Chapter 1639 — The Dao Ancestor and the Ancient Buddha

"If Jingping and the Land of No Sorrow could be moved there, we would escape the Heavenly Court; Youdu would not come, Xuandu would not descend, and our race would not be wiped out."

The Dao Ancestor said, "The Old Buddha and I charted the route there and hurried back, never thinking that war in Youdu had already broken out. Fortunately, Tianzun had not yet set out for the Heavenly Court."

"Hope — this is hope!"

Shen Mu paced to and fro. This was the human race's last retreat; the news the Dao Ancestor and the Old Buddha brought revived him, and his thoughts stirred to life again.

He pondered long, then stopped. "To move all of Jingping there — in the long run, that would be but another Land of No Sorrow, another Crimson Bright Suspended World. Losing the soil for the Reform, we would only sink into ourselves. That will not do."

In the Wendao Court, all eyes fell upon him, waiting quietly for his decision.

"But this is the only hope that remains!"

Shen Mu roused his spirits and smiled. "With a way of retreat, we can resist; we can fight our way to a better future! This retreat — keep it! Jingping cannot withdraw into the Chaotic Space now; it must stay in the Yuan World. But a part of Jingping's people can move there, as seed for the human race of later ages!"

The vertical eye at the center of his brow opened, and he looked into Youdu.

Youdu's division was deeper now than when they had left. Where his body stood, there was Youdu — and now Tubo was dead, and with the collapse of his flesh, Youdu too had split into countless pieces.

Yet the splitting was slowly ceasing, for Xu Tianzun was in Youdu, seizing and refining the Dao of Youdu, trying to halt the collapse.

Were Youdu to disintegrate entirely and cease to exist, that too would be a great loss to the Heavenly Court.

With her cultivation and strength, Xu Tianzun could not command all of Youdu.

Just then Shen Mu saw the Heavenly Court's great army march into Youdu beneath the banner of Yin Tianzi.

Yin Tianzi commanded the Dark Capital; the Dark Capital was Tubo's horn, and he too was a figure well versed in the great Dao of Youdu.

Since Xu Tianzun could not wholly command Youdu, Yin Tianzi had come to claim a share of it.

At the same time, the demon armies under Xu Tianzun's command were pouring without cease into Youdu, seizing the dark continents that Tubo's corpse had become.

Shen Mu pondered a moment; his vital essence burst forth, and his hands spread outward, and at once the geography of the myriad heavens and worlds emerged.

In the Wendao Court, the myriad heavens and worlds, wrought of vital essence, floated around them all, building a model of the great universe.

Shen Mu's thought stirred faintly: Xuandu hung above the model of the great universe, and the shattered continents of Youdu overlapped the myriad heavens and worlds.

He adjusted it a while, then asked, "Yue, are the positions of the myriad heavens and worlds correct?"

Yue Tianzun stepped forward, examined it, and adjusted the positions of several heavens.

Shen Mu thanked her, then paced around the model of the great universe, studying and analyzing. After a long silence he suddenly pointed at Jingping's place in the geography of the Yuan World and said softly, "My brother Shen Fengqing occupies the Yuan World and has become a little Youdu; with the power of the Book of Life and Death besides, he can keep the living things of Jingping from being suppressed by Xu Tianzun's Youdu."

He stretched out a finger and drew a circle around Jingping; the vital essence became the likeness of Shen Fengqing, two horns rising from his head, the Book of Life and Death in his hand, standing there.

"You Tianzun can safeguard the Land of No Sorrow, so that Youdu cannot strike at it by stealth. Add King Yama's Fengdu, which can lend support from either side, and this battle need not be lost!"

His vital essence became the phantom of You Tianzun, seated in the Land of No Sorrow. The Land of No Sorrow had already been moved to the Yuan World, and sat beside Jingping.

You Tianzun slowly took off the ghost-face mask. "The Heavenly Court's great army will not set half a step out of the little Youdu into Jingping and the Land of No Sorrow."

The vital essence flowed at Shen Mu's fingertips and became a little Xuandu, covering the Land of No Sorrow and Jingping. He said gravely, "If the Heavenly Court attacks from Xuandu and sends heavenly calamities down upon Jingping, then Tiangong can take the fifty supreme treasures of the Heavenly Dao and become a little Xuandu! The Ancestor God King commands Tiangong's fleshly body and attacks the little Xuandu; then Tiangong can hold off the Ancestor God King. After all, Tiangong's body is his body; though he is no match for the Ancestor God King, it should not be easy for the Ancestor God King to kill the old father a second time."

Hearing this, Tiangong said, "Set your mind at ease, Mu Tianzun. With me here, the sun, moon and stars of Jingping and the Land of No Sorrow will be preserved, and no heavenly calamity will fall."

Shen Mu studied the myriad heavens and worlds and mused, "If the Heavenly Court attacks, then we must use the Spirit Energy Transposition Bridges. The Spirit Energy Transposition Bridges were designed by the Black Tiger God and me together; to think of using them against Jingping is to think too little of this road-paver. We need only pull up the bridges and cut the roads, and the Heavenly Court's great army, sailing from the Heavenly Court by ship, will need decades to reach Jingping! And in those decades, we can set off upheavals throughout the myriad heavens and worlds!"

His spirits lifted; his gaze was bright as stars and moon. "Yue, go to the Land of No Sorrow and bring back the Woodcutter Sage and the Black Tiger God! Dao Ancestor, I need the masters of calculation of the Jingping Daoist sects. If the Heavenly Court sets its armies of gods and demons in motion, I want every Spirit Energy Transposition Bridge of the Heavenly Court to be unusable!"

Yue Tianzun left at once.

The Dao Ancestor said, "The arts of calculation of the Jingping Daoist sects already far surpass those of the Heavenly Court's Daoist sects. But to cut the bridges, we must reach the connecting points of the Spirit Energy Transposition Bridges throughout the myriad heavens and worlds. Perhaps the Heavenly Court's Daoist sects can be of help."

Shen Mu looked at the myriad heavens and worlds, then suddenly said, "Yuchenzi, go to Si Yunxiang and Xue Huer. Tell them I want the trade data of every world in the myriad heavens and worlds, and the data on Heaven Coin transactions! Tell them that within ten days all the data must be sorted and brought to me!"

The Dao Ancestor said to Yuchenzi, "The Daoists of Qingyun Heaven can go and help."

Yuchenzi hurried off.

The Dao Ancestor asked, "What does Tianzun want the trade data of the myriad heavens and worlds for?"

"I want to see whether these heavens and worlds trade more with Jingping or more with the Heavenly Court."

Shen Mu said, "This will matter greatly in time to come. From it we can see which heavens are the Heavenly Court's wings, and which heavens can be drawn to our side. I also need Jingping to spend the Heaven Coins it has saved over the years, to buy divine ores and divine materials in great quantities from every heaven — to spend every Heaven Coin Jingping has earned! Once war begins, Heaven Coins are of no use at all!"

"I also need Jingping to build Spirit Energy Transposition Bridges with those heavens worth drawing to our side, and to kick the Heavenly Court out of this trade system entirely!"

"I want Jingping to begin building divine artifacts and great weapons. I need Ling Tianzun to remake the Creation Divine Artifact, and to use the Creation Divine Artifact to forge a divine artifact of our own — Yu Tianzun!"