Chapter 526 — I Can Do It Myself!

Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys; gallbladder, stomach, bladder, triple burner, large intestine, small intestine—the functions of his five viscera and six bowels answered to the Five Luminaries and the Six Harmonies, perfectly joined to his divine treasuries.

His eyes were as sun and moon, and they in turn formed a perfect union with the Five Luminaries and Six Harmonies, becoming the Seven Stars.

His comprehension of realms had reached a height Shen Mu had never seen and never conceived.

His dantian was like that of the Silent Artisan—blazing like a great furnace, radiant like the sun, the wellspring that drove his body, keeping the strength of his flesh at its peak at every hour of the day. Such a physical state was like Xing An without a single flaw—nay, many times more formidable than Xing An! His primordial spirit, too, had reached an inconceivable degree. The primordial spirit is the spirit fetus, the soul, the god of one's vital essence; and Shen Mu's proudest possession was that his primordial spirit was mightier than any other's and his soul more firmly rooted than any other's—at the Six Harmonies realm he could already send his spirit out of his body to roam the Great Void.

He had cultivated body and spirit together, and had created the Primordial Spirit Guide, and after cultivating it for a time in the Six Harmonies realm, no peer could match the sheer magnitude of his spirit; even Xu Shenghua was a notch beneath him. Yet beside the First Ancestor Human Emperor, his spirit was the lesser.

The First Ancestor's primordial spirit and fleshly body were joined in perfect oneness: a stir of the heart became an attack of the body, a stir of the spirit became a divine power of vital essence, a stir of the will unified the two. And so the First Ancestor's attacks were incomparably swift; no one could withstand that tempest of blows. Body and divine power alike were perfectly unified—this was a perfect divine-power user. A true god in his youth!

And yet this man, so powerful, so seemingly invincible, had turned deserter when the calamity and the great war broke out at the end of the Kaihuang era. If even such a being fled the battlefield, unwilling to live and die alongside his comrades, then how strong must the enemy have been?

"Stop tearing them. .

. " Shen Mu gasped.

The First Ancestor went on tearing the books, shredding the Third Ancestor's lifeblood to scraps. "What use is there in keeping them? " he said mildly.

"The man who wrote these books was trash when he lived, and the books are trash as well. As trash, they only take up space; better to tear them. And so it is with you.

In time you will be trash like them—even if you cultivate to my level, you will still be trash. " A sneer came over his face.

He walked to the Second Ancestor's shelf, took down a book and tore it too, saying with a cold laugh, "They made Heaven Above their lifelong adversary.

Heh—is Heaven Above even worthy of it?

Heaven Above is a dog! And they could not even beat a dog, yet they spoke of counterattack? You are trash as well.

You cannot even beat me—what damned ambition, what damned ideals?

Go home early.

Find a woman, get a child. . .

" Shen Mu rushed at him with a roar of fury. The spirit fetus at his brow merged with his soul to become his primordial spirit; spirit and body became one. In the First Ancestor he saw the reason for the other's strength, and at once he made it his own.

"I told you to stop tearing them!

" His speed surged, and the power of his palms became vast and dreadful—but the next instant he was struck flying by the First Ancestor. "Great Luo Heaven-Star Palm Force!

" Shen Mu came at him again.

Boom—again he was hurled backward.

Bang.

Bang, bang.

Dull heavy blows rang through the Human Emperor Hall. After a long while they ceased, and the First Ancestor Human Emperor looked at Shen Mu, who was struggling to his feet, and shook his head.

"Still not giving up?

You are unlike the Human Emperors of old. They were deceived by their masters and had no choice but to be Human Emperors; had they been permitted to renounce the title, they would have rejoiced and gladly abandoned it. And you? You were deceived as well, I expect? " Shen Mu climbed shakily to his feet, sealed the wounds on his body, wiped the blood from his lips, and panted hoarsely: "The Village Elder did not deceive me.

He told me that being Human Emperor brings no benefit at all—only pursuit and assassination, every eye in the world fixed on you, your life forever in danger. . . " "Then why do you still stand up? " The First Ancestor was baffled.

"Why have you still not given up? A thing that brings no benefit—why do it?

Are you a fool?

" Shen Mu bared his teeth, stained red with blood.

"If no one does it, will there never be any hope at all?

You will not do it—why not let me?

" "Because you are stupid!

" The First Ancestor Human Emperor attacked, each blow heavier than the last, bellowing, "A fool who does not know how to give up!

You will only throw your life away! Among the enemies you will face, men like me are beyond counting. If you cannot even stand against me, how will you contend with them? My mistakes must not be borne by those who come after! Give up! " Boom!

Shen Mu met him head-on and staggered back. The First Ancestor attacked like a storm, every strike solid as a mountain, keen as a blade. "Give up! Give up!

Give it up!

" Shen Mu tumbled head over heels, driven out of the Human Emperor Hall; he had barely risen when the First Ancestor was already before him, one seal for heaven, one seal for earth, the two seals joined, blasting him away. Shen Mu fell among several grave mounds, and the First Ancestor Human Emperor abruptly appeared, his foot upon Shen Mu's chest.

"Giving up or not? " Shen Mu seized his ankle and flung him off, stood up once more, and rushed at him, shouting, "The title of Human Emperor is not one you conferred on yourself—it was given to you by all the races!

You cannot take it back!

" "The Human Emperor is a lie! Let me shatter the falsehood in your heart! " The First Ancestor's gaze was cold. He reached out, seized Shen Mu by the neck and lifted him into the air; Shen Mu hooked his hands, twisted his body like a great python, and in a flash was astride the man's arm, throwing him over.

Bang—the falling First Ancestor caught him with a punch in midair, and he crashed down again.

The First Ancestor rose and walked over to the thatched hut, sneering, "It is these incompetents who conjured up the falsehood that a Human Emperor should give himself for the world, should fight for the world's lives—and it is they who filled young men like you with hot blood. Let me destroy their bones instead, grind the bones of these seekers of empty fame to muck and to powder!

" He burst into the thatched hut, stamped the Second Ancestor's stone tablet to fragments with one foot, and snatched up the Second Ancestor's bones. "How dare you!

" Outside, the wind howled. Shen Mu roared.

The First Ancestor turned and raised his palm to meet the fist that came smashing at him—a fist drenched in blood, a fist carrying boundless wrath—and the blow set his five fingers trembling without cease. Boom—countless thunderbolts came crashing down upon the First Ancestor's face and blasted him out of the thatched hut. The hut burst apart, and a man of blood caught the Second Ancestor's bones out of the thunder, laid them carefully in place, knelt and bowed once, then shot off like an arrow loosed from the string, chasing the First Ancestor into the air!

"You cannot—let me!

I can! " Far off came the dull sound of a body striking the ground, and a gray-blue cloud rose slowly into the sky.