Chapter 1768 — Supreme Father and Son

The shattered Great Luotian fell from the sky, stars raining down like scattered starlight upon the earth of the Primal Realm, and the One-Qi Great Luotian broke apart as it fell, its innate primordial qi nourishing the wounded land. Shang Jun lifted his head; starlight glimmered on every side, and the falling fragments of Great Luotian dissolved into pure energy, so that the earth after the great battle was no longer the scarred ruin it had been, grass and trees surged upward, vitality brimmed, and the soil grew rich.

This was not his sixteenth cosmic epoch but the seventeenth; none of his old friends remained here, yet there were still common folk he wished to protect. He left in silence and walked into shadow.

Though he was an assassin with blood on his hands, though he had once more grasped ultimate killing intent and attained the Dao anew, he refused to brand his Way of Slaughter upon the Ultimate Void.

He did not wish to walk beneath the sun or to be watched by others.

In the divine city above the Heavenly Court camp, in the room where Shen Mu was healing, the lamplight suddenly flickered, and Shen Mu opened his eyes to stare at the dark shadow beneath the lamp, then after a moment smiled: "Second brother has gone? " Shang Jun stepped forth from the shadow beneath the lamp and nodded silently.

Shen Mu breathed out and sighed: "In those years Tai Di, Tai Chu, Luo Xiao and I swore brotherhood, seeking not to be born in the same year and month and day but to die in the same year and month and day.

After third brother Luo Xiao died I always feared he would be lonely, and I longed to send my two elder brothers to join him, and now at last my wish is fulfilled. Eldest brother, second brother, fare well on your road.

" His gaze fell upon Shang Jun's face and he smiled: "Shang Jun, you need not hide in shadow any longer; you may go out and walk.

" A sharp glint like a blade flashed in Shang Jun's eyes as he said in a low voice: "Before, you always kept me within your shadow because you feared my killing intent was too heavy and that I would lose control. Only by hiding in your shadow could you rest easy. Why now would you release me? I have attained the Dao a second time and my Dao heart is ever firmer; are you not afraid my lust for killing will run wild and scourge the world?

You know that at times I cannot restrain my own killing intent!

" Shen Mu's gaze was gentle as he smiled: "Before, your Dao heart was flawed and you could hardly suppress your killing intent, your self-command was poor, so I had to keep you with me. Now your Dao heart is complete and you are no longer the Shang Jun of old, so I release you and give you freedom. " Shang Jun fell silent and would have retreated again into the shadow beneath the lamp. Suddenly Shen Mu said: "Do not walk in shadow; walk out through the front gate in the open.

You owe this universe nothing; rather, this universe owes you a debt. " Shang Jun started, revealed himself from the darkness beneath the lamp, and walked toward the front gate with hesitant steps. Yet he walked out, and beyond the door the first ray of sunlight fell upon him, not dazzling, yet he lifted a hand to shield his eyes and only lowered it after a moment.

"Shang Jun, I have always taken you for a friend.

" Shen Mu's voice came from behind him and made his body tremble faintly. A friend?

He had never had one.

Through the entire sixteenth cosmic epoch he had had no friends and seldom spoke with others; his debts of slaughter were too many, and the ruin of the sixteenth epoch was bound to him directly, so he felt unworthy of friends. Perhaps those few sealed by the Eldest Young Master in the squalid grounds of the void might count as friends, yet not truly; they had only shared pity in common misery, chatting and slaughtering pigs together, each concealing his past from the others and refusing to tell his history, so they could hardly be called true companions.

In his heart the word friend weighed too heavy.

"You are not an instrument of slaughter, nor a blade in my hand, but my friend.

" Shen Mu said behind him: "A friend to be trusted.

I will be your first friend in this age, and hereafter you will meet others and make friends of them. " Shang Jun turned his head aside: "I have no need.

Friend is too cheap a word; any man need only open and shut his mouth to call himself my friend. You are not my friend either. Friendship would only sway my judgment of right and wrong, good and evil, and make my heart soft.

" He walked eastward into the sunlight, his voice drifting back: "Seventh Young Master, if too many of your people attain the Dao and cause this universe to collapse, then I too will act, and even against you I will show no mercy!

If after your victory you commit wickedness and break the law, I will still act!

This world needs this blade of mine! Not a blade gripped in your hand!

" Shen Mu smiled and said to Ling Yuxiu beside him: "If I truly committed wickedness, he surely would not raise his hand to kill me. I know he already takes me for a friend.

" Ling Yuxiu pursed her lips and smiled: "Husband, I think you think too much. " Shang Jun wandered over the land of Jing Ping, from the border passes to the cities of Jing Ping and from the cities to the countryside, without aim. Jing Ping lay in peace, with no trace of the slaughter of the battlefield; quiet filled this place, and it filled his heart with quiet too, far from killing and strife. The war at the front still went on, yet the rear had not been touched, and when news of the Heavenly Court's defeat arrived, a great stone lifted from every heart and smiles slowly returned to people's faces.

With a grass stem between his teeth, he leaned against a tree and gazed lazily at the sunlight through the crown. Then six or seven children came running, laughing merrily and tumbling about in noisy play.

When the children left, Shang Jun picked up a flower crown a child had dropped, set it upon his brow, folded his arms across his chest, and fell asleep beneath the tree.

"This sunlight, truly fine.

. .

" The grass stem bobbed as he muttered. Xuandu.

The host of stars churned, the Dipper turned and the stars shifted, showing the world was still far from peace.

Only few now spared attention for Xuandu, for Jing Ping's main force was still pursuing the Heavenly Court, driving its broken remnant from the Primal Realm.

The battle in Xuandu was the war between the Heavenly Duke and the Ancestral God King. Xuandu was truly vast, so this battle had not reached the Primal Realm, and when Jiang Baigui pacified Xuandu he had only shattered and encircled the Sun Wardens' and Moon Wardens' great armies of Xuandu, never meddling in the struggle between the Heavenly Duke and the Ancestral God King.

His course was supremely rational; since the Sun and Moon Wardens' armies of Xuandu were already quelled, even if the Ancestral God King slew the Heavenly Duke it would matter little.

To lead his troops straight against the Heavenly Court camp at this moment would instead bring an unexpected effect, enough to break the Heavenly Court's morale, so he decisively led his army from Xuandu, leaving only the Heavenly Duke and the Ancestral God King, father and son.

The Ancestral God King's Dao heart had fallen into the divine art of the Nine Prisons Heart-Lock of the Eternal Dao, together with the Heavenly Duke's Dao heart.

The war of Dao hearts between father and son was far less clean than war with true blades and spears, yet far more perilous. Within the Nine Prisons Terrace the Heavenly Duke and the Ancestral God King fought with their Dao hearts, while outside the Heavenly Duke's true body sat motionless, and only the Ancestral God King and the reincarnated Heavenly Duke still fought to the death!

The Heavenly Duke's true body shimmered with starlight, and the light of the Heavenly Dao bled away unceasingly, flowing toward the reincarnated Heavenly Duke.