Chapter 285 — The Temple of the Gods

At that, Si Yunxiang herself fell into a daze. "Could this place once have been land?" she murmured. "No, that cannot be. There is no record in the history of our Holy Cult of any geographical change so absurd..."

The Nether Demon Cult had existed in this world for twenty thousand years, which counted as an exceedingly long span; yet through all those twenty thousand years the Eastern Sea had remained the Eastern Sea, and never once had there been any claim that it had formerly been dry land.

As for the history of the Kingdom of Jingping, it was far shorter still, and even less could it know when the Eastern Sea had undergone its changes.

"This stretch of sea is extremely deep. Even divine-power wielders of the Six Harmonies realm like us can scarcely endure it when we swim this far. I fear it must be at least a thousand zhang deep."

Shen Mu came to the side of that great cauldron, extended a single finger, and sent out a thread of yuan qi that rose straight upward. After a moment he withdrew his yuan qi and said gravely, "Deeper than I expected. One thousand six hundred and fifty-two zhang. Since he is a mountain god, there must be a mountain; this temple must have been built upon Mount Qu. A mountain worthy of enshrining a god must be a thousand zhang at the least..."

Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu understood his meaning at once: the place where the temple of Mount Qu stood must have been Mount Qu itself, and all around it must have lain a vast expanse of land.

Then the cataclysm had come, and the land had become the sea!

And the land where Mount Qu stood had surely sunk two or three thousand zhang to the bottom of the sea!

Just imagine it: if the whole Kingdom of Jingping were suddenly struck by an earthquake, sank three thousand zhang, and was drowned beneath a deluge of water, what would that look like?

And the continent where the temple of Mount Qu stood must have met with exactly such a horrifying fate.

Shen Mu looked around. Judging by this absurdly large cauldron, the master of this place had been refining pills when the cataclysm struck, and he had not even had time to collect the spirit pills within the cauldron.

Shen Mu peered into the cauldron and saw that there were still some broken fragments of metal inside, surely the remains of shattered weapons.

He jumped back into the cauldron to examine it. The weapons within were shattered beyond recovery, and he found nothing of use; but the patterns on the cauldron's walls caught his attention. These patterns were runes, yet unlike any runes he had seen before, possessed of a strange and alien beauty.

"This cauldron is not a thing of this age. It resembles the runes in the ruins of the Wasteland, though there are differences as well."

He examined it a while longer, then leaped out again.

Shen Mu dried the water from his body and strode forward first, saying, "Long Jiaonan has taken every yuan weapon we carried. Without proper weapons, I fear we may meet danger. Everyone, be careful."

Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang followed him. Ling Yuxiu said, "The Six-Universes Divine Treasury gestates yuan weapons, and they fit the hand better than anyone else's. If we can forge Six Harmonies yuan weapons, we should be able to protect ourselves."

Shen Mu was slightly taken aback. "How does one gestate a yuan weapon?" he asked.

He had once heard Qi Xia'er, that great demon, speak of this matter. Qi Xia'er had said that yuan weapons were treasures gestated by the Six-Universes Divine Treasury, but he had never understood how a divine treasury could gestate a yuan weapon.

He still knew far too little about the Six Harmonies realm.

Si Yunxiang said in surprise, "Cult Leader, you do not even know this? The Abbess Hongfa of the Six Harmonies Hall lectured on how the Six-Universes Divine Treasury gestates yuan weapons."

Shen Mu shook his head. "I have been to the Six Harmonies Hall only once, and I had scarcely arrived before I was driven out to stand in the corner with you."

Si Yunxiang remembered standing in the corner with him, and could not help but laugh.

Ling Yuxiu said, "That the Six-Universes Divine Treasury gestates yuan weapons is really a loose way of speaking. What the Six-Universes Divine Treasury gestates is the form of a yuan weapon, form without substance. You need only rouse your own art, and you will see the yuan qi within the Six-Universes Divine Treasury gather and take the shape of a yuan weapon."

She roused the Nine Dragons Emperor Art and said, "I studied under Libationer Bashan and took the path where combat and spellcraft flow as one. My yuan weapon takes the form of nine dragons."

She released the form of her yuan weapon. A dragon's cry rang out; nine dragons tumbled and soared, coiling and dancing around her, and then behind her their dragon heads gathered together and their bodies wound about one another, transforming into a great hammer one zhang six or seven in length, its head like a small mountain.

Si Yunxiang's expression turned strange. "Princess Xiu, your yuan weapon is a hammer?"

"Not only that."

Ling Yuxiu said, "I walk the path where combat and spellcraft flow as one, studying whether the Nine Dragons Emperor Art can be unified in both battle skill and spellcraft. So this Nine Dragons Hammer is but one form of my yuan weapon; the nine dragons can separate and take other forms. Saintess Xiang, what form does your yuan weapon take?"

Si Yunxiang smiled faintly. She roused her art, and yuan qi flew out from her Six-Universes Divine Treasury, transforming into a single silken thread. That thread shifted through a thousand transformations, weaving and crossing, flying around her like a chain. She laughed. "This is the form of my yuan weapon. Cult Leader, what form does yours take?"

Shen Mu shook his head. "My Six Harmonies realm art is not yet perfected, so I do not yet know what form my yuan weapon will take. You two have only the form of a yuan weapon. So how does one forge it into an actual yuan weapon?"

They had reached the palace in the mist. Ling Yuxiu said, "That requires skilled craftsmen to forge the yuan weapon. A good yuan weapon can fit the form of your yuan weapon perfectly and draw out its power to the utmost; if the craftsmanship is poor, the weapon forged may not even match the power of your divine powers. I plan to wait until my yuan weapon's form has stabilized, then ask the Vice Minister of Works and his people to forge my yuan weapon for me. Only, my yuan weapon's structure is complex, and I fear it will be very hard to forge. It would be better to cultivate swordsmanship. There is no need to deliberately forge one's own yuan weapon; any sword pellet will serve."

Shen Mu opened the Azure Heaven Eye and walked into the hall, saying, "I can forge them for you. My skill at the forge is not to be underestimated either. I can forge both of your yuan weapons. If we can find some mystic gold and mystic iron here, it will take me only a day or two to forge them for you."

Ling Yuxiu said in astonishment, "Divine Physician, Holy Hand, skilled at painting. Are you skilled at forging as well?"

Si Yunxiang was astonished too. "The Cult Leader has accomplishments in forging as well?"

"Accomplishments is too strong a word."

Shen Mu said modestly, "I only know how to strike iron, to put forth a bit of brute strength. I scraped through Grandpa Silent Artisan's test back in the village by a trick. Grandpa Silent Artisan is the finest blacksmith for ten li around our village, and his tests are very strict."

The two women exchanged a glance, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

The interior of this great hall was vast. Shen Mu took one look and his face showed shock; then he stepped back out of the hall and walked a full circle around it, measuring its length in paces.

"So big!" Ling Yuxiu peered into the hall and blurted out.

Si Yunxiang looked in as well, and cried out with wide eyes, "How can it be so big inside?"