Chapter 1339 — Sending You West

"Why has the Sea of Chaos suddenly stirred with waves at a time like this?"

A chill of dread ran through Shen Mu; he cursed inwardly that all was lost, and at once soared into the air. Without a moment's hesitation he unleashed his most practiced great divine art, the Other Shore Divine Ark Crossing, seeking to slip into the void and evade the assault of the four Heavenly Venerables.

In the very instant his form moved, the auras of the four Heavenly Venerables were suddenly drawn one to another, and clashed together!

Within those auras were the four Heavenly Venerables' distinct magic powers, their distinct divine consciousnesses, vast and surging; in the instant of collision, Shen Mu felt his vital qi and divine consciousness turn sluggish in their circulation.

His Other Shore Divine Ark art could not take form at all, could not carry him across into the void!

"I'm finished..."

Shen Mu's heart sank. At once he prepared two courses. With a hum, his Divine Treasury Domain opened; one hand seized Heavenly Venerable Ling's peachwood hairpin, the other reached for the chaos ore vein within the Divine Treasury Domain.

From the chaos ore vein in his Divine Treasury Domain, the two halves of Tai Yi's eggshell rose up — this was his second preparation. If even the Unchanging divine art could not hold them off, he meant to seal himself away, entomb himself within Tai Yi's eggshell!

As to whether Tai Yi's egg could withstand the four Heavenly Venerables' siege, whether it could protect him — that he did not know.

Within the Tai Shi ore vein, the Tai Shi Egg too woke from refining the Tai Shi primal stone; the heaven above round as an egg, its two shells, one above and one below, enclosed Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain!

"Heavenly Venerable Mu, do you need help?" he asked in alarm.

Shen Mu gave no answer. At a moment like this, even Tai Shi was utterly useless; Tai Shi's strength had not yet grown so formidable as to contend with four Heavenly Venerables.

He had scarcely finished his preparations when he saw a staff rise slowly from the Sea of Chaos, sweeping the chaos qi aside.

The four Heavenly Venerables had not shown themselves, yet their divine arts had already arrived!

Heavenly Venerable Xiao, Heavenly Consort Yan, the Ancestral God King, and Divine Emperor Langxuan — though each had suffered grievous wounds, even so their divine arts were incomparably fierce and dreadful!

In this strike the four Heavenly Venerables brought forth their full strength, forcing their foe to retreat rather than face them. Had they appeared in person, the effect would have been quite the opposite!

Just as their divine arts were about to reach Shen Mu's side, that inconspicuous staff stamped down heavily!

Shen Mu heard a tremendous boom; the whole Sea of Chaos was flung up by that single stamp of the staff!

The divine arts of the four Heavenly Venerables, like so much paper pasted together, shattered amid the terrifying impact; the towering waves raised by the Sea of Chaos rolled crushing outward in every direction, squeezing the void until it collapsed.

Suddenly the forms of the four Heavenly Venerables surfaced, flung up by the waves of the Sea of Chaos, hurtling backward against their will.

Each of the four Heavenly Venerables gave a stifled grunt, straining to steady himself, but before such a force none could steady himself at all. Astonishment filled their hearts beyond measure: this force surpassed even the fleshly body of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, surpassed the Great Emperor in his complete form; they even felt that the realm this force represented transcended the very limits of the Heavenly Court realm!

Whoosh —

The four Heavenly Venerables, flailing wildly, were borne far away from this place.

The four landed, spoke not a word, turned, and walked off, soon vanishing in four directions across the Ancestral Court.

Beneath the earth, Earth Mother had not gone far; she was secretly watching the commotion of the Sea of Chaos. When she saw this scene, she could not help but shudder again and again, and at once dove into the ground, racing away by earth escape.

Gradually the waves raised by the Sea of Chaos subsided; before long, that ocean formed of chaos qi returned to calm.

Shen Mu let out a breath, hastily returning the two halves of Tai Yi's eggshell to the chaos ore vein, doubt in his heart: "What is the matter with this staff?"

That staff, having made the four Heavenly Venerables retreat, quieted again of itself, standing quietly upright on the sea's surface.

Shen Mu hesitated a moment, then stepped forward and examined the staff closely. He saw nothing unusual about it; it seemed carved from ordinary wood.

There were no runes on the staff either; it gave off not the slightest breath of any Great Dao.

Yet just now it was this utterly ordinary staff that had flung the four Heavenly Venerables away and made them retreat!

"Dao-brother Tai Yi!"

Shen Mu bowed deeply, hands clasped, and said in all sincerity: "Thank you for lending a hand. The Taichu Primal Stone must have fallen into your keeping as well? With the primal stone in your hands, I can rest easy."

He waited a while; the staff still showed no fluctuation, no reaction at all.

Shen Mu laughed: "Since you do not wish to speak, Dao-brother, I shall not disturb you further. Farewell." With that, he turned and left.

After a moment, the Sea of Chaos split open, revealing a passage; out came Xu Shenghua, Lan Yutian, and the others; the aged Tai Yi beckoned, and the staff flew back to him.

Lan Yutian asked, puzzled: "Why did Brother speak to the staff just now?"

The aged Tai Yi's face turned strange, and he explained: "He took me for the staff, thinking that I had taken the form of a staff today."

The two were perplexed, not knowing why Shen Mu should have such a bizarre notion.

They did not know that Tai Yi possessed the 'Yi', which has no fixed form and no fixed state, and can transform into any person or any thing; therefore Shen Mu, seeing the staff drive off the four Heavenly Venerables, assumed that Tai Yi had transformed into the staff, and so spoke to it as he did.

The aged Tai Yi leaned on his staff and said with a smile: "You have seen the perils of the Ancestral Court and obtained the primal stone; it is time you went to the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains to see Heavenly Venerable Mu. Of this kind of wood, Heavenly Venerable Mu has an abundance; the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains are filled to the brim with this divine timber."

Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian thanked him again and again. Xu Shenghua asked: "May I ask, Dao-friend, how does one get to the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains?"

"The Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains are right there. Keep walking in that direction; those mountains are exceedingly strange, sacred beyond the ordinary, unlike any other — the first glance will tell you."

The aged Tai Yi pointed offhandedly; the group looked where he pointed, but saw nothing; when they turned their heads back, the aged Tai Yi had vanished without a trace.

"A truly extraordinary man," Xu Shenghua praised.

They went on. Xu Shenghua observed the mountains and rivers and the lay of the land of the Ancestral Court; the more he looked, the more astonished he became, and he could not resist stopping to study the topography, saying: "In the mountains and rivers here there seems to be hidden the divine art of Earth Mother. All thirty-six forms of the Yuandu Great Dao can actually be traced to their roots in the Ancestral Court!"

Lan Yutian had not noticed these things; only at his words did he take note. The two each delved into the matter, exchanging what they found, and before they knew it their steps had slowed again.

Elsewhere, Shen Mu hurried along toward the Hundred Thousand Great Black Mountains. When the black mountains hove into view, suddenly the void before his eyes quivered; he halted at once, gave a cold laugh, and his divine consciousness burst forth!

Boom —