Sky-River Heavenly Court.
Cloud-Venerable sat down and let out a long breath. A youth with a face still tinged with innocence stepped forward and presented fragrant tea, saying, “Master, is the Heavenly Emperor dead?”
Cloud-Venerable accepted the tea, took a sip, exhaled deeply, and set down the cup. He said, “Finally dead. Weisu, the battle to slay the Heavenly Emperor was of utmost importance—I couldn’t let even a hint slip beforehand, so I didn’t tell any of you.”
The youth smiled and said, “Of course I understand. The fewer people who know about this sort of thing, the better. To accomplish great things, one must keep one’s mouth shut. Master, after this trip to the Heavenly Court, whose hands did the Ancient-God Emperor’s flesh fall into?”
“No one can fully control the Emperor’s flesh, so all they can do is check and balance each other, endlessly squabbling.”
Cloud-Venerable picked up his teacup and took another sip. “So we each left a strand of vital essence within the Emperor’s body, jointly controlling it. In a way, that’s for the best. The feud between us and the demigods runs deep, but the real root of all disaster lies with the ancient gods—the Ancient-God Emperor is the true culprit. Now that he’s dead, I’ve discussed with Vast-Sky Venerable and the others about letting the Heavenly Court leave the Yuan Realm, so the ancient gods can’t descend so easily. That way, they can’t harass the people of the Yuan Realm anymore.”
“Then what about Tu Bo?”
The youth raised his eyebrows. “And Earth Mother Primordial Lady? And Heaven Duke! These ancient gods must all die too! Master, after you took down the Ancient-God Emperor, your momentum has waned. You should seize this chance, join forces with Vast-Sky Venerable, and use the Emperor’s body to slay Earth Mother, kill Tu Bo, and eliminate Heaven Duke!”
Cloud-Venerable frowned slightly. “The ones who’ve brought disaster to the Yuan Realm aren’t Heaven Duke, Tu Bo, or Earth Mother—they’re the gods under the Emperor’s command. Heaven Duke oversees Profound Capital, the sun, moon, stars, and constellations—he’s done no wrong. Tu Bo rules the Netherworld, guiding the dead to their rest—he’s done no wrong either. Earth Mother Primordial Lady may be proud, but she’s cared for the people of the Yuan Realm over the years—again, no fault there. Why kill them?”
The youth was about to retort, but Cloud-Venerable smiled. “Besides, we could only kill the Emperor thanks to help from those three. Otherwise, his death would never have gone so smoothly.”
The youth flushed red and shouted, “Master, the Emperor is dead—you might fool the world, but you can’t fool Heaven Duke, Earth Mother, or Tu Bo! Those three giants covet the Emperor’s power. They’re bound to rebel. If you don’t kill them now, you’ll regret it later! Master, you should unify the entire cosmos and become the sovereign of heaven and earth...!”
“Xavier Weisu, you’re out of line!”
Cloud-Venerable slammed the table and barked, “Enough! My only goal is to win a way for humanity to survive, not to chase power for myself! Heaven Duke, Tu Bo, and Earth Mother each fulfill their duties—they have done no wrong, but much good instead. How could I slaughter the innocent? Go, and reflect on this yourself!”
Xavier Weisu lowered his head, acknowledged the rebuke, and rose to leave.
Just then, Venerable Skysoar happened to walk in. Xavier Weisu quickly bowed. “Uncle Skysoar!”
Venerable Skysoar waved him off, and Xavier Weisu departed.
Venerable Skysoar watched Xavier Weisu walk away, then entered the hall. “Arguing with Xavier again?”
“That disciple is far too extreme!”
Cloud-Venerable rubbed his temples, clearly troubled. “He actually wants to wipe out all the ancient gods. Heaven Duke, Earth Mother, and Tu Bo—when have they ever done evil? On the contrary, they keep order in the heavens and worlds. If they died, the stars would spin out of control, souls would fill the land, ghosts would run rampant, and all living things would perish. That would be true catastrophe!”
“I don’t like this Xavier Weisu.”
Venerable Skysoar said, “His temperament is too rebellious, and he gives off an unreliable vibe.”
