match. You are the finest of Master Xiao's disciples; seize your chance well, and one day you will rise above the crowd.

Heavenly Venerable Mu wants to remake heaven and earth—heh heh. . .

" Shen Mu took the First Ancestor Human Emperor and the Second Ancestor and the rest onward to visit the domains of the other Heavenly Venerables, blocking their gates and wagering duels. This time the Human Emperors of past generations were far more docile, no longer challenging him, but quietly challenging the disciples of the various Heavenly Venerables. It was a chance to make a name for themselves, and a chance to broaden their horizons; if one day faces were truly torn, it was a good thing to learn the enemy's methods early.

On the road, Shen Mu again pored over and studied the Taishi runes, and the Taishi runes grew ever more complete.

As he derived and integrated them, he gradually formed a plan for how to break the Material Immutability divine art. By the time they had finished visiting the domains of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, half a year had passed. Shen Mu escorted the First Ancestor and the other Human Emperors back to the Great Black Wood Mountains, and asked, "Masters and grandmasters, are you now fully confident of holding this place?

" They all nodded. The First Ancestor Human Emperor said, "At first we were not confident, but after seeing what the Ten Heavenly Venerables' disciples have to work with, we have a plan. The Ten Heavenly Venerables may be famous, but their disciples are somewhat wanting.

" Shen Mu smiled. "Good. I cannot stay here long; the Ancestral Court is in your hands.

If you truly cannot hold out, someone will naturally come forward to help you. " He then sought out the Pill Master.

In the few short months since they had parted, the Pill Master's cultivation had actually surged; his present realm had caught up with the Village Chief, the Silent Artisan, and the others—he had cultivated to the Yaochi realm!

Shen Mu was astonished.

The Pill Master had always been the slowest cultivator among the Nine Elders of Hidden Cripple Village, his realm even lower than that of the Deaf Elder!

He had toiled bitterly to reach the Venerable God realm, and beyond that could not take a single step further! Yet in a few short months he had broken through the Venerable God realm, then the True God realm, and cultivated his way to the Yaochi realm!

"The Medicine Dao Heavenly Palace you asked for—I have it ready. " The Pill Master took out a spirit pill and smiled. "The Medicine Dao is within this pill.

Whether you can comprehend it depends on your own ability.

" Shen Mu pinched the spirit pill between his fingers and examined it closely. The medicinal power within the pill had actually formed the apparition of a heavenly palace, exceedingly sacred, and from within came the sound of gods and demons chanting the Dao. His heart was somewhat uneasy, and he probed, "Is there poison in this pill? " The Pill Master, beaming, patted his shoulder and said unhurriedly, "The moment you entered the Ancestral Court, you stabbed me a dozen times over.

Little Shen, you have grown up; your wings have hardened. But after all, I raised you—how could I possibly put poison in the pill I give you?

" Shen Mu's expression shifted slightly. The moment the Pill Master said such a thing, it meant the pill certainly contained poison—and a poison absolutely ferocious!

The Pill Master said, kindly of face, "We who make pills—poison is medicine too.

Swallow it first, and see what it does.

" Shen Mu did not hurry to swallow the pill. The vertical eye at the center of his brow opened, and he observed carefully.

The Pill Master smiled faintly and did not press him, letting him study it as he pleased. Under the gaze of his third sage pupil, every secret within the pill was reflected with utter clarity in that pupil.

What amazed him was that the medicinal power in the pill was a seamless whole; look closely as he might, he could not see any composition of medicinal power at all. Stranger still, the medicinal power in the pill had congealed into patterns of runes of the great Dao of every kind, and it was precisely these rune patterns that projected the apparition of the heavenly palace!

A heavenly palace inside a spirit pill—such a thing Shen Mu had never heard of!

Moreover, as the medicinal power shifted in the finest degrees, the rune patterns within the pill shifted with it, impossible to fathom. Shen Mu had studied under the Pill Master, learning the Dao of medicine and the Dao of poison, and had achieved no small success; but ever since he cultivated the Three Prime Gods' Indestructible Spirit Sense and the Flawless Creation Mystic Art, he had grown lax in advancing further in the medicine and poison Daos.

The Pill Master's attainments in the two Daos had long ago reached the point where medicine and poison flowed as one, the Dao of medicine and the Dao of poison each completing the other. What stage he had now reached, Shen Mu could not see through. He could not even see through whether the medicinal power of this pill was medicine or poison!

The Pill Master watched him, smiling. Shen Mu's face shifted between light and dark, and of a sudden he opened his mouth and swallowed the pill!

The Pill Master laughed heartily.

Shen Mu's expression changed drastically.

The instant the pill entered his belly, he felt an incomparably violent medicinal power erupt! In the very instant of that eruption, he felt a poison that would annihilate all things spread through his whole body in a flash, and all his vital essence melt away like snow!

Not only could his vital essence not withstand it—even his spirit sense could not; his spirit sense melted!