Chapter 525 — The First Human Emperor

In the Hall of Human Emperors stood a figure, a most stalwart figure. Shen Mu ascended the steps of that shrine, and the Box went trotting along behind him, click-clack, click-clack, on its legs. Shen Mu raised a hand; the Box halted outside the hall, folded its limbs, and settled to the ground.

The Box creaked open a crack, and through that crack the Dragon Qilin rolled his eyes this way and that. Catching sight of the barren graves all around, he thought it over, then painfully crawled out, belly to the ground, following Shen Mu with great care, his tail held very low — though not daring to let it touch the earth, for fear of making a sound. Suddenly the Dragon Qilin felt something step upon his tail. He gave a shrill, piteous scream, and every hair and scale on his body bristled upright. Shen Mu turned and glared at him.

The Dragon Qilin hastily stuffed a paw into his own mouth, and so made no further noise. He looked back and saw the Box stealing along behind him on tiptoe; it was this creature that had trodden on his tail just now and frightened him half to death.

Shen Mu's head throbbed. He wanted to drive them out, yet felt that chasing these two wretches off in so sacred and solemn a place would be unseemly; so he could only grit his teeth and let them follow behind him, saying in a low voice, "If you two kick up any more of a fuss, then one of you will be chopping firewood and tending the stove, and the other will be served up on the table for meat!

" He came up behind that figure, and only then did he realize that he was not shorter than the other man. He was still at the age for growing, and stood a mere inch below him.

Yet that figure had always struck him as towering, and this impression was a shock to the spirit, wrought by bearing and by nature alike. The figure was the First Ancestor Human Emperor, whose stone statue Shen Mu had once seen in Little Yujing. "You are the thirty-sixth-generation Human Emperor, are you not? " The First Ancestor turned his head and glanced at him.

He was a man who appeared barely past thirty, with a full beard upon his cheeks, hard and sturdy, giving off a feeling of utter dependability. "The thirty-seventh.

" Shen Mu said, "Lizheng is my master; he brought me into the fold. This is my first time here.

" He looked ahead and started slightly, for only then did he see what the First Ancestor Human Emperor was looking at.

Row upon row of bookshelves, bearing books beyond counting.

The Hall of Human Emperors was vast within, but there was none of the gilded splendor Shen Mu had imagined, no towering statues of gods, no luxury whatsoever — only those rows of shelves. Shen Mu stepped forward and picked up a book at random. The handwriting was quite unfamiliar, yet between the lines he felt a familiar sword intent.

It was a book written by Lizheng.

This book was Lizheng's discourse upon the cultivation arts and divine abilities of Star Lord Qiao of the Heavens. He had crossed swords with Star Lord Qiao many times, and in the book he discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each of Qiao's arts and abilities, studying where they might be broken.

Shen Mu laid the book down and picked up another, which described the cultivation arts and divine abilities of Lord Yu, and their merits and flaws.

He flipped roughly through the other volumes as well; most of them too were records of experience gained against the arts and abilities of the gods of the Heavens. Shen Mu also found the sword diagrams — a great stack of scrolls, in which Lizheng had recorded how his sword diagrams were to be cultivated, the circulation and the inner conception of each sword technique. Plainly they had been prepared for those who came after. He went to the second shelf.

The handwriting there brimmed with grandeur, carrying the surging, impassioned force of an erupting volcano; it must have been written by Human Emperor Qikang. These books likewise described the strengths and weaknesses of the Heavens' gods and their arts, along with the counters he had deduced himself.

Beyond that, there were Human Emperor Qikang's own cultivation arts and divine abilities.

Yet in them, Human Emperor Qikang wrote that anyone who cultivated his arts was a fool; he had never in all his life bested the gods of the Heavens, and to cultivate his arts would only be to walk his old road. Between the lines, the discouragement was plain. "No wonder none of the Human Emperors cultivate their masters' arts, but stubbornly set out to open up a new art of their own.

" Shen Mu suddenly understood the successive Human Emperors in Fengdu. They were all failures, unwilling to let their disciples walk their old roads again. The reason they left their arts behind was likely simply that these were the lifeblood of a lifetime; they wished for heirs to their work, and yet could not pass it on to their own disciples.

That was perhaps their greatest regret in life. "All the books upon these shelves are stratagems for the quelling of the Heavens. " The First Ancestor Human Emperor came over, stroking the books upon the shelves.

"Every one of them took the Heavens for their greatest foe, and spent the blood of a lifetime wanting to trample the Heavens flat. A pity — they all failed.

You may stay here and study for a time; it will help you open up a path of your own. " Shen Mu shook his head. "Most of the gods of the Heavens are dead or wounded, and the Four Lords of the Heavens have all fallen in battle.

The Heavens of today are no longer a mortal threat. Apart from the cultivation arts of the successive Human Emperors, most of the books on these shelves are useless now. My goal is not the gods of the Heavens, nor is it to trample the Heavens flat.

" Astonishment came over the First Ancestor Human Emperor's face, and he looked at Shen Mu. "Then what is your goal? " Shen Mu looked straight into the eyes of that ancient worthy and said in a grave voice, "My goal is to tear open this false sky, to reform this inequitable world, to seek advancement through change, and to bring about once more a golden age that does not belong to Kaihuang!

" His gaze was ardent. "First Ancestor," he cried, "is this not your goal as well? " "No. " The First Ancestor's eyes dimmed, and he shook his head.

"I have no such grand ideals as yours.

The years and my enemies have worn me smooth.

You are still young; you still have drive and vigor. I am only a disheartened old man. Sooner or later the years will wear you smooth, and your enemies will wear you smooth. And when that day comes, you will come to the Hall of Human Emperors and, like the other Human Emperors, leave your books behind, writing your failures into books, hoping that those who come after will do what you could not. " His voice was somewhat cold, and grew crueler by the moment: "You are a failure, just as they were.

You will build yourself a thatched hut in peace and quiet. You will sit in that hut with every thought burned to ash. You will not want your successor to walk again the road on which you failed, but the burden of the Human Emperor will force you to seek an heir. In that hut you will weep tears of remorse. You will resent the master you revered.

You will carve your own stele, and upon the stele you will write your failure.

" He sneered. "You will feel that you do not deserve a grave, do not deserve to face the ancestral spirits; and then you will swallow your last breath, just like the dry bones in that thatched hut. " Shen Mu's eyes went wide.

He stared at him in disbelief, feeling the image of that wise and martial First Ancestor Human Emperor in his heart collapse in an instant.

The First Ancestor said icily, "Do you still wish to be Human Emperor?