Chapter 1754 — The Ancients Invade, the Heavenly Palace Topples

" At first Xu Shenghua had not dared rashly open the coffin, but having seen through the true nature of the Dao-Burying Divine Coffin, he at once drew the nails from the coffin board one by one. He lifted the lid, and within the coffin lay what seemed a small world, vast in space, blinding light pouring out from it, the dao-light radiated by the World Tree. Beneath the World Tree sat Shen Mu, cross-legged.

Xu Shenghua studied Shen Mu's face and said in admiration: "Even in death, Sect Master Shen looks as vivid as life.

" With great effort he lifted Shen Mu out of the coffin, panting and gasping. Shen Mu's body was not so heavy; what was heavy was the World Tree and the Chaos Sea beneath him.

Xu Shenghua looked him over and saw that there were coffin nails in Shen Mu's body too, exactly fifty of them, and he did not know whether to laugh or to weep.

"By rights there should be one nail more, yet whoever forged this coffin seems to have feared Sect Master Shen might not escape; he not only drove them wrong, he even forged one too few. " Xu Shenghua shook his head and pulled the nails from Shen Mu's wounds, then shook his head again: "These fifty nails are all in the wrong places too.

I wonder what ignorant fellow drove them.

. .

" Scarcely had he drawn the nails out when, in Shen Mu's lifeless body, it was as though a bitter winter had just passed and a spring wind blew in, and a faint thread of life appeared! Xu Shenghua's heart stirred slightly, but he was not surprised; he sat down nearby and waited quietly.

The Chaos Sea rippled, small ripples, faint and slow.

The life within Shen Mu's body grew steadily stronger, but the wounds upon him held that life back.

There were fifty such wounds. Xu Shenghua had just examined them; they must come from the dao arts of Miluo Palace, and the dao wounds were exceedingly grave.

Even by destroying his own divine treasury and turning to Chaos, Shen Mu had resolved only the wounds upon his divine treasury and his primordial spirit; the wounds on his flesh could not be wholly erased.

Such wounds Xu Shenghua could not heal either, and so he could only wait for Shen Mu to wake and deal with them himself. He held no worry at all for Shen Mu, a confidence born of their first meeting, years ago, when Shen Mu tamed the waters on the river.

They had been youths then, and the confidence in Shen Mu's eyes had shaken Xu Shenghua deeply. Afterward their paths crossed more and more, and Shen Mu had weathered so many storms and waves that Xu Shenghua came to a misapprehension: that nothing could baffle Shen Mu, nothing could break him, and still less could anything kill him.

Of course, he had never witnessed Shen Mu's moments of despair, and so his conviction remained unshakable. How long passed, he did not know; then Xu Shenghua raised his head and saw in the Ultimate Void a saber-light flickering, now bright, now dim.

He looked away again.

That saber-light was somewhat familiar; when Shen Mu had come to see him last time, he had sensed someone within Shen Mu's shadow, though he had not asked.

The feeling the saber-light gave him was very like the man in Shen Mu's shadow.

Just then Shen Mu slowly opened his eyes; the Chaos Sea gradually stilled and sank back into his body, and the World Tree behind him disappeared of itself. "Sect Master Shen, how was the coffin? " Xu Shenghua asked, unhurried.

Shen Mu's breath was still faint.

He looked up at Xu Shenghua's unchanging face and smiled bitterly: "Brother Xu, why mock me? " Xu Shenghua's face at once became a marvelous sight; he roared with laughter, clear and carrying, echoing far.

Shen Mu coughed violently, spitting out the foul blood in his body, and said: "Brother Xu, how is it you have come out of the Ancestral Court? " The smile faded from Xu Shenghua's face, and his usual calm returned: "Great Black Mountain has fallen. Too many stowaways crawled out from the World Tree's roots; I could not beat them, so I left.

" Shen Mu was startled, then let out a breath: "I was afraid you would fight to the death, a bloody battle to the end.

.

. " "I would not. " Xu Shenghua said calmly: "Alive, I am more useful.

" Shen Mu was choked half to death, and badly wanted to get up and hit someone. Few people could choke him half to death, but Xu Shenghua was the exception.

"The Heavenly Court is destroyed," Xu Shenghua went on.

Shen Mu was shaken to the core; all at once he could no longer suppress his wounds, and blood sprayed from all fifty of them. Xu Shenghua watched him fumble frantically to seal his wounds and handed him some coffin nails: "These nails can help seal the wounds.

" "The Heavenly Court destroyed?

" Shen Mu thrust a nail into one of his wounds and asked in haste.

Xu Shenghua nodded: "When I left, those who had attained the Dao were already crossing over, preparing to attack the Heavenly Court. By my reckoning, the Heavenly Court must have fallen; the Ancestral Court has changed hands.

" Shen Mu drew a sharp breath and forgot to drive in the nails; Xu Shenghua, with good intentions, kindly helped him drive several coffin nails into his wounds, and the pain set his tears flowing.

"The fall of the Heavenly Court, is it a good thing or a bad thing.

.

.

Gently, that hurts!

"