Chapter 1686 — Jingping's World-Suppressing Artifact

"This Creation Artifact was improved by the Celestial Venerable Mu and the Celestial Venerable Ling," said Emperor Yanfeng.

"It can be used to forge the divine artifact known as the Imperial Celestial Venerable. Lan Yutian came here not long ago, and Dao Lord Lin Xuan has led a host of Daoists to measure and sketch him; they are most likely nearly done.

Kaihuang, pray look over there. " Emperor Yiyue flew after him and hurried to the spot. Another foundry, she saw, was building a giant vessel whose scale was in no way inferior to the Othershore Ark.

The marvel of this giant vessel lay in its power to split at any moment into countless ships and strike in separate directions.

The ships were like so many modules, ready at any time to be joined together into a single peerless giant. "This one was designed by the old Patriarch Wei Suifeng," said Emperor Yanfeng.

"It is the Heavenly River Pagoda, meant to counter the navy of the Heavenly River; five are to be built, and the first is already nearly complete. " A gleam stirred in Emperor Yiyue's eyes. "Lend two of them to my Wuyou Township," she said.

"Naturally," Emperor Yanfeng said with a laugh.

"This way, please. " Emperor Yiyue then saw row upon row of Vermilion Bird war-chariots, built to counter the Sun Warden of Xuandu; she saw that even the Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird, was present here, helping the foundries' master craftsmen design the chariots. Beyond these, she also saw Northern Emperor divine weapons in numbers.

Unlike the traditional Northern Emperor divine weapons — which housed the Five Great Cloud Thunders in a certain gourd of the ancestral court — the ones forged in Jingping's foundries were made from divine metals and divine ores, aided by runes, and cast into the shape of gourds. The same foundries were also forging Azure Dragon divine weapons, treasures shaped like pagodas, and White Tiger divine weapons, treasures shaped like war-horns. They came next to the Yongjiang Foundry, hard by the Tiansheng Academy and the Yongjiang Academy — a holy ground of formation arts and divine abilities.

The Yongjiang Foundry was building colossal formation diagrams.

"The diagrams were designed by the Divine Spear at the head of Jingping's formation masters," said Emperor Yanfeng. "Every diagram carries with it a skill of the Celestial Palace grade; if one's magical power is sufficient, one can unleash the might of an expert of the Imperial Throne.

" He went on: "Diagrams of this kind, however, require an army of gods and demons to enter the formation and pool their strength before their might can burst forth, so control of the formation is of the utmost importance.

The Divine Spear and Jingping's formation masters have already designed more than two hundred formation diagrams of the Celestial Palace grade.

What matters even more is that these two hundred-odd diagrams can be assembled into different Grand Celestial Courts.

" Emperor Yiyue let out a long breath and murmured: "If the armies of gods and demons were plentiful enough, could they reproduce the battle-power of a Celestial Venerable? " "So it is in theory," said Emperor Yanfeng, a shadow falling across his face. "But I fear Jingping's numbers of gods and demons are not enough to bring out the might of every diagram.

In all the growth of these hundred-odd years, the count of deities in Jingping still falls far short of the Celestial Court's. " "My Wuyou Township needs a set of Grand Celestial Court diagrams," said Emperor Yiyue hastily, "and they must be able to form a perfect Celestial Court! " A smile spread over Emperor Yanfeng's face. "That is not difficult.

The foundry at the Tiansheng Academy has also built a number of cloud chariots. Each chariot is fitted with sword pagodas; every pagoda holds five thousand sword-pills, and within every pill lie hidden two thousand swords.

These chariots are meant to scour the ground and seal the sky. Does Kaihuang need some as well?

" "Yes!

" Emperor Yiyue said without hesitation. "The more the better!

" "The Lanjiang Foundry still has some fine things to offer. Kaihuang, if you please! " Emperor Yanfeng raised his hand in invitation. "There is still more?

" Suppressing the shock in her heart, Emperor Yiyue followed him through the teleportation portal leading to the Lanjiang Academy. "The climate here on the Lan River is mild and agreeable, and its foundries are given over chiefly to alchemy, with other foundries to assist.

" Emperor Yanfeng led her into the Lanjiang Foundry, where enormous alchemical furnaces blazed day and night, and a host of alchemists labored diligently, refining every kind of spirit elixir and laying it up in store.

"This place is in the charge of the Medicine King God, the Poison Master Mu Yingxue, and the Young Poison King Fu Yuanqing," said Emperor Yanfeng. "It is devoted to refining every sort of miraculous elixir and every sort of poison.

On the battlefield, deaths and wounds are unavoidable, and so life-saving elixirs are indispensable.

" "We shall take them! " Emperor Yiyue said decisively, and then, coloring slightly, asked: "Your Majesty, can the poisons slay gods and demons? " Emperor Yanfeng smiled. "There is no difficulty.

When battle is joined, wounds are inevitable; one need only smear a little of the dire poison upon one's divine weapon.

Does Kaihuang want some as well?

" "The more the better!

" Emperor Yanfeng then asked: "Has Kaihuang heard of the Way of Painting?

Let me take you to the Pavilion of the Painting Sage.

The Painting Sage is at this moment painting a chart of the mountains, rivers, and lands of the myriad heavens. "

.

. .

Above the Guixu, the thirty-six strata of the void gaped open, and the Daluo Heaven of Divine Consciousness emerged.

The Celestial Venerable Cloud stood beneath his Dao tree, gazing at the Guixu, when suddenly his frame wavered and he was nearly drawn into the Guixu together with the Daluo Heaven itself.

He could not help but start in alarm.

"The Celestial Venerable Mu sent me to rescue the Celestial Venerable Void — he truly thinks highly of me. This Guixu is a place of utter despair even to one who has attained the Dao; it can devour even the ultimate void!

" He steadied his frame and looked down, and saw layer upon layer of void captured by the Guixu and dragged into its depths.

His instincts sensed the peril. The Guixu, this place of deepest mystery, could destroy even the ultimate void and dealt ruinous harm to the Daluo Heaven and Dao tree of accomplished ones; he had no choice but to proceed with the utmost caution.

After a while, seizing the eruption of the Guixu's tide, the Celestial Venerable Cloud stepped out of the void, came to the brink of the Great Abyss, and gazed down — yet he could not tell how deep the Guixu truly was.

"The Celestial Venerable Ling has been here; traces of her divine abilities remain. " The Celestial Venerable Cloud mused a moment. His Dao fruit flew over and sank into the Primal Stone at his brow, and he cast himself into the Great Abyss.

At the same moment, a golden ship sailed out of the reaches of Chaos — the Dao Ancestor seated at the bow, the Great Brahma standing at the stern — and set its course for the Primordial Realm. The ship carried mostly Buddhas and Daoists.

Through the years they had ferried a portion of Jingping's people into the lands of Chaos, found a small universe there, settled those Jingping folk, raised divine cities, planted crops, and so kept the civilization of Jingping alive.

Aboard the golden ship, besides these two, were also Emperor Ming and Emperor Chi — two tall, stalwart sovereigns who stood upon the deck gazing at the Primordial Realm and the myriad heavens drawing ever nearer. On another front, Bai Qu'er led a number of gods and demons of the Supreme Sovereign era out of one of the heavens, and after a long and weary march came to the ruins of the Supreme Sovereigns' Celestial Court.