Cloud-Venerable smiled. “But his talent is the kind humanity hasn’t seen in hundreds of thousands of years. Humans lack any divine or demonic bloodlines—we need strong young leaders, and Xavier Weisu is the best among them. His future achievements will be no less than ours.”
Venerable Skysoar considered this. “You’re the emperor—you decide. I came for another matter. Now that the Emperor is dealt with, the Four Directional Emperors have left Heavenly Court for the Four Extremity Heavens. The other ancient gods, aside from Heaven Duke, Tu Bo, and Earth Mother, aren’t worth worrying about. Our greatest enemy is no longer the ancient gods, but the demigods.”
Cloud-Venerable said, “I understand.”
Venerable Skysoar said, “The demigods’ power far surpasses humanity’s. Even outstanding humans like Prince Umbral and Flame-Venerable have gone to support the demigods. If Flame-Venerable and Prince Umbral could help us, and with Nether-Venerable as well, at the very least we could stand equal to the demigods.”
Cloud-Venerable nodded. “I understand, but Flame-Venerable does not.”
He sighed. “Flame-Venerable has his own ideas. In his mind, our victory wasn’t due to our own strength, but to the power of Vast-Sky Venerable’s lineage.”
He looked troubled. “Flame-Venerable believes we relied on the power of the Empress sisters to overthrow the Emperor, and since the Empress sisters are close to Vast-Sky Venerable, and with God-Emperor Jadecrest, Tu Bo’s daughter, Galen the Ancestral God-King, Heaven Duke’s son, and powerful demigods like Jadecrest among their ranks, they far outmatch humanity. Good birds choose the best tree to nest in—he made his choice, and I don’t blame him.”
Venerable Skysoar frowned. “What about Nether-Venerable? Can you persuade him?”
Cloud-Venerable shook his head. “There’s only one person who could persuade Nether-Venerable, and that person is already dead.”
Venerable Skysoar fell silent.
The only person Nether-Venerable ever admired was Heaven-Guide Venerable Lan, but he’s been dead for four hundred thousand years.
“Vast-Sky Venerable and his faction have already infiltrated the Heaven Alliance.”
Venerable Skysoar said, “Even someone as oblivious as I am can sense the undercurrents stirring within the Heaven Alliance. When we founded it, we never imagined it would be gradually eaten away by others.”
"I know."
Cloud-Venerable smiled, trying to reassure her. “Don’t worry. I know the road to rise is hard, but I’m here.”
Venerable Skysoar relaxed at this. “I’ve always been absorbed in my research and rarely pay attention to the outside world. If you run into trouble, just say the word—Sister Moon and I will support you with everything we’ve got.”
Cloud-Venerable laughed. “Just focus on your divine arts. Leave these worries to me. I’m looking forward to your Invariant Divine Art more and more!”
He burst out laughing. “Once your divine art is complete, I’ll be the first to enter it—traveling through ancient times to meet the heroes of every era!”
He declared boldly, “I want to go to the dawn of the Dragon-Han era and meet Heaven-Guide Venerable Lan! I never got to speak with him or discuss Dao and divine arts while he was alive—I must make up for that!”
“I want to travel to the future and meet Quinn Heavenly Venerable and Shepherd Heavenly Venerable. They must be from the future—I’ll find them and see what becomes of them!”
“I also want to witness the divine arts of the future—and return to the past to make up for regrets!”
He paced excitedly, clapping his hands. “I feel like there are so many things I want to do!”
Venerable Skysoar laughed. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. I’ve only just succeeded in my first Ghost Ship experiment. As for where the Ghost Ship ended up—even I’m not sure.”
Cloud-Venerable encouraged her, “Once you’ve done it once, you’ll do it again. You’re sure to succeed!”
Venerable Skysoar was delighted. The first time she was recognized was when Quinn and Ye Greenwood Keane returned from the future—when no one else believed in her, these two supported her, even joining her in researching the arts of creation and the principle of matter invariance.
The second time was when Quinn returned to the past and showed her the hairpin.
The third was when Cloud-Venerable asked her to help Madam Yuanmu bury the secrets of the Feather-Guard Corps and the Ghost Ship in history.
Now, it was the fourth time.
From the dawn of the Dragon-Han era to the present, four hundred thousand years and four moments of recognition—each one made her smile like a pure little girl receiving long-awaited praise.