Chapter 1742 — Burned in Fire, Reborn Anew

" From the Lingxiao Hall and the Zixiao Hall came the gratified laughter of the Third and Fourth Young Masters: "We have finally molded you into the shape we desired. " Emperor Hao raised his head, his face heaped with smiles.

In that moment, Heavenly Venerable Yun died. And the Heavenly Venerable Hao of old, full of fighting spirit and unyielding, died as well. When Shen Mu arrived at Jingping, he sensed a strange fluctuation coming from the depths of time and space.

His expression changed slightly, then he set his heart at ease.

This fluctuation came from the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, not only the Lingxiao Hall, but even the many and varied treasure halls within the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court.

When this fluctuation spread through the whole Yuan Realm, every power that was not of the Heavenly Court would sense that the Jade Capital realm, the Lingxiao realm, and even the Imperial Throne realm they had cultivated so diligently could no longer grant them power. In other words, these three realms had been abolished at a stroke.

Shen Mu had long anticipated this. The Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court realms were modeled on the Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court of the Heavenly Court, and the Heavenly Court was in turn modeled on the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court. The origin of all this lay in the deed of the Great Emperor and Taichu of the ancient era, who journeyed to the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court to probe its secrets.

The Creator declined; Taichu and the other ancient gods prevailed, and in accordance with their memory of the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court they established the Longhan Heavenly Court. The human Heavenly Venerable Yu came to the Heavenly Court, observed its grandeur, perceived the power concealed within it, and founded the realm of the Heavenly Palace.

In the Longhan era, Heavenly Venerable Yun and the men of surpassing talent of that time perfected the realms of Jade Capital, Lingxiao, Imperial Throne, and the rest; and thereafter, for six hundred thousand years, the Ten Heavenly Venerables perfected the realm of the Heavenly Court.

And the source of the realms of Jade Capital, Lingxiao, Imperial Throne, and Heavenly Court was the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court. Shen Mu had long ago foreseen that the Young Masters of the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court would use this to control the gods and demons of this universe, that they could strip away their power at will, and even borrow that power to strengthen the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court and themselves. And he had long since prepared a fallback plan.

This fallback was the Dao realm cultivation system, and the wholly new Ancestral Court cultivation system founded by Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua.

The Dao realm cultivation system was hard to enter, but once one had entered it, it could complement the Ancestral Court cultivation system and advance in tandem with it.

These two cultivation systems might even merge in the future, becoming the Ancestral Court Dao realm cultivation system.

"In the past, neither Jingping nor Wuyou Township had the will or the courage to promote the Ancestral Court Dao realm cultivation system.

After all, the new system had only just been founded by Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua; as its founders, they had made these realms too profound and abstruse, very hard to comprehend. But this time the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court has cut away four realms outright, and that will force Emperor Yanfeng and Emperor Kai Yiyue to sever their own wrist like warriors and throw all their strength behind this fallback plan. " Shen Mu flew to Jingping. The Jingping front was already in utter chaos; whether gods and demons of Wuyou Township or of Jingping, all were seized with terror, their hearts in turmoil, overcome by boundless despair. Even Heavenly Venerable Yue and the God King Langwan, then locked in battle with the Ancestral God King, fell into disarray at once.

The two women lost three realms in succession, their vital essence and cultivation reduced to almost nothing, and they came within a hair of being slain by the Ancestral God King. Fortunately, Heavenly Venerable Yue's Dao realm cultivation remained; she at once employed the Zaiji Void and fled with Langwan.

The Ancestral God King pressed his advantage, leading the Xuandu army with the intent to slaughter on every side and raze the Lanfeng Valley in western Jingping in one stroke, when a vast shadow flew past beside the Xuandu army. "Heavenly Venerable Mu.

" The Ancestral God King was startled, and hastily moved his troops to shield himself, keeping well clear.

At the same time, the same thing happened in the fighting at Youdu in the Yuan Realm: every divine being of Jingping or Wuyou Township who had cultivated to the Jade Capital, Lingxiao, or Imperial Throne realm felt their power rapidly drain away. The higher the realm, the greater its share of one's power, especially the Imperial Throne realm, which accounted for as much as nine-tenths of one's cultivation.

Without the Imperial Throne realm, one's cultivation was in an instant reduced to a mere tenth.

And if an Imperial Throne powerhouse lost even the Lingxiao and Jade Capital realms, their strength would be left at only a thousandth of what it had been.

What a blow this would deal to the high-level fighting strength of Jingping and Wuyou Township. This was one reason Emperor Yanfeng and Emperor Kai Yiyue had not dared to promote the new cultivation system on a large scale outright.

The Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court system was deeply rooted in people's hearts; to promote it rashly would surely cause chaos, and would bring about a short-term decline in the strength of the upper echelons.

At that time the war in the Yuan Realm was imminent, the new cultivation system was not yet complete, and there was no time to spread it; it could only be promoted on a small scale within the Jingping Wendao Academy.

But now they had no choice but to promote the new cultivation system. What the Third and Fourth Young Masters of Miluo Palace would lose would be the power-wielders of later generations, who would never again cultivate the traditional Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court system, depriving them of a future wellspring of power.

By this act, the Third and Fourth Young Masters forced the power-wielders and the gods and demons of Jingping to be reborn in fire.

Shen Mu made a circuit of the western battle zone, overawing the champions of the Heavenly Court, forcing its various marquises to dare fight no more; they could only pull back their forces and first hold firmly the territory they had taken.

Shen Mu then pressed deep into Youdu in the Yuan Realm, forcing Heavenly Venerable Xu to abandon the fine chance to slay Heavenly Venerable You and withdraw into the Heavenly Court's camp. Meanwhile, in the Heavenly Court's main camp, two treasure halls rose slowly into the air, bursting with incomparably dense Dao light that even blotted out the radiance of the countless suns in the sky.

These were the phantoms of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and the Zixiao Treasure Hall. Though the two halls were but phantoms, the Great Dao within them was so highly condensed that it had nearly taken on substance, bringing everyone an unparalleled sense of power and oppression.

Shen Mu gazed at them from afar and said softly, "Heavenly Venerable Yun, you have succeeded.

And now our opponent is no longer Heavenly Venerable Hao. Heavenly Venerable Hao has become a puppet.

Our opponent has finally emerged from the shadows.

And now, where are you? " He had traveled a long road, hurrying from the Ancestral Court to the Yuan Realm; little of his cultivation remained, and he dared not open battle outright, so he came to the Lanfeng Valley.