Chapter 1467 — War Beacons Rise Within the Heavenly Capital

Zhe Huali and Tian Shu also came over to ask about the wonders of the Jade Pool, and Shen Mu recounted to them what he had gained during this time; the crowd was filled with envy.

"My time was short, so I did not map out the Four Great Heavenly Gates, the Jade Pool and Jade Terrace, or the Nine Hells Terrace — but Xushenghua, Lanyutian, and the others are working on these. " Shen Mu thought for a moment, then said, "Even for them, it will take ten to twenty years to map out all the Heavenly Gates, Jade Pools and Jade Terraces, Nine Hells Terraces, and God-Slaying Terraces.

But once they are mapped out, the Heavenly Palace cultivation system will undergo tremendous change! " Tian Shu said gravely, "Tremendous change? It is nothing short of an earth-shaking transformation!

The Dao Realm and the Heavenly Palace realms merged into one — this is truly, truly. .

.

" He could not find an adjective for it. Zaifu said, "When the Dao Realm is joined with the Heavenly Palace, it is equivalent to possessing Kaihuang's cultivation while also possessing the power of Lord Hao.

" Shen Mu mused, "It should be even stronger than that. After all, there is an additional Nine Hells Terrace realm, and the Ancestral Court Jade Capital — that realm is said to be incomparably perilous; back then even the Heavenly Emperor Taichu and the Great Emperor barely escaped with their lives. I expect the true Jade Capital will bring considerable changes to the original Jade Capital realm as well. " Luo Wushuang was greatly shaken.

"You mean to say that once the Dao Realm and the Heavenly Palace cultivation systems are fused in the future, it will be far stronger than Kaihuang plus Lord Hao combined? " Shen Mu said with feeling, "Far stronger?

It would not be much inferior even to me! Of course, it would still be a notch below — but even so, it would be utterly extraordinary.

" The others did not take in the latter half of his sentence at all; hearing only the first half, the shock in their hearts was beyond compare.

"By then, will it be the final cultivation system?

" Zhe Huali murmured, "A cultivation system so perfect it cannot be improved upon — that is both a good thing and a bad thing. .

.

I fear there will no longer be reformers like us in the future. " "Where is there any ultimate cultivation system? " Shen Mu shook his head.

"Has the realm of the Five Primal Ultimates been developed? Has the cultivation system of the Postnatal Great Dao been developed? After attaining the Dao, is there still room for progress? How does one cultivate the Dao Tree, Dao Flower, and Dao Fruit?

All of these are unknown.

Moreover.

. .

" He said leisurely, "The people of the future will be different from us.

We are groping our way forward step by step, exploring the mysteries of the Dao; what we explore now may be mere foundational knowledge to the people of the future. They will continue to reform upon our foundations, and it may be that the cultivation systems of the future will be utterly different from those of today. " Zaifu nodded.

"Thirty years ago, I too could never have imagined the dramatic changes in today's cultivation systems. " The others nodded one after another. Thirty years ago, who could have imagined the Heavenly River realm?

Who could have imagined the union of the Seven Great God Treasures?

Who could have imagined the Dao Realm system? Who could have imagined the Four Heavenly Gates realm, the Nine Hells Terrace realm?

And now, all of them had surged forth one after another.

They, the reformers, saw further and walked further still; the future held the Five Primal Ultimates realm and the Dao Tree, Dao Flower, and Dao Fruit, waiting for them to discover and unearth.

There were also all manner of Postnatal Daos, requiring generation after generation to evolve and advance.

Aboard the ship, Zaifu sharpened the Heavenly Blade, Tian Shu stared at the wine jar in Zhe Huali's hand, Zhe Huali held the jar and fed wine to his demon blade, Dragon Fang, while Luo Wushuang paced the deck, each step he took measured with precise, blurred digits. Shen Mu stood at the bow steering the course, watching the Xuandu draw ever nearer.

Xuandu was like the firmament, appearing as a sphere clasped over the myriad heavens and worlds, but in truth it contained vast numbers of different world-spaces, interlaced and complex — it was not truly a sphere. From any world, one could look up and see Xuandu; with enough patience, strength, and lifespan, one could fly to Xuandu.

The Heavenly Lord of Xuandu could see into any world with his gaze, much like Shen Mu's God Treasure domain. The Heavenly Lord within Xuandu was like a four-faced god; his back could not be seen.

He had but one shadow — his feet, which were the Heavenly Yin.

The Heavenly Yin Sea of the Heavenly Yin Realm was also shaped as though trodden out by his feet. Several tens of days later, the swift ship arrived at Xuandu, and they saw the tower ships and great vessels of the Heavenly River Navy floating upon the surface of the Heavenly River, vast and mighty, stretching hundreds of thousands of li, boundless to the eye.

Among these ships were not only great vessels but small ones too — small, of course, only by the measure of Heavenly Court ships; placed in the mortal world, these small boats would themselves be colossal vessels.

Countless gods and demons stood upon the ships, or plunged into the Heavenly River to hunt the enemies within. The fighting beneath the water was extremely savage; from time to time, gurgling blood surfaced on the water — this was the star lords stationed at Xuandu leading rebel troops who had slipped into the Heavenly River, attempting to ambush the Heavenly River Navy from beneath the waves. Yet the Heavenly River Navy had many water gods and dragon gods among them — how could they let such a scheme succeed?

And at the front lines, enormous suns had been pushed forward by the rebel forces; upon each sun, towering divine cities floated on the solar surface, where Xuandu's Sun Guardians drove the great fires, waving banners and summoning solar flame to burn the Heavenly River Navy. Shen Mu and the others steered their small boat away from the Heavenly River, avoiding the battlefield, and saw that within Xuandu the flames of war reached the heavens; tens of thousands of Moon Guardians within Xuandu drove brilliant stars, hurling themselves ceaselessly into battle.

The Moon Guardians were mostly women; working in concert with the Sun Guardians, the moons drew light from the suns and, through transformation, converted it into beams of deathly radiance.

There were also star lords driving numerous stars, and among the encircling stars stood divine cities; star linked to star by starlight, marshaling the power of the myriad stars and slaying their way into battle. Beams of light burst forth between the myriad stars and the suns and moons, clashing savagely with the Heavenly River Navy.

The cannon-light bursting from the tower ships and great vessels of the Heavenly River Navy, and the tide-like surge of divine soldiers, collided with the suns, moons, and stars of Xuandu's rebels — a spectacle vast and magnificent, unforgettable to behold.

When Shen Mu and the others arrived within Xuandu, enormous star fragments swept past their boat — the ashes of shattered suns. These fragments were many, and the further they went, the more numerous they became.

Among the fragments floated the corpses of colossal gods and demons, drifting silently in the starry void. These were the corpses of fallen Sun Guardians.

The Sun Guardians, Moon Guardians, and star lords of Xuandu had originally been divine officials charged with the operation of the suns, moons, and stars across the myriad heavens and worlds; on the surface they obeyed the Heavenly Court's dispatch, but in truth they were adherents of Xuandu's Heavenly Lord.