Chapter 547 — Accord with Heavenly Principles

The Woodcutter Sage clearly possessed far more formidable divine abilities. On the battlefield, when Shen Mu encountered Fu Yu Xiao and was nearly killed by him, it was a single casual move from the Woodcutter Sage that Shen Mu had learned and used to escape with his life.

Since he possessed more powerful divine abilities, why was he unwilling to teach them?

He wanted to learn the techniques and divine abilities that would make him a Youthful True God. He wanted to unify the physical body, to reach a level in the same realm that surpassed the Primordial Human Sovereign—to press the Primordial Human Sovereign into the mud, to beat him until he spat blood and his bones snapped and tendons broke, to beat him until he knelt and begged for mercy, to beat him until he kowtowed and confessed his crimes to all the past Human Sovereigns!

"If I taught you my divine abilities, you would never use your own mind to comprehend the Calamity Sword. The Calamity Sword is marvelous—I cannot teach it."

The Woodcutter Sage ascended the city tower and sat down, patting the steps beside him, motioning for Shen Mu to sit as well.

Shen Mu sat. The steps before the tower were icy cold.

He glanced back. Black Tiger God stood below the tower and had not come up.

"The divine abilities I know are all hidden within the scriptures. So long as you comprehend them with your heart, you will gain whatever divine abilities you wish to learn. That scripture was in fact passed to me by Kaihuang. I learned too much, too widely. Even having received Kaihuang's supreme teachings, I could advance no further—a god-demon, and only middling at that."

The Woodcutter Sage said, "Later I realized that learning too much is not necessarily a good thing. Come, watch the sunrise."

"The sunrise?"

Shen Mu's eyelid twitched. He looked up. In the sky, a fragment of a sun was gradually radiating red light—a distorted sun, truly harsh to the eyes.

His face immediately turned blue. He hurriedly withdrew his gaze, suppressing the impulse within. Beside him, the Woodcutter Sage's face also gradually turned blue, and he lowered his head, looking no more.

The sunrise of Taihuang Heaven made them both sit on pins and needles, restless and uneasy.

Shen Mu was the Sect Master of the Youmo Sect, proficient in divination and calculation. He had also studied carpentry under Old Master Huo, striving for perfection in architecture. Even the furniture Granny Zhu had made herself, Shen Mu would revise. How much more so a sun in the sky that stung the eyes so?

The Youmo Sect also had an Artisan Hall and a Heavenly Craft Hall, both of which demanded exacting standards in craftsmanship. The Artisan Hall and Heavenly Craft Hall both originated from the Great Yu Youmo Scripture, extended from the divination and craft techniques within the text. The Great Yu Youmo Scripture had been transmitted by the Woodcutter Sage—one could well imagine that the Woodcutter Sage must possess terrifying attainments in divination and calculation.

The divine ability practitioners of Taihuang Heaven were very proud. The sun in their sky had been forged by their god. But to the two of them, it was simply unbearable to look upon.

In the sky, another complete sun gradually brightened. Both suns hung motionless in the air.

The Woodcutter Sage's eyelid twitched. He tried his best not to look up. "The lot of Taihuang Heaven have abandoned their craftsmanship entirely!"

"The god who refined the sun is said to be called the Sun-Forging Deity," Shen Mu said, head lowered.

"Bah! What Sun-Forging Deity? I knew that fellow—he was originally the cook who made meals in the Heavenly Court!"

Shen Mu was dumbstruck.

The Woodcutter Sage rose. "The method to become a Youthful True God—comprehend it yourself. That will be better than what I could teach. What I teach is, after all, my own. What you comprehend is what suits you best. I have led you through the door; the rest of the path, walk it yourself—walk it and keep walking."

He looked up toward the distance. To the south, west, and north of Li City, demonic qi still surged like great pots inverted over heaven and earth. "My coming to Taihuang Heaven this time was only to stop the demon race from blood-sacrificing Taihuang Heaven. Fu Ri Luo is a cunning general among the demons. He withdrew this time because he lacked sufficient strength to deal with my sudden arrival. The next time he comes, it will be a blow that shatters heaven and earth!"

Shen Mu's heart leaped. He hurriedly asked, "Can Taihuang Heaven hold them off?"

Boom—

The earth trembled. Shen Mu quickly looked toward the sound. There in the distant battlefield, many divine ability practitioners of Taihuang Heaven were piling the dead demons and humans together, heaping them into mountains of corpses.

Suddenly the earth split open, and a massive altar rose slowly from underground. The radiance of flesh-and-blood sacrifice flickered, and a red beam of light shot into the sky. Within the red light, a tall stone statue appeared upon the altar.

Boom, boom—wave after wave of violent trembling came. The battlefield shook without cease. One altar after another emerged, and from afar they looked like one "gold" character after another, only with their tops sheared off.

And atop these tower-like altars, beam after beam of red light shot into the sky, and statue after statue appeared upon the altars!

Shen Mu's heart surged with emotion. He looked up at the Woodcutter Sage, awaiting his answer.

"We cannot hold."

The Woodcutter Sage poured a basin of cold water over him. "We can only delay them for a time."