Chapter 1265 — The Strings Beneath the Venerable One's Fingers

The beaded curtain of the Heavenly Venerable's treasure chariot was flung abruptly aside — yet the one seated within was not Heavenly Venerable Hao, but a Divine Artifact Heavenly Venerable!

At the sight, Tai Di's pupils contracted sharply.

"Heavenly Venerable Hao is not in the chariot — then where is he? " The thought had scarce taken shape when the treasure chariot burst apart.

A mocking smile spread across the face of that Divine Artifact Heavenly Venerable; its body swelled violently, and a palm came thrusting out to meet him.

Shen Mu's expression shifted, and he snatched up his lantern and retreated. He had seen the opening stance of the Divine Artifact Heavenly Venerable, and knew at once that things were bad. That Divine Artifact Heavenly Venerable was Heavenly Venerable Hao's treasure, and Heavenly Venerable Hao's greatest strength lay in his constitution.

He was the son of the Great Emperor and Lady Yuanmu; Lady Yuanmu was an ancient god of the Returning Void, and the Great Emperor was a primordial god born from the Taichu lode. The supreme power of their bloodline lay in the Great Emperor's Innate One Qi — the Innate One Qi is the source of all ten thousand Daos in the world, the One in "the One begets two, two begets three, three begets all things"!

And Lady Yuanmu's Returning Void Dao is the endpoint of all things: it devours the starry sky, devours the ten thousand Daos, and at the last returns all to the One!

The opening stance of the Divine Artifact Heavenly Venerable was precisely the divine ability of the Innate One Qi.

That ability gathers the ten thousand Daos into a single stream; Shen Mu had seen it in the battle between Kaihuang and Heavenly Venerable Hao. Even Kaihuang could do no more than pierce his palm, and was promptly stripped of his sword-domain.

That ability was called the Heavenly Wheel of Myriad Daos!

Shen Mu and the others stood far from the point of collision, yet by the measure of the divine abilities of Heavenly Venerable Hao and Tai Di, the distance was in truth very close. The aftershocks of their powers were something not Shen Mu alone, but even Bai Yuqiong, could not withstand.

In the very instant he swung his lantern up and retreated, Tai Di and the Divine Artifact Heavenly Venerable collided — and at almost the same moment, a small figure appeared abruptly behind Tai Di's head. Heavenly Venerable Hao!

Heavenly Venerable Hao had appeared behind Tai Di.

His divine ability erupted — yet what he unleashed was not the art of the Innate One Qi, but the art of the Returning Void, like the Heavenly Wheel of Myriad Daos turning in reverse: from the One begetting all things to all things returning to the One! The Divine Artifact Heavenly Venerable and his divine ability came one before, one behind, forming a cage that took Tai Di within it!

Shen Mu's face turned grave.

"Heavenly Venerable Hao is no longer the Heavenly Venerable Hao who stood above the Jade Pool a million years ago.

.

.

" Two supreme beings collided — and yet no sound came from the void.

Not only was there no sound; there was not even a ripple.

Shen Mu grew more frantic still, and fled swiftly with his lantern held high.

Suddenly a faint tremor came through the void. The hems of his robe, drifting before him, were shaken countless times in an instant — and crumbled to powder!

The tremor traveled with extraordinary speed; even with the Moon Heavenly Venerable's lantern, it soon caught up to him.

Shen Mu fled at full speed — and chanced upon an inner demon wandering the void.

That inner demon was the evil in men's hearts made flesh, ferocious and hideous, yet great in divine power.

Catching sight of him, it rejoiced, and made to pounce and devour him.

Then the inner demon shattered; it burst apart like dust ground finer than the eye can see. "To watch this battle is no easy thing!

" Shen Mu lifted his lantern and folded space — and suddenly Bai Yuqiong's voice came. "Master Yue's treasure is not used in that way.

" Shen Mu's heart stirred. He said gravely, "Heavenly Master Bai, you take the lantern.

" Bai Yuqiong flew out from the lantern, reached out a pale hand to take it, and circulated her magic power. A slender thread of light shot from the lamp, and the space about them swiftly became finer than fine, like a string with no thickness at all.

The aftershock of the collision between Tai Di and Heavenly Venerable Hao rushed in; that terrible fluctuation plucked this string of light, as though an invisible hand were plucking a zither string. Shen Mu, Lan Yutian, and all within the string heard music of wondrous beauty. The collision of the divine abilities of Tai Di and Heavenly Venerable Hao was of immense complexity, yet when it reached the string it played out an overture of the Great Dao.

Though Shen Mu knew the Moon Heavenly Venerable well, he had seldom seen her employ her divine abilities; her arts had always been strange to him.

In truth, when he returned to the past he had come into contact with her many times — yet each time it was the Moon Heavenly Venerable, or those about her, whom he met. Even so, Shen Mu could see that in every age, whether the early, middle, or late Longhan era, or the Shanghuang era that followed, the Moon Heavenly Venerable was an attendant. The attendant of the Cloud Heavenly Venerable; the attendant of the Ling Heavenly Venerable.

Seldom was she the one to lead the transformation of an age. Always she seemed the little sister of the Cloud Heavenly Venerable, the little sister of the Ling Heavenly Venerable; her radiance was forever eclipsed by theirs, and every eye rested on the Cloud Heavenly Venerable or the Ling Heavenly Venerable.

And yet the Moon Heavenly Venerable was no insignificant figure.

On the contrary, it was by her support, by her tireless labors before and behind, that the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, and after it the Shanghuang Heavenly Court, came to such splendor. Shen Mu had seen her zither, and the zither of her disciple, the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu; he had heard them play, and it was beautiful.

Never had he imagined that when the Moon Heavenly Venerable played, she was not merely playing notes and melody — not until Bai Yuqiong turned the lantern's light into a zither string did he perceive the vastness of her divine ability, the inconceivable nature of her art.

Her music was not music alone, but the strings of the Dao; touch such a string, and it plays a wondrous movement. The divine abilities of Tai Di and Heavenly Venerable Hao were mighty and marvelous, holding all they had learned and comprehended in their lives, holding their Daos. And now Shen Mu was captivated by the wondrous melody plucked from this string, as though this were the most beautiful thing of all.

He listened, drunk with it. The melody this string played was not merely the Moon Heavenly Venerable's Dao of Space; it was the use of the Dao of Space to play out the Daos of Heavenly Venerable Hao and Tai Di.

"The Dao-pitch of this Taicu tone hides within it the pitch of the Innate One Qi; to comprehend the Dao-resonance of the Innate One Qi from its pitch — how beautiful it is —" Shen Mu was lost in rapture.

When he obtained the innate runes from the eggshell of the Great Emperor Taichu, the labor had been immense, and the mystery of the Innate One Qi almost beyond grasping; but with the pitches and tones of the Moon Heavenly Venerable's zither coming to him, the innate runes he once could not fathom were suddenly clear as day. "The Dao-pitch of this Wuyi tone belongs to the Supreme Spirit Consciousness of Daluo — and look, look! The Dao-pitch of this Supreme Spirit Consciousness is in truth as wondrous as the Innate One Qi, though achieved by a different path!

" Within the string of light, Shen Mu danced and gestured. In the Dao-pitch of the Supreme Spirit Consciousness he heard the very same Dao-resonance as the Innate One Qi.