Chapter 1397 — Cultivation Unstable, Foundation Unsettled

Heavenly Venerable Gong returned to the Taishu Ore Vein and summoned Nian Sihua, the disciple who guarded that place, and said, "I have here a great divine art of reverse summoning. Carry it to the domains of the other Heavenly Venerables and tell them that by this art they may reach the far side of the Ancestral Court. On the far side of the Ancestral Court lie countless treasures! " Nian Sihua was startled and said hurriedly, "Master, if the far side of the Ancestral Court holds such vast wealth, why share it with others?

The other Heavenly Venerables are tigers and wolves, every one of them; whatever profit there is, they long to swallow whole. When have they ever shared with us? " Heavenly Venerable Gong said mildly, "What they cannot swallow whole, they will share with us.

When they seized the Heavenly Court in those years, was it not because they feared they could not swallow it alone that they each sought allies, sought out me, and invited me into the Heavenly Alliance? Ask no more. Go quickly.

" Nian Sihua's eyes rolled as she said, "Heavenly Venerable Mu is a Heavenly Venerable too.

Should he be told?

" Heavenly Venerable Gong shook her head. "There is no need.

" Nian Sihua rejoiced inwardly and laughed.

"If the profits are to be split with Heavenly Venerable Mu, they must be divided eleven ways. With him left out, there will be all the more for the rest of us. " "Then you are mistaken.

Heavenly Venerable Mu must have his share.

" Heavenly Venerable Gong shook her head and said, "He holds a share of the near side of the Ancestral Court, and the art of reverse summoning was his creation; naturally he must have a share as well. Though the Ten Heavenly Venerables are of one breath and one branch, they also check and hinder one another. This catfish, Heavenly Venerable Mu, must be let in to smooth the waters a little. " Nian Sihua was greatly bewildered. Heavenly Venerable Gong said mildly, "He is the leader of the Heavenly Alliance. There are many matters that require him, that must be done in his name.

In the Heavenly Alliance there are certain dark affairs for which someone must be made to carry the blame.

And your master has no allies; she needs an ally within the Heavenly Alliance. To draw Heavenly Venerable Mu into the Heavenly Alliance, to make him the eleventh of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, and to use him to restrain Heavenly Venerable Hao and the others, is not my thought alone; it is the thought of the other Heavenly Venerables as well.

" Nian Sihua shivered, not daring to fathom the Heavenly Venerable's thoughts.

Though she was an existence of the Imperial Throne realm, to her the Ten Heavenly Venerables were each like a dark abyss, unfathomable. "Kaihuang cannot be drawn into the ranks of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, but Heavenly Venerable Mu should be. " Heavenly Venerable Gong said, unhurried, "Kaihuang's temperament seems mild, honest and yielding, with little temper in him, but his Dao heart is too steady; once he has settled upon a thing, it is quite impossible to make him change his mind. Heavenly Venerable Mu is different.

Heavenly Venerable Mu is more changeable, and may yet be changed.

Go. " Nian Sihua bowed and departed. Heavenly Venerable Gong looked toward the Taishu Ore Vein, her gaze flickering, then murmured, "Moreover, my identity as a Creator Divine King has always been a hidden peril.

With that identity, it is hard to find allies.

Heavenly Venerable Mu cannot put me wholly at ease; he walks too close to the Ancient Gods. .

. " She turned her gaze away, toward the Ancestral Court.

This was the domain of the Creators, yet the Creators were no longer to be found.

The Creators had two foes: one was the Great Emperor, the other the Ancient Gods. Among the Ten Heavenly Venerables, Heavenly Venerable Huo was the most eager to root out the Ancient Gods, but that was only a pretext by which he purged dissenters and swelled his own strength.

She alone truly wished to exterminate the Ancient Gods.

The Ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Alliance were her support. On the far side of the Ancestral Court, Shen Mu searched the whole way along, and of a sudden raised his head: before him two lofty mountains stood like a heavenly gate, and that gate was the Southern Heavenly Gate. "Longxiao cannot be far now.

Since I have come this far, I may as well go into the Southern Heavenly Gate and have a look. " He looked up at this portal wrought naturally by heaven and earth.

This was the Ancestral Court's Southern Heavenly Gate, many times more towering and magnificent than the Heavenly Court's Southern Heavenly Gate. The two great mountains were wreathed in Dao fire; the Dao fire was built of dao patterns, and within every tongue of flame lay a different construction of great Dao veins.

"If the Dao Ancestor were here, it would likely take him no more than a few days to parse all this Dao fire, and to comprehend a great many runes from it.

" Shen Mu walked into the Ancestral Court's Southern Heavenly Gate.

The Dao fire touched his body, and it was most peculiar; it carried no heat at all when it met him, and did not even set alight his clothes or a single hair.

Shen Mu gave a cry of surprise and passed through the Southern Heavenly Gate.

Nothing happened at all. He stepped back again, studying the gate, musing in silence.

All at once his primordial spirit left its shell and strode toward the Ancestral Court's Southern Heavenly Gate. He would try passing through the Southern Heavenly Gate without borrowing his fleshly body, with his primordial spirit alone.

The instant his primordial spirit stepped into the Southern Heavenly Gate, a thunderous roar broke at his ear, booming and shaking like a great ceremonial bell. Immediately at his primordial spirit's ear came a Dao sound of incomparable magnitude, so vast that he seemed to have entered the very gate of the Dao, and it struck his Dao heart with a force beyond compare.

"No wonder none in the ancient age could discover the secret of the Four Great Heavenly Gates; in that age the Creators had no primordial spirit at all! " Enlightenment dawned upon him, and in that moment he felt the might of the Southern Heavenly Gate's Dao fire. The Dao fire invaded his primordial spirit, scorching it from every direction, penetrating even into his consciousness, into his vital essence, into the great Dao runes he had forged.

This was a tempering: there was the peril that his primordial spirit might be burned to ash by the Dao fire, but he would also gain the tempering of the Southern Heavenly Gate and advance another step. He let the Dao fire scorch him and walked on, the wondrous Dao sound at his ear.

Shen Mu slowed his steps and let the Dao fire temper him.

Unawares, many feelings and insights came to him, and as he went deeper, the marvelous sensations the Dao sound brought him grew ever more numerous. But the deeper he went, the greater the Dao fire's might, until it dimly began to threaten his primordial spirit's safety.

Of course, Dao fire of such power could no longer harm him, yet it gave Shen Mu a feeling that his foundation was unsteady.

That unsteadiness of foundation came precisely from the realm of the Southern Heavenly Gate within the Heavenly Palace system.

The Southern Heavenly Gate realm was also called the True God: it was when a divine arts practitioner who had come before the Heavenly Palace's Southern Heavenly Gate walked into that gate, passed through that portal, and by the grinding tempering of the great Dao laws of the Southern Heavenly Gate raised both his primordial spirit and his fleshly body to the level of the True God.