Chapter 1664 — Boundless Magic Power

Beyond the grudge he harbored in his heart, Shen Mu had a further reason: the resurrection of the Earth Lord. Should the Earth Lord appear before others and word of it reach the Heavenly Court, then the Heavenly Court would know that he had not lost his Dao heart at all, but was plotting a counterattack. And at that point the Heavenly Court would hasten its strike against Jingping!

He was trying to buy time now, and so of course he did not wish to resurrect the Earth Lord Achou.

Yet the reincarnations of Taichu could likely be found by none but the Earth Lord, and so he had no choice but to bring Achou back ahead of time.

Once the Earth Lord was revived, he would have to hold Achou in check and keep him from ever appearing before others, or it would bring boundless calamity down upon Jingping! As the god who governed the realm of the dead, the Earth Lord's soul was matchless in its might; the mere summoning of the black sands of his soul had taken several days.

That the black sands of the Earth Lord's soul had been claimed by the Tianyin Realm was not because the Tianyin Realm was mightier than Youdu, nor because the Lady of Tianyin was stronger than the Earth Lord, but because the ancient gods born of the Dao stand to one another in a relation of mutual completion. The Lord of Heaven governed the workings of the heavenly Dao in the world of the living, the Earth Lord governed the world after death, and the Lady of Tianyin governed where souls went once they were shattered out of being.

In recent years, as the wars grew fiercer, more and more gods, demons, and mortals were struck until their souls scattered to the winds, and so the Tianyin Realm had been expanding without cease, the power of its Dao arts and divine abilities rising ever higher. Though the Lady of Tianyin was no longer an ancient god, because she held the Tianyin Realm her cultivation and strength increased with every passing day and month, advancing swiftly.

Another two or three days passed. Shen Mu finished his rites, so spent he was gasping for breath, his body swaying as though about to fall. Ling Yuxiu stepped forward to steady him; Shen Mu waved her off, steadied his footing, and saw Achou the Earth Lord slowly waking before him.

The instant Achou the Earth Lord woke, layer upon layer of karmic fire kindled within his body, each layer deeper than the last, and within that fire surfaced the phantom shapes of countless beings in their agony, the karma of a million years of living things, gathered upon Achou alone! Achou was no longer the Earth Lord; he had shed the great Dao of Youdu and become that ordinary, ugly father, husband, and son who had once struggled to survive in the mortal world.

The karmic fire he bore became heaven upon heaven, thirty-five heavens in all; yet just as the thirty-sixth heaven was about to form, the fire was suddenly extinguished, and he was not perfected. Shen Mu frowned slightly. Both the Lord of Heaven and the Earth Lord had begun laying out the road to their own attainment of the Dao a million years ago.

The Lord of Heaven had refined the reincarnation of the Great Emperor, Dahong, into the Hong Heavenly Venerable, making him one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables. Had he truly been able, through the Hong Heavenly Venerable, to break free of the shackles of the heavenly Dao and win a great victory in the battle of Xuandu, then he might indeed have attained the Dao by that road.

But the Hong Heavenly Venerable turned his back on the heavenly Dao, and for a tangle of reasons ended by dying at the hand of his own son, the Ancestral God King.

The Earth Lord too had made his arrangements in the early years of Longhan, choosing Achou as his point of breakthrough; by all reason, the karmic fire of a million years of living beings should have sufficed to let him attain the Dao, and yet when the Earth Lord revived and became Achou, he did not attain the Dao, but halted at the thirty-fifth stage of the karmic-fire Dao Realm. "Thank you, Shepherd Heavenly Venerable," said Achou, rising and saluting.

The Lord of Heaven bowed as well. "Thank you, Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, for your righteous rescue. " Shen Mu said with a half-smile, "Brother Daoist Achou, Brother Daoist Lord of Heaven, by resurrecting the two of you, have I not likewise offended the great Dao of Youdu and transgressed the heavenly statutes of Xuandu, a criminal of the deepest dye?

" He was referring to an old case. In those days, when Shen Mu wished to resurrect mortals, the Lord of Heaven forbade it, and the two had quarreled; Shen Mu thought the Lord of Heaven willing to revive only the ancient gods and never mortals, out of pure selfishness.

Later, to comprehend the Dao of the Saber, Shen Mu went to the battlefield of the Southern Wastelands and used his art of resurrection to bring back the heroic spirits of the slain, thereby offending the Dao of Youdu. The Youdu Heavenly Venerable, on the Earth Lord's command, came in person to stop him.

Shen Mu paid him no heed and went his own way, so that he could no longer set foot in Youdu; only much later, when his mastery of the Dao of Reincarnation had grown ever deeper, was he able to enter Youdu again.

In raising the old matter once more, he was venting a measure of his dissatisfaction and taking the occasion to mock the Lord of Heaven and the Earth Lord. The Lord of Heaven and Achou exchanged a glance.

Achou said nothing; the Lord of Heaven argued in his defense: "The moral order of the heavenly Dao: those who act in accord with Heaven flourish; those who act against Heaven perish. .

.

" Shen Mu waved a hand and laughed. "Every acquired Dao in this world is a going against Heaven. Take first the art of medicine.

That men are born, grow old, sicken, and die, that is the moral order of the heavenly Dao.

Yet the physician treats sickness and pain and holds death back; is that not acting against Heaven and defying the Dao of Youdu?

Must every physician, after death, be judged in Youdu? Nonsense! " The Lord of Heaven opened his mouth, but found nothing to say.

Shen Mu went on: "When there is no road, men build bridges and lay roads; is that acting against Heaven? Having no wings, men build flying chariots and flying ships; is that acting against Heaven? When it is hot there are ice mirrors, when it is cold there are heating stoves; when the rains are heavy, gods and demons scatter the dark clouds; when drought comes, the Rain Master rides the clouds and spreads the rain.

All of this must surely count as acting against Heaven. Lord of Heaven, the art of medicine is the Dao of Creation. With Jingping's medicine as it stands today, in less than a hundred years it will cure the aging of mortals.

By then, the day when every man lives long and endures will not be far off. " At last the Lord of Heaven found a point to rebut, and said with a half-smile, "Then the whole universe will be nothing but people, and the Great Destruction will not be far behind.

" Shen Mu laughed heartily.

"Man will conquer Heaven; that is inevitable. If one cannot advance, one can only perish, whether by an outside force or by one's own hand.

Lord of Heaven, I will not contend with you over this. Brother Daoist Achou, now that you have come back to life, let the two of us agree on three rules. " The Lord of Heaven still wished to debate him further, but Shen Mu gave him no chance, raising one finger and saying, "Before the Heavenly Court and Jingping fight their decisive battle, you are not to appear before others. " Achou nodded. "As you say.

" Shen Mu raised a second finger.

"You are not to go and see the Void Heavenly Venerable. When the Heavenly Court and Jingping fight their decisive battle, you may see her then. " Achou hesitated a moment. "That too, as you say. " Shen Mu raised a third finger, his face darkening slightly. "No deciding things on your own, no reckless wild doings! Whatever you mean to do, you must discuss it with me first!