Chapter 754 The Young Hero in Plain Robes Wanders Freely

"To open the Heavenly Palace, one must summon the power of the many gods within the flesh." On the divine altar, amid the god-storehouse apparition conjured from Shen Mu's vital essence, the sun and moon within the Primordial Embryo god-storehouse lit up, and his voice traveled through the great hall of the separate palace, unhurried, calm, utterly composed: "The Primordial Embryo god-storehouse: the Great Sun Star Lord, the Taiyin Star Lord." Within that god-storehouse apparition, the stars of the Five Luminaries kindled one after another, and the Five Luminary Star Lords stood upon star after star. "The god-storehouse of the Five Luminaries! Lord Zhenxing, Lord Yinghuo, Lord Taibai, Lord Chenxing, Lord Suixing!" "The god-storehouse of the Six Directions! The Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign, who by deep virtue bears all things!" "The god-storehouse of the Seven Stars! Seven stars strung like pearls, seven gods joining strength!" "The god-storehouse of Heaven and Man! The stars of the whole celestial circuit, the many star gods and star lords of the constellations, Tiangong lending power!" "The god-storehouse of Life and Death! Great is the Dark Capital; the gods command the souls; Tubo lends power!" "The god-storehouse of the Divine Bridge! The primordial spirit shall be the god among gods!" ... In the god-storehouse apparition formed from Shen Mu's vital essence, the radiance of deity after deity blazed up; he was borrowing the power of the many ancient gods of the Heavenly Court, while the primordial spirit of the divine-powered was the Heavenly Emperor, symbol of all authority over all things. "With this done, borrowing the power of the Heavenly Court, all the gods take their places, drawing in the might of the Heavenly Court, and imprinting it upon the Heavenly Palace!" Shen Mu cried in a low voice. In the apparition, the deities lent their strength, and the power grew ever mightier; the energies of the Southern Heavenly Gate, the Jade Pool, the God-Slaying Terrace, the Jade Capital City, the Lingxiao Hall, the Imperial Throne, all those structures the ancient gods had forged with their own power, were drawn forth and, before the Divine Bridge, gradually took shape as a Heavenly Palace. The crowd stared dumbly at the sight; all around was silence, and no one spoke. Just like that, the Heavenly Palace was opened up; another realm, incomparably magnificent, thronging with grandeur, appeared before everyone's eyes. That was a monumental feat, a feat that made man the equal of gods! A realm that could carry them into the age of myth! A long while later, someone finally cheered: "Yutianzun!" "Yutianzun!" "Yutianzun!" Everywhere people were cheering, the waves of sound shaking the heavens. Haotianzun stared blankly at the scene, a gloom settling in his heart: "So I do not have that kind of appeal... If he is not Yutianzun, then how does he know the way to become a god? Unless..." A thought rose in his mind, so terrible it made him shudder: "Is Yutianzun truly still alive? No, no. I clearly killed him; Yin Zhaojin destroyed his soul. He cannot still be alive! And besides, that Existence has already confirmed it. That Existence cannot be mistaken..." A chill crept over him. If Yutianzun were still alive, then why had Yutianzun not struck him down with his own hand? Was Yutianzun wary of that Existence behind him? Did Yutianzun harbor some greater design? In this world, few could truly make him wary, and Yutianzun was one of them. Before Yutianzun he always felt himself a head shorter, always felt himself inferior to Yutianzun. Though his own talents were outstanding, whenever he saw Yutianzun an involuntary sense of inferiority rose in his heart. Therefore he had to kill him; he must rid himself of Yutianzun, rid himself of the god in his own heart! And now, was this god who pressed down on him until he could not breathe about to return? "He must die!" he thought to himself. At that moment Shen Mu's voice came: "Haotianzun, it is your turn." Shen Mu called several times before Haotianzun came back to himself. He forced a smile and began to expound the dharma, taking up where Shen Mu's method of opening the Heavenly Palace left off, but he was somewhat distracted, and as he spoke on, he faltered. "After the Elder Brother's borrowed method opens the Heavenly Palace, one has already become the equal of gods, deathless and ageless. But this is only the first, preliminary attainment; behind it lie layer upon layer of trials. For this is a borrowed dharma, borrowed from the ancient gods and the Heavenly Court, and it must be repaid, or calamity will follow. The first trial at this stage is the Southern Heavenly Gate; only by crossing the Southern Heavenly Gate does one truly settle the Heavenly Palace realm." "This step is: borrowing the dharma of the Heavenly Court, refining the false into the true!" ... Haotianzun quickly steadied his mind and set forth the cultivation method of the Southern Heavenly Gate realm, as Yutianzun had told him. Haotianzun had never cultivated to the Southern Heavenly Gate, nor had Yutianzun; but Yutianzun, as the opener of the Heavenly Palace, had laid down all these realms in one sweep, and his understanding of them had reached a frightening height. Haotianzun was merely repeating Yutianzun's words. Shen Mu continued, beginning to expound the cultivation of the Jade Pool realm; after the Jade Pool, Haotianzun took up the perils of the God-Slaying Terrace realm. Then Shen Mu gave the profound secrets of cultivating the Jade Capital realm, after which Haotianzun spoke of the Lingxiao realm. At last Shen Mu finished the realm of the Imperial Throne, and the seven great realms of the Heavenly Palace were told. Kaihuang's heart sank: "With the seven great realms of the Heavenly Palace told, Mu Qing will surely make his move and kill, will he not? He has already confirmed his identity as Yutianzun, and in the name of Yutianzun he will point out that Haotianzun and Yintianzi are the murderers who killed him. The furious crowd will tear Haotianzun and Yintianzi to pieces! But Yintianzi did not die, so what happened in the interim? Who exactly died? What upheaval took place..." He had barely thought this when Haotianzun's voice came from the divine altar, laughing: "The Elder Brother has left the final realm for me to expound, so I shall reluctantly take it upon myself. Now let us speak of the realm above the Imperial Throne: the Heavenly Court..." Kaihuang's mind roared; his eyes went wide, disbelief written on his face! An eighth realm! There was even an eighth realm! He had never so much as heard that above the Imperial Throne there lay a Heavenly Court realm! Niu Sanduo's mind also roared, blank and empty; from ancient times to the present there had never been any record of this realm, not even a whisper of rumor had ever been heard! "Yutianzun..." On the divine altar, Shen Mu's face was bleak, and he said silently in his heart: "Worthy of the true Yutianzun. I still cannot compare to him; his death was too great a pity... A man like that should not be buried by history!" Haotianzun, on the divine altar, spoke in fits and starts, full of errors and omissions, yet the general framework had been given: the Heavenly Palace was only one palace-hall of the Heavenly Court; within the Heavenly Court there were thirty-six Heavenly Palaces, and the realm beyond the Imperial Throne was the forging of the Heavenly Court, the opening up of the thirty-six Heavenly Palaces! Once one reached the Heavenly Court realm, it would be an immense ascent and leap for the divine-powered, a leap in kind! Yet of this Heavenly Court realm there was not the slightest word in later ages; clearly it had been lost. When Haotianzun finished, he said with a blush: "Gentlemen, it is not that I deliberately speak unclearly, but that the Elder Brother told me he himself had never opened up this Heavenly Court realm. Elder Brother, is that not so?" Shen Mu rose to h