Chapter 1752 — The Sovereign Lord Falls

"Your Majesty, Lord Mu is now an arrow spent at the end of its flight.

" Tai Chu stepped forward to remonstrate. "Now is the finest moment to send him back to the prehistoric age; let this moment pass, and to seek another will be a thousand times harder!

" The Heavenly Emperor Haotian gazed into the distance at Shen Mu, hesitating. In these past days Shen Mu's aura had sunk lower and lower; had he been merely wounded, then by all reason, given his attainments, his injuries ought to have settled somewhat and his aura ought to have waxed again by steady degrees. But Shen Mu's aura only grew feebler, and that made him waver.

From all he knew of Shen Mu, this was most likely a trap!

"Lord Mu is indeed wounded," he thought, "and wounded grievously — so grievously that he cannot come at us directly, but must wait for us to deliver ourselves to his gate.

" The Heavenly Emperor said, "Grand Emperor, our Heavenly Court's soldiers have campaigned year after year and lost not a few; moreover, the Southern Heaven has never fallen to us, and our provisions run short. Mu the brigand is vicious and cunning, waiting for us to walk into his snare.

Since that is so, why not take the chance to rest and re-fit, and bid the army reap some grain from the neighboring heavens? " Tai Chu frowned and would have spoken again, but the Heavenly Emperor said, "Miluo Palace's Fourth Lord had his power shattered by him, and the Third Lord's power and consciousness are sealed away as well; the Third Lord will likewise need time to undo the knot of his red cords. Whether Lord Mu means to play for time or to deceive and bait me, it suits my purpose either way. Grand Emperor, say no more.

I have made my decision. " Tai Chu sighed inwardly. The Lord Haotian of old had had much about him that men might despise, yet the keen edge in his heart had never been lost; he had always pressed forward with undimmed ambition, able to seize any chance however briefly it flickered past. But the Heavenly Emperor of today, ever since the Cloud Lord defeated him in the Ultimate Void, had begun to look before and behind — daring no more risks, attempting no more ventures. "The Cloud Lord has already shattered his Dao heart!

He seeks no credit, only to be free of blame, and in that he is sure to let his best chances slip through his fingers!

" With this thought Tai Chu said, "Your Majesty, grain and baggage are of course important, but neither must we let Lord Mu have an easy time of it. We can split our forces into two columns, skirt around Lord Mu, and fall upon the Maple Valley from left and right.

In the Jingping of today, the very highest realm is no more than the Jade Capital realm; miss this chance, and we shall never again find so fair an opportunity to shatter Jingping! " The Heavenly Emperor hesitated a little, knowing full well how rare the moment was.

Jingping was imposing new laws and a new cultivation system on a grand scale; within at most a decade or so, a great host of adepts of the new system would swarm forth. By then, taking Jingping would be harder than scaling heaven!

"Let the two Taiji Lords, one on the left and one on the right, lead the Divine Army and the River Army to attack the Maple Valley! " the Heavenly Emperor decreed. "The Taiji Lords handle troops like gods; in this battle they are sure to win at the very first banners and trample Maple Pass flat! " Her Majesty the Empress could not hold back: "Your Majesty, why not dispatch the Feather Forest Army, the Divine Might Army, and the Dragon Martial Army? These armies are a match for the Lords themselves; to send them out is the very best way to deal with Jingping!

" The Heavenly Emperor cast her a glance and laughed. "The Left and Right Feather Forest, the Left and Right Divine Might, and the Left and Right Dragon Martial are the Heavenly Emperor's own bodyguards.

What sense is there in flinging them all into the field at once?

" A chill fell upon Her Majesty's heart, yet she would not give up the idea.

"Your Majesty, we are deities who have attained the Dao!

Deities who have attained the Dao ought to fight to the death in upholding the Heavenly Court's interests — how can we be protected by such petty deities as the Feather Forest, the Divine Might, and the Dragon Martial? " The Heavenly Emperor hesitated, then said, "Mother Empress speaks reason. But that arch-traitor Long Pi is leading the Beast Realm's great army against our rear, and the bodyguards are needed to go and crush him.

" Tai Chu, standing by, said flatly, "So many men are not called for! " "Then send the Left and Right Divine Might Armies to attack the Maple Valley.

. . " said the Heavenly Emperor.

Her Majesty laughed in fury: "To deal with Long Pi, the Left Feather Forest Army alone need go! Every other guard can hurry to the Maple Valley!

Trample the Maple Valley flat, and you may drive straight in, smite Jingping's capital, and level Jingping in a single battle!

" The Heavenly Emperor shook his head.

"Mother Empress, Lord Mu sits there. If all the bodyguards are sent to the front and he should suddenly rear up, they would be destroyed to the last man! Your reckoning falls short — say no more.

" Her Majesty flew into a towering rage and turned to go. Tai Chu followed her out and said in an undertone, "The Heavenly Emperor's state is not right; he has lost his mettle and his gall.

In his battle with the Cloud Lord, the Cloud Lord destroyed the incarnation of the Second Lord, and with it his Guixu Dao body was destroyed as well.

I fear he has already toppled from the realm of the Dao-attained, and for that reason he wavers between gain and loss, daring not to forge ahead. In such a state he is most harmful to the Heavenly Court. Though the Heavenly Court can never be defeated, even if we conquer Jingping it will only be at a grievous cost to our vitality; and who knows but that even we ourselves may be at risk of falling. " Her Majesty read his meaning: the Heavenly Court could never be defeated because of the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City! In this war, however severely the Heavenly Court's strength might be wasted, it could never lose; the Court had only to blood-sacrifice a few of the heavens, and the Dao-attained of the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City would descend and annihilate Jingping! This was a war that could not be lost, yet the only ones who could lose it were they, the Ten Lords! The Ten Lords might be slain or wounded, might forfeit their stations and their gains.

The two walked on talking, and Tai Chu, gazing far into the distance, said, "Since the Heavenly Emperor ascended the throne, the Fire Lord has died, the Divine Emperor Langxuan has died, and now the Void Lord is dead as well — old friends slipping away one after another, and I cannot keep from sighing deeply.

The Emperor is greedy for power and will share it with neither his old comrades nor the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City; and so this war to chastise the Primordial World has been fought into a sloppy muddle. And now, on top of all, he dreads to fight and dreads to lose — for us, I am afraid, that is fraught with extreme danger. " Her Majesty stopped in her steps and said with a smile that was not quite a smile, "You mean to depose the Heavenly Emperor and mount the throne yourself again?

Tai Chu, to exchange the Emperor at such a moment would throw the army into turmoil, and the Heavenly Court would lose without a battle!

" Tai Chu's frame gave a slight start; staring hard at her, he burst out all at once, "You are not Madam Yuanmu!

Madam Yuanmu would never weigh gains and losses with such grave sobriety! " Her Majesty walked on ahead. "We were man and wife — and it is only now that you see I am not that little slut, my young sister? Heh heh. Men — you always think with the part below the belt. .

. Tai Chu, have you not yet noticed? The main force of this war is no longer us — it is Miluo Palace!