Chapter 1399 — The Nine Hells Terrace

Shen Mu's eyes went wide. He looked at the dragon qilin's "dry father" upon the throne, and at Long Xiao's "adopted son" below it, and a feeling of absurd, grotesque unreality rose in his heart. He had still been worrying whether the dragon qilin had been devoured by that colossal beast — never imagining that Long Xiao had caught it and taken it as an adopted son!

And from the look of things, the dragon qilin was doing rather well for itself at Long Xiao's side. Then came a humming sound.

Shen Mu spread out his Divine Treasure domain and urged on the Dao of the Great Beginning, and the chains around his neck slipped off of their own accord.

Long Xiao's head snapped up, his eighteen eyes fixed dead on Shen Mu. "You can defy the rules of this place and use divine abilities?

" he cried in astonishment. Shen Mu flexed his body and looked around.

"This place forms a natural shackle of the great Dao, one that locks down cultivation. The Dao cultivation I can bring to bear is not much — only four kinds. " Long Xiao was startled and uncertain.

After a moment he burst out laughing. "Remarkable! Truly remarkable! No wonder you are honored as Heavenly Venerable Mu.

I had thought you were a fraud, a placeholder among the Heavenly Venerables — but it seems you do have some skill! " He rose and stepped down from the throne, crossing the distance to Shen Mu in a few strides. His long body circled Shen Mu several times. Seven of the nine necks of his nine heads had been severed; though the dragon qilin had healed him, he was still far from recovered.

He looked Shen Mu up and down as though appraising livestock, and praised him: "Truly remarkable. Your cultivation is not high, but these abilities of yours are truly out of the common run. " He returned to the throne.

The throne must have been refined from the thorn-mountain of this place, like a thicket of brambles, yet it could not harm him in the least. Shen Mu glanced at the dragon qilin and smiled.

"Long Xiao, your adopted son is quite a curiosity — half dragon, half qilin. " The dragon qilin shouted, "Mount Mu the Heavenly Venerable, you had best know this: my surname is Long, my name is Pi!

You may call me Young Master Pi! When I was fleeing, I used a divine ability, and several good brothers who were also fleeing saw it and, without a word, seized me in their jaws and ran. Later my adoptive father arrived, and finding me clever and of surpassing wit, took me as his adopted son. " Shen Mu blinked, and at once understood. In the battle in which he, Wei Suifeng, and Prince Youming had slain the Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign, the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Banner had covered so vast a range that the dragon qilin and the colossal beasts nearby had all fled to avoid being caught up in it.

The dragon qilin must have been trying to use its reverse-summoning divine ability to summon itself back to Great Black Mountain in the Ancestral Court, only to be discovered by the other fleeing colossal beasts.

Those beasts took the dragon qilin for one of their own, and seeing that he did not run fast enough, they carried him in their jaws as they fled for their lives. Unable to use the reverse-summoning ability, the dragon qilin waited until they had fled to a safe distance — and then ran into Long Xiao, who was also in flight. Long Xiao swept them up and fled all the way here, hiding himself away.

The dragon qilin's medical skill was a mess, but compared to the colossal beasts it was far, far better, and so he ingratiated himself by treating Long Xiao's wounds. Long Xiao must have taken quite a liking to him, and seeing him clever and capable, took him as an adopted son. Long Xiao laughed.

"Heavenly Venerable Mu, do you know what this place is? It is called Mount Qi.

In the old days the Creators called it the Heavenly Prison, the Terrace of Nine Hells! In ancient times, Creators and ancient gods who had committed monstrous crimes were usually thrown in here.

In this place, to say nothing of you — even an ancient god becomes a mortal.

Every step stabs through the whole body with pain; you wail and howl, and in the end you are twisted beyond all recognition and die a death too horrible to behold! " "Mount Qi. The Heavenly Prison? " Shen Mu was taken aback.

He looked around and murmured, "There is a Heavenly Prison in the Heavenly Court too, but it is not so dreadful. . . If the Heavenly Prison corresponds to a realm as well, then which of the seven realms of the Heavenly Palace does it correspond to. . . " Long Xiao shot him a glance.

"This is still only the outer edge of the Heavenly Prison, the first terrace of the Nine Hells Terrace.

If you reached the ninth hell, then never mind your being unable to use divine abilities — even if the so-called Ten Heavenly Venerables came, they would have only one road: death! The bones of ancient gods there number at least several dozen! Submit to me, be my mount, and you will have boundless glory on the far side of the Ancestral Court. Refuse me, and I will throw you into the ninth hell and let you taste a life worse than death!

" Shen Mu laughed heartily. "Long Xiao, you are already at death's door, and still you dream your pipe dreams. " He recounted Wei Suifeng's analysis word for word, then said mildly, "You have only one way to live now: join hands with me. Otherwise, when the Ten Heavenly Venerables descend, you will die beyond any doubt! " Long Xiao snorted coldly. "I will throw in my lot with one of the Heavenly Venerables and live free and easy. What danger to my life is there?

" "If you side with one Heavenly Venerable, the other nine will feel greatly threatened. To preserve the balance of power among the Heavenly Venerables, you will inevitably be killed.

" Shen Mu smiled faintly. "Long Xiao, I have invited you twice. I will not invite you a third time.

" Long Xiao raised a dragon claw and tapped lightly on the throne. His nine faces shifted between light and gloom as he kept sizing Shen Mu up.

Suddenly one dragon head shouted, "You must have a way to deal with my present peril — that is why you came to me so confidently! If you do not speak your method, I will throw you into the ninth hell! " Shen Mu smiled slightly, looked around, and laughed.

"No need for you to throw me. I will go in myself.

" Long Xiao's eyes went wide. Shen Mu walked straight past him, heading deeper into the Heavenly Prison. The second terrace of the Heavenly Prison lay behind Long Xiao's throne, a sheer cliff. Shen Mu leaped and dropped into it. He had very much wanted to see whether this Nine Hells Terrace could serve as a realm within the Heavenly Palace, and now was the perfect chance to test it.

Long Xiao hurried to the edge of the cliff and peered down. He sneered, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, if you cannot bear it, just squeak, and I will pull you out myself.

Though even I dare not enter the ninth hell.

If you can jump in and come out alive, I will make alliance with you. " The dragon qilin came to the cliff, craning his neck this way and that, and cried, "How can my adoptive father ally with a pet?

" Long Xiao glanced at him and spat. "You are sworn brothers with him — do you think I do not know?

Spare me the act. " The dragon qilin shivered. Long Xiao laughed. "You are still too green, not half so crafty as Heavenly Venerable Mu.

The moment I came into contact with you, I swept through your eighteen generations of ancestors with my divine consciousness and saw it all clearly. The reason I took you as an adopted son, apart from admiring your shamelessness, was to get one over on Heavenly Venerable Mu — to be at least a generation above him!

And besides, I need you to open a line to Heavenly Venerable Mu, so that if I cannot make him my mount, I need not fall out with him. " The dragon qilin immediately turned meek and praised him from the heart: "Adoptive father is sagacious!

" "Naturally!