Chapter 1687 — Though Dead, Their Heroic Spirit Lives On

Betrayed in those years by Taichu and Yuanmu and brought to this pass, you would turn back and lean upon your betrayer.

Your Majesty, you are versed in the art of reincarnation.

Can you not disguise yourself as Lady Yuanmu?

Disguised as Lady Yuanmu, would Emperor Haotian still guard against you?

" The Empress considered carefully, for the Dao of Reincarnation could indeed do this, flawlessly, beyond the discernment of others. "Minister Yun, why aid me?

" The Empress sneered: "Would you have me throw the Celestial Court into chaos to secure victory for your Jingping?

" Celestial Venerable Yun did not deny it, nodding with a smile: "Exactly so. Then how does Your Majesty choose? " The Empress drove the divine art of reincarnation, and her face, voice, and bearing became no different from Lady Yuanmu's.

She drifted slantwise upward, still facing him squarely and never relaxing her guard, laughing shrilly: "I shall grant your wish!

" Celestial Venerable Yun hesitated, and behind the Empress in the sky his Daluo Heaven of divine consciousness emerged, with the Imperial Sword of Taichu hanging upon the Dao tree, poised to thrust from afar.

Yet he halted and did not seize the chance to assassinate the Empress.

"With Celestial Venerable Ling gone, Jingping is short one more master.

I can only spare the Empress. Besides, I may not succeed in slaying her in secret.

" At this thought his Daluo Heaven of divine consciousness faded, and he smiled faintly at the Empress.

Above the Celestial River, the great armies of the Celestial Court advanced in mighty array along the river, nearly every god and devil in the court conscripted, while many more gods and devils flew each to different heavens, direct domains of the court, bearing Emperor Haotian's decree to levy the armies of every quarter for Yuanjie.

Along the way the host sent to chastise Yuanjie grew ever larger, reinforcements from the great heavens joining without cease, its might swelling with each league.

On the march the court also crushed several rebellious heavens, plundered them, and seized countless slaves to manage supply.

At the same time the Ancestral God King dwelling in Xuandu drove the waters of the Celestial River with the power of the Heavenly Duke to hasten the armies onward. Upon the river's surface, towered ships and great warships bore clouds of divine soldiers and generals, and those vessels were themselves mighty treasures, with sun and moon circling the hulls, day and night and the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter all contained aboard. Still more rode palaces of heaven itself to war, palaces thronged with gods and devils.

The star lords of every quarter and the gods of heavenly slaughter were also stirring stars, constellations, and mansions to hasten hither.

Some towered ships dragged colossal divine engines across the Celestial River, riding deep in the water.

Unlike the engines of Jingping, which were forged, these engines of the ships seemed born of nature.

Upon some ships lay vast mountain ranges in tow, with tens of thousands of gods and devils gathered about them in ceaseless sacrifice, seeking to refine the ranges into mighty treasures of every form according to their shape. Upon others many gods and devils labored to refine rivers thousands of leagues long, with ancient gods of Taiji beside them instructing them how a river might be forged into a weapon.

Upon still others stood a Gate of Heaven, with the Nine Prison Terrace, the Jade Terrace, and other enormities uprooted whole by the armies of the court and refined into treasures.

Entrenched in the Ancestral Court, what vastness and richness did the Celestial Court command?

Every sacred ground of the Ancestral Court had been dug up by them, grounds born with boundless might, and though the court's art of forging fell short of Jingping's, the power of those sacred grounds alone sufficed to suppress all.

A million years of accumulation had left the court far beyond Jingping not only in numbers of gods and devils but in wealth and resources.

Emperor Haotian returned to the central camp, his face dark, for this trial against Shen Mu had filled him with a keen sense of peril. The probe had shown him that Jingping's highest battle strength no longer fell short of the court's, lacking only in middle and lower gods and devils, where the court held overwhelming advantage.

Yet if their highest strength were damaged, this battle would surely be lost. "The only plan now is to borrow the strength of the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince," his eyes flickered, when suddenly a divine general came to report: "Your Majesty, the Tianhu heavens have risen in revolt.

The rebels would not obey the levy, slew the master of Tianhu, and would set themselves up as emperors! " Emperor Haotian smiled faintly and said softly: "Command the ghosts and gods to descend to Youdu and tell Celestial Venerable Xu to offer up the Tianhu heavens in sacrifice.

Remember, give Celestial Venerable Xu my exact words, that the Tianhu heavens are to be sacrificed!

" The general took the order and hurried away. Emperor Haotian leaned back, murmuring: "Sacrificing one heaven to the Third Prince should purchase one who has attained the Dao.

The Third Prince will see my loyalty and surely lend me greater strength!

And I lack but one step to bring my second Celestial Court art to completion, when both methods of attaining the Dao will be mine.

" He relaxed completely: "Celestial Venerable Mu, oh Celestial Venerable Mu, I will not let you become my inner demon again. This battle you are doomed to lose!

" To trample Jingping flat was but a matter of days.

In the Ultimate Void, in the Forsaken Land, before a great square stele a door plank floated, and Shen Mu looked up at the obelisk, which had been refined from Chaos stone and endured undamaged through the ages.

Shen Mu studied the writing upon the stele, and after a moment reached out and wrenched a chunk from it, tilted his head back, and swallowed the Chaos stone. "This Chaos stone must be greatly nourishing.

If I eat this stele and refine it into Hongmeng purple qi, perhaps I can return to my peak. "