Chapter 1476 — What Lies Beneath the Feet of Heaven

The Heavenly Duke and the Heavenly Dao were not omnipotent, nor did they permeate every crevice. In this world there were places the radiance of Xuandu could not reach, and places the Heavenly Dao could not touch.

The place the Heavenly Duke could not illuminate was beneath his own feet.

Within Xuandu he was a four-faced god, much like Shen Mu's sphere of divine treasury; no matter from which direction one attacked him, one was only ever striking his front.

To attack him was to attack the Heavenly Dao, and one would suffer the Heavenly Duke's most ferocious retaliation!

Xuandu was the Heavenly Duke's birthplace, and there his strength would rise to its absolute peak; his power was in no way inferior to that of the Heavenly Emperor Taichu in the days of his zenith!

Even a Heavenly Venerable, facing such an onslaught, could not be certain of escaping injury, or even death.

Yet the Heavenly Duke could not illuminate the soles of his feet. Xuandu was the brightest of places, and the Heavenly Duke the most radiant of the ancient gods, but it was precisely for this reason that the darkest place in the world had come into being.

That place was the Tianyin Realm beneath his feet.

The Heavenly Dao likewise could not reach here, so that it had become a gathering ground for the black sand of souls. Here the Heavenly Dao did not exist, and the black sand of souls gathered and became corpse-ghosts that devoured all things, never to be sated.

The great Dao of Youdu could not reach here either. Tubo governed the wandering souls of the world, but before the black sand of souls even Tubo was powerless.

Lady Tianyin was the divinity born of this place.

Lady Tianyin looked upon the countless living beings she had awakened with her Dao in the Tianyin Realm, then looked again at the Ancestral Divine King. Her strength was simply not enough to contend with him.

To force a war with the Ancestral Divine King for the Heavenly Duke's sake would only see her slain by him, and even the living beings of the Tianyin Realm would be wiped out entirely!

Though she had walked out her own path and was no longer the simple, ignorant ancient god of old, yet, as Shen Mu had said, her Dao and divine arts were for creating life, not for killing, not for battle.

After a moment, Lady Tianyin drew back, guarding the living beings of the Tianyin Realm, and said, "When you make your move, Divine King, do not harm the innocent."

The Ancestral Divine King smiled faintly and took out the treasures of the Heavenly Dao he had forged from the divine metals and divine materials of the Ancestral Court, assembling them into a supreme treasure of the Heavenly Dao. "Rest assured, my lady," he said. "Heaven has a virtue for cherishing life, and I am not a cruel, bloodthirsty man. I will not let the life of your Tianyin Realm be utterly extinguished. However, when my divine arts erupt, I cannot guarantee they will not affect the Tianyin Realm. You need only do your utmost to protect them. And if the living beings of the Tianyin Realm truly do perish, then you may simply create another world and evolve all living things anew."

Lady Tianyin raised her brows, but suppressed her anger and did not turn on him.

The Ancestral Divine King lifted his head and gazed at the soles of the Heavenly Duke's feet. "No one knows a father like his son," he said with a smile. "The Heavenly Duke is my father, my greatest father-god. But he is too bright and too sublime; he believes good and evil are simply the ways by which this world operates, and need no interference. He will not think of the demigods, nor will he think of his own sons and daughters. The life and death of his children, the glory of his children — none of it has anything to do with him. And yet he is far too hypocritical."

He gave a cold laugh and said indifferently, "The Heavenly Dao is truly selfless, but the Heavenly Dao gave birth to him, and once he had his own consciousness, it was impossible for him to be selfless. If the Heavenly Duke were truly selfless, why then did he give birth to me?"

The mockery on his face deepened. As if speaking to Lady Tianyin, and as if speaking to himself, he said slowly, "He also lusts after beauty, he also lusts after power, he has his own desires. In ordinary times, the Heavenly Dao suppressed his desires and let him maintain his bright and sublime image, but the Heavenly Dao always has its flaws."

He sneered, "In the battle to exterminate the Creator race, he found this flaw, and so he split his soul and reincarnated, and thus I came to be. In that battle, the Heavenly Emperor Taichu seized his weakness and forced him to submit to the Heavenly Emperor. Heh heh, I saw it all. I know the desires in my father-god's heart better than anyone else, because I am the son born of his desires."

He spoke words that made even Lady Tianyin deeply shudder: "When he became one of us Ten Heavenly Venerables and thought he could deceive all under heaven, I alone recognized him. How could I not recognize him? I am the child born of his desires! I watched him become Heavenly Venerable Hong, still so transcendent, so calm and composed. But when he took control of the Heavenly Emperor Taichu's fleshly body, I could feel his ambition and desire swelling, growing greater and greater."

He stared at the soles of the Heavenly Duke's feet and gazed up at all within Xuandu, where Heavenly Venerable Hong was hurrying toward Xuandu to kill the Heavenly Duke.

"I have always been waiting for an opportunity, Father-God."

The Ancestral Divine King laughed aloud, yet there was little joy in the laughter, only coldness: "The opportunity I have been waiting for is for you to reveal your true flaw yourself. That flaw could only be exposed by you alone!"

"All this time, I have been the most reckless of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, more reckless than even Heavenly Venerable Fire, more crude, more guileless. You know I was pretending, but you thought I was pretending for the other Heavenly Venerables to see. What you did not know is that I act as I please — why would I need to pretend for them?"

"I was pretending for you to see!"

"I waited for the moment you would expose your own fatal weakness. I waited far too long for this opportunity, and pretended for far too long! Now, I have finally waited until this moment!"

…

Xuandu.

The Heavenly Court's great army advanced steadily. Though Heavenly Venerable Hong, Langxuan Divine Emperor, Heavenly Consort Qiang, Shi Qiluo, Heavenly Venerable Fire, and the others were constantly harassed by Heavenly Venerable Moon, Heavenly Venerable You, and Divine King Langwan, these three did not dare confront them head-on at all, and generally struck once and fled without lingering, thus causing them no great trouble.

It was Heavenly Consort Qiang, however, who gave the Heavenly Venerables a great headache.

On the God-Slaying Platform, the power of the two Bloodbane God-Slaying Sabers grew ever stronger, devouring heavenly baleful qi and sweeping away all baleful qi in Xuandu, putting the Heavenly Venerables secretly on their guard.

Heavenly Consort Qiang's identity as the Great Emperor was practically an open secret among the Ten Heavenly Venerables, thanks in no small part to Shen Mu's meddling. Though Shen Mu had never openly proclaimed that Heavenly Consort Qiang was the Great Emperor, because of Shen Mu, Heavenly Consort Qiang and the Great Emperor had repeatedly suffered grievous wounds, and each time Heavenly Consort Qiang was wounded together with the Great Emperor.

Though the Ten Heavenly Venerables were allies, they also checked and watched one another, planting their own spies at each other's sides, even sending disciples to infiltrate another's command and become that other's disciple. They truly stopped at nothing.