Chapter 1752 — The Sovereign Lord Falls

In this war, we have only to see ourselves preserved. " Tai Chu quickened his pace to follow her, lowering his voice: "Once Miluo Palace's Dao-attained come over, our power and station will dissolve into dreams and bubbles!

" "Better that, still, than throwing away our lives. " Her Majesty left that sentence behind her, left him standing there, and drifted away like a wisp of smoke. Tai Chu frowned and did not follow. Standing on the height and looking far out, the Heavenly Emperor Haotian saw the Great Yin Lord and the Great Yang Lord — one leading the Heavenly River Army, one the Heavenly Court's Divine Army — rolling onward in vast waves toward the Maple Valley. The two hosts gave Shen Mu a wide berth, tracing a great circle about Shen Mu as their center.

As for Shen Mu's divine treasury domain, it was more broken now than ever, shrunk to no more than a hundred li about; and Shen Mu's aura had sunk so faint as to be all but imperceptible. The Heavenly Emperor attended to it with all his senses: at this hour Shen Mu was like a candle in the wind, as if at any breath he might be extinguished.

"He is wounded — the Third Lord struck him down with the Master of Miluo Palace's divine ability, and his wounds must be dire indeed; he may even die!

" Gain and loss struggled together in the Heavenly Emperor's heart: "Even if he does not die, he has no strength to resist; otherwise he would never sit there and let the Heavenly River Army and the Heavenly Court's Divine Army pass by on either side of him.

But how am I to know whether he is feigning weakness deliberately?

" He paced up and down, a tiger trapped in its cage, restless and burning with impatience: "His wounds are desperate — at this hour I need only cast him into the Guixu, or drown him in the river of the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City, and this great plague will be settled at one stroke! Let him go back and be the Seventh Lord he was of old; without a blood offering, he can never return!

Then I should have won; the others — the so-called Nether Lord, the Moon Lord — none of them is any match for me!

And yet. .

.

" He stopped in his tracks, his eyes round and staring; before them swelled the shadow of the Cloud Lord. "And yet there is still the Cloud Lord!

Cloud Lord, you must be dead by now, surely? No — perhaps not! I saw you go with my own eyes; your wounds were heavy and not easy to mend, but you must have gone into hiding — heh, you are searching out another chance to strike me unawares.

. . " In his eyes were both dread and fury. He set off pacing again, a caged tiger, and for all the martial might in his body could find no way to use it. From his throat came a dull, strangled roar: "Cloud Lord, it is you — you who have set Us in this extremity! We shall not be defeated by you!

We hold the great power in Our hands; We command hosts of gods and demons in their tens of millions; countless heavens are ranged beneath Our banner; and behind Us stands the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City! You think to take Us unawares — We shall give you no second chance! " His eyes kindled bright, and his voice came out somewhat hoarse: "That is it — blood-sacrifice a few of the heavens and let the Dao-attained of the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City descend! That is it, that is it. .

. heh heh — no one can defeat Us, no one can seize Our power!

" His eyes brimmed with venomous ruthlessness. He summoned the Five Imperial Seats and gave them low-voiced instructions. The five Divine Emperors of the Five Imperial Seats started in alarm; Hua Liuzhao, the first among the Seats, his forehead drenched in cold sweat, bowed and said, "Your Majesty has already sent out several columns to the other heavens to scrape up slaves and scrape together grain, and this has already bred discontent among many of the officers and men. The officers and men of the army come, for the most part, from the myriad heavens and ten thousand worlds.

. . " The Heavenly Emperor's eyes showed a murderous glare, and his voice grated hoarse: "Minister Hua, say that once more!

" Hua Liuzhao fell to his knees with a plop and knocked his head against the ground: "Your servant will by no means disappoint Your Majesty's hopes — he will see it done! " The Heavenly Emperor snorted, waved his hand, and the Five Imperial Seats withdrew, each to muster the host under his own banner, then swept off with a roar. "And you, Lord Mu. . .

" The Heavenly Emperor glared fixedly at the distant Shen Mu, whose divine treasury domain had shrunk to little more than a li about, as if his lamp were all but spent.

"You, too, are waiting to strike at Us!

" The Heavenly Emperor snorted in fury. "We shall not be fooled by you!

" The Five Inner Imperial Seats led their armies out of the Heavenly Court's camp and made for the heavens nearby.

Hua Liuzhao's face was clouded with care; the other four Imperial Seats exchanged glances, and one spoke: "Brother Hua, the Heavenly Court's situation is excellent — Wuyou has been utterly broken and we press upon Jingping; so long as the Maple Valley falls, Jingping will have no strength left to resist. Why, then, is Brother Hua still so troubled?

" "The Heavenly Court looks to be storming walls and seizing lands, winning great victories over Wuyou and Jingping; but in truth its side campaigns have been losing all along.

" Hua Liuzhao heaved a sigh.

"Now the Void Lord has died in battle as well, and the Nether Capital is lost; if the Mystic Capital should be lost too, then all is truly over. His Majesty. . .

" He hesitated a moment, but in the end said it anyway: "If His Majesty had but raised the whole army and attacked the Maple Valley, there would still be a chance to raze Jingping. But instead His Majesty has now played a foolish move — sending us to blood-sacrifice the other heavens, so that the Dao-attained of the prehistoric age may descend.

Heh heh — the overwhelming majority of our Heavenly Court's soldiers were born in the myriad heavens and ten thousand worlds! " His brows were knit tight as he dropped his voice: "Blood-sacrifice the other heavens — what will the men make of that?

In this expedition against the Primordial World, how many of the other heavens have come to our aid? In days of old, at a single word from the Heavenly Court, every heaven would answer like clouds and gather like mist — sheer weight alone would have buried Jingping! But now, of all the myriad heavens and worlds, only a pitiful few have come to fight for the Heavenly Court; and on Jingping's side, instead, stand not a few gods and demons from the other heavens! " He breathed out a long, murky breath.

"If His Majesty blood-sacrifices the other heavens again, I fear the myriad heavens and ten thousand worlds will all go over to support Jingping! And in our own army, I fear, no small number of gods and demons will mutiny — some may even rebel and defect to the enemy! " The other four Imperial Seats stared at one another at a loss. "Brother Hua, what are we to do now? " Hua Liuzhao raised his head to the heavens, and two streams of old tears ran down from the corners of his eyes: "What can we do? We serve the Heavenly Court loyally, repaying His Majesty's grace for having lifted us up.

We can only walk this single road to the end of the dark. If the Heavenly Court wins, well and good — the histories will be written by us. If it loses — heh heh — the curses of ages to come.

.

.