Chapter 1482 — The Journey Is Long — Where Does It End?

Shen Mu looked at the Lord of Heaven's primal spirit within the Nine Nether Great Prison, and hope still showed in his eyes. He earnestly hoped the Lord of Heaven could walk out of the Nine Nether Great Prison, proving that his insight into the Heavenly Dao ran so deep that not even the Nine Nether Great Prison could lock away his heart of the Dao! Only then would the Lord of Heaven be a Lord of Heaven who possessed the heart of Heaven, and not a Heavenly Venerable Hong ruled by desire!

Only then would he exert all his strength, and guard the Lord of Heaven's life even at the cost of his own!

Yet in the ninth tier of the prison, the Lord of Heaven's primal spirit never did as he wished; it never walked out of the Nine Nether Great Prison.

The heart of the Dao was not so easy to cultivate as the world imagined; to cultivate it to completion, one needed not only mighty dharma power and perception of the great Dao of heaven and earth, but also tempering in the red dust of the mortal world.

The Lord of Heaven dwelt in Xuandu, too high and too far, and he himself resisted the Heavenly Dao; thus his heart of the Dao was not so strong as Shen Mu had imagined. Yet the Lord of Heaven was still suppressing the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao, and had not let it attack Shen Mu, and this raised a thread of hope in Shen Mu once more.

However, as the stabbing pain of the Nine Nether Great Prison grew deeper and sharper, the Lord of Heaven's resistance to the Heavenly Dao's consciousness grew ever more difficult. Tian Shu, Zai Fu, Luo Wushuang and Zhe Huali gripped their blade hilts with all their strength, staring at the surroundings, sweat and blood running down together from their brows.

They no longer urged Shen Mu on, for once Shen Mu made up his mind, he seldom changed it.

They were Shen Mu's friends, his kin; they understood everything he did.

Suddenly Shen Mu dispersed the Nine Nether Great Prison, and the pressure of the Heavenly Dao around them dispersed with it. The four felt their bodies go limp and nearly sank to their knees. In the end Shen Mu had changed his course, had compromised; he had not held out to the bitter end.

"He fears for our lives.

" Zai Fu leaned on his heavenly blade to keep from falling, and thought: "If Shen-er were here alone, he would likely stake his own life on the gamble of whether the Lord of Heaven would walk out of the Nine Nether Great Prison.

But with us at his side, he dares not gamble; in his heart, our lives matter as much as the Lord of Heaven's.

" Shen Mu closed his eyes and did not look at the Lord of Heaven's primal spirit as it came toward him.

The primal spirit came to his side, still wearing the guise of that white-bearded old man who had once been chased all over the Shenzi Continent by Shen Fengqing, kindly of brow and gentle of eye, and it smiled and said: "Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, the obsession in your heart runs too deep. " Shen Mu's eyes flew open, and a smile appeared on his face. He took out paper and brush, spread them on the ground, bent low, and with flying strokes quickly drew a scroll of the Nine Nether Great Prison upon the paper; then he rolled it up in haste and handed it to the Lord of Heaven. The Lord of Heaven was briefly startled, then took the painted scroll.

"Brother of the Dao, do not open it now.

Open it after I have gone. " Shen Mu smiled: "That way, even if the Heavenly Dao wishes to attack me, it will have no way to reach me. " The primal spirit asked: "What will happen when I open this scroll?

" "As before.

" Shen Mu concealed nothing: "You will be locked by the Nine Nether Great Prison, fall into it, and feel the piercing pain of the heart of the Dao. " The primal spirit asked: "And if I do not open this scroll, but destroy it instead?

" "Then I will leave Xuandu and no longer hinder your seeking of death.

" Shen Mu said gravely: "I will also persuade Lunar Heavenly Venerable, Nether Heavenly Venerable, Divine King Lang Wan, and Kaihuang, who will soon arrive, to leave with me and let you have your wish!

" The primal spirit asked again: "If I open this scroll, will you do all in your power to stop me from seeking death, to keep me from freeing myself of the Heavenly Dao's bonds?

" Shen Mu shook his head: "I will do all in my power to stop the ten Heavenly Venerables, but I will not stop you from seeking death; there is a difference between the two.

If you open this scroll, you are still my Brother of the Dao.

I will help you with all that I have!

" The primal spirit pondered a moment, accepted the scroll, and said: "Let me consider it.

" Shen Mu's Divine Treasury domain unfolded, sweeping up Zai Fu, Tian Shu and the others, and he flew off.

The primal spirit watched them recede into the distance, then let his gaze fall upon the rolled scroll. After a while he set it aside and did not open it, yet from time to time his eyes drifted toward it.

Outside, the will of the Heavenly Dao was controlling his body in a bloody struggle against Heavenly Venerable Hong and the others, while Lunar Heavenly Venerable, Lang Wan and Nether Heavenly Venerable fought desperately to hold them back. The two sides battled until heaven and earth were torn asunder; only here was there any stillness left.

He stood there in silence, a mass of heavenly-fire crystal floating above his palm. The crystal grew of itself without cease, turning and turning, its facets mirroring his face from every angle.

A flick of his finger would have burned that scroll to ash and extinguished Shen Mu's divine ability, yet he never made the decision.

Bearing Zai Fu and the rest, Shen Mu flew out of the Lord of Heaven's body; then he halted, and a divine ark of the Other Shore appeared beneath his feet, carrying them plunging through layer upon layer of the void, far from the battlefield.

After a long while, the divine ark of the Other Shore sailed out of the void and dispersed. Shen Mu sat amid the emptiness, watching from afar the battle between the Lord of Heaven and Heavenly Venerable Hong's party, saying nothing.

When the time of one incense stick had passed, he rose to his feet as though nothing weighed on his mind, took out various medicinal ingredients, refined spirit pills, and treated the wounds of Zai Fu, Tian Shu and the others, drawing out the wounds the Heavenly Dao had left in them. The four exchanged a glance and said nothing.

Shen Mu treated their wounds once over, then examined them carefully again, and only stopped when he was certain that no hidden injury remained. At last Zhe Huali could not hold back, and asked: "The Lord of Heaven did not open your painting?

" Shen Mu shook his head and said indifferently: "No.

" Luo Wushuang said suddenly: "The Lord of Heaven will never open that painting now. If you help him, you only keep him from escaping the Heavenly Dao's grip!

It was to escape that grip that he set up this whole scheme; why should he break his own scheme?

" Tian Shu nodded: "One Hand speaks the truth.

A being like the Lord of Heaven stands too near to heaven and too far from earth; he has no such feelings as ours. Call Lunar Heavenly Venerable, Nether Heavenly Venerable and the rest; we should go.

There is no need for us to fight to the death for the Lord of Heaven, especially when he does not welcome it.

" Shen Mu hesitated.

Zai Fu said: "Perhaps we wait a while longer?

" A smile came to Shen Mu's face: "Then we wait a while longer.

" The five sat quietly, regulating their breath, and waited in silence. Shen Mu was still watching the battlefield when the corner of his eye suddenly twitched: he saw Nether Heavenly Venerable, Lang Wan and Lunar Heavenly Venerable wounded one after another.

He sighed, rose, and said: "No need to wait. Let us go and tell them to withdraw from Xuandu. " Zai Fu and the others rose in silence as well and followed him toward the battlefield.