Chapter 1487 — The Firmament Is Vast, the Three Realms Small

Palace Heavenly Venerable raised her head; in the instant she lifted it, her hair had turned white, and a twenty-fourth wrinkle had appeared on her face.

Her mortal flesh had grown old.

By rights this was impossible. One who had cultivated to the divine realm held a lifespan coeval with Heaven; the bodies of gods remained forever at their peak, and beings possessed of boundless longevity could by no means age.

The lifespan of a god's body was infinite; no subtraction could ever exhaust it. Even if You Heavenly Venerable pared away her lifespan, it should not have been able to make her age.

And yet her body had aged, and nothing could hold it back.

This was the first time since the founding of the Heavenly Palace's cultivation system, the first time anyone had encountered a divine art capable of shearing away the lifespan of a god, or even of a Heavenly Venerable!

And that art had been created by none other than You Heavenly Venerable, who had opened up the divine treasury of life and death!

He had broken through the boundary between life and death, opened the gulf between the underworld and the world of the living, so that those who cultivated divine arts might possess endless lifespan upon reaching the divine realm; and now he had fathomed the Great Way of the You Capital to its utmost, gaining the power to strip away the lifespan of a god's body!

Palace Heavenly Venerable visualized with all her might, marshaling her divine consciousness, striving with every ounce of her strength to visualize the state of her body in her youth, to restore its functions.

In her previous life she had, after all, been a God King among the Creators; the Creators too could attain eternal life, and theirs did not rely upon the divine-treasury Heavenly Palace system, but upon visualizing one's own body, keeping it forever young!

She still had a chance: in the instant You Heavenly Venerable let down his guard, she could strike him by surprise and turn defeat into victory.

She had lived far too long; she had long since ceased to take a moment's honor or disgrace, a moment's victory or defeat, to heart. So long as she could win, any means was worth it.

Yet even as she visualized in secret, she found her body sliding inexorably toward a deeper abyss of age. Cold sweat broke out on Palace Heavenly Venerable's brow, and despair rose in her heart despite herself.

You Heavenly Venerable's primordial spirit lifted its palm and raised a single finger; the finger was like a spear, stabbing toward her heart.

The Benevolent Sage King Tianqi of the You Capital had never been a man to spare the fair; the heavens he had destroyed in his hands were beyond counting, and Tu Bo's nine-bend, eighteen-curve horns were proof enough of his ruthlessness!

Palace Heavenly Venerable watched that descending finger and sighed silently. This time, most likely, there was no escape from the calamity.

Just then she suddenly felt the decay of her body's functions halt abruptly; more than that, her body began to regain vigorous vitality, its functions rising in a straight line!

Lying flat in the starry sky awaiting death, Palace Heavenly Venerable at once stirred her vital essence and shot sideways at flying speed, dodging You Heavenly Venerable's blow.

You Heavenly Venerable's primordial spirit stabbed at empty air, and suddenly he felt himself locked on, an ominous feeling, as though the Great Way of the You Capital had met its nemesis, filling him with extreme discomfort.

You Heavenly Venerable's primordial spirit withdrew its finger, and in the brief instant while the twenty-fifth stratum of the Dao realm burst forth, he shook off that lock, straightened his waist, and turned to face the one who had locked onto him.

The youth You Heavenly Venerable's eyelid twitched: he saw Yan Heavenly Consort, and behind her two ancient gods.

The two ancient gods, one male and one female, had human heads and human bodies with serpent tails; they walked side by side, their serpent tails swimming through the starry sky, and behind their heads stood a great Taiji sand table.

What brought him such a sense of threat was not Yan Heavenly Consort, but these two ancient gods of handsome features and strange bearing!

On the other side, Palace Heavenly Venerable steadied herself and felt her body's functions recovering at flying speed, so that she was soon full of power again, her flesh grown more nimble.

"You, worthy indeed of the Nine Heavenly Venerables of the Longhan era. Compared with the Heavenly Venerables of today, you truly are talents of a peerless age."

Yan Heavenly Consort shifted her steps, separating from the two ancient gods, forming with Palace Heavenly Venerable a triangle that trapped You Heavenly Venerable in the center. She praised him: "My late husband's eye was keen and seasoned; he saw early that you nine were no ordinary beings, and enfeoffed you as Heavenly Venerables. As for us, the Ten Heavenly Venerables who came after, we all seem a notch inferior to you."

Palace Heavenly Venerable wiped the blood from her lips, her voice still somewhat hoarse: "How rich in talent were the early years of Longhan! Every one of the Nine Heavenly Venerables of Longhan was a figure seen but once in ten thousand ages, and yet they all emerged in a single era. So much so that for a million years thereafter, no age ever again produced so many geniuses at once."

You Heavenly Venerable looked at them silently, put on the mask that wept within its smile, and said not a word.

The two Taiji ancient gods regarded this youth Heavenly Venerable with appreciation, and could not help saying: "A man of your excellence should be able to see that you have no chance of victory left. It is not too late for you to leave now. We have entered the world to temper our Dao-hearts, and we do not wish to kill a brilliant star of this mortal dust. If you are willing to go, we will open a road for you."

Yan Heavenly Consort frowned, but said nothing.

Lady Taiyin said: "You command the Great Way of the You Capital, and you are still climbing the Dao realm; you have not yet reached the end of your potential. But even if you reached the end of your potential, you would not be a match for the two of us. Our Dao happens to counter yours. Go now, while there is still time; do not persist in your folly."

The Sun Ancient God said: "We were born when Heaven and Earth were first divided, and only now have we come into the world, precisely so that we might, like you, temper ourselves in the mortal dust and seek the Way of transcendence. Since our emergence we have not stained our hands with blood. As fellow seekers on this road, we do not wish to stain ourselves with your blood."

Beneath the mask, You Heavenly Venerable blinked his dark, deep eyes, watching them calmly; suddenly his eyes curved, and the face beneath the mask must have been smiling.

"I promised a friend I would guard this place. So this place is a thunder pool."

His primordial spirit gathered qi into a wall; with a wave of his hand, a rampart spanning all of Xuandu appeared, like a bulwark of Heaven, barring the way of the three.

You Heavenly Venerable lifted his chin, looking rather proud: "If you would cross the thunder pool, then walk over my corpse!"

Having said this, he no longer wished to speak with them.

Yan Heavenly Consort's gaze fell upon the two Taiji ancient gods, and she said softly: "Brothers in the Dao, now you have nothing more to say?"

The two ancient gods sighed in unison; a tear slid from the corner of each of their eyes, and they said as one voice: "It must be so, then."

The Taiji ancient gods, Palace Heavenly Venerable, and Yan Heavenly Consort struck almost at the same instant; four auras shook Heaven and Earth, convulsing all of Xuandu, as they attacked You Heavenly Venerable together!