Chapter 1375 — The Hope of a Heavenly Venerable to Come

The Headman examined the divine bow. Though he could not fathom what wondrous uses it held, nor make sense of the various brands upon it, he still praised it without cease: "The bow beats the man!

The bow beats the man!

" Shen Mu was greatly displeased.

"This divine bow is truly fine — far stronger than the man! " The Headman drew the bow, and at once the spiritual qi and spiritual power of heaven and earth stirred; his heart was seized with awe, and he praised it again and again. A moment before he had been needling Shen Mu out of habit; now he was sincerely marveling at the bow, which was far more formidable than he.

The Headman set the bow down and said, "Leave the matter of investigating the gods to me for now. I will go see You the Heavenly Venerable and borrow his Book of Life and Death for a time.

" Shen Mu had a Book of Life and Death here as well, though it was the treasure of Yin Tianzi. Yin Tianzi's Book of Life and Death had more uses, yet it could not trace the origins of a Heavenly Venerable.

To trace the origins of a Heavenly Venerable's reincarnated body, one still needed You the Heavenly Venerable's Book of Life and Death.

Shen Mu remained at the Wendao Academy, quietly awaiting the Headman's news, and meanwhile studied the fruits of the Jingping reforms. What shocked him was that the research in the Wendao Academy was rather advanced, aimed at reforming the Heavenly Palace and attempting to alter its very structure; the divine-ability practitioners and gods of the Academy were trying to use the various gates of the Heavenly Court to remake the realms of the Heavenly Palace. They intended to split the Southern Heavenly Gate realm into four lesser realms. In the traditional scheme of realms, a divine-ability practitioner's primordial spirit ascends, arrives at the Southern Heavenly Gate, and upon passing through it becomes a true god.

The fellows of the Wendao Academy, however, meant to change it into four realms — the Southern Heavenly Gate, the Northern Heavenly Gate, the Eastern Heavenly Gate, and the Western Heavenly Gate — and have the primordial spirit pass through each of the four in turn!

Shen Mu could not help laughing; but as he laughed, his expression grew grave. Tugging at the beard on his chin, he muttered to himself, "An idea — and quite an idea.

. .

The Grand Emperor told me that the Ancestral Court does in fact possess four great Heavenly Gates, and that they are four great holy grounds of the Ancestral Court, each holding an exceedingly strange great dao. From the Grand Emperor's tone, the great daos contained in the Ancestral Court's four great Heavenly Gates differ from one another — which is to say, splitting the Southern Heavenly Gate realm into four is feasible. . . " He read on. The divine-ability practitioners and gods of the Wendao Academy also meant to abolish the Jade Capital realm, holding that it was too general and had never drawn out the full potential of that realm.

They wished to divide the Jade Capital realm into three — Mingde, Danfeng, and Chengtian. The Mingde realm was the city gate of the Jade Capital, the Mingde Gate; to step through that gate was to enter the Mingde realm.

Danfeng was the gate of the imperial city within the Jade Capital's inner city, the Danfeng Gate; to step through it was to enter the Heavenly Emperor's Forbidden City. And the Chengtian Gate was the portal before the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, bearing heaven above and joining earth below; to step through it was to raise one's eyes to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

"Those fellows of the Wendao Academy are remarkable!

" Shen Mu was deeply shaken. After pondering a while, he rose and went to see Yuchenzi.

"Senior Brother, these four great Heavenly Gate realms, and the realms of Mingde, Danfeng, and Chengtian — who devised them?

" Yuchenzi said, "Does the Heavenly Venerable know a girl named Hua Xuanxiu? " "Hua Xuanxiu?

" Shen Mu's expression stirred slightly; at once he recalled a little girl he had saved when he slew the Ancient Gods of the Nine Provinces in the Western Heavens — and her name had indeed been Hua Xuanxiu.

The girl had been crushed to death by the Pillar-One Ancient God, her soul scattered, and it was Shen Mu who had called her back with the art of resurrection.

But it was too perilous for her to remain at Shen Mu's side, so Shen Mu had Yu Chudu, a disciple of his eldest senior brother Wei Suifeng, take her to Jingping. Yu Chudu had studied under Wei Suifeng and was himself most formidable.

"Whom does Hua Xuanxiu cultivate under?

" Shen Mu asked. "She is Yu Chudu's disciple.

She went with Old Master Wei to the Jade Capital City of the Heavenly Court.

" The Old Master Wei on Yuchenzi's lips was Wei Suifeng, honored as Old Master because he was the founder of the Heavenly Sage Sect.

Yuchenzi went on: "Old Master Wei said he would take Yu Chudu and Hua Xuanxiu out to see the world. This old one, young one, and little one first went hunting and gathered up a great many throne-arts, then barged into the Jade Capital City of the Heavenly Court, made their way to the Chengtian Gate, and were discovered the moment they reached the Lingxiao Treasure Hall — they very nearly failed to come back alive. After they returned, Hua Xuanxiu said the Jade Capital City was too vast, and that the single Jade Capital realm could hardly bring out the wonders of the Jade Capital; so she conceived the three realms of Mingde, Danfeng, and Chengtian. Old Master Wei praised them without cease as well. " Shen Mu smiled. "Those three realms are indeed ingenious and brilliant. " Yuchenzi was unimpressed. He laughed: "A child's idle fancy, no more.

There is some sense in it, but for the past two years Old Master Wei and the others have studied it long and hard without arriving at anything.

With each realm of the Heavenly Palace, every breakthrough brings a tremendous rise in cultivation and strength. Yet these realms Hua Xuanxiu imagined bring no rise in strength at all. " He explained, "The gods of the Wendao Academy have tried it. When their primordial spirits passed through the Mingde Gate, the Danfeng Gate, and the Chengtian Gate of the Jade Capital City, there was no rise in cultivation whatsoever — only faint, indistinct sounds heard dimly. " Shen Mu pondered a moment, then asked, "And the Northern, Eastern, and Western Heavenly Gates?

When the primordial spirit passes through those portals, is there a rise in cultivation and strength? " Yuchenzi clapped his hands. "That is just where the wonder lies!

The gods of the Wendao Academy have tested it: when the primordial spirit passes through those three portals, there truly is a rise in cultivation, and the comprehension of the dao deepens as well! Some gods who had been unable to enter the dao crossed the four Heavenly Gates and actually comprehended the dao, and so entered it!

" Shen Mu smiled faintly, and at once understood the reason. He laughed: "It is most likely because when the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor and the other Ancient Gods built the Heavenly Court, they had only seen the four great Heavenly Gates of the Ancestral Court, and had seen the Jade Pool, the Jade Terrace, and the God-Slaying Terrace — but had never seen the true Jade Capital City. " Yuchenzi was baffled as to his meaning. Shen Mu offered no further explanation.

"What realm is Hua Xuanxiu at now? " "She has just finished planting the Innate Jianmu; she should be at the Seven Stars realm now, I suppose? " Yuchenzi was not certain either.

Shen Mu's eyes went wide.

After a moment he slowly let out a turbid breath and sighed, "The Seven Stars realm, and our eldest senior brother dares take her to gad about the Heavenly Court?

If our eldest senior brother ever dies, it will be from his own recklessness.

. . Be so good as to have Hua Xuanxiu come here, Senior Brother.

" After a while, Yuchenzi brought Hua Xuanxiu.