Chapter 1355 — Secretly Pulling the Strings

"All Ways Return to One?

" Everyone in the palace was shaken to the core. Heavenly Venerable Xiao was the reincarnation of Heavenly Emperor Taichu, and his ambitions were immense: before his true body as Heavenly Emperor had even died, he had already split off a portion of his soul and sent it into reincarnation, becoming a young human prodigy named Xiao Weisu, who took Heavenly Venerable Yun as his master. Later he inherited Heavenly Venerable Yun's mantle and became the leader of the human race, and that was in the latter years of the Longhan era.

This meant that Heavenly Emperor Taichu had already realized, in the late Longhan era, that the Way of the Acquired was about to rise, and so had taken precautions, splitting off a soul early and becoming Xiao Weisu to lay his plans!

And the Way of the Acquired had not truly begun its rise in the later Chiming and Shanghuang eras; at the end of the Shanghuang era it had only begun to sprout, and it was in the Kaihuang and Jingping eras that it truly developed and flourished. In all of this, the Woodcutter Sage, Wen Tiange, deserved the greatest credit.

In other words, Heavenly Emperor Taichu had seen the scene four or five hundred thousand years hence, and that was how he had been able to lay his plans so far in advance! "Heavenly Emperor Taichu is no easy mark either; among the Ten Heavenly Venerables, not one is a soft touch! " everyone thought silently.

With Wei Suifeng and Yun Jianli's help, the dao patterns hidden within that one sword strike of Heavenly Venerable Xiao were quickly sorted out.

Wei Suifeng was vastly learned and wide-ranging in his reading, and of all people he had learned the most of the Way of the Acquired from the Woodcutter Sage; none of the Way of the Acquired in Heavenly Venerable Xiao's arts could stump him.

Yun Jianli, for his part, was the orthodox heir of the Purple Empyrean Azure Void Art, and the two of them worked together to excellent effect.

Once they had finished sorting it out, the two showed not the slightest intention of leaving; they stared eagerly at Shen Mu, the Alchemist, and Heavenly Venerable Yue, waiting to see how they would heal the wounds. Shen Mu was using his spirit sense to examine the dao wound in Heavenly Venerable Yue's soul, and without raising his head he said, "When we begin the healing, all five of those Heavenly Venerables who left these dao wounds will be alerted, and who knows which of them might strike at this place. " Wei Suifeng and Yun Jianli's expressions changed drastically.

Wei Suifeng bowed low, hands clasped, and said in a clear voice, "Heavenly Venerable, we were carried off from the Wendao Academy by you; there is still work unfinished at the academy, and we beg you to send us back!

" "Where righteousness lies, duty admits no refusal! " Yun Jianli declared with righteous solemnity, "We gave our word to Emperor Yanxiu, and we must do the thing handsomely!

We beg you to send us back to the Wendao Academy! " Heavenly Venerable Yue said softly, "My thanks for your trouble. Go out the palace gate and follow the lights in the peach grove; once you leave the grove, you will be in the capital of Jingping.

" As though granted a great pardon, the two hurried out of the palace, and sure enough they saw lights among the peach trees. They followed the lights onward, and when they emerged from the grove, they saw that the lights were those of the Lower Capital of Jingping. The two breathed a sigh of relief and hurried toward the Lower Capital.

Yun Jianli felt a little uneasy and said, "Leaving Heavenly Venerable Mu and the Medicine King God there to die, isn't that a bit short on loyalty?

" Wei Suifeng laughed. "Of course it's short on loyalty!

But my second junior brother loves to stir things up; he won't die. We, on the other hand, very well might!

Come, come, business first. " The two entered the capital.

In the Peach Grove Palace, Shen Mu had at last laid out in full the dao patterns of the Way of Spirit Sense of Divine Emperor Langxuan, and the Alchemist had prepared portion after portion of spirit medicines. Shen Mu took out the Taishu Primordial Liquid, and the two exchanged a glance without a word.

Heavenly Venerable Yue waited a long while, saying nothing, but at last she could not help laughing. "You two masters of the art, why so grave now that the moment has come?

" The Alchemist inclined slightly and said, "If I were healing Shen'er, never mind five kinds of pills, five hundred, and I would have refined them and fed them to him, since they could not poison him to death anyway.

But healing a Heavenly Venerable, I cannot help feeling anxious, and I strive to leave no ill aftereffects. " Heavenly Venerable Yue could not help feeling deep sympathy for Shen Mu, and laughed.

"There is no need for that, Medicine King God. Taking your medicine, will it leave me worse off than I am today?

If not, then by all means go ahead. " The Alchemist assented. Heavenly Venerable Yue looked at Shen Mu, waited a moment, then burst out laughing.

"And what is Heavenly Venerable Mu so troubled about? " Shen Mu said solemnly, "I am wondering which of these five Heavenly Venerables will return to the Heavenly Court, and which will strike at you.

All five of them are half-dead.

.

. " Heavenly Venerable Yue was startled, and stammered, "Half-dead?

" Shen Mu mused, "Heavenly Venerable Hao cannot possibly strike.

He was grievously wounded by the Great Emperor and does not dare return to the Heavenly Court at all; of the five, his injuries are the worst, and even if Taishu aided him with all his strength, he could not hope to recover in a hundred or two hundred years, and his divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, was smashed to powder. Heavenly Venerable Fire was grievously wounded by the Great Emperor, Kaihuang, and Langwan, and he too should be unable to recover for some time; moreover, he has been left to guard Taixu, so at present he is most likely not in the Heavenly Court. His divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, remains in the South Pole Heaven, holding it down. " Heavenly Venerable Yue listened quietly as Shen Mu went on, "But if Heavenly Venerable Fire returns to the Heavenly Court, then he may well strike. After him comes Langxuan. Langxuan was grievously wounded by the Great Emperor and then gravely wounded again by Heavenly Venerable Xiao; his injuries are extremely severe, but even if he returns to the Heavenly Court, it hardly matters.

His divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, cannot reach this place in a short time either. . . " "The Ancestral God King's divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, is in Xuandu and cannot descend here.

And the Ancestral God King's injuries are not light either; his battle with the Great Emperor all but shattered his heavenly dao treasure, and he cannot refine it back in a moment. Even if he strikes, he can do nothing to us. " "The only one I fear is Heavenly Venerable Xiao.

Heavenly Consort Yan severed one of his hands, but this fellow is precisely the oddity among the Ten Heavenly Venerables; he cultivates the Great Way of the Acquired, and he is exceedingly zealous for it. " Shen Mu frowned deeply and said in a low voice, "He has also turned a blind eye to the Jingping Reforms, which clearly shows he has taken an interest in them.

The Art of Creation that Jingping inherited from Chiming must certainly have been learned by him as well. By now his injuries should be fully healed. And what is more terrifying still: he is Heavenly Emperor Taichu, and there is no telling how far he has cultivated All Ways Return to One. .

.

" The Alchemist reminded him, "Heavenly Venerable Xiao also has a Primeval Tree, not far from the peach grove. " Shen Mu nodded. "His divine artifact, the Imperial Heavenly Venerable, is right beside the Primeval Tree.