Chapter 650 — The Might of the Sacred Wheel

That Shen Mu could bring forth the Heaven and Earth Seal Art was not the doing of an Overlord Body, but of a single sentence from the Primordial Ancestor: You and I are both orphans of the Shen clan. Those words made him feel they were spoken of himself, and his heart resonated with the Primordial Ancestor's state of mind. He could understand what it was to see the Kaihuang Era destroyed, to be the only orphan of the Shen clan left in all the world, to wish to shoulder Heaven and Earth alone and feel utterly powerless.

That feeling was the Primordial Ancestor's, and it was his own as well. And more than that: what the Primordial Ancestor wished to shoulder was the Kaihuang Era, to keep it from falling; what Shen Mu wished to shoulder was the world of today, the Jingping Era.

Jingping seemed stable enough now, its people living and working in peace, yet Shen Mu knew well that peril was closing in step by step, that threats were stealing upon them in silence: the demon race of Taihuangtian, the stone statues within Jingping's borders, the false sky, and the Heaven above, far away in the Western Land.

. .

He knew well that even the remnants of Chiming were a threat. The Jingping Era had only just begun to show itself, and at any moment it might be reduced to ashes. Jingping, this newborn age, had not yet risen before it was already battered by wind and rain, its Heaven and Earth liable to overturn at any moment and be destroyed in a single breath.

It was precisely this state of mind that let him bring forth the full might of the Primordial Ancestor's Heaven and Earth Seal Art.

Beneath the power of the seal art, Shen Mu was not merely a sea-anchoring divine needle; he was more like a pillar holding Heaven and Earth steady, and what his heart desired was to dissolve the calamities that might come into nothingness, to keep the history of era after era from repeating its destruction!

Though his heart was heavy with gloom and grief, he did not carry the decadence and despondency of the Primordial Ancestor, the Human Emperor; his seal art, though likewise a Heaven and Earth Seal, concealed a vigorous striving, a spirit that grew the more resolute and enterprising the nearer danger came! This was where he differed from the Primordial Ancestor, the Human Emperor!

And it was also why the Primordial Ancestor, the Human Emperor, turned around, saw this seal of his, and could not help but be struck dumb.

Shen Mu performed his Heaven and Earth Seal, one move after another. The Primordial Ancestor's seal art differed greatly from any seal art Shen Mu had seen before: every move of his was a two-handed seal, not one of them possible without both hands, one seal for Heaven, one seal for Earth. The Heaven Seal: the palm lines within the hand were the cloud vapors of the sky, and the fingerprints of the five fingers were the sun and moon, or the five luminaries and the stars.

The Earth Seal: the palm lines within the hand were rivers and mountain ranges, and the fingerprints were lakes and seas. When the Heaven Seal trembled, the cloud vapors shifted, the five luminaries, the sun and moon revolved, and the five fingers burst forth with the power of the five luminaries and the five elements, or of the sun and moon. When the Earth Seal trembled, rivers ran, mountains rose and sank, and every finger seemed to hold an ocean, its power without limit.

And when Heaven collapsed, when Earth split, the power grew more terrifying still: the Earth Seal stored within it earth, water, wind, and fire; the Heaven Seal was the Great Dipper turning and the stars shifting as they crashed against the earth.

As for the seal art transforming into the Annihilation Seal Art, its power rose many times over again - but that was already a divine ability among the Three Styles of Heaven's Fall, not to be used lightly.

After a long while, Shen Mu drew in his force, and the visions of collapsing Heaven and splitting Earth around him vanished. "You have learned it, and you use it well already. " The Primordial Ancestor, the Human Emperor, showed a gratified smile.

"To study it and then put it to use - I look forward to seeing my seal art flourish in your hands.

" Shen Mu still bore that air of gloom and grief mingled with striving and enterprise; the Heaven and Earth Seal had wrought upon him, and from that temper of mind he could not step free in a moment - it would take some time to settle before the influence of the seal art faded.

"Eh, there is something strange about this seal art!

" Shen Mu looked all around, and saw the imperial garden still whole and complete, not a flower or a tree missing - and yet the Heaven and Earth Seal Art he had just performed had plainly been mighty enough to shake Heaven and Earth, enough to split both sky and ground! He had thought Emperor Yanfeng's imperial garden would be torn apart, cleaned out utterly by his Heaven and Earth Seal; instead the garden stood untouched.

Could the dreadful power he had sensed stored within the Heaven and Earth Seal have been only an illusion? "The spirit of the Heaven and Earth Seal is to uphold Heaven and Earth, to set up for Heaven and Earth a pillar that will not fall, to establish life for the common people - how could it destroy Heaven and Earth?

" said the Primordial Ancestor, the Human Emperor. "All the power of this seal art falls only upon the enemy; it does not harm what lies around it.

" Shen Mu was rather sorry to hear it.

"Primordial Ancestor, this seal art of yours is not fierce enough.

When I practiced it I felt a magnificent power, but it cannot even break the emperor's vegetable garden. " The Primordial Ancestor, the Human Emperor, was choked with anger; he pointed at Shen Mu and could not speak.

After a long while he raged, "I fought my way in one breath up eight hundred tiers of the Chiming Zhentian Tower - did you not see the power of my seal art? " Shen Mu shook his head honestly, guiltily. "I was busy studying the runes of the Wheel of Creation and did not watch; Ban Gongcuo had his eyes fixed on it the whole time.

Besides, defeating Chi Xi does not count for much.

Your realm is far higher than his, so beating him was only natural. . .

" The Primordial Ancestor, the Human Emperor, slumped, utterly dispirited. "It was not him I was beating, it was the Chiming Zhentian Tower. Had I wanted to beat him, he would have died on my first move.

So the eight hundred tiers were climbed for nothing. .

.

" Shen Mu said hurriedly, "Primordial Ancestor, do not grieve. Though this seal art of yours is not the equal of my swordsmanship, with a few changes it would still be formidable - I guarantee it could smash the emperor's vegetable garden.

I shall revise it in a while; it will be majestic on every side, fierce and overbearing! " The Primordial Ancestor walked out, weak and listless, waving a hand.

"Do as you please with it. I. .

. ah.

" He sighed, a deep sense of powerlessness in him. He had gone a long way and still could not rest easy about Shen Mu's reckless revisions of his seal art; he stole a look back, and saw Shen Mu still testing the runes of Creation. His heart eased, and yet he felt a little disappointed too.

"He has gone on studying my seal art no longer - can my seal art truly be so unworthy of the eye? " Several days later, the court and Chi Xi came to terms and signed the covenant.

Chi Xi rejected a few items on Shen Mu's list, but agreed to most of them, requiring only that Emperor Yanfeng establish academies and schools in the territory of the Chiming remnants and teach them Jingping's dao arts and divine powers. Emperor Yanfeng agreed, and marked out a large tract of land in the Southern Wasteland near the Desolate Ruins, where the remaining Chiming folk might dwell and multiply. The Wheel of Creation that Shen Mu had ordered obtained at all costs - to that too Chi Xi agreed.