Chapter 1848 — The Chaos Cauldron of the Ancestral Court

Within the painting was a world of its own, containing heaven and earth; but though Shen Mu's Dao of painting was perfect, the painting was in fact an unfinished one, not completed.

"I questioned him closely, but the Painting Sage would not say more.

He said only one thing: that some things in the painting were not painted, but branded.

" Jiang Baigui said, "To my eyes, that painting is already exceedingly perfect.

Which part of it was branded?

" Emperor Yanfeng and Wei Suifeng exchanged looks.

If they knew which part had been branded, perhaps the mystery of Sishen's parentage could be solved. But that painting had already been taken away by Shen Mu.

And even if Shen Mu brought it out, with the meager attainments in the Dao of painting of the three of them, they likely would not be able to tell.

Wei Suifeng hesitated, then said temptingly, "Old Emperor, why not go and ask Emperor Yanxiu? She most likely knows the truth of it, and might even be able to get that painting out.

.

.

" Emperor Yanfeng shuddered and said angrily, "You only ever come up with rotten ideas!

If it really is a mess our son-in-law has made, my Ling family will never have peace!

Say no more of it, no more! " Suddenly, a woman of lovely features stepped out from the Jade Capital City and bowed, saying, "Seventh Young Master, the two Young Masters request your presence. Would the Young Master please come this way. " Shen Mu nodded, stepped out of the golden ship, and said warmly, "After you, Sister Nanxiang.

" The woman said with a smile, "The Young Master is too courteous.

Please. " Shen Mu followed her into the Jade Capital City.

Shen Fengqing looked around and saw that the Dao trees of the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City were growing ever more vigorous, the Dao patterns and Dao chains ever more numerous, so dense they formed a net, until the Ancestral Court seemed to have become a vast snare, and their golden ship like an insect caught in it. He frowned and said to Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian, "Brothers in the Dao, if we sit idle while the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City lays out its array, I fear we shall come off the worse. " Lan Yutian nodded, looked around, and said, "We must not come off the worse.

Everyone, make ready.

" No sooner had he spoken than, upon the golden ship, one Great Luo Heaven after another unfurled, the Great Luo Heavens of Jingping's Dao-attainers, blazing with brilliant light, fully displaying the vast and magnificent bearing of Jingping's Dao-attainers!

The Great Luo Heavens of Jingping's Dao-attainers were utterly different from those of the Dao-attainers of the previous sixteen cosmic epochs: each of them took the Ancestral Court as its foundation, with the Ancestral Court Divine Treasury standing at the center, their World Trees rearing in the midst of the Ancestral Court, aided by the Five Tai, the Heavenly Sea, the Nine Hells, the Jade Terrace, the Four Heavenly Gates and all manner of holy lands! And upon the World Trees stood the Xuandu Divine Treasury, stars shining bright and rivers of stars coiling about them, while beneath the World Trees lay the Youdu Divine Treasury.

There were also the Heavenly River, the Four Extremes Heaven and other divine treasuries, forming the phenomena of the myriad heavens and worlds!

When the Great Luo Heavens of the three thousand Dao-attainers aboard the ship had fully unfurled, for a time all kinds of Dao patterns and Dao chains spread and extended in every direction, forcing back the Dao patterns and Dao chains of the Jade Capital City's Dao-attainers, each vying in splendor with the other!

Several thousand Great Luo Heavens, like several thousand miniature cosmos-heavens, dazzled the eye beyond measure!

Yet among them there were exceptions.

Jiang Baigui, for instance, cultivated the Dao of the Acquired, walking the path of the Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court, which did not accord with their Great Luo Heavens.

And Kaihuang had attained the Dao in the traditional manner of the Dao realm, which likewise did not accord with theirs. As for Taishi, who had attained the Dao as an ancient god, he too differed greatly from the Dao realm system of the Ancestral Court.

Xu Shenghua's eyes flickered as he looked about; seeing that the Ancestral Court's Dao-attainers still held the upper hand over them, he said, "Everyone, return the holy lands to the Ancestral Court! " At his word, mountain range after mountain range flew up from the golden ship, and likewise vast oceans and lakes, great rivers, the Four Heavenly Gates, the Jade Pool and Jade Terrace, the God-Slaying Terrace, the Nine Hells Terrace and all manner of holy lands flew out from the sleeves of one Dao-attainer after another, speeding toward every corner of the Ancestral Court.

Those holy lands had originally been, in the age of the Demigod Heavenly Court, forcibly refined into treasures by Lord Haotian to attack the Yuan Realm; later they had been collected one by one by Jingping to suppress the fortunes of the nation.

In this final battle, the two Dao Ancestors, Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian, gave the order to gather up all the Ancestral Court's holy lands, preparing to return them to the Ancestral Court! When these holy lands fell back one by one into their original places, the Ancestral Court shook with a thunderous roar, like a god released from seal; of a sudden all the divine treasuries were joined as one, and stream after stream of treasure-light and Dao-light surged up to the heavens from every part of the Ancestral Court, shining in splendor together with the Great Luo Heavens of Jingping's Dao-attainers!

In the city, Shen Mu took his seat, a smile on his face, watching the expressions of Young Master Zixiao and Young Master Lingxiao.

The Dao patterns and Dao chains given off by the forest of Dao trees in the city were suppressed, shrinking back without cease; and outside the city, the Hunyuan Cauldron of the Ancestral Court seemed to have revived. Over these three and a half billion years Shen Mu had branded the Ancestral Court, refining it into a treasure; as these holy lands returned, the whole Ancestral Court was refined into one body, wholly transformed into an unimaginable supreme treasure, a supreme weapon, suppressing all things!