Chapter 1428 — Yao Pool Reappears

"Langxuan's talent is extremely high, no less than my own, yet he is no fellow seeker of my Dao.

Sooner or later he and I must meet with blades. " Shen Mu stood upon the Yao Terrace, gazing far across the Yao Sea, thinking silently to himself: "The aptitudes of the Ten Tianzuns are none of them poor, their present attainments are no fluke.

If only such brilliance could be turned to the righteous path, how fine that would be. " In his heart, whether Langxuan or Haotian Tianzun, both had rendered merit in those early years, and the Longhan Revolution had been led by them above all, it was they who ended the rule of the ancient gods.

Yet after overthrowing the ancient gods, they chose to become ancient gods themselves.

High above all, they strained every nerve to preserve their dominion, and every hope of change was erased by their hands.

To hold their thrones they would do anything, even if children must slay father and mother, even if kin must slaughter kin, even if every evil under heaven must be done! That they have not destroyed Jingping is not from pity, but for the sake of their rule!

This is their irreconcilable contradiction with Jingping, a contradiction that must one day erupt!

Shen Mu cast aside distracting thoughts and surveyed the Yao Terrace and the Yao Pool.

The primeval Yao Pool and the Heavenly Court Yao Pool were broadly alike in layout, differing only in small details, for since the Heavenly Court Yao Pool was the residence of Her Majesty the Empress, its arrangement had been subtly altered.

Though the primeval Yao Pool still kept its original pattern, its Hongmeng Yuan Liquid was gone, and that liquid was the greatest treasure of the primeval Yao Pool. Now Langxuan Divine Emperor had laid throughout the primeval Yao Pool all manner of formations to draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, borrowing this precious land to refine Hongmeng Yuan Liquid.

By now a fair amount had gathered, filling a small pond some ten-odd zhang across. That was already much, yet beside the Yao Pool of the primeval age, this little was but a drop in the ocean.

The primeval Yao Pool sprawled vast and wide, everywhere exposing the seabed, and the seabed lay parched, with the ridges of the seafloor jutting out in places. Shen Mu frowned, spirit-gathering formations set by Langxuan Divine Emperor covered the ground, so that the original landform could scarcely be discerned.

"If the Yao Pool can serve as a realm, it must hold some wonder, like the Four Heavenly Gates, like the Nine Prison Terrace.

Then where exactly does that wonder lie? " He rose from the Yao Terrace into the air, skimming above the dried seabed, looking about on all sides.

After a long while Shen Mu wheeled back, flying toward the Yao Terrace with doubt on his face. He had found no marvel of the Dao in the Yao Pool.

Yet the Yao Pool realm within the Heavenly Palace system truly existed, which proved the Yao Pool must harbor some wondrous great Dao of heaven and earth, that Earth Mother Yuanjun could become a spirit root of heaven and earth must rely on the working of the Yao Pool, and likely not merely because she had been watered with Hongmeng Yuan Liquid.

Suddenly Shen Mu started slightly and halted in midair, his robes fluttering. His gaze fell upon the Yao Terrace.

The primeval Yao Terrace was almost identical in form to the Heavenly Court Yao Terrace, plainly the latter had been built to the measure of the former.

But the primeval Yao Terrace was naturally formed, the whole terrace one mass of fine jade, and jade at its fairest is yao, this natural jade terrace yet had steps and railings and a broad platform from which one could gaze upon the Yao Pool and descend to the Yao Sea.

Shen Mu counted, the jade stair of the Yao Terrace ran eight hundred steps, with a landing every hundred steps, and climbing step by step one could reach these jade terraces.

Strange, though, was that the seaward face of these terraces was sheer, a wall of jade, and beneath the jade wall curious veins joined the mountain ranges upon the seabed, and those ranges were themselves range upon range of jade mountains. The ranges ran straight to the heart of the seafloor, eight ranges joining eight tiers of jade terrace, and beneath the sea the eight jade ranges joined as one. Fronting the sea, each tier of jade terrace covered a great expanse, even the topmost stretching several hundred li.

This must have been where the primeval creators offered sacrifice to the sea, the creators of the primeval age were towering in frame, and here a tribe of hundreds of thousands of creators could be contained!

Shen Mu glanced at the place in the midst of the Yao Sea where the eight jade ranges met, then at the Yao Terrace, a puzzled look crossing his face.

"Terrace and sea should be one body. In the primeval age some natural great Dao must have emerged here, turning this place into a natural holy land, which is why the creators worshipped here. What upheaval could have scattered the great Dao of pool and sea? " He examined it closely, then started again.

He saw that all eight jade ranges were broken!

Shen Mu flew over, and saw the breaks all lay at the same point. The eight ranges were like dragons, tails in the heart of the Yao Sea and heads beneath the Yao Terrace, with branching spurs like limbs, each leg bearing five dragon claws.

And the severance lay at the waist of the dragon veins, cut clean through at the middle, the fracture smooth.

Besides the breaks, gods under Langxuan Divine Emperor were quarrying the jade mountains, gathering fine jade.

Shen Mu stared, torn between laughter and tears. Instead of thinking how to mend the jade mountains, the gods under Langxuan Divine Emperor were thinking to exploit the breaks to mine the jade!

He flew over and saw the fracture faces smooth, yet eerily the force that sundered the jade mountains had not come from without but from beneath the earth, as if some power within the jade mountains had erupted and snapped them apart!

The gods mining the ore saw him and hastily stopped, all staring toward him. These gods were ragged, wearing fetters with chains, plainly criminals who for grave offenses had been degraded to mine slaves. "It is Mu Tianzun!

" An overseer recognized Shen Mu, his face turning ashen, inwardly wailing: "Misery!

How has this devil come here?

Last time he came to the Langxuan Divine Palace he conjured a Yuan wood and smashed the palace flat, stripping it clean!

He nearly slew all the disciples of the Divine Emperor in the palace, and even scared off Chang Xiting, an existence of the Imperial Throne realm! Can he have come this time to tear down the Yao Pool of the Ancestral Court?

" "How could the Yao Pool withstand his ravages?

Then again, why has the Divine Emperor's supreme treasure not blasted this fellow to death?

" They trembled, ashen-faced, daring neither to strike at Shen Mu, and when one sought to slip away to carry word, Shen Mu's gaze swept past him almost idly, and the man collapsed to the ground, not daring to move.

Shen Mu beckoned, and the overseers looked as if bereaved, yet dared not come forward.

Shen Mu's face darkened, and he beckoned again. The overseers moved as if mounting the god-execution platform for beheading, dragging their steps toward him with difficulty.

Shen Mu softened his expression, striving for kindness, smiling as he said: "How much jade ore have you mined?

Bring it all out. .

.

" Thump, thump. Suddenly the overseers knelt in a mass, and one cried: "Mu Tianzun, we do not fear death! But we have aged parents above and young children below, spare our lives, we beg! Quick, quick!

Carry all the jade ore out for the Tianzun!

Tianzun, take the divine ore and go swiftly, and we shall at once roll up our bundles and flee for our lives! " Shen Mu stared, both startled and amused, saying: "Lay this jade ore down and join these mountain ranges together again.